Dar es Salaam - Tgon's Travels

Week 64: Returning to Malawi

Posted on 30/09/2012

I started the week thinking I had a good plan, I would sell my bike in Stone Town, go to Dar es Salaam, sort out the paperwork for the sale of the bike, then get a bus from Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe. I had moved out of the school house and was staying in the hotel at the beach, I spent Monday and Tuesday waiting for the buyer of my motorbike to arrange a time for us to meet. Then on Tuesday night he called and dropped his price, also adding that he couldn’t buy it for another week. Obviously this wasn’t going to work, so after feeling quite stressed for a few hours, I decided that I would take the motorbike to Malawi with me.

This wasn’t as simple as it sounds, I had let my temporary importation documents get out of date because I was trying to sell the bike and would sort out the paperwork after the sale. So on Wednesday I got a lift into Stone Town, dropped my bags in a hotel and went to the Tanzania Revenue Authority Head Office. I went in and spoke to the Manager, told him about my trip, showed him my website and explained I needed to renew my document. He was really friendly and once I had paid $25 he wrote that the document had been extended and put this stamp on it. From there I went back to the hotel and managed to arrange for the bike to go straight onto a cargo ship headed to Dar es Salaam that afternoon. By the time this was sorted out I had missed the fast boats to Dar, leaving only the slow (over night) boat. So I got that boat and slept on the chairs, I guess it saved me a night in a hotel.

I arrived in Dar es Salaam at 6am and went to the YMCA to check in before heading back to the port for 8am to get my bike. This actually ended up taking two hours, I spent most of that time sat watching the crane damage every car they lifted off the boat. Once I got my bike out of the port I went back to the YMCA and spent the day sleeping, going down to the cafe for cheap meals.

On Thursday I drove 515 miles from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya, this took 11 hours and once I arrived in Mbeya it took around 2 hours to find suitable accommodation. I ended up in a cheap local hotel, the room was tiny but clean and they had a hot shower which was great after the days ride. The only problem was my arms, I threw my gloves away when I thought I was selling the motorbike and 11 hours in the African summer sun left the backs of my hands rather burnt.

On Friday I rode from Mbeya down into Malawi to Nkhata Bay. This ride wasn’t too bad, there was a police checkpoint just before the border and they wanted to see my insurance, when I looked confident and started taking my document folder out of my pannier the policeman said he didn’t need to see it and let me go. The border crossing was easy enough too, although I get tricked by one of the guys who exchange money on the border. I knew that $100 is 30,000 MK, so when he counted the notes out 1 to 10, wrapping the tenth around the others to make three bundles of 10 you can easily think that is 30,000. The trick being that the notes are 500 MK each, not 1000, so you end up with half as much money as you should have. It took me a few minutes to realise, and by that time the guy was over on the Tanzanian side and I was in Malawi.

I also got a text from Simba, telling me that it was a guy called Ali Mcha who had reported me to the Security officer and Ministry of Education. Whether this was because I had helped Mohammed and Janet not get ripped off by him, or whether it is even true or not, I’m not sure. I don’t really trust Simba either so he may have just been saying it to shift the blame away from himself.

I arrived in Nkhata Bay and checked into their cheapest dorm, my hands were burning even though I had used my first aid kit to bandage them up, to keep them out of the sun. I have been here in Nkhata bay since then, resting in the shade, overlooking the lake. I plan to drive down to Lilongwe tomorrow and meet a friend, I want to sell the motorbike there and then find some temporary work here in Malawi for a few months while I arrange my time in India. Maybe do my scuba diving qualification while I’m here.

Weeks 48, 49 & 50: Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar

Posted on 21/06/2012

Week 48 started well, we managed to get our bikes into Dar es Salaam port and onto a ship. Once the bikes had been secured we headed to the ferry terminal and took a ferry to Zanzibar. We hoped to get the bikes off the ship quite quickly the next day and head to Makunduchi, unfortunately the process took around 9 hours, so when we got the bikes at around 6pm, just before sunset, we decided to stay another night in Stone Town. So on Wednesday morning we set off from Stone Town to Makunduchi. We arrived just before the end of school (1pm), it was a great feeling to drive my bike into the school and see my friends for the first time in six years. We talked about the changes in the school and took a walk into the village to see my friends new son.

