Tanzania - East Africa's largest country - stretches over 943.000 sq km. About 6% (59.000 sq km) of mainland Tanzania is covered by vast inland lakes. Tanzania has a varied landscape, uplands and lowlands alternate unexpectedly. On the one hand you will find savannahs on the other Mt. Kilimanjaro, 5895m high including the Uhuru peak and often called "the roof of Africa". Those differences in altitude cause diverge climates and have an influence on the flora and fauna of the land.

Tanzania has 34.4 million inhabitants, and the population consists of more than 120 ethnic groups. The majority of Tanzanians have Bantu blood, but also to a large extend Arabic and Persian blood. Due in large part to central Tanzania's relative aridity, the population is concentrated around the country's perimeter. Some of the ethnic population strongly retain their traditional customs and dress, e.g. the Maasai people. The Maasai are pastoral nomads who have actively resisted change, and still follow the same lifestyle that they have for centuries. Tanzania is a developing country and heavily depends on development aid. It is one of the poorest countries on earth. Large parts of Tanzania are fertile and therefore it is astonishing that from that not more economical gain arises. The unstable economical situation of Tanzania still relies on the cultivation of sisal, but coffee and cotton are on the rise. The country also grows spices like nutmeg, pepper and cloves (80% of the world trade). Furthermore tea, cashew nuts and coconut are important to the economy. Tanzania also has mineral resources and diamonds, gold, tin and mica bring in some money.

Mar 15-17 We are in Arusha where we camp at the Maasai Camp, a locally well known place to have a drink in the afternoon/evening. Three days of non-cycling "rest" days. Yesterday (day 63) we had a wonderfully exciting day flying to the hospital in Wasso. The day before was pretty exciting too with a safari to the Ngorongoro Crater (it is really a calderas) where we saw elephant, lion, wildebeest, ostrich, hippopotamus, zebra, hyena and various birds in the wild. The world renowned Ngorongoro Crater is just one part of a much larger area, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area about 8300 sq km. With its ethereal blue-green vistas, close range viewing opportunities and unparalleled concentrations of wildlife, Ngorongoro is one of Tanzania's most visited destinations.

At about 20 km wide it is also one of the largest calderas in the world. Its steep unbroken (600m high) walls provide the setting for an incredible natural drama as the various species graze, stalk and otherwise make their way through the grass. Despite the crater's steepness, there is considerable movement of animals in and out thanks to the permanent water and grassland on the crater floor. Animals and birds share the crater with the local Maasai people, who have grazing rights for their cattle.

The section from Arusha to Iringa is the last non tarmac section of our tour. It also coincides with the rainy season in this part of Tanzania. The rains started early this year and the result of rain and non-asphalted roads you can guess: mud, mud, mud.

Mar18-19 When we left Arusha we had a day of tarmac riding under threatening clouds. Later that night, at our Lake View Camp overlooking the southern part of Lake Manyara with the hills on the other side, the rain started with a thunderstorm. Sure enough the dirt road that started 5km on our way was in many sections a huge mess, specially after the town of Mbugwe. Deep mud holes, rivers and creeks overflowing the road, and sometimes flowing down the road. Stuck trucks, unbelievable up and downhill sections so muddy and slippery that you wondered how any car could pass through. Moreover, this was a day we had to go into hilly country, the total vertical was1400m with camp at a height of 1485m. Just before Bereko, after 101km, our trucks could not go any further as stuck trucks were blocking the way. We all had to backtrack a few kilometres for camp instead of the planned camp a few kilometres beyond Bereko. This after another major thunder/rain storm in the afternoon which most of us could sit out in a little café. A few unlucky, slower riders were caught in the middle of the storm.

Mar20 The next morning looked like a reasonable day and sure enough around noon the clouds cleared. But not the road!! If anything it was worse than the day before with some sections impassable even for bikes, and for sections walking was the only way to get through with thick red clay attaching itself to the wheels and feet. This day turned out to be even harder then the previous one with total vertical at 1100m and a distance of 108km. The trucks were not in before dark.

