Warner’s World

12th Nov’ 09: Kamonanira to Kigoma. Spent the worst night of the trip so far in by far the worst hotel to date. The room was so small there wasn’t even space to swing a cockroach around. I was grateful of somewhere to rest my head after Burundi where hotels are either non-existent or have a crazy asking price. Blame the UN and all the other NGO’s in town for that. Being very high up the temperature was nice and cool and although grotty, I expected to have a good sleep. However after 11 o’clock all sorts of things started happening, coming and goings of the unsavory kind. With me and my bike in the room there wasn’t even room to open the door without a major rearrangement of gear. Otherwise I would have gone out to have words. Pretty sure this hotel doubled up as knocking-shop, because the noise didn’t stop until around 2 in the morning. Needless to say I had a crap nights sleep again.

Anyhow, I got away by 08:30 after negotiating the local market that had set up shop outside the front of the place. Only about 80k to Kigoma so no great need to kill myself today. Mostly it will be downhill, but there will be some minor hills to tackle as well. No tarmac again and the existing road is in the stages of being remade. Unluckily for me they have reached the part of the plan where the existing road has been dug up or removed and the new road has only just begun construction. (Lots of Chinese involved in the project). Wish they had started 6 months earlier as the majority of the day was spent cycling thr0ugh a building site. Dodging blood great earth-moving machinery. I have seen how dangerous African drivers can be if given a car. I take no chances when cycling near these huge machines. The tarmac starts about 4 kms from Kigoma. Apart from stopping for my usual rice and beans dinner and buying a massive pineapple nothing of note happened today and I arrived in Kigoma early afternoon at my hotel of  choice, Mapinduza Lodge. Clean, central, friendly and cheap. My kind of place.

Verified  the ferry sailing times, refreshed my cash supply (in 1 minute this time) and checked out the town. All in order. I like this place already. Just as well as I will have to stay here until Wednesday afternoon when the ferry sails to Zambia. Catching the ferry is the only viable alternative since Paul cannot make the trip. The land alternative is too dangerous. Even cars travel in pairs due to the remotness, lack of water and dangerous wild animals. Not to mention the fact that large sections are inhabited by the dredded tsese fly. This trip seems to have been like a giant game of snakes and ladders. Taking the ferry seems like a great big ladder to me and will put my in Zambia for the long trek across this large country.

13th Nov’ 09: At Kigoma. Ate well last night and had a reasonable nights rest, although it is quite warm beside the lake. Already been down to the ferry terminal (not  a ferry terminal as you would know it) and reserved my place on the MV Liemba. The ticket office doesn’t open until Monday morning at 08:00, but I want to make sure of my cabin. The trip should be an adventure in itself. The ship was made in Germany and transported across Africa bit by bit to be reassembled on Lake Tanganyika in 1913! The vessel has become part of history and when you think it’s been around since the time of the Titanic it not surprising.

14th Nov’ 09: Morning update: It is Saturday morning here in Kigoma. Africa doesn’t seem to follow the same weekly cycle as in the developed world. Most days come and go with no variation that takes into account the working week. There is a keen following of football here and often the bars will show a UK football match on a Saturday evening.

One thing of note is that I have managed to get my MP3 player working again. Di has emailed me 2 tracks, but this hardly replaces the 250 I had to wipe off to remove the virus I picked up weeks ago in Fort Portal. So, if anyone has a spare 5 minutes and would like to email a song or  two they will be gratefully received. My email address is warnerde@aol.com

For once I have quite a bit of time on my hands. The first day or so have been nice with lots of rest and the chance to replace lost calories by eating my way through the menu at the local resturant. I plan to do some exploration this afternoon so hopefully I will have some more photos to upload this evening. The internet here is the best so far so it would be nice to post as much information as possible.

Some facts about Kigoma. It is situated at the extreme western border of Tanzania. Lake Tanganyika marks the boundary between Tanzania and the DRC. This lake is the second deepest in the world (after Lake Baikal in Russia). The railway line that runs from Dar es Salam finishes at Kigoma and I think is over 1,000kms long. The train takes about 40hrs to make the journey and there are only 2 departures each week. It is an important port for Tanzania as it links not only the DRC, but Zambia with the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salem. The ferry I intend to take on Wednesday stops at many isolated villages along the shore of Lake Tanganyika and is an important lifeline to these communities. The world famous Gombe Stream National Park is situated just a short distance from here and the only access is via boat from the lakeside here.  This NP is where Jane Goodall did all her famous studies on the chimpanizees in the area.

