Going to Gombe

So we tried to get out of Rwanda as fast as possible. This involved a 3 hour bus ride to the border at Rusomo Falls. I think on this ride or the one up to see the Gorillas we listened to Hank Williams and Kenny Rodgers non-stop on the bus. Second to US Hip hop and Reggaton, many African’s love American country music. Your guess is as good as mine on that one.

Rusomo Falls

I have no idea why I am smiling here, there were NINE people in this cab and the driver was CRAZY.

So we hit the border and started the long trek back through Tanzania to go to Kigoma at the top of Lake Tanganyika. The whole plan was to get to Tanganyika then take this ferry, the MV Limba ,all the way down the lake to Zambia.

Getting to Kigoma turned into a monumental pain in the ass that would brutally test the mettle of he team. It took two days of hard travel, the first day we crossed the border and took a series of cabs to get to Nyanasaki sp?

Kids in Nyanasaki, a digital camera is a HUGE deal for them.

me taking photos of kids above

There we spent the night and had a total fiasco the next day trying to get a bus to Kigoma. This bus story is Africa in a nutshell and I neither have the time nor patience to fully retell it in all of it’s excruciating detail. The bottom line is how people get to place to place here mystifies me.

The one bus we bought tickets for never showed up so for plan B we hired a cab and shared it with an English guy to get us to the next town Kibondo. Where we hung out in the 7th circle of hell aka the bus station for 2hrs waiting for another bus to show.

Kibondo This was one bus, it was advertised as Luxury. There were no seats, we were offered standing room for the 5 hour bumpy bus ride. I don’t know if you can zoom in on this photo to give some perspective of how possibly crowded this thing was. Typical Tanzanian death trap.

Our original bus showed up but it was nothing we wanted to ride. So we hired another cab. 6 hours and 240km later over terrible roads we arrived in the black hole that is Kigoma.

That is after the 6 hour cab ride. It’s not a tan, just caked on red dirt. Hard living.

Guess what the ferry isn’t running this week. So to get to Zambia we have to bus about 27hrs back the way we came or fly back to Dar es Salam and take the train (50hrs) to Zambia. I am hitting a personal low, 90% of my time in Africa is trying to get from point A to point B. It literally takes 4 hrs to do one errand. Buy shampoo, get cash, buy socks….all take a whole day. Get to a new town 100km away, takes 24hrs…maddening.

So from Kigoma  we wanted to hit Gombe national park home to see the famous Chimpanzee’s. Gombe is home to Jane Goodall’s longest running research project on chimpanzees, it is very famous and very difficult to get to. It is one of Tanzania’s smallest parks and is only accessible by boat. You can take the speedboat for $200-400 or take the cultural exchange route and take the local boat $2.00.  We decided to go local. Allegedly only 12km it took us two and a half hours of the most painful nautical experience of my naval career.  Before I put up the photo’s I want to set the scene, this boat had a bit of an Amistad/Roots (the movie)vibe. Read that as I now know exactly what it is like to be on a Haitian or Cuban refugee boat.  At 40 feet long this thing was packed to the gills with 200+ people, barrels of gasoline leaking fumes, maize, cassava, tons of fish..the odor was not good. Not a single life preserver and no seating, I guarantee Justin and I were probably the only two guys that could swim. We all sat on the railing or on the  goods packed into the hull. Here is a taste. When you hear about 200 people drowning on a ferry that went down, this is that type of ferry.

view of bow

An hour into the journey little kids were crying, puking and people were pissing over the side or down in the bilges. Kids were getting breastfed…the whole enchilada was happening on this boat. One guy was giving hell to the three Muslims on the bow for about an hour, I wish I understood Swahili for that one. Of course we were the only to Muzungos on the boat and by the end of the ride the cute little girl to my left was saying “give me money please” the only words she knows in English. It was a wonderful experience in Tanzanian consumer protection and interstate commerce. 

view to the stern

directly in front of us

the sweetest sight ever, the boat motoring away with us not on it. It was half full at this point. You have got to see my video.

So Gombe was just what the doctor ordered. Within 5min of arrival I was swimming in the crystal clear waters of Lake Tanganyika and Justin was scouring the place for beer, which he shortly found ice cold and in good supply.

pants and socks only, I tossed my shoes to shore and leaped into the water to get off the boat, to my left is the greeting party. I think they were swimming naked when we showed up.

Someone takes the edge off a long day with a smoke.