The Grand Adventure - Back to Africa!!!

[Christian P.]

We are now in Lilongwe, Malawi!!! As luangwablondes mentionned, the border crossing was extremely smooth and easy, the best so far. They even had a few guys at the end doing a survey to see if we were satisfied...!
The insurance company did try to rip us off though...but luckily we found out in time. More soon, I am trying to upload some pics now. Internet is really slow around here!

 

[Christian P.]

One more country over…snif…we are now in Malawi after spending about 10 days in Zambia. We would have loved to see more of it but unfortunately we must press on a little bit as we need to reach Kenya/Uganda in August to meet our friends.

Zambia will be defined by 2 things for us - Lusaka and South Luangwa national park.

A bit against our will, we ended up spending 6 days in wonderful Lusaka, camping in one of the most unfriendly backpackers so far…We had a steering box leak that needed to be repaired but unbeknownst to us, this last weekend was a long weekend in Zambia. Well at least in Lusaka. A very long weekend. We arrived on Saturday and had to wait until Wednesday for the shops to open and Thursday to get a visa to Malawi!!!

Once we left Lusaka, we decided to get some rest and spend the weekend in South Luangwa National Park. Using a combination of my GPS and my atlas, we identified a “shortcut” to get there. The shortcut turned out to be a 2 days adventure…We reached the final 100 km segment around 7 pm on Friday but after 5 or so kilometers we quickly realized there was no way we would be getting anywhere close to the park that night. The road turned into one of the most horrible track so far, a combination of boulders, branches, dry water bed and such. Not even mentionning the elephants who can be slightly annoyed when disturbed at night. So we ended up camping in the bush next to a village and sharing our dinner with the locals. The next morning, we left around 8 am and after a long drive we finally reached the entrance of the park in mid-afternoon. We spend the next couple days there and were delighted with our visit.


We just arrived in Lilongwe (malawi) last night after a very smooth border crossing. We are heading now to Lake Malawi for some scuba diving then some hiking on Malawi highest peak. From there we are going to cross over to Mozambique - we are actually waiting for our visa right now!

The truck is still doing fine - just bearing a few more scars after each passing adventure…

more pics here:

http://2aroundtheworld.smugmug.com/gallery/8904338_EB8iG/1/590804731_qBPGs

 

[luangwablondes]

The shortcut to South Luangwa NP. Did you take the tracks North of Petuake to the Luangwa River and come in from the South, or the track that passes near the Cathedral at Msoro and comes out at Mfuwe airport?

I like the 1st one alot, where you come down the escarpment and into the Luangwa Valley. Lots of wild dog sightings this year in the GMA South of Mfuwe along the river. Great route to take an extra day or two.

 

[luangwablondes]

If you are thinking of crossing the Rovuma into Tanzania via the ferry, you will not be able to. The ferry sunk. Sure you can hire some guys with a few small boats strapped together and take the vehicle across. But...... they have gotten to be quite mercenary in the past year, being "the only game in town". And if you do this, be aware that a few vehicles have ended taking a swim, ending their safari just like that.

There is a crossing North of Lichinga now.

 

[Christian P.]

If you are thinking of crossing the Rovuma into Tanzania via the ferry, you will not be able to. The ferry sunk. Sure you can hire some guys with a few small boats strapped together and take the vehicle across. But...... they have gotten to be quite mercenary in the past year, being "the only game in town". And if you do this, be aware that a few vehicles have ended taking a swim, ending their safari just like that.

There is a crossing North of Lichinga now.

luangwablondes,

Again thanks for the info. I think this is indeed the crossing we were thinking of taking - the one right along the coast between Tanzania and Mozambique.

We will head to the other one - are-you talking about the new bridge they have just built over the river? We met someone who told us about it but he was not sure if it was completed. I suspect all the info is on the Mozambique forum but I have not had the chance to visit it yet. Usually between my personal emails, this website and my website/photos, my Internet time runs out...

 

[luangwablondes]

The crossing near the coast is the one where the ferry sank. The bridge is not done yet- a bit further upstream, but then I don't have the most up to date info and directed you to the Mozguide.com forum and Mike Slater.

The bugaboo is that I remember is it that isn't finished yet and the best option is to go the Lichinga - Songea route. Now here's another weird hitch. Some people can't get the locals to tell them where it is. From either the Tanz or Moz side. Just find a missionary in Lichinga if that gets to be a problem - or post back here and give me a couple days to see if I can contact some people.

 

[Christian P.]

