Safari

“Camel Meat Please, and a Bottle of Water!”

Continue reading “Camel Meat Please, and a Bottle of Water!”…

Climb Every Mountain

Eating divine fish in the best Indian restaurant in this part of the world. Admiring breathtaking landscape of Mt Kenya. Meeting the nicest policeman in Kenya and finding a personal shopping assistant for Nanyuki hardware stores. That´s what we have been doing. At the same time in Nairobi, Hillary Clinton is participating in the annual trade forum to discuss the ways Africa could benefit from trade with America.

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Lusaka-Nairobi, first ten days

Finally we had time to launch our blog. We have travelled now about four thousand kilometers from Lusaka to Nairobi in two weeks. It´s been perfect!

Tuesday 14th July: Leave early in the morning, drive a good day and spend the night on our favourite camp site in Zambia, Mutinondo Wilderness. That´s what we hoped to do. Of course it didn´t happen. After saying good bye to our great neighbours, and desperately pretending that we would see our two dogs soon again, we were waiting for our gas container to be filled in Lusaka. It was a warm, sunny morning, and we were full of excitement about the trip. Until we noticed diesel dripping from the car. Our dear Land Rover that almost every mechanic in southern Africa has tried to fix, was leaking diesel again. We had had the same problem already one month before in Cape Town so we were not that startled. We switched our phones off and decided to pretend that we were already out of Lusaka, could not stand the idea of the knowing smiles on our neighbours´ faces.

After one and half hours at Pilatus (LR dealer in Lusaka), they managed to fix part of the leak. A tube from fuel sender unit to the water separator wasn´t properly tightened. Pilatus had changed a broken lift pump the day before and checked the fuel line then. In the end, they claimed that the leak was fixed, but of course it wasn´t. Tired of waiting and fixing, we decided to start the journey anyway, at least the car wasn´t leaking THAT much. It´s a Land Rover after all! Diesel was leaking only when the fuel level was above the fuel sender unit “collar”, so everything was OK as long as the tank was below three quarters.

We stayed the night in Serenje, Northern Zambia, in a simple guesthouse where a scary chicken was snoring outside our door. Not the idyllic camping night we had planned, but the first night of the trip anyway.

Wednesday 15th July. “These people… if I could, I would leave this place right now, and never come back!” The Zambia-Tanzania border was full of dusty cars waiting to be picked, red-eyed, rap-star looking young guys willing to “assist” us, and a tough, exhausted immigration official desperately trying to keep discipline of the drunken crowd going back and forth in her office.  After driving 800km, crossing the chaotic border and buying Tanzanian car insurance from a bunch of young guys with leather jackets and golden chains around their necks - but no insurance papers or any other official documents their office was supposed to organize, we arrived to Mbeye, Tanzania.  It was already dark and we chose the first hotel we saw. We can´t remember the name, but it was great. Less than ten dollars per room with warm shower. We had our dinner in a dark bar with a passed-out guy sleeping in one corner and TV showed a documentary about the history of Tazara railway. Nobody spoke English, so Elina had to speak Swahili. After complicated negotiations with a lady cooking in the corner of the yard, we got some baked bananas, omelettes, and lovely, lovely cold drinks for dinner. Ladies working in the hotel wanted to see Elina dance and Ilpo wanted to see the car still in the parking place in the morning. Both wishes came true!

Thursday,16th July.  In the morning,  everything in Tanzania looked gorgeous. The scenery was hilly and green, the bananas bought from the roadside sweet, and the young Maasais walking by the streets were wearing trendy sunglasses, and spoke to shiny cellphones.  After driving 400km down the main road, we turned from the main Mbeya-Dar es Salaam road in Iringa and drove about 100 km towards the Ruaha National Park. On the way, we stopped to re-organize our roofrack near a small village, where women were washing clothes by the driver. Soon we were surrounded by a group of children who wanted to touch the car, eat our peanuts, dance naked and have their photos taken.

Right before the NP gate, we found a paradise. It is the best-ever camping site, called Sunset Mountain Lodge and Campsite. The place was built on a hill, and when sipping drinks on a veranda of the bar, watching an endless sea of trees below us, and listening to the bartender telling how to use baobab-tree as a fridge, we finally felt that we are actually on the trip that we had been dreaming of for such a long time.

