Days 291 to 300 Diary Index
Days 311 to 320 
I woke to the sound of the heavy rain drops falling onto the tent from the tree above. I peered out of the tent to see the grim gray world and decided that I was going to stay right where I was and read. By 07:30 it was still raining so I decided to get up and make some breakfast anyway. By the time I have finished it had stopped raining and so I walked down to the beach to take some photos and find the dive school. I walked into the Aquanauts dive center and soon got the impression that they were a well organized operation. As everything in their store of dive gear looked well maintained and had it own place. This I always find reassuring as you life does depend on this kit working properly. I was soon greeted by one of the staff and arrange to go diving later that morning. At 10:00 I came back to the dive center and we got kitted up and were soon on a boat heading out to a near by island, which was our chosen dive site. We dropped anchor and back flipped into the warm waters of lake Malawi. We then followed the anchor line to the bottom and proceeded to circle the island. I soon saw the craters in the sand that I had been told about. They are created by the male of a particular species of fish. These are used as a way of attaching females and as a nest. I even spotted a few males maintaining their craters by sucking up, moving and spiting the grainy bottom over the side. There are so many different types of colourful fish swimming around that you could sit down there all day with a book and not manage to identify them all. Another interesting thing I saw was when a mother fish felt threaten by our presence, she quickly gathered all her young into her mouth and swam off. All in all it was a great dive in which I saw so many different types of fish and other water life. Definitely one to remember. Once back on shore we stripped off and washed all the kit before having a chat over a cup of tea. I then spent the afternoon writing diary, reading and chatting to a group of South African guys who where doing a overland tour in a truck. They where all a the same uni and the trip had been done a couple of time by past years of students to raise money for various charities. They had a few good stories which where told of some cold beers in the bar that night. Where we were later joined by a few local ex-pats and stayed late into the night.
If you fancy going to Kande Beach or to go diving there take a look at there website. www.kandebeach.com/
I woke at 06:00 and was ready to leave by 08:00. I said my goodbyes and drove the 3Km track back to the road, were I followed it into Mzuzu. I then stopped to refuel the Landy and get some directions to the turn off to Kaporo. It was easy enough to find and I was soon rumbling along the M1 north toward the border with Tanzania. I caught some stunning views of the lake as I descended from the hills to the lake edge and it was around lunch time when I reached the last town of Kaporo. So I stopped at a local supermarket to spend the last of my Kwacha on food. As I was having lunch outside I got chatting to a few of the local. One of which was a local school kid trying to sell me stuff. I still had some change left over and so bargained one of his bracelets made from electrical wire for the shrapnel. I then on out of town to the border post. Clearing the customs and imergration on the Malawi side was straight forward, and I had soon driven through the gate to the Tanzanian side. This side I had to do a lot of running around to different offices. The offices there were no to friendly either, but I just kept smiling and being polite. I had to pay 25 USD for road tax and 50 USD for my visa, as well as getting my other papers stamped. Eventually they where satisfied and I could carry on into Tanzania. I soon found myself driving through lush green mountains, on windy but good roads. I drove north to a junction near Mbeya and then turned east, drove onto Makambako where I refueled, before carrying on toward Iringa. I drove all the rest of the day and it was dark by the time I stopped at 20:30. It took me a while to find a spot just off the road to park, and ended up on a access track to some fields. Where after a brief dinner curled up and went to sleep in the back of the Landy.
I was awake at first light and after a quick breakfast was back on the road towards Iringa. I drove through Iringa and carried on northeast through the Mirkuni National Park. The annoying things about this stretch of road is the constant speed bumps. But you do understand if they weren't there the local would not take any notice of speed limit signs. But there was a bright side to this, as you could keep you eye out for wild life and I spotted a Lion sat under a tree just off the road. I got a great view as he could not have been any more than 10m away, but unfortunately the photo's I took didn't come out too well. I drove onto Morogono and continued in the same direction, now heading for Dar Es Salam. I arrive at around 15:30 and because it was a Sunday the traffic was pretty quiet. I found my way through the city center and out to the main road leading south, after only a couple of wrong turns. I then missed the turn off to the coastal area I was looking for a had to backtrack. It was definitely the long was round and I was glad to finally find the place I was looking for, Mikardi Beach Resort. I pulled in and walked over to the bar come reception area, and ran into a Dutch couple I had met in Namibia. The beer started flowing and I spent the evening having dinner with them and chatting about what we had been up to and our plans for the future. Also Bri a Aussie guy I had met in Cape Town was here with his overland tour truck and the last half of the evening was spent with him and another driver chatting the night away. It turned out that this second driver was the one who drove the overland truck to Congo, Point Noire and subsequently had to abandon it. Which was the same truck Paul (the guy I had arranged to meet there) was sent to pick up. So it was interesting to get the story of how the truck had come to be there.