Mozambique crossing into Tanzania

luangwablondes,

I found my answer on the Mozambique forum...looks like we are in for some good fun if we go this route.

http://www.mozguide.com/fala/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3015&whichpage=1

some excerpts:

BUT IF USING YOUR OWN VEHICLE (IT MUST BE A 4X4 E.G LANDROVER DEFENDER OR LANDCRUISER) THEN:
1) The Rovuma Ferry (between Kilambo in Tanzania and Namoto in Mozambique) has sunk (a year ago) and appears to have been abandoned with no plans to refloat or replace it. Some brave folk have allowed the locals to put their 4x4 on makeshift 'barges', who at a cost of around USD400 have managed to get some vehicles across - NOT RECOMMENDED!

2) The Unity 1 (Umoja Bridge), is located between Mtambaswala and Negomano about 200km upstream of the Rovuma mouth, just downstream from the confluence with the Lugenda river.

Access route from Tanz: Lindi - Mingoyo - Masasi - Nangomba - Masuguru (Mtambaswala).

Access route from Moz: Pemba - Sunate - Diaca - Mueda - Negomano.
Unity 1 has been under construction for the past 3 years, and was due for completion last year BUT this was revised to March 2009, but I think July could be a more realistic target.

3) The Unity 2 Bridge, came as a surprise to me as I had not heard of it until I read the Goodboons blog de-ion of using it, but I have found independent confirmation of it. This bridge, although not officially open, is already in use by vehicles and crosses the Rovuma in far NW Mozambique in Niassa province, very far inland from the mouth. This from www.selous-niassa-corridor.org/file...y_Environ_Baseline_Study_Ruvuma_Interface.pdf

The Unity Bridge 2: Location Of Project: Bridge across the Ruvuma River, linking Kivikoni, Songea Rural district,Ruvuma region in Tanzania to Lupilichi, Lupilichi district, Niassa Province, Mozambique.

De-ion Of Project: Unity Bridge 2 is sited 180 km south of the town of Songea in the Ruvuma region of Tanzania and approx 200 km north of the provincial capital of Lichinga in the Niassa province in Mozambique. Access to the bridge from the Tanzanian side will be obtained by upgrading approx. 180 km of existing road from Songea via Kivikoni to Limpambara (near Mitimoni). Access to the bridge from the Mozambican side is envisaged by upgrading approx. 150 km of existing road from Unango via Macaloge to Lupilichi. (My own note: The route that has been upgraded goes Lichinga - Unango - Sanga - Lupilichi (Congresso).

My own reservations (doubts) about using Unity 2 is that there are no customs facilities on either side of the border and perhaps either country might decide to close this route without notice until customs have been installed.

Hope the above clears things up.

Mike


***


The bridge at Congresso has been open for some time, and traffic is passing through there between Moz and Tanzania. There are customs offices on both sides. Access rd is not through Cobue. The rd north of Cobue stops about 5km north of Cobue close to some historical site where an ugly freedon fighter was buried. There is a rd from between Cobue and Metangula towards Congresso but the rd is washed away, overgrown and not passable. Access rd to Congresso is from Lichinga north on the tar rd for about 30km, then turn right. Another about 40km, turn left at sort of a T-junction. Rd is good, passable in 2*4 if not wet. Plenty of good bushcampsites on this rd and may even see lion or sable. First part of this rd is on Tracs4Africa, but stops well short of the border. All other maps are wrong. From Lichinga go south to either Malawi, Gurue or Nampula, as the rd between Murrupa and Montepuez impassable during the rainy season. About 60km west of Nampula on the Mokuba rd there is another bridge washed away but there is a time-consuming detour. Also keep in mind that their is a bridge washed away on the rd between Mueda and Montepuez!

Crossing at Rovuma mouth not recommended, some locals will take you over for about R1500, on 3 boats tied together and spanned with planks. Do it with someone elses car. Good Luck. Let me know if there is anything else.

 

[Christian P.]

and more here from another couple - their route is similar to ours I believe:


http://goodboons.blogspot.com/search/label/Border crossing


Border crossing from Mozambique to Tanzania in Songea

The border post at the new bridge in Congresso had not been officially opened yet. The immigration officers on the Mozambiquan side were working out of straw huts, while new offices were being built. However, crossing the border from Mozambique into Tanzania went easily. They stamped our passports, and suggested we leave them our unused Mozambican airtime, before letting us go without no further searching of Scarlet.

On the other side of the bridge a Tanzanian official working out of an isolated snack-bar, wrote down our names, passport and license plate numbers. We were told to report to immigration Songea, 102km away.

We arrived in Songea after 4pm. What we thought was the immigration office was closed. “When will it open?” we asked. “Saa Mbili.” we were told. Impossible we thought, and checked with someone else – same answer. This was our first introduction to Swahili time – 7am is the first hour of the day, 8am the second etc etc. We spent the night at a Catholic abbey about 20km out of town.

