Fri 4th …caught a boda to the bus stand for the usual early morning start. What I’ve begun to notice in this part of TZ is that all the buses leave bang on 06:00. There’s somebody with a torch ushering the buses iut in order and bang on time. It can mean there’s a bit of a race at the beginning of the journey to get to the weighbridge first !

Only 4 hours to Mpanda…half of which in darkness. A little stopover for snacks snacks loo break. In Mpanda, nobody had heard of of Catherine’s..the hotel Mark recommended. Eventually we found it. But no WiFi, so ended up at Mpanda hotel. WiFi not working but found out the next day that HOTEL spelled with a zero and not an ‘o’. Anyway, walked around the town and found a nice place to have kiti moto.

Sat 5th. Didn’t do much. Realised the bus stand was a few kms from the town. Bought my ticket for the following day to Sumbawanga…I had this idea of going to Lake Rukwa and swimming in that Rift Valley lake. Had kiti moto in the same place. Decided not to go to the same bar as the previous afternoon as my presence seemed to nearly spark a riot !!

Sun 6th..early boda to the bus stand. Was going to travel through Kativa gamepark…unfortunately half the journey was in the dark, and there were so many trees and the foliage was so thick that there was no chance of seeing any animals. Dropped off in Sumbawanga at an odd Stage.. A guy saw I was confused and took advantage and sold me a ticket towards Lake Rukwa at an inflated price….5000tsh..only £1.60 so not too serious.

I got in a dala dala and went a few kms up the road. At that point we stopped and waited for the vehicle to fill up before we could start the journey. Unfortunately it was 7 hours before we headed off. The main problem was the fact it was Sunday and not as many people travelling as usual. Anyway, time passed with people watching and generally closing down the brain.

We departed at 17:00. After the initial tarmac it was rough road the rest of the way. The earth’s fairly compacted though, and not too uncomfortable. It was a very steep drop from the escarpment down towards Lake Rukwa…hadn’t expected that. The driver and lady next to me asked where I was going…Msia. To see friends ?? No. That’s when I discovered there were no lodges in Msia but there was one in Milepa, so I went the extra half hour to ensure I had somewhere to sleep that night. Room cost 10,000…3 pounds…some peeling plaster and jug and bucket of water job for washing. There was tz football on the TV, which I joined in watching whilst I drank a small bottle of Konyagi with a soda.

Mon 7th. Had tea and mandazi for breakfast. Went for a little walk around the village with Jacky. Went to buy Airtel phone credit but there wasn’t any and that’s why there wasn’t Airtel reception in Milepa. Was disappointed that I couldn’t contact Tor on his birthday, but had sort of warned him the day before that my travelling conditions weren’t easy.

I paid for a boda to take me a few Kms out of the village to the shores of Lake Rukwa. So that was fun and interesting. I had already realised I wouldn’t be able to swim in Lake Rukwa because of the presence of crocodiles and hippos. Nice visit nevertheless. Not much else to do in the afternoon. The retired ex Govt minister who owned the hotel, showed me his tilapia fish ponds.

I had fish with rice and an omelette for dinner; apparently no sauce so I got an an omelette instead!! The fish was a lot smaller than expected but all tasty. I was asked to propose a price for the fish dinner….I dislike it when that happens…so I offered 3,000.. One pound, and it was accepted. Had a couple if beers. Jacky offered to give me a massage. And that was my visit to Lake Rukwa . Off the beaten track. Totally unexpected outcome. Played it by ear. And rather memorable couple of days. There was another early start the next day for Mbeya.