I was up early as I had to sort out the gear I wanted to take to take to Zanzibar and pack the rest away in the Landy. I was ready by 08:00 and jumped in the overland tour truck as Bri had kindly offered me a lift into town. We drove out of the campsite and down to the ferry. I was a lot closer than I thought and after the short trip across the mouth of the harbors on the ferry, you could see why this way was faster. Bri dropped me off opposite the ferry terminal and then went off to do his own jobs for the day. I was immediately jumped on by a guy wanting to help out, but for a fee of course. I went down to the ticket office and got a ticket for the sailing to Zanzibar with the guys help. As I then had a couple of hours to kill I went in search of an internet cafe. The first one I came across didn't work and I ended up walking round for quite a time before finding another. But I still managed to get an hour on the net before having to walk back down to the ferry terminal. I soon boarded the boat, which was a modern high speed cat. It was like walking into another world as it was all in good condition, and so you could have been in any first world country. I took my seat and settled down for the 1h 30min trip to the island. As we approached you could see the old tatty colonial builds line the water front. I disembarked and followed the crowd to the immigration office to get the necessary stamp in my passport. As I walked another so called helper started to talk to me. This time I actulally wanted so help to find the motorbike rental place. He led me straight there and I started to look around the motorbikes. A lot were in bad shape, so I checked a few out while bargaining the price for the two days. I eventually got a working bike for 35 USD. After we had settled cash and documents I rode down the rode to fill the tank up with fuel. I then headed straight out of Stone town along the main north road. As I rode further north so the road condition degraded to the point were I was riding along dirt tracks. Not sure that I was no longer on the right road I stopped and asked some local who insisted I was still heading in the right direction. Soon after I arrived at the village off Mokoktoni and stopped to have some lunch. I ended up having an interesting chat to one of the local men who could speak English. So I asked about what he did. Unsurprisingly he was one of the many fishermen and was about to go out and check his nets. I said my goodbyes and carried on my way north. I soon found myself back on tarmac rushing along the jungle and hut lined roads. As I drew near to Nungai the road back went to dirt and I spotted a sign advertising a diving school, Scuba Shack. So I turned down the side track and followed it to the coast and the diving shcool. It turned out that it was part of a bigger beach side resort, Kendwa Rocks. So after checking out the diving school and the place in general decided that I would stay here instead. After arranging to stay I chucked my gear in my hut and headed straight for the beach and a swim. After a while enjoying the luke warm water I got chatting to some other travellers. Two Aussie guys on a tour of East and South Africa and one Israeli guy who seamed to be on a permanent holiday. We all sat on the sand and watched the sun go down to ever changing orange and yellow hughes on the horizon. I then ended up eating dinner with a Lady who worked for the UN in Eritrea and had lots of interesting stories about the place. She had also recently climbed Killi and so I picked her brains on what the climb was like.
Once I had returned from the land of nod, I wandered down to the bar where they served breakfast. There I sat chatting to various people while tucking into the gorgeous fruit and tea. We then went to organize our gear for diving, loaded it onto the boat and where soon on our way out to a nearby reef called Hunga. With the help of GPS we took up position over the reef and got kitted up. After backwards somersaulting into the water, we buddied up and descended the anchor line to the bottom. As the bottom came into view I was just stunned and at the colours and the verities of fish as well as the overall reef scape.. We spent a amazing 45min circling the reef and seeing so many different things, like shrimp, rays, hard and soft corals. We were all to soon back on the boat and heading toward the shore. After unpacking the gear and giving it a wash I was now in the mood to see more of Zanzibar. So I decided to take the motor bike on a tour of the island. I first rode over to the Northeast shore and stopped at Reef View. Where I enjoyed a nice lunch sat on their terrance, looking out over the Indian Ocean. I then continued South before circling round back through stone town and back North to Kendwa. It was 17:00 by the time I got back and so didn't waste any time in jumping in the sea for a swim before watching the sun go down. After a shower I then returned to the bar and wrote my diary while sipping on a cold beer. I then joined the Aussie lads for dinner and Italian restaurant just along the beach. While we were waiting for our food the brief power cut gave us the chance to enjoy the star strewn sky before tucking into some great pizza.
