Tanzania

Trip up from Rovuma Ferry
We can't believe this country - no bread rolls!! What on earth are we going to eat? Stayed in and around Mtwara town for 2 days waiting to sort out vehicle insurance which we did on Sunday 15th. Do any of you remember carbon paper, well they still use loads of it here. Ended up getting the COMESA insurance which should be valid all the way up to Egypt, in theory anyway. Drew some cash from the ATM, filled up with diesel and off we went, headed for Kilwa. Accom nothing to write home about except that the second night tested my negotiating skills, $10 each for a scruffy piece of grass.. got it down to $5 and Rebecca free. The scorpion we found on the tent the next morning had stayed for free too. Must say, they breed the chickens tough around here, kamikaze on the road and that toughness stays with them onto the plate!
Lack of available tonic water is turning Kaz into a Kilimanjaro beer drinker, now that's serious!
After Mtwara drove through baobab forests like we've never seen before, absolutely magical. Their grey forms just tower over all the other vegetation. There are also other amazing trees, with a straight butressed trunk and the dark green leaves off branches high up. Not sure what they are.
Drove to Kilwa Masoko where we overnighted and ate lobster!! Rebecca met a friend called Rebecca, a black American staying in Lindi and played with her for a while and they ate dinner together. We then met her parents, Karen and Richard!!! How is that for a coincidence.
The Kilwas campsite was teeming with ants and luckily we had decided to head off to Selous Game Reserve the next day. At last...a bush injection awaits.

Splendiferous Selous
To say that the road was interesting is well an understatement. It's the first time we've had to engage 4X4 on a main road. We had to dodge buses, craters, bogs, you name it on a 56 km stretch that took us about 3 hours to do!! From then on it was tar until Ikwiriri where we filled and and then headed west to Selous, the largest game reserve in African and the second largest in the world. Which is the largest? well heck I just don't know so please let us know. Maybe "Enquiries" would like to have a go. (that rhymes... it's so sad). An epic 9hr journey brought us into the most amazing campsite overlooking the Rufiji River. We pitched the tent, powered up the Cobb and ate a tomato and potato stew listening to the noisy hippos and the night sounds we love so much. Made and cooked roosterkoek for the next day, Why, you may ask? No rolls in Tanzania!!! Rebecca had left over chicken and a greek salad, her idea of heaven. Downloaded emails on the phone (easy peasy) and got the good news from Matt about the RTT cover and got the comments that you guys are posting to the blog on the phone too, amazing. Still can't email out from the phone though.
Had a nocturnal visit from some ellies who came right up to the front of our tent where we'd hung a lantern. Well as usual, we'd camped under a tree dropping fruit that they were obviously quite partial to.
Next day we set off to explore the park, well the north eastern bit anyway. Road was just as bad in the park as outside but we were in no rush. The park was stunning. We didn't see loads of game. Were directed to some lions that we away from the road, so "no off-roady" become "a little bit off-roady". Had morning coffee under the iconic East African thorn trees and lunch overlooking a part of one of the lakes. Bonnet got dinged by a falling palm nut. The lakes and rivers were teeming with hippos and crocs. Also had some new bird spots, miombo starling and spur wing lapwing. Park was quiet, very few other game viewing vehicles and a wonderful feel of the wilderness. Selous' grave was too far away to visit especially given the condition of the road. Entry wasn't too bad. $30 for the vehicle and $30 each for the adults. Cracked a bottle of sparkling wine that night to celebrate our return to the bush. Ran out of SA water in the car today so on to our filter system from now on.
Took the next day off to relax, our ellies visited again during the night. Baked a loaf of bread in the Cobb. Why? Yep, you've got the picture!
Did a boat cruise from Mbega camp for 2 and a half hours which was really nice. great sightings of white fronted bee eaters. Saw squirrels and elephant shrews in the camp too.
Next day we struck camp and were off to Dar.