Hello Tanzania

Enter Tanzania at Kaporo

February 27

Today was a long travel day. We travelled 530 km today across the border, leaving Malawi and entering Tanzania. We left at 5:30 am and arrived at our destination by 7:30 pm. As we travel from country to country on this very large continent, it always amazes us how the landscapes and vegetation, way of life, conditions and overall sense of each location changes as we cross from one border to the next. Driving through the southern highlands of Tanzania was spectacular. I just sat for almost the entire time looking at the views out my window and enjoying the cooler air as we climbed higher and higher. Chris warned us that we weren't asking for washroom breaks, indicating to him that we were not taking in as much water. I'm not sure if it was the cooler temperatures that lead to that or the dread of having to use a public toilet en route. Tea farms, eucalyptus trees, more shades of green I've seen in my life and kilometres of open natural landscape was refreshing.

We landed at our camp, just outside of the town of Iringa, on the grounds of a local farmhouse. Since we arrived just after sunset, we quickly put up our tents, attached flashlight headbands to our heads and followed the signs to the refreshment station. It turned out to be a mud hut with comfortable furniture and lit with candle lanterns. Very nice and just what we all needed to recover from a long travel day. Kioko was busy making us dinner. He doesn't accept offers of help when making dinner. I think he just doesn't want us to know how he cooks some of his special dishes. Whenever I ask how he does it, the response is “Kiolo magic.” Funny guy.

Early to bed because the plan was to once again start at 5:30 am The roads are long and slow in sections. Tomorrow our destination is Dar Es Salaam