Photo of the Beach From Reef View
If you want to experience the fantastic diving in Zanzibar with the Scuba Shack then take a look at their website www.scubashackzanzibar.com
After another nice breakfast of fruit, boiled egg and tea, I return to my hut to pack my things and check my ticket. So some reason I have got the time of departure wrong and it was in fact 10:00. I threw the rest of my things together, paid and rode as fast as I could back towards Stone Town. As Is usual when you are in a hurry the police stopped me. At first I thought they where going to say something about the speed I was riding, but all they wanted was to check my driving license. Once in Stone Town I rode straight to the bike hire people, dropped off the bike, got my documents back and ran for the harbour. As I reached the dock side the boat was just pulling in, made it, just! It was then an orderly process to get aboard and find my seat. The boat was soon back in Dar Es Salam harbour and I was soon out of the ferry terminal. The first thing I done was to go fine and ATM to use and withdrew more money. Then I took a wander round Dar, got some lunch, done some shopping and went to the internet cafe for an hour. I then walked back to the port area and the ferry which crosses the mouth of the harbour. After I had bought a ticket I walked through into the waiting area, which was nothing more than an open air shed with concrete benches. But it was interesting to just sit there and people watch for a while. As soon as the ferry docked to ramps were set down and the people flooded off and the vehicles followed shortly after. The waiting vehicles where then quickly load at the same time as we boarded. Its only a short 10min trip across the harbour mouth and the ramps soon touched down on the other side and we were away. As I left the terminal area I was constantly offered taxi's and toot toot's but I had decided to walk back to Mikardi Beach Club. It turned out to be a bit further than I had remembered but it still only took around 20min to walk there. Once back I wasted no time and jumped in the sea for a swim, had a shower and set camp. I then sat and chatted to the truck crews for a while, who invited me to join them for dinner. It was not long after we had started preparing the sea food (squid and shrimp) that the Swiss couple, Evelyne and Remo drove in. I was really surprised as I thought they were miles away, and not long after that another Dutch overlanding couple drove in. I had a fantastic dinner with the truck crews and a couple of there punters, before returning to the bar and spending the evening chatting to the Swiss and Dutch couples. As it turned out the Dutch couple had just driven down through Sudan with no problems. But it was still around a month ago when they had got the visas in Cairo, and so things could have changed by now.
After breakfast I swamped info with the Swiss couple, said goodbye to the truck crews and gave Remo and Evelyne a lift down to the ferry and into Dar. I dropped them off and said goodbye and headed out of Dar along the main road running West. Then I turned North following the main road towards Moshi. All long the way there were great views of mountains and rolling green country side. I arrived in Moshi at 16:00 and used my Lonely Planet to find my way to the where the buget hotels where in the town. The first one I walked into had no single rooms left, so I went to the next just a little down the road. It was there I got talking to a tour agent that worked for the Hotel Kindoroko. I explained that I wished to climb Kilimanjaro and she suggested one of the hotel/climbing packages. I looked through it and decided to go for it, as it also gave me somewhere secure to leave the Landy. I chose the 6 day climb package which included everything other than tips for the guide and porters. Also included was two nights in the hotel and transfers to and from the mountain. This package cost 690 USD, which I thought sounded reasonable, compared to what I had heard other people had paid. So parked the Landy in their compound and had dinner in the hotel, looking from their roof terrace at the mountain I would climb. I then got chatting to some English lads who were working on a project to stabilize a school from slipping down hill. I then went and used the internet for a while before spending the rest of the evening starting to sort out the gear I would take to the mountain, until I was too tired and went to bed.
If you are interested in booking the same tour take a look at there basic website. A lot of it does not work but it gives you an idea what to expect and their contact details. www.kindoroko.com
The only complaint I had with the whole thing is that the guide could not shut up about money, specifically tips, and brought it into every conversation. Other than that they were nice guys and looked after me well. My advice though is not to discuss the tip situation until the tour is over and then give what you think is fair. I gave each member of my group the same tip of 20 USD, which they were not pleased with and expected more. But I refused to give them more as I was on my own and a budget traveller.
