Pangani to Dar es Salaam

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Today is a long days drive (450 km) to Dar Es Saalam through more highway side villages. Most of our group settle in for a long day's rest but we can't take our eyes off the interesting sights passing us by. Maybe it's that we are still new to the trip and have lots of energy. We learn later that one Australian couple started their journey in Egypt a month ago.

Bicycles are everywhere, used for all types of commerce. There are bicycles carrying 20 litre containers of water from wells, 5 per trip; bicycles carrying hay stacks so large the peddler is not in view, bicycles pushed up hill by small boys loaded with huge bags of rice, cycles in road side outdoor repair shops with tires being pumped or spokes being changed, cycles with eggs stacked 5 layers high, held on with binder twine (made from sisal, no doubt) cycles with a peddler and two passengers, cycles pushed up long hills. Close examination of these bikes revealed made in china stickers. We are impressed by the amount and variety of things that are carried on such simple human-powered machines.

Arrived right into the town centre, spent an hour in the local Internet cafe catching up on email. Then off to the ferry line up to take us across the inner harbour to our campsite on the sea. A number of our group, including us, have upgraded to either beach shacks with a bed or a 5-star (not!) shack with a toilet and shower. The tenting spots were not very appealing and became less so as more and more overland groups arrived. 

Some of our group went swimming, and one got stung on his back by a jellyfish. Kayla was glad she only went in up to her ankles, but the sea was very warm and inviting despite the dangers lurking under the surface. 

We enjoyed a peaceful sleep under a mosquito net to the soothing sounds of the waves of Indian Ocean gently rolling onto the beach, and secure in the knowledge that guards patrolled our beach, keeping thieves away, as we were in the most remote shack and it was truly a shack, anything but secure.  

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