Zambia and Tanzania: Neighbors by Border Alone

Admittedly, posting has been a little more sparse than I had hoped. Hopefully, that will be changing as Tanzania is nearly a whole other world in almost every respect relative to Zambia. But first, the long, bumpy road out of Zambia.

Moving northeast through Zambia we have found some better food than the standard Zambian Nshima dish. We think nshima is made from maize and cassava and bears a striking resemblance to grits, but drier and smoother. Nshima dishes are pretty standard, served with a side of some (hopefully identifiable) meat or vegetable (almost always something akin to collards). The nshima is intended to be rolled into balls and used to scoop the side. After our first experience scooping it up with a bus ticket (me) and an Obama button (Arianna) we started packing utensils. We have happily supplemented many of our nshima meals with omelets which seem to be standard fair in guesthouses. Now in the north we are starting to see more baked goods and samosas. We pack the Pajero every chance we get.
After fueling in Mpika we swung by the Shiwa House before sunset. We headed here due to a recommendation from a guide in South Luangwa who promised nothing less than a generally strange experience. The Shiwa House was built in 1907 by a former British colonial governor and stands (in my opinion) as the only 'in-your-face colonial' leftover in Zambia. It is now a somewhat upscale lodge owned by the grandson, Charlie. One of the house attendants gave us a tour of the grounds for a few bucks and kindly offered a free peek at two of the interior rooms. On the back drop of the rest of Zambia, I can only describe the place as a little creepy, a little cool and very eccentric. Furthermore, it was also an interesting visit because outside tiny villages and beautiful countryside there exists very little establishments, structures or rather just any semblance of modern man in Zambia. Don't get me wrong, I love the backwoods feel, but from time to time an interspersed reminder of what millennia I live in is kind of nice.

Under a setting sun we headed off to Kapisha Hot Springs, about 20 km away, owned and operated by the other grandson, Mark. Here there was a deserted, yet amazing hot spring that, with beers in hand, we spent hours soaking in. We were the only guests and camped down by the river. Unfortunately we committed to two nights by requesting a special dinner to be cooked for us the second night. It's a bit of a long and tedious story, but essentially, after spending a little time with Mark and his wife, Mel, we realized that the nuttiness that inspired the Shiwa House runs in the family. Mark had a few screws loose and was paranoid as hell. And it would be an understatement to describe Mel as just plane evil. It's unfortunate such a beautiful relaxing place is run by psychopathic nut-jobs. If you are ever in the area, I suggest you just visit the hot springs on a day trip only.Next stop was Kasama, a bit of a bustling town occupied mostly by the Bembo people. There was actually a grocery store and a gas station - big time! Outside the town we took in a few waterfalls and visited the local cave paintings. Our guide Rufus, gave the best tour we have received from any Zambian since Yotam at South Luangwa NP. What made it good? Besides his ability to deviate from a memorized script he actually was able to formulate his own disagreements with what a former achealogists had interpreted from the paintings. I do not mean to sound condescending about many of the other Zambians we have met. They are a wonderfully peaceful and friendly people on the whole, but Arianna and I are constantly amazed and their near-zero ability to enterprise or think outside the box. I do not think either that I have a limited perception despite my short visit. Zambia is a resource-rich nation. There is a significant amount of arable land and nearly 40% of all of Africa's hydroelectric potential, yet the country is almost entirely undeveloped and in the dark. They could not only feed their northern neighbors but power their bordering neighbors. Yet from the top down there seem to be very few entreprenurial examples or efforts to carve out a new economic niche. I have found fairly solid affirmation for this perspective from the few foreign (and white) enterprising individuals we have met throughout Zambia who have found most of their efforts to awaken the local populace to their potential as mostly futile. Hence, we tipped Rufus well.

We spent our last few days with the Pajero exploring the towns of Mbala and Mpulungo with plans to catch the weekly ferry to Tanzania. The ferry takes a slow 3 days cruising the 500+ km up Lake Tanginyika - with food stores and a box of wine in hand, we were stoked. Of course our plans were dashed when we got to the port and found out the only ferry out of Zambia had been diverted to move Congolese refugees back 'home'. I guess we have little room to get upset but it made for a following stressful 24 hours to figure out alternative plans. We looked into bus options across the border but there was little on the otherside in way of transport. We were approached by a guy trying to rent us a car - too sketchy. Conveniently, we ran into Frank, a guy we met the night before while hanging out at 'Harry's Bar.' Incidentally, Frank was also a local cop who spent much of his time and cell phone minutes trying to arrange for a car rental that we could take across the border and investigating the potential legality issues associated with us taking said such car across the border. However, with 15 minutes before the 'point of no return' for me to notify Lakinando (owner of the Pajero) of the drop off point, we changed all our plans and drove to the border town of Nkonde, 200 km away.

The following morning the car exchange with the return-driver at the border was fairly seamless, relative to what I had anticipated. Two nights prior, I had had a conversation with what I assume to be a drunk Lakinando who was trying to get another 500,000 kwacha out of us or call the cops. Unbeknownest to him, we shared drinks with Frank the same night! The border crossing with packs in hand was not too bad either, and 1 hour later we were in Tanzania - a whole different world! The people are not quite as friendly as Zambians, things are pretty messy and disheveled, buses abound, food places and stores are everywhere and there is tons of activity all around. We then undertook about 7 hours of rough bus rides to get dropped off in the dark in the middle of nowhere. With no lights in sight and fingers crossed, we walked with our packs and box of wine up a dirt road to find the nice, quaint little Kisulanza Farm. The farm offered wonderful campsites. Additionally, the owner Mark said we were free to explore the tobacco, corn and coffee fields the following day. We spent a nice hour strolling through the farm only after our $1.50 pot of french press containing the coffee grown on the farm - good stuff!
The next day we flagged down a bus on the main road that was heading to Iringa. We are currently using Iringa as a home base to make safari plans for the Serengeti. We have not solidified anything yet but have a few good leads. Regardless, it looks like this one is going on the credit card... Iringa, however, has been a fantastic town to visit. It is very lively and pretty friendly. We have found some great food. There is significant Indian cuisine influence and I happly destroyed some chicken curry after Arianna and I split some masala fries over various Tanzanian brews. Today, we explored the local food market where we were welcome with open arms into a back alley ad lib kitchen were we sampled the local Ugali and vegetables. Ugali turned out to be quite similar to the bland Zambian Nshima, but the veggies and atmosphere more than added enough spice. We were also excited to find some local crafts for sale. The highlight was Neema Craft Shop run by handicapped members of the Anglican Church. The nice, pleasant shop was further accented by an upstairs shop selling cappuccino.
Tomorrow we head to Dodoma with hopes to nail down a good safari deal. Also, I must apologize as I do not have many pictures from Kapisha Hot Springs to Iringa. With the stress of the border crossing issues we didn't get many Mpulungo or Mbala pics and then I lost my camera somewhere on a bus in Tanzania. I was able to negotiate a good price on a new camera in Iringa, so I should be back on track now.