Waiting for them we had drinks, omelettes, oranges, bananas as we sat outside a local café in the by now, pleasant night. I worked, in the dark, on my derailleur which throughout the day became very hard to operate. Cleaning the cables and applying some waxy chain lube luckily did the job. Around 10 pm we made camp just outside the town, everything wet and smelly from the previous evening and the past day. However, the troubles were not over! Two bicycles had been stolen in the dark which we only noticed when we left for camp. Police and "buy-back" payments did retrieve them after midnight, luckily for the owners.

Mar21 Day 68 promised to be a beautiful day and this became true. Day 4 on our way from Arusha to Dodoma, 4 days in the same smelly, dirty clothes. I'm sure we smelled worse than some of the characters we passed on the road. The sun shone, wet clothes and shoes dried soon and the 133km to a nice hotel/campsite worked as a stimulant to cover the distance.

The view from the top of the hills was beautiful, lush green plains, green-blue hills further away and a deep blue sky with fluffy white clouds to top it all. After close to 7 hrs of cycling over dirt roads, I got to the hotel and took luxury of a room with toilet and shower. There were many things to be done though: de-mudding the bike, making the shift system work properly again, washing endless red mud out of the cycling clothes I used these four days, drying the tent and other wet things, fix the two tubes that flatted previous day, write the day logs, have dinner and later a beer in the bar, shower and shave, tend the wounds on my right leg which are finally healing just fine. It was 11:30 pm when I finally put the lights out for a sleep of 6 hrs, because the alarm went at 5:30 am. Needless to say that my body once we started riding at 7:30 am my body did not cooperate. I took it easy until, after about half an hour, things were warmed up, the wet cycling clothes, I had washed the day before, dried out, and then I started moving at a good pace along the dirt road helped by the reasonable condition of the road and because it was overall downhill. Two more days to Iringa with the promise of another nice hotel/campsite and a rest day.

Mar22 As I write this on my laptop after dinner in the dark in my tent we are 90km south of Dodoma two riding days away from Iringa. It was a beautiful day with a temperature of 200 Celsius in the morning and hitting 400 at noon when I finished the 90km ride. Overall we descended from 1100m in Arusha to 750m where our camp is and that makes for a fast ride, especially as the roads were reasonable passable for bicycles. The two trucks had a more difficult time at it due to all the deep holes and were much slower than most cyclists. Today for the first time there were plenty of Baobab trees along our way, easily distinguishable due to their massive trunks. I pitched my tent under one for the shade. Among the many people that stand around our camp watching our every move and activity was a teacher who spoke reasonable English. He teaches at a school of 650 pupils with 9 teachers, about 72 students per teacher!

Another camping tip
In Arusha we camped at the Maasai Camping, a well known place locally with all the amenities you could wish for when you must pitch your tent somewhere. A good restaurant, showers with warm and cold water, toilets, good place to sit when you have enough of the tent for awhile and most important, everything is kept clean. The campgrounds offer space, grass and lots of space. No monkeys, no thorns, so what could go wrong then?..........TERMITES! Two of our riders had set up their tents on what later turned out to be termite nests, underground, with only a little telltale hole to mark the entry. Andy had set up his tent after a three day safari to the Serengetti and Ngorongoro parks, glad to get some sleep after this physically and mentally taxing trip. Early in the morning he was awakened by a bite. Investigation showed it to be from a rather large ant also called a termite. Further investigation turned up more termites in his sleeping bag, a whole nest of them in his foam sleeping pad and worse, they had nibbled their way through the ground sheet of his tent. Holding it up against the sunlight later that day it looked as if a hunter had emptied his double barrelled shotgun through the bottom of his tent. African camping lesson 3: before setting up your tent under this nice thornless and monkeyless tree, also check the ground carefully for the telltale holes of underground termite (and ant) nests.

Created on Thursday, 15 March 2007 13:52

Written by Jan Eisenloeffel

During the second rest day I had the opportunity to visit the Wasso hospital. I try, with my cycling tour through Africa, to get financial support for their much needed energy project. The Wasso hospital is built close to the Kenyan border, in the middle of Maasai territory, and offers the only medical care for miles around. The doctor's couple Lennard Hiltermann and Claar Bijleveld have arranged that I can charter the Cessna of the Flying Medical Services to fly over there and back. Besides pilot Ezra there are 5 seats available and I have no problem to fill these with tour participants.

