at the Kasama railway station

This weeks travel journal will have you sitting on the edge of your seat biting your finger nails as us intrepid adventurers travelled deeper into the heart of Africa. As our story evolves you will see how our scouting skills are put to good use with our limited equipment at our disposal with our combined great ingenuity we get through many tight scrapes.

6th of December- day 7- distance covered – 30 km
Soon after our early breakfast we got in the car and travelled from the auditorium in Mwela rock paintings (park) to a monument just north of the bridge over the Chabeshi River. We arrived there late in the mourning due to the harsh dirt road we had to turn on after the tar road. The monument was put there to mark the place where General Von Lettow- Vorbeck who led the German forces in east Africa during world war 1 surrender to the British district commissioner ( Hector Croad). This was ironic since Von- Vorbeck’s army was undefeated. They had surrender because news came from Croad that the war had been over in Europe 3 days earlier (in 1918).

Storm Ahead

The monument had an old artillery weapon from that time and it had plates telling of the story. After our visit at the monument we got back onto the tar road to get to Mbala. We took a turning onto a terrible road which was currently being graded, but only so the first few kms. Every now and again a wheel would just lose its grip making it go round like a spinning top but much faster. We were bouncing around like flubber in the back of the car whilst Norman was skillfully driving along. The car almost fell over a couple times. Then large amounts of steam came out the bonnet. It looked a mini atomic bomb mushroom. On stopping we had opened the bonnet and noticed that we were in trouble. The vehicles radiator had sprung a leak (oops). This meant that we would have to become squatters again. We set up camp on a small opening on the side of the road close to lake Tanganika. And then we discovered why it was the deepest lake in Africa as it stormed that night, luckily no-one got wet (dang).

7th of December- day 8- distance covered- 82 km

Radiator camp

We had to get up early AGAIN since the radiator was broken. We had a long drive ahead of us as we had to return back to Mbala to receive help (a town we crossed the previous day in northern Zambia) . To make the situation even more precarious our permit to stay in Zambia ended the next day (Sunday), this meant we had to find somebody to repair the radiator which we eventually did in the Townships of Mbala. Josphet, the welder we found took us to one of his friends in the townships. Within an hour the Radiator had been repaired to a higher standard than that done in Bulawayo. With Ingulugundu now repaired we headed for Mpulungu port on lake Tanganika(45 kms away from Mbala to pay our carbon tax which we should have paid in Kariba which we should have paid on our entry into Zambia but due to a computer malfunction we were not able to. Arriving after the customs offices they necessitated us staying the night in the town. We were fortunate on finding Nkupi Lodge where we stayed at their campsite

Fun in the mud

8th of December- day 9- distance covered- 154 km

On returning to the customs office we paid our dues and headed back for Mbala. In Mbala we visited the Moto Moto museum, an excellent depicting the cultural heritage and history of the area. Our permit for our stay in Zambia was drawing to a close so we headed for the Zambian/Tanzania border post some 30 kms from Mbala and said farewell to Zambia. On entering Tanzania the roads although still gravel surfaced were in much better condition and we made good time reaching Sumbawanga where we found accommodation, camping in the grounds of the country club.

9th of December- day 10- distance covered- 512

More low range work

We broke camp and left the lodge at around 0800. We were in the rain whilst we were packing, so everyone got wet except for Chris since he was in the car packing (probably because he was too scared to get wet). The rest of us were cowering under the small bit of roof on the storage veranda. We wanted to get to Ujiji (a town by the northern waters of Tanganika). We ate lunch whilst we were travelling in the hot car. We had to close the windows every now and again due to the tsetse flies in the area. We were travelling on a gravel road which deteriorated into a slushy mess churned up by the heavy trucks in front of us slowing us down to a mere crawl in low range 4 wheel drive. Unfortunately we discovered that Norman cannot read. There was a sign that had ‘Ujiji 300 miles’ but Norman read it and used kms instead of miles. We pulled over at around 20.00hrs at the side of the road were we slept. Brendan and Dylan slept in the car and the rest of us were under a tarpaulin. Dinner was prepared quickly (Chris must have been hungry).

Washing laundry

10th of December- day 11- distance covered- 215

We got up early and started travelling on the same road as the previous day. We were in the firing range again as we had barely done 30kms when the left back spring main blade snapped. Being in the bush miles from anywhere, we simply removed it, turned it around and continued cautiously down the road. We ate breakfast when we turned the spring around (11.00hrs) which was also our lunch. We headed straight to Ujiji where Stanly met David Livingstone in 1871. We saw the monument and visited the museum at the bottom of that hill. We felt as though we were living in a movie since we spent the night in the museum (in Ujiji) which came alive because we were there. We brought a strange dinner from the locals (a mixture of scrambled eggs and chips fried together, Egzzi).

11th of December- day 12- distance covered- 160

Big horns

After we woke up at the museum we packed and then we went to view the lake down the road. Norman went to replace the broken spring which took most of the in finding a replacement main spring.Kigoma is definitely not a land-rover town. The rest of us were wasting time in the museum almost all day. We eventually left at around 1630 and travelled as far as we could, at around 2300 we stopped at a village where we slept in the car for the remainder of the night.

12th of December- day 13- distance covered- 428

Broken back spring

We woke up early in the morning and decided to continue on our journey. At roughly 1100 we stopped at an unnamed town and had brunch. Unfortunately Dylan lost his appetite (wimped out) since we had liver on a pancake. We continued on the trip with few stops all the way to lake Victoria which we wished to cross the water via ferry that night and then go to a boat club for dinner. We did not make it as the ferry did not travel during the night. We pulled off at a village just past the port where we slept ready for a 0500 boarding of the ferry.

13th of December- distance covered- 474

Mechanic in the bush

Boarding the ferry with the vehicle along with 8 fully loaded trucks we sailed across a bay to the main city of Mwanza. On arrival of the boat club we had showers, ate breakfast and washed the car down of the sick mud from the journey to Mwanza (6 inches thick). On checking the engine water oil brake fluid Norman discovered that the fan belt tensioner on the alternator had disintegrated. To add to our problems Mwanza was on electricity load shedding. We eventually found a engineering shop where it was welded together using generator and a light welder. Continuing our epic journey we headed along a newly tarred highway for Singida where we found accommodation at the Luthran guest house. We scouts slept in rooms whilst Norman slept in the landy on the pavement outside as Security.

Taking lunch to the three left at the museum

14th of December- distance covered- 423

Our most northerly destination of the trip, Moshi at the base of Kilimanjaro was now a reality. The main road was being rehabilitated in places which meant bumpy bypasses for several kilometers, once again delaying our progress considerably. In Arusha Norman detected the tinkling of broken metal under the bonnet and once again the repaired fan belt tensioner was total history. However Arusha is land- rover territory and we bought a replacement along, land-rover kilometre, fitted it and headed for Moshi (79 kms) arriving late we found honey badger lodge where we were warmly welcomed and GIVEN ROOMS to sleep in.


Written by Scribe…Nicholas

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This past week...

Thanks guys for the update of your travels and adventures. Much appreciated.
Happy Travelling.
Martin Sanderson
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Now this sounds like a lot of fun...
Sean Scott
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Hi Norm!
I apologize for not staying in touch for the last few years! I love reading your Gordon Park Updates, and after receiving your last one I thought I’d better send you a wee update from the Cold North! Where to begin? Well I'm in my last year of my 4 year geology honours degree here in Ottawa with a few exams looming in the next few weeks...
...Please keep sending those great Gordon Park updates Norm, helps with the winter gloom!
Take care of yourself and have a very merry Christmas my friend!
Yours truly,
Tim,

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