We had the whole campsite to ourselves. We cooked fantastic sweet potato stew under the stars, and finally launched our dear rooftent, generously donated by Jeremias Blaser. Strong wind kept rocking the roof tent the whole night, but we fell asleep watching the stars, and slept like babies. In the morning we learned that a herd of elephants had walked by the campsite, apparently they do that every night. We strongly recommend this place, especially during low-season, absolutely stunning view and extremely friendly staff!

Friday 17th July: As some of you remember, our original plan was to follow the Burundi border and cross directly to Uganda west of Lake Victoria. We heard rumours, however that the road is pretty bad and the area restless, so we decided to skip Ugand for now and drive to northern Tanzania. Locals recommended staying on the main road. Ten hours driving, 550 km. After one million road constructions and waiting, we ended up camping in a back yard of a truckers 24-hour restaurant. A friendly place, but not that good frozen pizza (perhaps from late 1990s). Elina was luckier with her sandwich.

Saturday 18th: We did see Mt Kilimanjaro. Well, almost. The peak of it was peeping out behind the clouds at least for two minutes, and it looked like a sleeping elephant. Still, we had the best morning coffee for days in a cosy hotel near the mountain, and continued happily towards Ngorongoro crater. It was not difficult to realize that we had arrived in THE tourist zone of Tanzania. There was a village full of Obama chitenges, young guys selling Maasai kitch, and tourists with henna tattoos and braded hair wandering around. Entering the national park felt like being robbed: the entrance fee was hair raisingly ridiculos, and the smelly, small campsite full of overland truck tourists (later called egg tents). Although these people are nice and not loud at all, it does somehow change the experience a bit, when suddenly 50 tents show up from nowhere and the same number of “awesomes” echo in the darkening night of Africa.

Elina decided to avoid the smelly campsite toilet and use the bush option, when she noticed somebody staring at her. A huge buffalo was chewing the grass just five meters away. She stepped aside, and we were cooking our dinner very much aware of having company. But, when we climbed to our dear rooftent, drank hot tea under three blankets and listened to the animal finishing its dinner next to us, everything felt great again. Even the overlanding people disappeared in the dark, and the stars we were watching from our rooftent were as shiny as ever. Ilpo has decided to establish the official roof tenters club of Finland immediately after arrival.

Sunday 19th: Serengeti. Another “we have been robbed” -feeling at the gate. How we missed our Zambian national parks paying the ridiculous entrance fees in this one, and seeing the campsite once again invaded by truckloads of overland tourists. Still, as soon as we entered the park, herds of elephants, buffalos, giraffes and zebras literally jumped in front of our car as if they were working paid by the piece. Even a hyena was right by the road in the middle of the day trying to find shade leaning to an anthill.  And then, all of a sudden the antelopes stopped eating, and some of then climbed on rocks to observe. We saw the golden grass moving, and a big cat slowly raising her head. The female lion was hunting, and the poor antelopes were about to face their destiny.

In the evening, we enjoyed our dinner with three buffalos, this time already used to their company. Since we feel bad about the environmental effects of our trip, Elina used only six litres of cold water for a shower and Ilpo luxuriated a whole eight liters!

Monday 20th: We continued early in the morning through Serengeti and left the park from its western side. Along the way we got lucky and drove through (like an hour or so) the Wildebeest migration from south of Serengeti towards Maasai Mara in Kenya. We drove in the middle of the animals, which were slowly forming lines and starting to move to north, and turned the engine off. Imagine the sound of thousands of cloven hoofs and mooing. I guess worth the 200 USD you have to pay for camping in Serengeti after all. We left the park and stayed the night by Lake Victoria in a beautiful and lively town of Musoma. Once again, together with twenty five egg tents…

In the morning we saw the weirdest sight ever: a bird at least Elina´s size (and this is NOT exaggerating) was wondering around the campsite as if it was looking for somebody. Then, looking disappointed, the creature decided to leave, WALKING down the stairs to the beach, with straight posture and mysterious, dignified face.