It is beautiful weather and after a fantastic flight of 75 minutes, among other things over a still active volcano near Lake Natron where we could smell the sulphur fumes, we skim over the hill behind the village and the shiny roofs of the hospital. From the sky we look down at the village where at that moment the two-weekly Maasai market is being held.

With a Landcruiser we drive to the hospital where Claar gives us a warm welcome. Just this week Lennard has to be in the Netherlands, a pity I can't meet him. The first impression of the hospital is very good. The buildings look new, everything nicely painted, the surroundings well kept (done by local inmates in orange overalls), the wards spick and span.

However, when Claar shows us around it becomes clear that for a hospital necessary things are missing. The place is packed with Maasai people who combine a trip to the market with a visit to the doctor. They don't mind that we are taking pictures, and later on when we visit the market it is not a problem either. Quite the contrary of what we are used to. The Maasai people in their traditional dress make a rich, colourful impression.

After a late, but delicious lunch Ezra wants to go back so we could land before dark. The return flight is even more spectacular. We fly back over Lake Natron. The lake owes its name to the contents of the volcano we flew over this morning.

The water is saturated with minerals and other things of the innards of the earth. At the moment there is a lot of water in the lake, but in a couple of months it will be nearly dry and then, according to our pilot, it will have an extraterrestrial appearance. We fly low, some dozens of metres above the water and the mudflats on which we see ostriches, wildebeests, zebra's, a few giraffes, and various birds. And, as an extra just before landing we see the snow-covered Kilimanjaro in the twilight.

After this visit to the Wasso hospital I am more than ever convinced that supporting this so necessary energy project a worthwhile cause is. On our way up I told Ezra that so far I got only about 1200 euros sponsored to which he answered it should be used to let Claar and Lennard stay for another year. Since they arrived at the hospital the level of care is better than ever. Their heart is in it, even though the circumstances are difficult and often frustrating. They couldn't get a bigger compliment from an outsider who also travels to other hospitals.

The energy project, of which there is more to read at the website, has a budget of US$ 100.000. An application, for US$ 70.000, has been made with a NGO which has money available for the project. I hope, through my cycling expedition, to bring in the remaining US$ 30.000. PLEASE, HELP ME TO REACH MY GOAL! I have cycled 6000km without missing a day, often under difficult and very hard circumstances and hope to finish the next 6000km.
Be generous, reward my effort!

Gemaakt op woensdag 18 april 2007 

Geschreven door Lennard en Claar

Beste fietsers!
Nu de fietsen al geolied worden en al vele oefenkilometers achter de rug zijn, is het weer even tijd voor een korte update uit de bush.
Half maart hadden we bezoek van dhr Jan Eisenloeffel, die iets meer dan 12000km aan het fietsen is, nl van Cairo naar Kaapstad en op die manier ook zijn spieren en zweet inzet voor meer energie voor ons ziekenhuis.
Financieel ziet het plaatje er nu als volgt uit:

• Jan en de Elfstedenfietsers fietsen voor de nieuwe Varta accu's. De beste accu's ter wereld voor zonne-energie systemen, met de langste houdbaarheid. We hebben al een setje staan in Wasso (zie foto), maar hebben nog 3 extra setjes nodig, om op die manier alle nieuwe lab, zuurstof en andere apparaten van het ziekenhuis van energie te voorzien. Totale kosten van de accu's = 3 x 12.000 euro = 36.000 euro + acessoires (monitors, frames, etc) streef bedrag 40.000 euro.
• De overige kosten voor de uitbereiding van ons electriciteitsnetwerk (stand alone system in the bush) zal gefinancierd worden door de Elisabeth Glasier peadiatric Aids foundation en nog wat andere sponsoren.
• De accu's vormen dus de kern van ons systeem, waaruit voor zo'n 20 jaar energie getrokken gaat worden! 

Veel sterkte met de laatste voorbereidingen!
Groeten uit de bush!
Lennard en Claar