Day 19. Wed 9th October
Isimila - Mbaya
Up at 05:00 again! to drive the 200Km to Mbaya. As we pass through
Iringa someone thinks they see Herman The German behind us!
We stop off in Isimila to visit a stone age site and a prehistoric river
bed, where the water has etched away huge pillars of hard rock. It is all
very interesting, but a longer walk than we expected, and after the excitement
of Ruaha we have difficulty in summoning either the energy or the enthusiasm.
The Defender has still not run out of tricks - this time it gets stuck
in fifth gear, and we have to stop while Auxies jacks it up and fiddles
with the wheels and the gear box. Something inside has died and we must
continue without using fifth gear. This is difficult, as it is almost automatic
to change up, so whoever sit in the Defender's passenger seat is "in charge
of Auxies' knob" and must slap him if it looks as if he is reaching for
fifth gear.
We arrive at the Mbaya Peak Hotel about 18:00 - very nice with electricity
(at last I can charge my camera batteries, I am onto the spare and very
glad I brought two), light and hot showers, luxury after the park lodge.
However, as usual, we only stay in the nice hotel one night. Still we have
an excellent meal following sundowners on the balcony.