Departure - Day 1

---

We departed Ian’s and Chris’s home at 0900 on Wednesday, just as we had planned - no rush and we hoped to get through Nairobi without having to fight too much traffic. Not so! We didn’t get through the city till about 1100 and then there were road works for about 10 miles along our route. When clear of this we made excellent progress till we again met about 30 miles of diversions where the Namanga road was being relaid. Very boring, but we reached the Tanzanian border late lunch time. Border formalities were relatively simple and, because we are now driving Kenya registered vehicles, we had nothing extra to pay. Visas were $50 per head, and we hope they will do us for the return trip as well.

Immediately into Tanzania we noticed the improved road surfaces. So nice after Kenya’s indifferent roads. Traffic too was much lighter and more ordered and we made excellent progress to Arusha. Sadly Mt Kilimanjaro was covered in cloud, way down to quite a low altitude, and we never saw this lovely mountain at all. But Arusha lies under Mt Meru which is indeed also spectacular. The Rough Guide led us to a camp site some 10 km or so beyond Arusha, just south of a little village called Tengeri. It was tucked away behind the Mt Village complex and was, in fact, a little lake-side cafe which we would never have found without the help of a local. There was just sufficient level ground for us to camp on. We had a very friendly reception, there was plenty of cold beer on sale, it was not too noisy but there were about 7 or 8 dogs prowling around at all times - quite friendly and not really a nuisance. We slept well.

---

Photos

Before the off
Limuru before departure - 4 members of the original OFTAT team - and Koka and Nellie