Entering Tanzania

On this Friday, 17 July, we didn’t rush to wake-up. After coffee, Hans suggested that we start packing up to get to the Ferry. He was not sure of how many times it will cross. First-come-first-cross. The Ferry can take 50 Tons at a time.

 

A big truck was first in the queue. High tide will be coming in at about 16h00, when it will be deep enough for the Ferry to sail. 

The Girls served a brunch; Chris parked his Landy next to Mkulu and put up an awning. We welcomed the shade.

Soon everybody was busy doing their own thing to try and kill time. Just watching the activities of the locals were interesting on its own – A day in the life of a Ruvoma citizen. 

A man, selling oranges caught Hans’s attention. It fascinated him, how the vendor skilfully peeled the oranges, leaving only the white skin, then cutting them in half and selling them for only 20 meticas. 

Nellie and Wimcar visited stalls, which made chips with 2eggs. The eggs were folded in with a trained hand. It resembled an omelet. They tried one. The chips were fat and soft and the eggs perfectly baked in coconut oil. Delicious!!!!

Chris and Julia watched a small boy with his stick fishing rod. He had a piece of gut and a tiny bait. He was pulling out sardine size fish. An elderly man took his rod to try his luck, but to no avail.

Hans saw the Ferry coming from the other side. Soon our long wait was over. Offloading went very fast, after which Hans went on first, then Chris and then Wimcar. We were parked in front, followed by a big truck and the rest. This was a very pleasant experience for the group.

30 minutes later we were in Tanzania. 

There was a queue of people ahead of us at Immigration. Slowly, the sun was setting and slowly the queue became shorter. Another African lesson was soon to be learnt – Nellie’s passport wasn't stamped out on the Mozambique side. The official had it in his hand but no stamp????? Nellie didn’t CHECK! I think it might be yet another trick to get a bribe??! Thanks to the Tanzanian officers, they stamped her in to Tanzania. Problem solved. We proceeded - $50 for the cars’ Third party insurance and the red stickers were on the vehicles’ windows.

Once again it was dark. The GPS was set on Aqua Nature Reserve, Ruvulu Camp. Everybody followed Hans. Many oil lamps were burning and it looked as if the little villages were lit up with fairy lights. People were out and about, mingling in harmony. This is how we remember Tanzania - friendly and helpful people. BUT nothing is for FREE. Ask a simple question and you must give them a reward. Elisme took out a packet of sweets.

We arrived at the camp site at 20h00. A very friendly (and highly intoxicated) gate guard opened the gate for us. Thanks to Maria we got our stand and soon we were all having a whisky, wine and lasagne for dinner. 

Our beds were very inviting tonight, until the stillness was disturbed by our drunken guard. Hans and Joseph went to sort him out, after Chris told him in no "UNCERTAIN" terms where to go!

In the morning we were greeted by an amazing beach with Palms, white sand and blue water. The rustic camp site completed the picture. We had a nice brunch - crumpets, cream, cheese, honey, guava jam, sausage with red wine sauce, creamy scramble eggs and cheddar cheese. We were ready to take on the day.

We were soon reminded just how expensive Tanzanian parks were. The official arrived by motor bike. Hans said he will pay but we needed a receipt - $20 per person Park fees and $10 for camping, $30 pp. with no water in the showers. We only stayed here for 12 hours.

So nothing comes cheap in Tanzania.