Mbeya
Laura: We were all feeling sad to leave Nkhata Bay but on the other hand, we had spent nearly a week relaxing by the lake and needed to head back to civilization. We left Mayoka at 8am and headed into town to catch a minibus to Mzuzu. Travelling with Clayton (originally from Zimbabwe) made it alot easier to negotiate prices with the locals and we got a pretty good deal on the minibus. At Mzuzu we were mobbed by guys at the bus station and eventually settled on a 12 seater to take us to the Tan/Mal border. We loaded our bags on and looked in the bus to discover barely any space left. At this point I told the driver to take our bags off because the bus was full and he looked at me like I was insane.
As it turned out, we did all fit in along with another 4 local guys! This was the second most uncomfortable minibus journey we took (the first will come later) mainly due to sitting on a cramped sweaty bus with no back on the seat trying to contend with the biggest African man waving his arms in front of my face and trying his best to squash my ribs into the window. As it turned out this guy was actually on our side and was asking the driver why he charged us more than the locals! After a brief stop where I went for a wee in a bush and tried not to get bitten by any cobras, we got to Karonga. We had paid the driver to take us all the way to the border but when we arrived in Karonga he said that he wasn’t going to the border (typical and annoying) and proceeded to sell us to another driver! None of this was explained to us (again in typical fashion) and we were essentially being herded around like cattle. It was at this stage that Ahmad began to resemble Stewie from Family Guy and started shouting ‘give me my money back’ to the driver. You could almost see steam rising from his head but still nobody explained anything and carried on unloading our backpacks. After what seemed like an age we were informed (how gracious) that we had been sold to another guy and we shouldn’t have to pay him anything extra. This went without a hitch and we arrived at the border to the usual swarm of currency changers and general dodgy folk. We had about 40,000 kwatcha to change and we knew what rate to expect so we headed to an eatery to sort the cash out. This was probably the best thing we could have done because it stopped the guys trying to swarm us in the street and we amicably changed our money with little stress. The guys following us the day after unfortunately did not have the same experience; Emma was robbed after the group got swarmed and somebody stole her I phone when they got on a minibus. After crossing the border we had to walk for about 20 minutes to reach the bus station where a minibus was waiting. We hopped on and picked the two worst seats known to man at the back. This was the most uncomfortable journey to date. We were sat squashed up next to a woman who stank and proceeded to take the piss out of us blatantly to other locals in Swahili. Just in case she was in any doubt that we couldn’t understand, she kept pointing at us to make sure we knew! One bonus of this journey was the amazing fruit we bought from the ladies passing by the windows. We got some amazing passion fruit (10 for around 20p!!) and the fruit has not been better anywhere since.
After 4 hours minus an arse with any feeling left whatsoever, we arrived in Mbeya, Tanzania. I just want to note that after leaving Malawi, we were not that impressed with the locals in Tanzania who didn’t seem to be that friendly. We headed to the nearest hotel and got completely ripped of the by the woman on shift. She showed us three rooms at different prices and obviously we selected the cheapest one. When the time came to pay she told us a different price and refused to budge. At this point we were absolutely knackered and pissed off so we just accepted it and got checked in. Mbeya was also the end of good backpacker hostels; you mainly get hotels and guesthouses in Tanzania and Kenya. I decided it would be a good idea to get a receipt from this woman due to her being a complete snake. She had forgotten her thievery and started writing a receipt for a less amount! I immediately sprang on her about it at which point she remembered and changed the receipt, at least she couldn’t pocket the money for herself now.
The next day both Emma’s, Jamie, Ro and Chris arrived. They had had a fairly stressful time at the border and on the minibuses (they were also mocked in an unkind way) and were feeling exhausted. Our train was due to leave that night and we were all looking forward to the experience because trains are quite rare in Africa and this particular route went via a national park.
