TANZANIA more
July 7 to 29
Unfortunately we arrived at Tundoma just as the man who handles the custom section took his hour-long lunch break, so we had to hang around in the dusty chaos! Again, we chose to have assistance in finalising motor vehicle insurance, road tax etc – as it was it took us two hours to get back on the road again. Conditions at this border post are indescribable – hundreds of people, abandoned vehicles, hawkers, money-changers, dust etc etc.
Mbeya more
July 7 and 8
Accommodation and dining: From the border it’s about an hour-and-a-half to Mbeya where we stayed at the Mbeya Hotel (telephone +255 25 2502224) in one of its newly-renovated, spacious motel rooms complete with cable television and en suite. The tariff of TS50 000 per room per night, including a light breakfast, was very reasonable. The hotel has a well appointed bar and dining area, and a reasonably-priced and varied menu. We ate all our meals here.
July 29
Staying on our return journey down south we were disappointed to have no hot water in the morning – not a good start for our drive to the horrors of getting through the two border posts!
Iringa more
July 9, 10 and 11; 27 and 28
Travelling to Iringa we stopped in the town of  Mbuyuni , through which the great Ruaha River passes, at the Al-Jazeera bus stop. What a great little centre this is for fuel, food, fresh vegetables and fruit. Keith even got a lesson on how to braii goat kebabs! Needless to say Anne declined to taste the end result!
After a four-and-a-half hour drive on a fairly well-maintained road we were in Iringa, a place we quite like visiting. It’s fun walking around the marketplace and along the main CBD. The people are friendly enough and have never caused us a problem. It’s quite surprising what you can buy in some of the ‘hole-in-the-wall’ tiny grocery shops! The marketplace is good for purchasing vegetables and fruit: we bought quite a lot to take into Zimbabwe.
We re-visited Neema Crafts which has a coffee shop and a small showroom selling lovely jewellery, cards made from recycled paper and scarves (to name a few), all made by the disabled people there.  By about December this year the centre will relocate to  brand new premises, made possible by generous donations from overseas sources.
Accommodation and dining: Again we stayed at the Isimila Hotel. Nothing much has been done to improve the accommodation, which is very basic, but what can one expect for TS20 000 a night including breakfast. As I said, the rooms are very basic but have en suites, although you can be extremely lucky to get hot water so try early in the morning. There is a bar and a restaurant: the latter is only recommended for breakfast as the fare is pretty awful, to say the least. The best thing about the place is the Internet café on the second floor, run by Peter, Ray and his helpers. It’s a very popular spot with the many young European university students who seemed to be helping out at one of the learning establishments in the town.
We ate lunch at Neema Crafts and dinner at Lulu’s Café every day except on Sundays as both were closed, as was the Isimila Hotel restaurant (a last resort).  That day we found the restaurant at the MR Hotel open so we ate there – the menu was very limited and alcohol is not served.

Mikumi  more
July 12 and 13
A three-hour very scenic drive from Iringa saw us at Tan-Swiss Restaurant and Hotel  (or telephone +255 784 246 322) which is situated just off the highway, five kilometres north of Mikumi. Run by Swiss national Joseph Gwerder, Tan-Swiss offers excellent accommodation at a reasonable price. Our large double room cost TS45 000 a night, including breakfast, and had a queen-size bed, wardrobe, desk and chair and an equally large en suite (with hot, soft water!). Each room has its own private outdoor sitting area with comfortable chairs and a coffee table. The restaurant serves great meals even if they are a little expensive,
We had a most enjoyable meal there with Australians Gary and Joan who had driven all the way from Cairo in their VW campervan and were heading to South Africa.
On our first day we drove back into Mikumi, turned left in the middle of town and headed out to Kidatu and Kiberege  to be very pleasantly surprised at the magnificent tropical landscape which reminded us in some way of Queensland: probably because of all the tropical fruit trees and huge areas of sugar cane. It’s well worth the 30-kilometre drive along the all-bitumen road. This road is in better repair than the main highway from Iringa which is breaking up badly in parts.
