Day 20 – Indian Ocean, The Tides

Supposed to leave by 7 am but the delay getting the Landrover back yesterday from the garage meant that it was just gone 8 am but the time we eventually set off having repacked everything and tried to clean some of the dust out of “Thompson”.  We knew we had a long 7–8 hour journey ahead of us and we had to reach Pangani on the coast in time to catch the ferry across the river - so we were against the clock.  The first part of the journey was painfully slow due to : incessant police checks (including our first out and out request for a bribe “do you have a present for me…” – politely answered as “No !!”) ;  speed bumps and 50 kph signs (we still ignored the cow crossing signs!).  Just as we thought we might make some time up they then decided to remake the road so we ended up stuck on a slow going temporary gravel road for km after km weaving around a traffic jam of lorry’s.  On the bright side the scenery was spectacular – we did managed to get a glimpse of Kilimanjaro for a moment when the clouds lifted.  Ian was quick to point out that we might not have climbed to the top of it but we have managed to get to the bottom of a fair number of Kilimanjaro beers instead! 

We are no longer in the Maasai lands so it was interesting to see the difference in culture – the houses were more brick built but we certainly got a lot fewer waves from the people we passed.  The agriculture also changed from livestock rearing to agriculture and huge sisel plantations.

Eventually made it to Pangani ferry for 4.30 – it was extremely busy but unbelievably efficient and within minutes we had tickets and were boarded.  

We arrived at The Tides Lodge about half an hour later and a well earned cocktail - in total it had taken 9 hours of pretty much non stop driving to get here.