September 28

Today we leave towards Kilale. First we do get a tour around the wood factory, Marije shows us the wood saw machine and the still to be renovated chip board factory. After saying goodbye to the undertaking Dutch people we head off.
The road is full of potholes and everywhere there are road constructions, we don’t make a lot of kilometres. Renzo and Jon buy some coconuts at one of the numerous stands aside the road.
We arrive in Korogwe, at the only bank in town we need to get some money from the ATM, there is a long queue of people waiting, the machine is empty, after a half hour wait there is again some money in the machine, with some piles of banknotes we are good to go.
Along the way there we are thinking of doing the trip in 2 days, but after a while the road constructions pay off, the road changes into a perfect tarmac road, the landscape changes from dry and dusty to nice green Ackers. After putting the pedal to the metal, we arrive in Pongwe, from here it is a small 40 kilometres towards the coast town Kilale. With again a very detailed map from our friends from Arusha, we drive on. The road is bumpy and goes through several small villages, the local people can’t believe their eyes when the tford drives for by, everybody is enthusiastic and is waving.
After a small hour drive we see the sign Peponi beach resort, Denys the owner welcomes us and shows us the resort. We get 2 nice campsite spots next to the beach, great location. Denys says that we stay for free, great hospitality again.
Renzo and Jon are lucky they can use a tent which is already set up, Dirk and Trudy prepare the roof tent.
At night in the restaurant we have dinner at 19:00, Trudy takes the curry vegetables, rice and a very nice mango salad, Renzo, Dirk and Jon take the lobster from the grill accompanied with some fries and salad, its delicious.
At the bar we make an appointment to go snorkelling at the coral reef after several Tuskers and a bottle of wine we go to sleep early.

After a warm night (more than 1 blanket and with clothes on) we started packing our gear together, and we were of towards the coast. Because of the 360 kilometre drive we decided to do the trip in 2 days, after lunch eagle eye Renzo notices that the right back tire is loosing air. The air tube of the tire was broken.
The nickname eagle eye he got from Trudy, she named him so because of the fact he is searching for precious stones which lay on the ground. And this is because Gwynne has a bucket full of stones which he had found next the road of his house, which should have great value.
After a small hour the spare tyre has been placed and we head off again, after 200 kilometre driving we arrive at a place called Mkumbara a big sign next to the road says, camping site.
To get there we have to cross a small bridge, the bridge is made out of big stone plates which lay next to one other. Renzo is driving the land rover helped by instructions of Dirk over the plates, the land rover almost falls in the big ditch because of the fact the tiles at the side are just connected on 1 side of the road. Putting the land rover into low gearing and with the diff lock the land rover backs up. With the next attempt we manage to cross without any problems. Driving along the road we meet a Dutch guy Hubert who together with his girlfriend runs a wood factory. Getting at the tembo lodge, Christina welcomes us and tells that we can camp were ever we like, next to that she asks us what we would like for dinner,

After a very cold night everybody has a warm shower at 09:00 we have a nice breakfast again prepared by Trudy, after al a very nice place to stay.
Dirk does some maintenance to the tford and after that its time to discover the surroundings, together with a guide we walk over his property, proudly he tells about how they harvest the land, there are some banana trees, which each year produce banana’s, as soon as the banana’s are harvested they cut the tree. The leaves and skin of the tree are used for food for the cows and the goat, after a year there is again a new tree.
We head off to a waterfall; a small curly road is leading downwards. After arriving at the waterfall there is the need to dive into the water, after a good 10 minutes of floating around, we do need to change our clothes, the boxer shorts are changed onsite (watch carefully on the photo) 😉
The extra guide who came along gives a nice dive from a rock next to the waterfall. After several pictures taken we go back up the mountain. After a quick rest at the top, we go towards a 300 year old cave which the locals used for hiding against some unfriendly people.
After a nice lunch in the centre of Marangu we head back towards our campsite. In the evening we take an other time the lasagna and a couple of games of Yathzee.
The nice bar lady of the day before was changed for a less charming lady, we go to bed early.

his morning we had a very nice last breakfast at the family Morson, the trip is going towards the Kilimanjaro. We did get a few addresses of friends of Gwynne where could stay on our way. After 122 kilometres we reach Marangu near the Kilimanjaro we can see the mountain covered in the clouds.
We arrive at the hotel Marangu on the campus there is place to camp as well, we can choose because there are no other guest staying at the campsite, we pick a spot near the toilets and showers. After taking a nice cold Tusker we make camp.
In the evening we have a nice lasagne which we eat outside, an other game of “Jokeren” which Trudy wins again.
Dirk and Trudy are going to bed, Renzo and Jon take an other few beers we are allowed to play our own music so Johnny Cash is playing loudly out of the speakers, at around 2 and a lot of “letse erops” it is time to go to sleep. After getting out of the bar the temperature dropped to about 5 degrees, the writer of this had a very cold night.

