Tanzania

Loïc: The North West of Tanzania seems uninhabited and without interest (aside from an amazing reserve where bikes are forbidden). The tracks are not easy and as we said in our previous article another biker in 990 Adventure was attacked in this place, far from everything, letting his brother there with a broken arm...

So we get back to Kenya to enter Tanzania. The road is either great...

Either under construction and dusty.

We enter Tanzania nearby the Kilimandjaro, the highest peak in Africa (19334 ft).

Seeing the Kilimandjaro is a milestone for us as were the crossing of the Equator or the view of pyramids.

We were warned that the Kilimandjaro is usually in mist in this season and that we were unlikely to see it except perhaps very early in the morning or in the evening.

We are lucky as we can see the Kilimandjaro on our way to a campsite which was recommended to us.

Aurel: I dedicate this picture to Pierre M., I know he would have loved to be there with his KTM. Hello to the whole family

Loïc: The sun sets half an hour after this picture is taken. The twilight makes it even more majestic, clear and big.

But we have to move on and not stop for taking pictures. The night falls and we have the rule not to ride at night. So we won't show you remarkable pictures except for this one maybe (by cheating).

Anyway what matters actually is not the aspect of the mountain but the feeling of success when we are in front of it.

And even tough we have not climbed it we have still drinked it every night!

We spend 2 nights in a campsite which is a base camp for people who want to climb the mountain. Then we ride towards a much nicer one, about 15 dusty and sandy kilometers away.

I should better put my all-land tyres!

Aurel: This campsite is much nicer, lost in the middle of the savannah.

Loïc: We can even catch a sight of elephants!

Aurel: At night we feel cut off from the rest of the world, alone surrounded by nature. And we feel good here.

The following day we are determined to see elephants from closer. A guide from the campsite is going to show us the way. But according to me this guide is the worst animal hunter in Africa... he zigzags in the savannah without any logic. Sometimes we follow the elephants' trail.

Sometimes he climbs a tree to try locating them.

Anyway we walk for hours in thorns without seeing any elephant. But the walk is great tough.

The only elephant we see that day is this one.

Loïc: The campsite is on the shore of a crater where a lake was formed.

A swim is necessary after this sportive walk!

We continue our adventure by heading toward South. Tanzanian roads are excellent and we can ride long stages without any problem.

Aurel: The roads are pleasant. Landscapes are amazing and there is almost no traffic.

Loïc: We enjoy the savannah landscape of North Tanzania.

Vegetation gets luxuriant when we ride down the South.

We ride through a reserve on our way to Iringa. There is a sign at the entrance but without any other information. It is not specified that bikes and pictures are forbidden so we go on. It's the only road anyway. Animals are a few steps away from the road: monkeys, herds of impalas, giraffes, zebras...

We take pictures until a guard from the reserve stops us and ask us to follow him at the park's entrance. The director wants to speak to us because we take pictures without any authorisation and because we have not paid the entree fees.

The big boss does not want to hear anything and wants to make us pay the 20$ fees. He moralizes us but he knows he is wrong as there is nothing written at the entrance. He even asks the guard to give us a ride in 4X4 where we were not allowed to go with the bike.

We are on our way to Tukuy close to Malawi and we ride through tea and banana trees fields and on mountains roads.

Aurel: Some campsites are in those fields. There we feel cut off from the rest of the world as well.

Many kilometers without any problem, an ideal weather and a perfect road.
Can we ask for more for a bike's trip?

Aurel: And now, Malawi!