This morning we dined in Kisolanzo's beautiful garden. Stella, a local villager who was training on the job, served us delicious eggs (omelette and poached), sausage and fried tomatoes. Along with a basket of freshly baked bread and locally produced orange marmalade from a women's group, we also had brewed coffee, yogurt and watermelon. We couldn't believe what a treat it was to have landed in a little piece of delectable paradise!
It was sprinkling with rain all morning and our wipers seemed to have stopped working for some reason, so off we went to Iringa town to hit an ATM, an internet café, post office and now added to our list, a car workshop.
In the end, it was the electrics that were malfunctioning. The wipers are fixed and we happily went on our merry way.
After a stunning drive down the valley alongside the Ruaha River, we arrived at our destination about an hour and a half later.
We pulled into Baobab Valley Campsite and were greeted by 4 tall Maasai men. Wrapped in their signature red cloth and wearing (what Matt later called) very feminine white plastic sandals, they smiled and welcomed us like long-lost friends.
They got the water boiler going and we had nice hot showers, followed by a canned curry dinner which we inhaled as quickly as we could due to the enormous moth infestation that was gathering by our feet and food.
We quickly retreated to the camp's bar, looking over our guidebooks and atlas, trying to figure out a way north of here on roads that passed interesting parts of the country but that was also within our timeframe.
In the end, we decided to forego seeing Zanzibar (couldn't bear the thought of leaving Foxy overnight somewhere while we ferried across to the spice island) and the world-famous Ngorogoro Crater and Serengeti Park (ridiculous park and camping fees would set us back a lot).
We figured since we had our own reliable vehicle, we should try some of the secondary routes, the roads less travelled. If ever we were to return to Tanzania, the well-trodden tourist hot spots would always be accessible. So finally, our plan was to try out the B127 dirt road which runs north through the Maasai Steppe from Mikumi town, perhaps stopping in a small village to camp and eventually winding our way north-east towards the Rwandan border.
With what seemed like a do-able plan, we went to bed excited for tomorrow's off-road adventure, listening to the distant sounds of roosters, frogs, crickets and rumbling trucks on the highway.
Start: Kisolanza Farm, Iringa, TAN. 09:50
End: Baobab Valley Camp, Ruaha Village, TAN. 18:00
Distance Traveled: 210 km
Road Conditions: paved with the occasional crater-size pothole
Temperature: hot and humid night, we quickly made a plan to head more inland to higher ground.
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