Mikumi National Park
The next day we drove the 15-kilometres from our hotel to Mikumi National Park - for the most part an extremely scenic area with reasonable dirt roads (tracks!), except for certain sections, which we discovered and, except for the driving skill of Keith, nearly ended up down a gully or on our side whilst trying to climb out of a very dangerous situation. We could neither go forward nor backwards so had to go nearly sideways up a very steep incline. Anne was as ‘white as a sheet’, which showed how bad it was as she usually stays very calm in the most extreme of circumstances!
We saw some game – impala, giraffe, buffalo, hippo, wildebeest and zebra – but nowhere like the large numbers that can be seen in the Serengeti or Etosha.. We saw a lone small elephant when driving back along the highway.
The entry fee to the Park was US$20 a person plus $40 for the vehicle, for the day. We had lunch at the sensational Mikumi Wildlife Lodge which is in the Park’s boundary. It was expensive (TS27 000 for two toasted sandwiches with chips, two beers and a coke) but it was worth it just to sit and enjoy the magnificent view.
Dar es Salaam more
July 14 and 15
On our way to Dar we called at the New Acropol Hotel in Morogoro to see Michelle and make a booking for a couple of days’ stay after our planned visit to Zanzibar.
Leaving Morogoro it took three-and-a-half hours for the 195-kilometre drive to Dar: the closer we got to the city the worse the traffic became – it is truly horrendous with vehicles running red lights (when the lights are working!) and forcing their way in front of you. The small commuter busses are the worst.
Accommodation and dining:
Again we stayed in the Slipway apartments, but this year in the Slipway complex itself which is situated overlooking Oyster Bay. The apartments are spacious and well set up with a refrigerator, cooking facilities, television, hot water etc. We paid US$90 a night which does not include breakfast – but we just made our own. We had lunch at Ali’s Pub and dinner at the Pizzeria,  the latter is situated right on the water’s edge. Both serve delicious meals, but the service at Ali’s is very slow.
During the day we took the opportunity to go into the new Kilimanjaro Hotel - which is a lot different to the old hotel we used to stay in many years ago! Very luxurious and, from what we've heard, whilst the room tarrif  is  very expensive the meals are quite reasonably priced.

Zanzibar more
July 16, 17 and 18
The day before we were due to leave for Zanzibar we took a cab to the ferry terminal and bought our tickets to travel on the Sea Star ferry. These cost US$40.00 each, one way ($30.00 for the ferry and $5.00 each for Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar port fees). This ferry leaves Dar at 10:00am (or so) and Zanzibar at 07:00am and, contrary to what you will be told, it takes about three hours for the trip. And it can be pretty rough, so be prepared.
The terminal at Dar is chaotic – full of touts trying to sell tickets on the ferries, organise taxis etc so be careful. Your bags will also be inspected so keep a careful watch as the customs’ officer is rummaging through your belongings! At Zanzibar you will pass through immigration which requires an arrival/departure declaration form to be completed and your passport stamped.
Accommodation and dining:
We tried to get accommodation in Stone Town at the Shanghani Hotel (where we had stayed before) and the Clove Hotel, but both were booked out, so we settled for the Dhow Palace Hotel at US$90.00 per night, including breakfast. This hotel is stunning: filled with magnificent old Zanzibarian fixtures and fittings along with an indoor swimming pool. The first two nights we were placed in a spacious (triple) room, with en suite, in the old section which had two double beds – one was about a metre high and needed a wooden step to reach to reach it, the other was a little lower! On the last day we were moved to a double room in the new section which had a balcony overlooking the indoor pool. Alcohol is prohibited in this hotel, but there are Smany hotels and restaurants in the area which do. Breakfast is taken on the enclosed rooftop area which gives a good view of Stone Town and the harbour.
In Stone Town we had meals at Mercury’s Restaurant (named after Freddy Mercury who was born in Zanzibar) which is situated right on the beach front; the Monsoon Restaurant (lunch); La Fenice Italian restaurant which overlooks the ocean; and the Livingstone Beach  Restaurant, also situated right on the water’s edge. This restaurant is situated in the old building which housed 19^th-century explorers Livingstone and Stanley, and where Livingstone’s body was kept prior to being shipped to England for burial in Westminster Abbey.
