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Through Tanzanian heat and rains

The desert climate of the Udzungwa National Park makes it easy to spot stars.
The desert climate of the Udzungwa National Park makes it easy to spot stars.

I leave the Baobab Valley campground early on the morning of May 25. I want to reach Dar Es Salaam early enough so I can stop at the French embassy and get the emergency passport procedure going as soon as possible.

Leaving the Baobab Valley campsite.
Leaving the Baobab Valley campsite.

In the past, it was possible to get extra pages added to a passport, but with all the new biometric requirements, you can’t anymore. The emergency passport is a small passport valid for one year with ten pages. It is likely I will have to stop later on to get an extra one, maybe in Asia.

Baboons on the road. They move fast and are hard to photograph.
Baboons on the road. They move fast and are hard to photograph.

The road to Dar is interesting. Going east, it first travels through a rain forest, then through the Mikumi National Park.

Best sights are often in the morning.
Best sights are often in the morning.

Around 8 in the morning, crossing the mountains is a guaranty of seeing the best landscape, with fog lifting up. Driving alone is a big change from the Americas. I now listen to my iPod a lot more and do fewer breaks to eat lunch. I still don’t speak to myself.

On the road to Dar Es Salaam.
On the road to Dar Es Salaam.

As I cross Mikumi National Park, I don’t see much wildlife. The major road divide the Park in two, and animals stay away of it, except a lonely giraffe who watch me going through and gets back eating leaves

The only wildlife I will see in Mikumi.
The only wildlife I will see in Mikumi.

At 1 p.m., I am in Dar, and wait for the embassy to open. The climate in the city is brutal. The temperatures are high, at 40 degrees C in the shadow, and the humidity is horrendous. I am getting closer to the Equator, and the sun is now strong, worst than when I was in the Americas.

Waiting for the embassy to open.
Waiting for the embassy to open.

At 2:30 p.m., someone accept to see me. I convince them to make me the emergency passport even if there is no emergency, and also let my present passport valid, as I need it to re-enter the U.S. at the end of my trip. They finally accept, and tell me it will take two to seven days. It is out of my hands now, and I go to the historical city center to find a place to sleep.

Dar Es Salaam streets, always busy and hot.
Dar Es Salaam streets, always busy and hot.

My guidebook is ten years old, and the city must have change a lot. Therefore, when I get to the addresses I have, it looks like the hotels are closed since many years. Eventually, after two hours, someone tells me they have a parking lot at the YMCA. I get there, and take a room for two nights. For 10,000 shillings (US$7.5) I can have a bed with a mosquito net, and my truck in a secure place.
In the following days, I try to survive the intense heat. I walk the streets of Dar, and enjoy this city where the Arab influence is clearly visible. People in the street are more cosmopolitan than in the other places I visited, and are easier to communicate with. Africans, Arabs, Chinese and Indians form the melting pot flooding the streets. The harbor started in the 19th century as a fishing village and is now a bustling city. Driving is a nightmare here, due to the small streets filled with people, chariots motorcycles and other vehicles.

The city central “Kariakoo” food market.
The city central “Kariakoo” food market.

The third day, I receive an email from the embassy to inform me that the passport is ready. I go pick it up at 2 p.m., pay US$40 for it, and leave the city immediately after. I will now go north to Mount Kilimanjaro, and then pass the border to Kenya.

The Pare Mountains, marking the border between Kenya and Tanzania.
The Pare Mountains, marking the border between Kenya and Tanzania.

For a long time, I have been debating whether I should visit Ngorongoro and the Serengeti National Parks. Unfortunately, the very high price of entering and staying in the parks doesn’t work for me. Every day there would cost me at least US$100.

The Masai Steppe.
The Masai Steppe.

What I decide to do instead it to use a small road on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, cross at Oloitokitok, and then enjoy the Kenyans parks, supposedly cheaper. It takes me two days to get to the roof of Africa. Unfortunately, the visibility is very bad, and I can’t get a glimpse at the mountains. I am not in an area where it is the dry season anymore, so in the next countries, I will get a lot of rain, which makes camping more difficult, as I have experienced in the last days. Cooking under the rain is a pain, really. Eventually I hope the sky will clear up, so I would be able to take a good shot of the snow capped Kilimanjaro…

Country borders often follow physical borders. In this case, the mountains form a real wall.
Country borders often follow physical borders. In this case, the mountains form a real wall.

I spent nights in campgrounds, under the rain or in the fog. Most of the time gas stations or hotels have an area where you can camp and cook for US$3. Today, May 29, I will attempt to take the road to the border, on the slope of Kilimanjaro. The road has the reputation to be difficult, and may be cut, in which case it will take me few hours to go back and find a more convenient road.