The next morning we drove back into Songea to report to the immigration immigration office. We found it eventually, located in the Ministry of Finance's buildings. The officials were friendly enough. We completed our forms and were told to go and pay the 50 US$ visa fee (each) at one of the local banks. They would stamp our passports when we brought back the deposit receipts.
We had to admit that this is a very good system to prevent corruption. Although, walking across town in the heat and queuing there for an hour to pay the fee, didn't really seem worth it.
We got our receipts, and went back for our stamps. You can normally get a multiple-entry 3 months visa for 50 USD, but the officer told us he didn't have the authority for the multiple-entry, and gave us a 1-month single-entry visa instead.

We've now been busy for 2 hours and haven't had breakfast yet, but we need to go through customs first. The customs officer normally works out of the Post Office. We found the Post Office but the officer was on holiday and we were directed to the TRA (Tanzanian Revenue Authority) instead and another long queue. No-one there really knew what to do with our Carnet de Passage (CDP). After we had waited for almost an hour, someone from the car licensing department came over with the necessary forms, a wad of carbon paper for several copies, and a box of stamps, and proceeded to register our car.

We were then told to go to the bank again (a different one) to pay a 25 USD fuel levy before we could have our CDP stamped. So off we went, queued patiently, paid, and eventually got a receipt, and our stamp.

The whole process had taken us over 5 hours and we were about to happily get something to eat and drink and be back on the road, when the officer who stamped our CDP asked to see the car, which was still parked at the Ministry of Finance! We fetched the car and reported for our inspection. Fortunately this only took a few minutes, and by 12 o'clock we were on our way to Iringa and the Old Farm House campsite, our patience tested to the limit

 

[DiploStrat]

... our patience tested to the limit

Don't think they have discovered either the limits of their patience or the limits of Africa to try it!

Bonne Route!

 

[luangwablondes]

That looks so much better then what I had 'planned' for an expedition in 2000. My group had received permission of the Tanz and Moz gov'ts to attempt an overland crossing with no idea of what was there- there was no legal border crossing between the 2 countries at the time, or if it was possible. The Taz ambassador to SA arranged to have a grader(and other equipment) to grade a road right to the Rovuma River(the Border), where a very bad track was known to be. Then assist if possible in a crossing of the river. On the other side, well, we had a somewhat more flexible plan. We got to Dar es Salaam, low and behold, found out a new ferry was running and we chucked all those plans.

Back then, the Moz border staff was just learning how to do things. They tried my patience, but compared to Christian's experience, we breezed through.

 

[luangwablondes]

Maybe I missed this- Did you get 3rd party insurance or do you have Yellow Card? You can bet a road block will ask you about this. Also, they will check to see if you have your seat belt fastened. They will fine you if not. Otherwise, the road blocks, in my experience, are friendly.

Come to think of it, if memory serves, you may need to pay for a road tax. Usually one month minimum. Don't worry, on this one customs checks on the way out of the country.

 

[luangwablondes]

Do consider visiting the Selous. It is devoid of the usual tourist masses you see in other parks, but is worthy of a visit. But, hire a game scout to go with you. I did this by going in from the North and coming out to the South near Liwale in 2000. It was quite the adventure, and a very good park to self drive through. Our game scout found us some great spots to bush camp at, among other things, even a hot springs "spa", which we spent a few hours at.

 

[luangwablondes]

a Lichinga contact - Gus Henrici

 

[DesertRose]

We are now in Lilongwe, Malawi!!! As luangwablondes mentionned, the border crossing was extremely smooth and easy, the best so far. They even had a few guys at the end doing a survey to see if we were satisfied...!
The insurance company did try to rip us off though...but luckily we found out in time. More soon, I am trying to upload some pics now. Internet is really slow around here!

Congratulations on the trip so far - I look forward to working with you and Jay Shapiro at Muskoka Foundation on putting together a workshop in Tanzania or Kenya . . . I sent you an email, too - better for organizing details.

I may be in Kenya and Tanzania from 8 - 24 September - what are your plans there?

 

[Christian P.]

Hello everyone!

So much has happened since the last update - I need to seat down (hopefully today) and start writing. We are now in Mozambique at Ilha De Mocambique on the East coast. This place is unbelievable. It has been frozen in time. I will post more later on this and Malawi but in the meantime you can check this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Mozambique

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1

Roseann, I did get your email and I am also looking forward to participate.
I will pm you with the details as soon as I can. We should still be around Kenya on these dates. I am trying to be in Uganda around mid August and Persephone is supposed to join me in Nairobi on August 28th.

luangwablondes, yes we got third party insurance at the border for Malawi and Mozambique. No problem at all with police road blocks in any of the 3 last countries (Zambia, Malawi, Mocambique). Actually it almost seems like they´ve received directives not to hassle the overlanders anymore...they were extremely friendly and always waved us through.

I can,t wait to give you more stories and pics...but for now I need to get to the beach and keep studying my portuguese!!!