Afternoon update: My plans have changed this afternoon. I was going for a short exploration ride along the coast when another long distance cyclist rolls into town. His name is Martin. He is a German who has cycled most of the way from Germany to here. We have spent the afternoon swapping stories and comparing our approach to problems. It is nice to have someone else to share the experience with. Tomorrow Martin in catching the train to Dar es Salam, but his intention is to reach Livingstone by New Years Eve. Diane, Chris and I will have a cold beer waiting for him there. As it is Saturday we will probably go for a drink together tonight, although the nightlife in rural Africa is nothing to write home about.

15th Nov’ 09: It’s Sunday here and surprisingly most of the shops and businesses are shut. Even the internet cafe is closed so no update today (I am writing this on Monday morning). There is heavy rain here most of the day, which doesn’t clear until late afternoon. Martin (the German cyclist who has joined me at the hotel) went to the train station to buy his ticket to be confronted with a scene of utter chaos. There are only two trains each week and the demand is great. The queues were horrendous and this was for next weeks train. Needless to say Martin didn’t get his ticket for the train. He is waiting to see if he can proceed on next Thursday’s one to Dar-es-Salam. I went for a short bike ride to the fishing village just down the coast, but all in all it was a fairly ordinary day.

One good bit of news is that Martin has his laptop with him and has thousands of songs on file. He has kindly transferred around 80 to my MP3 player.

16th Nov ‘09: Morning Update: Today is the day that the ticket office opens for business for the ferry company. Having witnessed the scenes at the railway station yesterday I am a little concerned that they may be repeated at the shipping office. I have been told that the office opens at 08:00, so I plan to arrive early to ensure a ticket. I have already made a reservation on Friday, but still want to be sure of a place. Even before the alarm has gone off I am awake and make my way in the pitch dark to the ticket office, which is about 10 minutes walk away. It is still dark when I arrive and I am first in the queue. One of the night watchmen thinks the office may not open until 14:00. It could be a long wait.

Shortly before 08:00 people arrive to open up the office. I am still first in the queue. In fact I am the only one in the queue. I got up at some ungodly hour for nothing. The big rush doesn’t start until Wednesday morning. In any case the clerk couldn’t give me change for my ticket so I had to return to town to change my $US into the correct notes ($65). Importantly, I returned a short while later and have the all important ticket to travel on Wednesday afternoon to Zambia. This means that I will be on target to arrive in Livingstone with enough time to return to Lusaka to meet Di and Chris off the plane in mid December. ‘Just been a road traffic accident outside the internet cafe’.

A third traveller has joined our merry little band in Kigoma. Duncan is Australian and will travel on the same ferry as myself. In fact it turns out we will be sharing the same cabin. Duncan will get off the stop before me in Tanzania and Martin has decided to catch the train on Thurday after all. We have some fun and games in our favourite resturant. The ‘waiter’ has limited English as the term ‘Faulty Towers’ springs to mind. We call him Manuel and it is always a lottery as to what we get, when we get it (if at all). But is does lighten up mealtimes for us.

Evening update: Spent the afternoon cycling with Martin to Ujiji. Famous for being the place where Livingstone and Stanley met in 1871, where the famous words, “Dr. Livingstone I presume”, were said to originate. The spot is marked by a stone monument and the two mango trees are said to be grafted from the original tree they sheltered under. Supposed to be a place anyone can visit. However, some locals have set up shop and demand around 5 pounds to visit. We told them to take a hike, but my camera chose that moment to stop working again Agh! Spoilt the day somewhat as I didn’t like a confrontation with the locals, but sometimes they take the biscuit. On a wider note, there are a lot of things in Tanzania that have been priced out of most people’s realistic price range. For instance the world famous chimpanzee sanctury is just across the water from here. With entrance fees, guide costs, boat hire and accommodation it would come to over $300 dollars. Lots of people in town would visit if it were priced realistically. No one I have met has visited, so being so greedy they shot themselves in the foot. Be warned if you are thinking of visiting Tanzania. Anything that  a Muzungu wants to do is outrageously priced. Kilimanjaro for instance could be as much as 2,000 dollars.