On our second day in Zanzibar we hired a taxi to drive us to the east coast. This five-hour outing was fascinating and very enjoyable and notable for the bribes our driver had to pay to get through the five police roadblocks encountered on the way back! The police let you through on the way up as they figure the driver gets paid for the excursion on the way back, so that’s when you are stopped!
For lunch we stopped at the magnificent Sauti Inn overlooking the Indian Ocean. Every meal we had in Zanzibar was sensational, especially the seafood and fresh fruit dishes, and the best on our whole trip.
We were sorry to leave Zanzibar, but all good things must come to an end and after a (very) rough ferry ride we were back on the mainland and heading for Morogoro.

Morogoro more 
July 19 and 20
Accommodation and dining:
Our drive back from Dar to Morogoro was a little shorter than on the way over so we were soon checking in to the New Acropol Hotel – one of our favourite stopovers in Tanzania. Run by Canadian-born Michelle, the hotel is filled with lovely antique furniture and African memorabilia, the rooms are spacious, the meals are delicious, and the lovely old front verandah, with its tiled floor, large pillars and cane furniture, the perfect place to enjoy the traditional ‘sundowner’, served from the spacious bar area. The tariff at TS60 000 a night for a spacious double room with en suite and television, includes a superb breakfast, Leaving Morogoro after our first couple of days we headed to Peponi Beach and Tanga,
July 25 and 26
Returning to the “Acropol’ we stayed in Room 5 where we hadn’t stayed before. This comprised of two comfortable rooms plus an en suite. The Acropol seems to be the meeting place for many of the local Peace workers and missionaries who carry out such good work in the region, tea plantation staff and overseas tourists.
W were sorry to say farewell to Michelle and our canine friends as we started our journey south to take us back into Zambia and then to Zimbabwe.
Peponi Beach
July 21, 22 and 23
From Morogoro take the road to Chalinze, turn off on the road to Tanga, then about 15-kilometres from Tanga turn off on to a dirt road at Pangani, follow that for 25-kilometres and you will arrive at Peponi Beach, a quiet, secluded area, just perfect for a few days of relaxation. The drive takes about four hours, with the dirt road from Pangani being very rough in patches, but not too bad compared to some of the roads we have travelled along.
Accommodation and dining:
We stayed in a ‘rustic’ but spacious banda (each has its own verandah and en suite) at the Peponi Beach Resort situated right on the water’s edge. Run by ex-Kenyans Denys and Gillie, the resort has a magnificent, large tropical garden, a reasonably-priced restaurant and bar and the accommodation cost us US$50.00 a night, including a continental breakfast. The food is really delicious, especially the fresh seafood. The only thing we didn’t like about the resort was that it only has hot water from 5:30pm to 8:00pm, so it’s cold showers in the mornings!
The resort is located next door to the Capricorn Beach Cottages which is more upmarket (and costs more, but worth it) with its tastefully decorated, self-catering cottages. The Capricorn does not have a restaurant, but meals can be taken at the Beach Resort. It does have a very well-stocked deli, a boutique selling stunning beach-type wear, and you can connect your laptop to wireless internet.
The weather wasn’t the best whilst we were there, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying long walks along the magnificent beach.
Tanga more
July 24
Having discovered a couple of problems with our vehicle we reluctantly decided to leave Pegoni and drive into Tanga and Lal’s Garage – highly recommended for excellent and professional service. Tanga looks like a very laid-back place with many interesting-looking old buildings. We hope to spend more time there next  year .
Accommodation and dining:
We stayed overnight at the Penori Hotel in a quite spacious, but basic room with an en suite – again, only hot water was available at night – costing TS42 000 including a very nice breakfast. The hotel serves reasonable meals, even if they are a little expensive. There's not much of a drink selection either.
Apparently THE place to eat is the Tanga Yacht Club which is superbly located right on the water’s edge in Independence Avenue. We walked there from our hotel, arriving at 2:00pm just as the place started to close down. It was due to reopen at 5:00pm for drinks and evening meals – we heard the seafood dishes are sensational!
The next day our vehicle had been repaired and we were back on the road to Morogoro and the New Acropol Hotel where, after a couple of days we would start  to head back down south to Iringa and Mbeya, through Zambia and into Zimbabwe.