After a good night sleep and with a little hangover we join breakfast, today we are going to pay a visit to the SOS children village Arusha.
Dirk and Renzo have used this day to do some modifications to the tford, Gwynne drove to town with the new and old steering rod, of which the latter was broken several times, to make them a bit tougher. After Gwynne came back from town Dirk places the rod under the tford and together with Mary we drive towards the village.
Arriving in the village we are welcomed by Joseph and Anne, they show us the different buildings where the children eat and sleep. Originally there were 10 buildings but they have built 5 more, where mainly the older children stay. In total there are 180 children in the village.
Joseph shows us house number 10 and we meet the mother Sylicheria and here “children”. The children show us around where they sleep and we get to see the kitchen where the meals are prepared. After a short tour around the campus it is time for the children’s greet from Arusha, the children are running towards the tford and are helped by Dirk and Trudy in and on the car, very nice to see how much fun these children had.
After the children sung a song it is already time to leave, they enthusiastic wave at us. The visit was a very special experience.

Tomorrow we leave towards Moshi.

Towards the crater, the final day of our trip. At 07:15 after breakfast we drive to the crater and meet some other tourists who are waiting to get in to the crater, after our driver and guide arranges all the paperwork we drive about 600 meters downwards over a bumpy road. As soon as we enter the crater we are greeted by a herd of wildebeests they walk across the road and after a while they are even running towards a little creek. We drive on and see a lot of animals grazing the meadows. We stop to make some pictures of a couple of elephants and drive on.
At a moment we spot a rhino who is wandering around we have our big 5!
Same as in the Serengeti here the landscape is various one part is green the other very dry. We make lots of pictures, and after a short lunch in the car we set of towards Arusha. Arriving at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Morson we have a very warn welcome by these very friendly people. At 16:00 it is time for a cup of tea and a nice piece of cake on the veranda we are sharing our stories of our trip.
Later on the evening our rooms are being prepared by the staff, and we are welcomed for a nice barbecue, Gwynne invited the neighbours Belinda, Mabel, Keith and Sam.
The barbecue is being prepared by the host himself and after a small hour we can take our plates loaded with nice pork cutlets, lams chops, sausages and nice salads around a big campfire.

This morning our driver was already at 06:00 at the lobby of our hotel, it was a short night. He wanted to go in the Serengeti early, so he could show us animals which aren’t that active during the day. After again a quick ride over the dusty roads of the Serengeti, we ended up in a completely different environment lost of green and water. Saw beautiful animals like an large elephant who came very close to the car. After a short breakfast for breakfast we went deeper into the Serengeti, on 1 of the roads we came across a hunting party of 4 lions, for the gazelle it walked away!, but we left 4 not so amused lions behind us. The driver drove us to a Cheetah which was resting under a tree, what a beautiful animal. At around 2 we drove to the next park the ngorongoro crater. After a fast trip we arrived at the lodge , Wow what a view. After a quick bath we joined the other people in the restaurant for the buffet again a good meal. We went early to bed so we would be fresh for the trip through the crater.

This morning at 7:45 our driver Kayee was ready to drive us to the Serengeti. A large landcruiser with 8 places to sit, plenty of space. Normally the journey would take about 6 hours but our driver managed it to do it in 5 and a half hours. Trudy didn’t like it that much but we arrived without a problem.

After arriving to the Serengeti, next to the road after a minute drive, there where the first lions lying under a tree in the shade.

The rest of the day we saw a whole lot of animals, of which more lions, elephants, girafs, zebra’s, ostriches, and a leopard lying in a tree.

After driving through the Serengeti the whole day we went to our lodge. The lodge is build on large rocks which are scattered around the Serengeti, even the pool with a great view over the Serengeti was build between 2 large rocks, a beautiful place to stay. After to watch the sunset and a couple of beers we took a quick shower and went to the restaurant which had a large buffet with lots of hot and cold food, a great place.

After the writer of this little story had finally won with jokeren, it was time to go to bed. Kaye e would pick us up at 06:00 for an other day Serengeti.

Thursday, 20 September 2012

After een great breakfast with eggs, bacon, toast and fresh coffee which is made off beans which come from the local plantations.
Dirk gets a telephone call from Gwenny if we are satisfied with the accommodation and if we want to stay any longer that it wouldn’t be a problem. That we can’t resist, we go with Anne towards Arusha to change some money and do some groceries.
Meanwhile we did make some plans to go to the Serengeti and the ngorongoro crater, we are going to spent 1 night at the Serengeti and 1 night at the crater. 3 days together with a guide that is going to be a nice trip.

Dirk is trying to reach the local SOS childrens village. We decide to go by car to find the village. The village is a little harder to find but after a while we did find it, unfortunately they didn’t receive all the emails we did send them. We make an appointment with them that we are coming by at Monday at 15:00 with the tford.

Tomorrow our guide is coming to pick us up at 08:00