17th Nov’ 09: Last full day in Kigoma. Been busy today with my new friends Martin and Duncan. We spent the day at the beach, which is about 5kms south of Kigoma. As Duncan doesn’t have a bike we walked there. The first interesting thing to happen was that all the termites have chosen today to produce new queens. Every termite mound and hole in the ground has hundreds of flying termite queens taking to the air. It is quite an organised event with the soldiers guarding the entrances and the workers in attendance. Many of the local children are making the most of this opportunity and collecting the insects as they appear. Also the birds are having a feast. We spent a little time on our way to the beach helping catch these insects. I was tempted to try one alive, but when a local declined the taste-test I thought better of it.

Another encounter we had on the way to the beach was a couple of zebras passed us by in the bush. Only a fleeting sighting, but my first zebra encounter in Africa so far. Having reached the beach our third experience was a troop of monkeys that hang around the beach came to visit. We had a couple of bananas left over from lunch so we managed to get some great close-up photos of these animals. These particular species of monkeys (not sure what type) had amazing blue bollocks. Having tired of the normal monkey photos we progressed to the level of who could get the best shot of their undercarriage. Duncan won by a mile. He is going to email me his best shot. My camera (which is going in the bin when I get home) was not up to the job I’m afraid. After a short swim in Lake Tangangika (not sure of the crocodile situation) we returned to Kigoma.

This last evening we intend to spend at our favourite resturant, the New Modern, with our now legendary waiter ‘Manuel’. Not sure what we are going to eat. It is not uncommon for us to order something from the menu and have a totally different dish appear at our table. All good fun. Last night we spent playing cards. Tonight we will probably do the same.

18th Nov’ 09: Departure day for me in Kigoma. After nearly a week in town it will be strange to be on the move once again. To my knowledge there will be at least 6 mzungu’s on the ferry. (Not sure what the collective noun is for mzunugu). We all have separate plans, some will disembark in Tanzania and others in Zambia. The ship we all are travelling on is the MV Liemba. Nearly 100 years old she was built in Germany, then sailed to the Tanzanian coast. Taken to bits, marched halfway across Africa then reassembled again on Lake Tangangika. As promised Duncan has kindly donated his winning photo of the ‘Best in class category’ for the monkey picture with the best wedding tackle.

Us mzungu’s spend the morning, shopping and making preparations to travel. Around 13:00 Martin, Duncan and myself walk the short distance to the ferry terminal. Departure is scheduled for 16:00. We wait with the others in the ‘departure lounge’. At 16:45 mzungu’s are told to board. There are about 9 of us. All traveling 1st class ($65), except Martin who has decided to go 3rd class to save money ($45). By 18:00 everyone else has boarded. We estimate that over 500 people are on the boat. The life-boat capacity is 78! It is an amazing scene with all the people and cargo on the boat. There is hardly an inch of space left on the ship. For a ship that is nearly 100 years old it is in great condition. There is standing room only in 3rd class so Duncan and I let Martin stow his gear in our cabin and sleep on the floor during the voyage. We sail just before dark. It is not long before we make our first stop. What an event! Words don’t describe what it is like. How anyone is not killed or seriously injured in the efforts to get aboard from small boats at sea is a miracle. Photo’s don’t do it justice, you have to see it to believe it!

Martin and I annoy the staff in the resturant by having a DIY dinner. We are food rich, but cash poor. We have  a coffee to justify our taking up a whole table.

Us mzungu’s spend the evening playing cards in the resturant. I have taught them to play ‘Hearts’ and it is quite competitive.

19th Nov’09: Den’s update: Easy day on board. We stop occasionally to take on / discharge people and cargo. No ports, we just drift or anchor off a small village and they come to us by small boats. It has become routine for us now some we don’t always go outside to watch the action.

Another buffet dinner and cards into the night. This is the way to travel!

Having a very comfortable cruise down lake Tangangika, enjoying good company, stunning scenery and preparing for the epic ride through Zambia.

Will arrive at my destination port tomorrow morning. The website will be updated with information and photos as soon as I reach a working internet cafe.

20th Nov ‘09: Arrival day on the MV Liemba. Running a bit behind schedule. We should arrive in Kasanga (the last port in Tanzania) at 07:00, but it will be nearer midday now. On arrival another ship is on the jetty. We raft up alongside. Martin, Duncan, the 2 Spanish travellers and George disembark. The are put into a  back of a lorry and disappear into the distance. Left on board are Rolf and Ruth (Swiss backpackers), Jenny (Irish backpacker) and myself. An surprise visit by an important Tanzanian minister means that the ship has to be remoored. This adds another hour to our departure time. Going to be a tight call as to whether I will have enough time to cycle to Mbala once we reach Mpulungu (Zambia).