Day 16 - 03.02.12

An early start saw us on the road at first light.  Great ride through the mountains with no traffic.  Stopped for breakfast and got an unexpected treat of coffee and donuts.

This is where we met Giovani, a Tanzanian from Dar Es Salaam who is now living in JHB.  this meeting turned out to be very fortunate (more about this later).

We set off again on our 500 km journey to Dar Es Salaam confident that we wud be there in mid afternoon, all is great.

Then the traffic started and the manic!! Crazy!! Befokked!! Bus drivers got on the road.....no rules for these guys....it turned into a white knuckle ride with Shaun and i constantly on the comms warning each other of whats coming.....see a bus....STOP!! if u have to and let him pass or be crushed!

stopped about 100km from Dar for a water break, the heat at 42 degrees was now unberable.

and the adventure took another twist, Shauns bike has broken down!!!!

Shit, we are loosing time and cannot get to Dar after sunset.

the Bikes battery was stone cold dead, we found someone to have the battery charged and and hour later we set off towards the furthest point in our trip and the ocean.

40 k/m before Dar, Shauns bike stops, its the battery again, its not getting charged.

Its hot, we are tired and cannot think clearly.  so i set off to find someone with a bakkie to get Shauns bike to Dar, after my best Swahili and hand signs, i eventually found a guy with a bakkie at 70USD.

Got back to Shaun, and HEY.......Its Giovani, what good fortune (Giovani is a motor mechanic), Giovani promptly releases the guys in the bakkie (who were clearly unhappy at the loss of business) and explained the plan of action.  We took the battery from my bike and placed it in Shauns bikes and rode while the flat batt charged on my bike.  the next 40 km took ages, bumper to bumper traffic and having to stop and swap batteries all the time.

Giovani escorted us into Dar Es Salaam and all the way to the ferry crossing, what a great guy.......Thanks Giovani!

we get onto a very packed ferry together with pedestrians, motorcycles, cars, trucks, bicycles and head off to South Beach.  off course Shaun and I were the centre of attention, everyone on board stared at us!!

The ferry is a short 5 minute ride to South Beach, againe set off to Makhadi Beach Resort.  This place is stunning, we booked in for 3 nights and got settled.

i spent the night in a hammock on the beach, pure bliss!!


it sure feels great to chill again.