Tuesday and Wednesday: We crossed the border in Isabana close to Lake Victoria. A relatively simple crossing with no hassle. Carnet de Passage (international customs document for the car) makes things so much easier at the borders. 550 km driving a really bad road heading towards Nairobi was the worst driving day so far. Road itself is not that bad, but road culture and many trucks together with steep hills and poor visibility made this short stretch challenging. It also cost us the cover of our roof tent. If someone is driving the same road and sees an Eezy Awn roof tent cover, it´s ours! Just before dark, we found a really friendly and cheap camp site by the lake Naivasha (we never found the lake though, due to drought the lake shore has moved more than 1,5 km away from these “lakeside lodges”. Luxury campsite wasn´t really luxorious, but extremely nice still. And no egg tents!

Thursday 23rd.  Immediately after entering the town, somebody will stop us, rob the car and leave us with nothing, wondering around in the Nairobi townships. That´s how we imagined arriving in Nairobi would be like. How surprised we were to see well organized streets lined with trees, friendly people and a nice, lively city full of cafeterias and good restaurants.  We have had warm showers and two lovely overdoses of sushi, many double cappuccinos in our favorite cafeteria, Nairobi Java House, met Joanna, our ex-neighbour for lovely dinner and Juan, a Finnish filmmaker who lives here for lovely lunch,  had our passports translated into Arabic by a friendly guy in a local mosque, had new rear shock absorbers and springs installed, found expensive but ugly hiking clothes that we need for Mount Kenya, and spent busy days trying to organize everything and take care of all kinds of responsibilities before moving on. On Wednesday or Thursday we are hoping to start a five days Mt Kenya trek together with a guide that Michelle and Nick recommended. Even though this city is surprisingly nice and the sushi and coffee here divine, we are already missing the simple camping life. Good Potjiekos recipes, anyone?

Zim-SA border post

Tanner, a dog with three legs

Lusaka beer

Lusakan suomalaisin kanadalainen Brandon pitää pahvitölkkioluesta ja huonosta musiikista. Ensimmäiset kaverimme täältä palasivat tänään Kanadaan. Paikalliset juovat tölkkiolutta sunnuntaisin kirkon jälkeen. Maku on mykistävä.

Kaupassa

Sambian sähkölaitos sanoi tulkoon pimeys ja pimeys tuli. Tipi valaisi Sparin hyllyt otsalampulla. Kolmantena päivänä sähköt palasivat African Cup futisottelun alla.

Ankeustiedote

Nyt on käynyt sillä tavalla, että blogimme on saanut jotkut lukijat kuvittelemaan, että elämä päiväntasaajan tällä puolen on silkkaa aurinkoa, leikkiä ja norsulla ratsastusta. Korjataksemme kuvaa ja tuodaksemme valoa marraskuuhun listasimme Lusakan ankeita puolia. Listasta voisi tulla pitkä, koska kuten Lonely Planet-matkaopas sanoo: Lusaka will never be a highlight for tourists. Mutta tässä tärkeimmät: Continue reading Ankeustiedote…

Matkoja, juoksuja ja uutta kotia

Kohta kolme kuukautta täällä. Se tarkoittaa että puristetaan kättä sambialaiseen tapaan (ensin kädenpuristus, sitten kierretään peukalo kaverin peukalon ympäri, ja lopuksi toinen kädenpuristus), kutsutaan 1000 kwachaa (n 20 senttiä) piniksi ja itseämme ja muita valkoisia musunguiksi.

Lusakasta alkaa vähitellen tulla koti, ja väliaikaisesta asunnosta muutettiin pari viikkoa sitten pysyvään kotiin. Koti on rivitalossa kävelymatkan päässä YK:lta, Alliance Francaiselta (missä tipi opiskelee ranskaa), ja Lusaka Dolphinsien kotialtaalta. Naapurissa asuu kiinalainen ja intialainen perhe ja talonmiehen perheellä on kanaäiti lapsineen. Kana on nähty hautomassa lapsiaan, jotka ovat kuoriutuneet jo aikapäivää sitten. Tipi harjoittelee perheen kanssa lintuterapiaa, toistaiseksi laihoin tuloksin.

Continue reading Matkoja, juoksuja ja uutta kotia…

Takapihalla

Pitkän etsimisen ja puolen tunnin ajon jälkeen löysimme mahtavan lauantaikävelypaikan. Poolokentän ja hevostilan takamaastoon aidattu luonnontilaan jätetty “sanctuary”. Ihan kuin kotona heinäkuussa.