Dar Es Salaam
The train from Mbeya to Dar was an amazing experience. We booked first class which gave us a cabin with 4 beds, a table and a shower/toilet down the hall. We saw an incredible sunset as well as giraffes, zebra, warthogs and elephants out the window. The main incident that stands out involved a near bribe situation with an off duty drunk policeman. Clayton and Chelsea smoke ALOT of weed, as does Jamie. We had locked the cabin door and those guys were having a smoke out the window when I noticed that somebody was picking the lock from the outside and before we knew it the law was upon us. I say the law but this guy was not exactly the epitome of professionalism and had clearly drank many bottles of Kilimanjaro. Jamie immediately threw the spliff into a closable ashtray and we all tried to look as innocent as possible which was slightly difficult considering that the room was full of smoke and smelled like weed. The policeman was zoning in on Jamie as the main offender and was giving him a serious lecture about prison in Africa whilst desperately trying to operate the ashtray to discover the drugs without success. Ahmad showed him his tobacco case and everyone was insisting that nothing untoward was going on in the cabin, it was just tobacco! After a ten minute lecture which amazingly did not lead to a bribe he disappeared. Ten minutes later there were sober on duty police officers stationed outside our cabin. No further incidents occurred which was fine with us – I don’t fancy getting locked up in Africa thank you very much. We arrived and negotiated a taxi to our hotel (The Jambo Inn), got checked in and had a super Indian meal before heading to bed.
The next day Ro, Chris, Jamie and Emma left for Zanzibar to catch a music festival in Stone Town but Emma Hannan stayed an extra night in Dar because she fell in love with the place! This was good to hear because Emma did not have the best introduction to Tanzania and had said a few days before that she wanted to leave asap. I personally think it was the Indian food in Dar that swayed her (Emma loves India btw)!! We enjoyed Dar Es Salaam alot although it was damn hot and really dusty. At the end of each day my feet and legs were black from all the dust sticking to my sunscreen – it was pretty disgusting. It was also lucky for me that Emma decided to hang on because I had developed an infection in my foot from scraping it on a rock in the lake. Emma being an excellent nurse expressed it for me, disinfected the area and wrapped it up tight. It healed really quick after that – thanks Emma! The second night we headed out and found a super Indian restaurant that served thalis, Indian sweets, dosa and general good south Indian fare. Emma left the next morning and we agreed to meet again in Zanzibar. We couldn’t afford to go to the festival because accommodation was really expensive – I massively regret not going and just shelling out the extra cash because from what we heard, the festival was incredible and it would have improved our somewhat negative experience in Zanzibar.
We moved hotels after Emma left (to the Safari Inn) because their AC rooms were cheaper than non AC at the Jambo Inn. The first night the AC didn’t work and the second night it barely lasted! There were scheduled power cuts in Dar so every hotel and restaurant had a generator but alot of the time people didn’t want to use them because of the cost.
Zanzibar
Eventually we caught the ferry to Zanzibar (2 hours and bloody roasting). I was really excited as everybody we met said that Zanzibar was amazing. I was also looking forward to seeing the Malawi guys again. We arrived in Stone Town mid afternoon and picked up a stray backpacker, Tanya from Canada, who was staying at the same hotel as us, the Princess Salme Inn. This was the cheapest option in Stone Town at £20 per night! The room we had was fine initially however before we went out I left some cashew nuts on the bed (I know I’m stupid) and needless to say, 6 hours later there were a million ants in a pure state of ecstasy covering the entire thing. After getting new sheets it then became so ridiculously hot that it was impossible to sleep. Ahmad and I went to the roof terrace at 3am to get some relief, we slept for probably an hour that night. The next day we told the staff that we were leaving and they upgraded us to the deluxe suite with AC for the same price! Bonus! Stone Town was a little underwhelming if I’m honest. The architecture was impressive and we loved the evening food market but unfortunately it was very touristy and the restaurants weren’t great. When you’re shelling out alot for a hotel and a return ferry this is pretty annoying. The guys from Malawi went to another part of the island which sounded amazing but we were a couple of days behind them and were keen to head to Kenya. We did a spice tour just outside of Stone Town which was really interesting; we tried Jack Fruit (a cross between banana and pineapple), star fruit and saw various spices in their natural form. On our last night we met everyone again in Stone Town and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Later we said goodbye to Matt, Charlotte, Jamie and both Emma’s. I felt particularly sad saying goodbye to Emma Hannan who is one of the greatest people I have ever met, we were both nearly blubbing in the street and I made her promise to stay with us if she ever comes to London and she for us if we ever head to Melbourne! The next day we got the Ferry back to Dar, spent one night there and caught a 5am bus to Nairobi.