19th October 08

Date: 19th October 08
Location: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Weather: Clear blue skies and scattered clouds, then showers! 36°c
Status: Off for the next part of the trip now!

After a great fortnight together we said a sad goodbye to Jimmy who had to return to the UK and caught his flight from Dar airport at 8pm yesterday evening. We did a whole load of things together the best of which was climbing Kili together and battling through the altitude and cold to make it, the last week has also been a wicked experience as we relaxed on the beach and virtually perfected the art of Frisbee together!

So up this morning for a grand breakfast with Mum and Dad, got straight onto the main repair job for the Colonel together – replacing the brake vacuum pump which is ticking away. Finally found TDC and removed the old unit, replaced it with the new one and struggled to get the bolts in but finally it screwed into place! Started up the engine and the noise was still there….damn it, must be the tappets that need replacing so another job to do at some stage!

Somehow packed everything for the four of us; Bre, M&D and me into the Colonel and although it was a tight squeeze we managed to compress everything into the cabin rather than using the roofrack, just in case the rains came!

Retraced our steps back up the road north towards Serenga and after 270kms we turned left at the junction which turns east towards the coast and Tanga, the forth largest city in Tanzania. We’d made good time on the road so decided to head to the coast for the evening and a tiny village 15kms north of Pangani to a little place called Peponi Beach Resort down a great little dirt road which wound its way through small villages and camps until it opened out onto the beach again and the delights of the Indian Ocean!

Mum and Dad grabbed a banda hut with a great setup and double bed room, whilst Bre and I parked the Colonel directly on the beach overlooking the ocean and the fishing boats. We dropped into the bar for a drink, game of darts and then some wicked food before meeting the owner, ???, a superb English chap who runs the place and has been out in Africa running various businesses since the end of the 50’s. A real Englishman with a few Landies and a love of cricket and rugby – one of the finest and most chatty men I’ve met on the trip!

Headed back to the truck for another early night…..

End of day location: Pangani, Tanzania
Distance covered: 396kms