1st Sept– Uganda - Jinja.

After a 2 hour crossing into Uganda we had a beautiful road to Jinja. We stayed 9 k’s out of Jinja at bujagali falls – rapids to be exact, absolutely the most spectacular view to camp on. We were right on the river, with roaring rapids all around us. The camp site “Speke” was really run down, and I wondered why. So much they could do with this place the ablutions was disgusting – really cr@p. Filthy dirty and all the plumbing and sanitary is broken. I made enquiries only to find out that they are building a Hydro electric dam a Kilometre down stream and the whole area will be flooded in about 4 years. Cindy went white water rafting and had a fantastic time and met some new friends. Colleen and I went on a boat trip and tour. We were supposed to go fishing but the Boat owner didn’t have proper bait. They catch mainly Tilapia, which we had for supper the previous night at the camps restaurant, it was good and cooked nicely, not over done like most places. We stayed 2 nights there, fantastic , except the health risk when having to shower, even with my crocs on.

30th August - Maasai Mara

We left Musoma to Sirari border post, Was easy peasy but then we hit the worst crappiest road or “No Road” for 150 k’s to Maasai Mara. At this stage all held together in one piece. Maasai Mara was not what we were expecting. Ok so they have the world renowned Wildebees migration crossing, We missed this by 3 days, however because the weather pattern has changed the Mara was low, and therefore not as many drowning as normal, funny they say the crocs don’t eat the drowned animals, they want to kill there own food. Most of the animals are drowned because the mass of them jumping and being pushed under by the mass. However the masses are much less these days only and couple hundred thousand at a time. We saw a number of big very big fat crocs and all the spoor of the wildebees and a number of carcases but not at the waters edge mostly I think they died from injuries sustained at the crossing of were attacked by lions when they came out of the Mara . Other than that if you imagine very large herds of cattle on a farm and replace the cattle with wildebees then that’s the Maasai Mara for you. Just large very large herds og wildebees cattle. The public campsite at $25 per head was in a dense bushy area but absolutely no facilities, not even a tap. So nor more Maasai mara for us. Then we left the Mara and went to Kericho and camped at the Tea Plantation Hotel, again the “No Roads” were so bad that we broke the trailers main spring blade. But we kept going all the way to Uganda. Buy now the trailer shock’s wers useless and the plastic sleeve cover had actually melted and all the oil bled out.

27th August - Serengeti

We stayed at our pre-booked Tented camp “Wild Frontiers” camp - Makoma 2. Awesome loads of lions, cheetah Ellies, Giraffe, buffaloes, but again no Leopard. We took a look at the Seronera public camp sites( I think there are 4 camps) because we had read a lot of articles and were told of absolutely diabolical ablutions in Serengeti as a whole. We were pleasantly surprised as they were clean and neat, and hence the reason we stayed in the Tented camp at huge expense. The ablution blocks did not look old either, so maybe they have cleaned up there act a bit. Then we left to go to Maasai Mara in Kenya via Musoma. We camped on the beach on Lake Victoria at Tembo Hotel and Camp. It was hot and Colleen and I decided to take a swim. The water was clear but all the debris on the floor was distasteful, like tins and bottles left by the fishermen and others so we gave up on that one, but the setting was great with a stunning sunset. We were the only campers next to the Hotel – no overland back packers to bother us.

25th August - Kudu Camp – Ngorongoro

We are now in Kudu Camp Park – Karatu, also very pretty with a gr8 bar and pretty gardens. This is because tomorrow we go into the Ngorongoro Crater and will stay there one night at Simba Camp A on the rim of the crater, and as Tanzanian Park fees are hellishly expensive we need to use up the 24 hour permit to our best advantage, this means going into the park at 11 am, drive to the camp, drop off the trailer, pick up out compulsory guide which is included in the $200 crater fees and spend the next 6 hours in the crater before coming out again the camp on the rim. Well to say the least the Crater is absolutely wonderful. We saw all, and I mean ALL, except leopard. Lots of lazy fat Lions lying belly up. Their was a hungry looking Cheetah waiting to catch it’s supper when it started to walk it had a very bad limp in it’s hind leg. Obviously it had been injured and hence the reason it looked hungry is it could not hunt. It is like a huge plain with game everywhere in huge quantities, Also their was water – although its the dry season -the lake is fed by a spring. The contrast from the rim down into the crater is vast, freezing cold on the rim at 2360m and very misty with a dense forest leading up the top. The crater is quite warm and dry, only one section has a forest which is beautiful and full of ellies and giraffe. Apparently it’s even nicer in the wet season as from November onwards the whole centre of the crater is filled up with millions of Pink Flamingoes. There were some there now but only a few thousand. One thing was that you got herds of cattle grazing amounst the wild game and the lions don’t go near the Maasai, apparently the smell of them and also their brightly coloured blankets scare the lions away. Amazing that Wild life and domesticated animals can live together in harmony. I wish people could do the same.

24th August - Arusha Town

We left Pangani and arrived in Arusha, I must say it’s a lovely lush city, very pretty with lots and lots of gardens and parks. I think you could buy anything you wanted here – it’s a great shopping centre. We managed to eventually find the Wild Frontiers Office to confirm our booking to the Tented Camp Lodge in the Serengeti. This will be the first accommodation that we had had in 5 weeks other than camping. The guys there were fantastic with helping us to plan the next week of our trip. We then left and drove 25k’s to Snake Park Camp via the Zain Cell provider and bought a local sim card. We found that the use of the Sat Phone that Adolf lent us a bit restricting as the connections that we have had so far (about 25mins) are of very poor quality and we have to keep repeating ourselves with the signal coming and going.
Besides the Camp having a snake park – which we did not go and see ­-they also have some camels – not quite sure what they do with them, but better still they have a gr8 pub.
I found the owner of Snake Park Camp also has a workshop that repairs cruisers and he has also rebuilt 2 of them. One is a mid 60 FJ45 with 1F motor and the other is a “FJ43” see the pics, I could not establish the year model, but have posted some pics here. Someone please tell Adolf about the 43.

23rd August – Dar to Pangani Camp

The ferry was rather quick and after drawing more $$$ from the ATM we were on our way to Snake Park Camp. It was more suited to backpackers but as it was only one night it had to do. I must say that the Police stops are everywhere, I would say about ever 20 k’s, but they are very great and are just inquisitive to know who we are and where we are going and a friendly “Welcome to Tanzania” a hand shake and we are off again to the next stop. I have never known a country with so many Speed Bumps, drives you crazy!!!! This was a lovely camp site on the river (Pangani) and again we had the place to our selves. By now Colleen and Cindy were really enjoying themselves. We passed plantation after plantation of Sisal plants. They had a jetty on the river and a chair that looked like a “long drop” at the end. I was about to try if when the girls could me in the act.

23th August – Dar es Salaam Battery problems

Leaving this camp was difficult as we had made good friends here at Sunrise Beach camp in Dar es Salaam and was a gr8 place to unwind. However we left and Headed through the traffic to the ferry crossing. This is the first time we have taken the Prado and trailer on the ferry, previously we did the 39k circular stretch which took over an hour, but saying that one can also wait an hour of more to cross with the ferry. The reason why we had to go in to town centre today – Sunday is because I discovered that the Prado’s main engine battery was playing up over the last week as 2 cells were dead. Being Sunday the main suppliers were closed so had to use a back yard dealer, suspect, but we had little choice. It was not the exact same battery but from a 79 series cruiser – the terminals are on the opposite sides, however a bit of juggling around with the cables and it fitted. By now it was 11am and we still had 380 k’s to go to our next stop.