Kisolanza Farm - Day 4

---

Our hosts had departed for Dar-es-Salaam by 0630 but we dragged ourselves away from this little paradise at a more leisurely 0900, to fuel up with diesel and drinking water in Morogoro town before setting off for Iringa, and the Zambian border in a day or two’s time.

The good road lasted for an hour or two and passed through the Mikumi Game Park. It was extremely dry and there was much evidence of bush fires in the area. But we did spot some game, zebra, giraffe, impala, eland and we even saw some buffalo and elephant. The good road finished when we reached the Valley of the Baobabs.

Here it follows the coarse of the Great Ruaha River, gently climbing from 2000 ft to over 5000 ft at Iringa. This valley is magnificent for its boababs, which are unlike any others we have seen. They are grotesquely beautiful, as if they had come from a chapter of Lord of the Rings. They were twisted into extraordinary shapes, of all sizes, with branches - and sometimes the whole trunk - reaching out as though to grab some passer by.

But the road was frantically potholed and crowded with slow moving oil tankers and fat moving (suicidal) buses. There was no relaxing at the driving wheel for anyone!

Past Iringa we headed for, and found, a commercially run campsite at Kisolanza Farm some 60 km towards Mbeya. It caters for travelers by providing bandas or sites for pitching tents - we chose the latter. It has good showers and toilets, and even has a bar with all the essentials. We saw a bizarre sight on the road just before the Farm, a bicycle being ridden along the road with a wooden coffin strapped cross-wise on the carrier. We wondered whether or not it was occupied but realised that it was not a bicycle made for two. Anyway, we have learnt always to expect the unexpected in Africa!

---