Although we had an offer to stay in the school house, we decided that we would prefer to sleep at the beach, so we drove down to the beach and walked around looking for a good spot. While we were walking on the beach we met a guy who worked in the one hotel in Makunduchi and he offered to give us a tour. Swimming in the pool was a Dutch doctor who is doing some charity work in the local hospital, she offered to let us stay in her spare room for the night. The next morning we headed off to Jambiani for a few days, but agreed to meet the Dutch doctors again, during the weekend, to swim with dolphins in Kizimkazi. We camped the beach next to a bar for a few days, enjoying the beach, and took a trip out to the coral reef to do some snorkelling.

On Saturday the Dutch doctors arrived in Jambiani and decided to stay there a night so that they could watch a football match. The guy we had met on the beach in Makunduchi actually lived in Kizimkazi so I managed to negotiate to get the four of us out on a dolphin trip very cheap (around 8 US dollars each). I had been swimming with the dolphins a few times before but this time there were around 15 dolphins, so it made for an awesome experience. On the way back to the shore we stopped to snorkel for a while, I found a huge Triton Shell Sea Snail and our captain said he wanted to take it back to shore. We got back to the village and ate the snail with rice and a coconut sauce.

After lunch we took the doctors back to Makunduchi and headed to Nungwi, on the way north we went through a police check point, Charlie was arrested because he didn’t have the correct permits to drive in Zanzibar, but they let him go when he signed a bail agreement. When we arrived in Nungwi I managed to negotiate some cheap accommodation in a bar which is not currently open for business, the guard had a pet monkey which he let me care for while I was in the area. The next morning Charlie drove to the court to see what punishment they would give him, in the end he just had to pay a bribe to the police and then buy the permits. We spent a few days around the beach, swimming and snorkelling. The best place for snorkelling is a small island called Mnemba Atoll, again we managed to negotiate a cheaper price (13 US dollars instead of 20). The snorkelling was great and we stopped on the beach for lunch before going back to Nungwi.

From Nungwi we headed back to Stone Town so that Charlie could take a ferry back to Tanzania. Charlie left on the Thursday and I headed back to Makunduchi. On my way down to the beach I bumped into two old friends, one of them is now the manager of the hotel on Makunduchi beach, he offered to let me stay there for free so I agreed. I have been there since Saturday but hope to move back into my old house in the village soon. My money has pretty much run out but I have three life-lines which I am looking into. Firstly there is the 450 Euro which the Namibian government still owes me, I have actually heard from them and they are ready to do a bank transfer. Secondly, I need to sell my motorbike, I can concentrate on this a little more once I move back into my old house and can unpack and carry out a few minor repairs. Thirdly, I have heard about some temporary teaching work which pays around 600 US dollars a month. While this isn’t much money, it is actually enough to live on with some left over to save. At the same time I need to start planning my time in India, I need to find a job before I can apply for a working visa so I need to find something soon.

Africa Blog Posts, Blog Posts

Weeks 46 & 47: Cape Maclear to Dar es Salaam

Posted on 03/06/2012

The last two weeks have been excellent, Malawi is one of my favourite countries. Week 46 started with the birthday celebration of Joana, one of the girls we had met in Monkey Bay. We stayed in Cape Maclear for a few days before we decided to head north, but on the day that we tried to leave Charlie found that he had a puncture in his rear tyre. We tried to patch it but apparently having ‘slime’ in your tyre prevents patches from sticking. We had already slept in Cape Maclear from nine nights but we had to stay a tenth night so that we could sort out Charlies bike, he put a smaller tube in the tyre to last until we could get to the next town. The next morning we set off north and stayed a night in Kande Beach before we arrived in Nkhata Bay.

Nkhata Bay is the most popular tourist destination on Lake Malawi, I prefer Cape Maclear, but Nkhata bay is nice too. We stayed in a lodge called the Butterfly which offers opportunities to volunteer in the local community, in return you get discounts on your accommodation. We spent the weekend there and then stared week 47 by travelling to Livingstonia. Most of the journey was along nice tarmac roads with beautiful views on either side, then for the last 15Km the road turned into a rocky track which winds its way up the mountain to the town of Livinstonia. We stayed in the most amazing lodge I have ever visited, Lukwe Gardens. The lodge has been there for eleven years, the owner has built a permaculture farm which supplies the lodge with fruit and vegetables.

We relaxed there for a few days before heading over the border into Tanzania, but on the way to Mbeya I lost touch with Charlie, we didn’t have mobile phones so we couldn’t find each other, I stayed a night in cheap accommodation before heading off on the long 830Km drive from Mbeya to Dar es Salaam. I arrived late at night and Charlie arrived the next day, now we are trying to arrange a ship to Zanzibar. Yesterday we had a ship that would take us but we couldn’t get past port security, the next ship leaves on Monday, hopefully we can get into the port then.