Day 71 – Working & chilling still at Peponi Beach resort.
72 – Went to see Sally & Geoffs house. Very nice place set on an 8 acre beach plot. Then drove to Bahari Baobab lodge south of Pangani, just south of Usongo near Beach Crab resort. It was closed but they opened for us and we had a lovely beach safari tent. The resident pack of 6 dogs were a bit excitable and annoying. to begin with, getting underfoot all the time. The large one kept nipping me me so I gave him a slap. During the night the 2 smallest dogs insisted on sleeping inside our tent while the rest kept guard outside. The tent zip was broken so I couldnt keep them out. They were a bit noisy and whiny at some points of the night. It did occur to me that maybe having a pack of guard dogs was a good thing, since the tent wouldn’t close and we were less than 10 miles form Sadaani National Park, which has predators.
73 – The next morning we went to look at a 4 acre beach plot that was for sale nearby. It was very nice, although quite remote and having no services. The new coastal road (from Kenyan border to Dar) would make access a lot easier when it is completed. We continued on towards Kigamboni, but time was against us so we stayed at Jones’ place in Upanga, Dar.
74 – We left Jones’ place and headed across the ferry to Kigamboni. We spend quite a few hours on dull dirt roads, making little progress, then eventually stumbled upon a very lovely place called Sea Eagle Resort. They had some lovely new small villas which we negotiated 400K Tsh for 2 nights, about £120 GBP. Being a weekday we had the whole place to ourselves. The staff were friendly and the owner very bubbly and happy to chat to us. There was a full moon rise looking east over the ocean which was amazing to see. We watched it from the beach.
75 – Next day I did some work and we went to visit a friend of Sumas mother, Stanley, who lived half an hour away in Kigamboni. He warmly welcomed us, and in keeping with Swahili tradition, treated us to a feast in his lovely huge mansion. We got back to Sea Eagle Resort in time to see the moon rise again.
76 – We got up early-ish and drove a circuitous route on bad roads towards the tar road that would take us south towards the Rufiji river, we then followed a dirt road upstream towards Mloka village at the eastern Mtemere gate to Nyerere National Park. We have been here several times previously, but never with our own tent, so we wanted to find a campsite rather than an expensive lodge. We managed to get in contact with Felix, our old friend, but he was working away in Mikumi so was not able to meet us.
I wanted to stay in a public campsite inside the park, but was cautious. Ideally, I’d love to stay at a riverside campsite with fantastic views. The one public campsite available was at Lake Tagadala, and the reviews on iOverlander were not appealing; no views of the lake. Since a campsite with a nice view was a top priority, there were 3 options for riverside campsites outside the park. We tried Hippo Camp, but the 2 access trails were badly overgrown. No vehicles had been there recently – Elephants had ripped up trees and blocked both access routes.
The next camp was not on iOverlander but signposted Mbega Executive Camp, and not far from Hippo Camp. The access road was overgrown but driveable, and it didnt look promising. We arrived at the parking lot and were about to turn around when someone appeared. He said the camp was closed while it was being rebuilt. Earlier that year there had been major flooding in the Rufiji, caused by El Nino. It was made worse when the new hydro-electric project upstream had to release huge quantities of water to prevent the dam from failing. We had a look around and the damage was condsiderable; they had lost several bandas and about 10m of river frontage. The camps in this area are all perched on a high cliff top on a bend overlooking the river. The cliff is just compacted sand, so just collapses when the river floods. I recall my GCSE Geography at school on how rivers undercut their banks to create meanders. I fear all of these camps are unfortunately doomed, especially with more frequent El Nino events and higher rainfall in the region. Hippo has been abandoned, the owners having cut their losses.
The guy who showed us around told us that the next camp along the river, called Selous River Camp, was open and just a short stroll away. We went for a look, and were immediately very impressed. The camp pitches didnt have a river view (the river views were reserved for the bandas). The bar & restaurant and relaxing area have a spectacular river view. They even had a small swimming pool (which was newly rebuilt after falling into the river during the floods). For one night for 4 of us to camp, with a hearty meal and drinks was around $100 USD. The sunset was spectacular.
A small, thin very dark-coloured snake with black eyes and a lighter underside came through the bar area at night. We got a good close look at him but nobody there could identify what species it was. It was pretty relaxed. I don’t think it was a Black Mamba, but not sure or daft enough to pick it up.
77 – We left camp at 7.30am and entered the park. We saw a female Elephant and her calf on the way out of the campsite. We entered the park quite quickly because their internet was not working so couldnt take payment. We then spent around 7 hours doing a game drive along the river and around the lakes. It is very pretty here but we didnt see much wildlife. There were plenty of Giraffe, Impala, Hippo & Crocodiles. We saw some Buffalo, Kudu and Wildebeest but no Elephant (although there were plenty of signs of Elephants around) or predators.
We left the park at the western gate (Matambwe) around 3.30pm and drove towards Sumas moms house in Morogoro. There is another route to Morogoro which i havent tried before; It leads from Kisaki, heading west and then north to Mikumi National Park. We asked in Kisaki as to the road condition. The locals informed us that the road is no good; only the park rangers use it, and we would need a park permit; it leads through park of Nyerere NP and also Mikumi NP. We headed back to Morogoro on the better dirt road skirtin the beautiful Uluguru mountains. We arrived in Morogoro at 7.30pm, the last hour being in the dark on a busy dirt road. My super-bright headlamps were invaluable here.
