Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Road to Arusha (part 2) the continuing saga
On the next ridge the silhouette of a single home right at the crest broke the curves of the trees. I can’t come up with the words to explain how peaceful and astonishing the view was. We took it all in, but the glorious sights provided a sensory overload. How I drove through this with my eyes on the track in front of us, is any one’s guess.
We were into our descent now and I had to stay sharp, as there was really no room for error. I rarely left first gear as we crawled down the track. As we entered the tree line we were swallowed by the jungle; the green, the dark and the smell. The aroma of the jungle reminded me of home; in the mountains after a rain, that clean smell of vegetation. It was wonderfull.
After descending the Mgara we came out onto a flat jungle area and passed through a small village set among a stand of ancient trees which formed high canopy. Here we stopped briefly and took some pictures of nesting herons high above the truck. The locals peered at us from a hoteli with friendly eyes, but we were still on a schedule and could not stop for Chipsi Mayai, which would have gone down nicely.
The road out of the village was mostly good and in a few instances I got out of 4th gear though only for brief bursts between the big bumps. We soon reached our first river crossing. Jeanine’s advice was to follow the guy on the bike through as he would stick to the shallowest water. But he had the idea to follow the truck through and was waiting for us. So we asked a couple of guys who were sitting at the banks who told us - in Swahili – one for one, which loosely translates to one way. We took this to mean straight through and I we rolled up the windows and plunged into the water. It was smooth and 2-3 feet deep so we made it through with no problems. However, I broke a cardinal rule of water crossing, that only I noticed, I shifted mid-stream. I don’t remember who told me this rule and I can’t imagine who it was as I don’t remember traversing many rivers in a truck but I know it’s a rule. Oh well, we made it and it wasn’t the only crossing. The next one had a very rough entry and a steep bank on the far side. I chose my path and we entered the water. This one was a bit deeper but no less easy to cross, I gunned it up the far bank and we were on our way again.
As we continued through the wasteland toward the main road, our track got better and better. I hit a couple of large bumps at high speed but the Land Cruiser was up for the task and we passed by dry wooded grassland. Here we saw a few Vervet Monkeys and a couple of Dik Diks. We were happy to see some wildlife, took some pictures and carried on.
We finally turned onto the main road, which means it is busy and wide. The road was not particularly good with thick gravel and a deep washboard surface. Despite this we were able to get 80Kph out of the Cruiser and started to make up some time. Whenever a vehicle passed the dust was blinding but the light breeze dissipated it quickly and we were able to get back up to speed. After about an hour we reached the tarmac road just as darkness fell. At the point where the gravel turned to asphalt the Polisi were just setting up the nightly roadblock. We slowed but as Jeanine encouraged I kept on through with no problem.
The tarmac was fairly broken in the first few kilometers but we pushed it a bit and were soon on the smoothest surface we had seen in months. We cruised past massai herd and homes at 100Kph hitting deep potholes that jumped up out of dusks dim light. The lights had little effect as the darkness set in, as they were probably bounced out of alignment from our earlier thrashing about. Thankfully we were soon in complete darkness and the lights cast their beams on the road in front of us. Well at least the passenger’s side light did; the driver’s side light was shining into the oncoming lane lighting up the driver of each vehicle. This made for a tough time as they approaching car would flash its high beams in my eyes rendering us blind for a few seconds. Confidence was low in the Cruiser at these moments and we slowed down a bit to keep from careening off the road. A good choice, I’m sure you agree!!
To the south we noticed a wild fire burning in a line a few Kilometers long. It was not a pleasant site in itself but it had turned the sun red just before it set and Nik was able to get a couple of nice pictures of it before it sank.
It wasn’t long before we pulled into the swank Coffee Lodge parking lot for our anniversary dinner.
We were into our descent now and I had to stay sharp, as there was really no room for error. I rarely left first gear as we crawled down the track. As we entered the tree line we were swallowed by the jungle; the green, the dark and the smell. The aroma of the jungle reminded me of home; in the mountains after a rain, that clean smell of vegetation. It was wonderfull.
After descending the Mgara we came out onto a flat jungle area and passed through a small village set among a stand of ancient trees which formed high canopy. Here we stopped briefly and took some pictures of nesting herons high above the truck. The locals peered at us from a hoteli with friendly eyes, but we were still on a schedule and could not stop for Chipsi Mayai, which would have gone down nicely.
The road out of the village was mostly good and in a few instances I got out of 4th gear though only for brief bursts between the big bumps. We soon reached our first river crossing. Jeanine’s advice was to follow the guy on the bike through as he would stick to the shallowest water. But he had the idea to follow the truck through and was waiting for us. So we asked a couple of guys who were sitting at the banks who told us - in Swahili – one for one, which loosely translates to one way. We took this to mean straight through and I we rolled up the windows and plunged into the water. It was smooth and 2-3 feet deep so we made it through with no problems. However, I broke a cardinal rule of water crossing, that only I noticed, I shifted mid-stream. I don’t remember who told me this rule and I can’t imagine who it was as I don’t remember traversing many rivers in a truck but I know it’s a rule. Oh well, we made it and it wasn’t the only crossing. The next one had a very rough entry and a steep bank on the far side. I chose my path and we entered the water. This one was a bit deeper but no less easy to cross, I gunned it up the far bank and we were on our way again.
As we continued through the wasteland toward the main road, our track got better and better. I hit a couple of large bumps at high speed but the Land Cruiser was up for the task and we passed by dry wooded grassland. Here we saw a few Vervet Monkeys and a couple of Dik Diks. We were happy to see some wildlife, took some pictures and carried on.
We finally turned onto the main road, which means it is busy and wide. The road was not particularly good with thick gravel and a deep washboard surface. Despite this we were able to get 80Kph out of the Cruiser and started to make up some time. Whenever a vehicle passed the dust was blinding but the light breeze dissipated it quickly and we were able to get back up to speed. After about an hour we reached the tarmac road just as darkness fell. At the point where the gravel turned to asphalt the Polisi were just setting up the nightly roadblock. We slowed but as Jeanine encouraged I kept on through with no problem.
The tarmac was fairly broken in the first few kilometers but we pushed it a bit and were soon on the smoothest surface we had seen in months. We cruised past massai herd and homes at 100Kph hitting deep potholes that jumped up out of dusks dim light. The lights had little effect as the darkness set in, as they were probably bounced out of alignment from our earlier thrashing about. Thankfully we were soon in complete darkness and the lights cast their beams on the road in front of us. Well at least the passenger’s side light did; the driver’s side light was shining into the oncoming lane lighting up the driver of each vehicle. This made for a tough time as they approaching car would flash its high beams in my eyes rendering us blind for a few seconds. Confidence was low in the Cruiser at these moments and we slowed down a bit to keep from careening off the road. A good choice, I’m sure you agree!!
To the south we noticed a wild fire burning in a line a few Kilometers long. It was not a pleasant site in itself but it had turned the sun red just before it set and Nik was able to get a couple of nice pictures of it before it sank.
It wasn’t long before we pulled into the swank Coffee Lodge parking lot for our anniversary dinner.