After a big breakfast in the hotels dinning area (included in tour price) I went down to the Landy and sorted the last of my gear out. I was ready on time and met my guide, porter and cook around 09:30. We then loaded everything into the mini bus and headed out of town. Along the way we made a couple of brief stops for cooking fuel and provisions. After speeding along the main road we turned off and climbed our way through up the small windy roads lined with villages to the Kilimanjaro park entrance. When we arrived in the car park I was surprised by the size of the set up how many people where milling around. We dumped the gear in the car park and I was soon shown where I need to register while my guide sorted out the fee's and other paper work. It took quite a while as there were many people there tourists and guides alike. We finally got everything done, got kitted up and made our way to the gate. Me and Valance (my porter) were sent ahead as it was still going to take some time to get the papers cleared at the gate. We climbed our way up through thick humid forest, spotting monkeys and birds along the way. Valance even spotted and pointed out a Chameleon. It took us around 3 hours to reach the first camp, Mandara (2700m), with a short stop for lunch along the way. I then signed in at the camp and was issued a hut. I went and found it, dumped my gear and had a look around. I soon got chatting to other climbers, one English girl and two Swedish bothers. We sat there in the sun for the rest of the afternoon chatting, eating popcorn, drinking tea and reading. I got the feeling that this was certainly luxury camping, with a hut to sleep in and food cooked and brought to you. I couldn't help getting the feeling that we had some how slipped back in time into the colonial days. But at least there was one important difference, these guys wanted to be here and where get paid good money for it. Dinner was severed in the communal mess hut and your own bit of table space was clamed by your groups table cloth. After dinner I returned to my hut, which I was now sharing with a Canadian couple, and chatted to them until going to sleep.
I wake at 06:30 and settle down to breakfast in the mess hut at 07:00. It's a huge breakfast with fruit for starter, porridge and toast and then a cooked meal. I rolled out of the mess hut and packed up my gear and got ready. Me and Cornel (Guide) then set off with the knowledge that the other (cook and porter) would meet us at the next camp. The first stop was at a crater rim not far from the camp. We walked around the edge in the clear morning light, admiring the views and taking photos. We then continued off up the path, leaving the forest and making our way over the scrubby rolling hills. It took us about 5 hours to reach the next camp, Horombo at 3700m. It was another big camp, with large mess hut and many sleeping huts dotted around. The reason it is so big is that is has to accommodate people going up and down and so it is your first chance to really talk to people who have just attempted the summit. After signing in I was assigned a hut with the Swedish brothers and after dumping my gear had a wash in a near by stream and laid my gear out in the sun to dry. It was not long after when a German lad called Werner turns up to fill the last place in our hut. We get chatting and it turns out he has cycled from Windhoek, Namibia to Moshi. He had also just reached the summit that morning and was on his way down. It comes to light that he would be interested in coming with me further North and so we arrange to meet at the campsite in Nairobi. The evening was then spent tucking in to the big evening meal, chatting to other climbers and finally cashing out in the hut and going to sleep.
I woke feeling refreshed with no signs of altitude sickness, and so after another massive breakfast it was decided that we would head straight for the next camp. Instead of using the day to do a circular acclimatization walk. So Cornel and me set off ahead of the others, and after a couple of slow steady climbs walked out onto a sloping desolate plain. The surrounding area looked light the surface of Mars, with its red dusty soil and volcanic rocks strewn across the ground. From this position you also had fantastic uninterrupted views of the Uhuru peak, with its snow glistening in the sun. As we continued to climb at a slow steady pace, as we passed the 4500m mark I started to notice a head ache coming on. I total in had taken us 5 hours to walk to the last camp, Kibo at 4700m. The camp only had a couple of building one of which was the big shared dorm in the middle. Immediately below it a tent city sprawled out, consisting of some 50 tents. As the cold was starting to cut into my clothes I was glad to be sleeping indoors, not that there was any heating in there. Slowly throughout the afternoon more more people showed up and took there positions in the dorm. I spent most of the afternoon sat outside in a sunny spot reading and chatting to other climbers. Around 17:00 the sun started to fall and the temperature fell quickly to the point that buy dinner time most people were hinding in there tents or dorms keeping warm. There were also a lot more people noticeably suffering from altitude sickness, so I wonder just how many wouldn't make it to the top. In fact now I myself was felling rough I started to wonder how the altitude would affect me over the 1000m climb straight from the back of the camp to the crater rim. I was soon obvious that most groups planned to leave at midnight or thereafter and so after dinner most people were trying to get some rest. I didn't sleep much, maybe a couple of hours at best, which was more than some got. All to soon it seamed people started to bustle and get ready for the off. I got up and went out side to assess the temperature. It was freezing! So I retreated to the dorm and put on all my warm kit baring my waterproofs which I wanted to save for the top when the wind would kick in. Continued on next page...
Days 291 to 300 Diary Index
Days 311 to 320