Blessings of travel
I am going to start out by letting you know this is not a story about the troubles of having vehicle trouble on the way to Arusha, this is a story about the blessings that can come through such an adventure. I am going to take a break from Tiny House Tanzania episodes to tell you this story.
So this weekend I am headed to Arusha, which is one of the bigger cities and a jumping off location for many of the safari adventures and Kilimanjaro hikes. This means the city has some heavy influence from outside sources for food. I look forward to trips to Arusha since I have found a good hamburger joint, good pizza place, good pasta and decent Mexican. It took me many trips to find those but I have them now along with a break from my diabetic diet to enjoy a milkshake.
So as I leave the valley to Singida so I can clean the truck and pick up some friends who want a ride I realize I have no real power going up the hill out of the valley. There is no safe place to pull off on the hill so I had to get to the top and stop. Minute I got out I could smell the brakes and instantly though I had left the handbrake engaged but checked and it was down. The rear tire hubs were not glowing but were hot enough I dared not touch them. After about twenty minutes of searching I found a rock was lodged in the handbrake release underneath the car. I worked the rock out and checked everything and no long term brake damage. I let them cool off before starting again. So figured my one incident for this trip was done and I was good to go. HA!
Next morning I pick up Diantha at her
hotel and we wait on Kyle and Chillie to join us. Diantha is headed to Arusha to meet up with her son who is visiting for her vacation from Peace Corp. Kyle is prior Peace Corp who extended and Chillie is part of the South Korean version of Peace Corp. They are headed to Babati to see the hippos on the lake. Babati is half way and normally a good stop to eat along the way.
The part of the trip to Babati is great and very pleasant with friends who make the 6 hour journey much nicer for me. When we got to Babati we were told a good place to eat would be Sarafina's which happens to be the same name as our favorite breakfast spot. We had brought some picnic items and when we find it, it is perfect hotel/restaurant with a great view of one of the mountains and tables all set out on the grass areas. They came rushing out to meet us and excited even though most of us just wanted sodas to go along with Diantha's homemade bread and Chillie's cheese a rare treat itself. It is pleasant time with friends and as we leave some locals have noticed us and want pictures with us as we leave. It is a rock star's life here sometimes.
About 1 1/2 hours outside Babati I hear a sound and instantly lose power again. This time it is not the brakes but the rear axle hub has come loose with the bolts sheared. Not a great feeling in the middle of nowhere. I tried several things I thought would band-aid the problem to get us to a town but nothing worked.
To give you an idea of what I mean nothing around or middle of nowhere. This is the Masai area where everything is just cattle drives to and from the watering holes. Nothing real is visible. The building in site is long abandoned
Now to the actual story of the blessings of our travel. First I am with Diantha who has much better Swahili skills than I. First I call my contact to see if he knows someone that can help us then she calls the person who set up her trek up Kilimanjaro for her vacation. When she called him, a group of young Masai girls had stopped to see the Mzungus (white folks). They were very skiddish but at the same time wanted to converse. Then they sang for a while but in all of that we got the name of their village and from that the person called told us we were near a town where you turn to the Ngorongoro crater a big safari hotspot. There would be vehicle fundis there (craftsmen). So we flag down a couple traveling along the same road and they give Diantha a ride to the town since her Swahili is better than mine. I stay with the vehicle in the middle of nowhere.
After getting to this town, she finds a man who is the driver for a big farm nearby who is town getting water for the farm. He introduces her to one of his mechanics and a person who can give us a tow into the area. Good fortune has smiled on us quickly along with the pleasant nature of Tanzanians.
The gentlemen who give us a tow are friendly speak some English and we go through the normal greetings and asking how each other are about 12 different ways before we can address the truck and its problem. One is the mechanic and he says it will not be a problem to fix our problem in town. Two interesting notes: In the past when I have seen a vehicle towed it was done with the rubber straps but this gentlemen had a chain that was a little short so they used some web strapping to finish it out and second when going down hill we unhooked from the lead vehicle and coasted down to make it easier.
This problem happens so often (it actually happened on my 2001 trip) that they sell the bolt repair kits everywhere. It took almost 3 hours and I tipped because they worked past their normal closing to finish up the job. All in all it cost close to $75 for the tow of 30 KM? and $25 for the repair kit and another $75 for labor and grease.
We found a cheap nice hotel and spent the night in the town because traveling after dark is very dangerous around here with the number of cattle and donkeys that roam free and the guys driving the buses all have death wishes or at least drive like they do. So I only lost one good meal in Arusha but everything worked out wonderfully and we both could not help but be amazed at something that would put a vehicle in the shop for a week or so barely interrupted our trip.
So this weekend I am headed to Arusha, which is one of the bigger cities and a jumping off location for many of the safari adventures and Kilimanjaro hikes. This means the city has some heavy influence from outside sources for food. I look forward to trips to Arusha since I have found a good hamburger joint, good pizza place, good pasta and decent Mexican. It took me many trips to find those but I have them now along with a break from my diabetic diet to enjoy a milkshake.
So as I leave the valley to Singida so I can clean the truck and pick up some friends who want a ride I realize I have no real power going up the hill out of the valley. There is no safe place to pull off on the hill so I had to get to the top and stop. Minute I got out I could smell the brakes and instantly though I had left the handbrake engaged but checked and it was down. The rear tire hubs were not glowing but were hot enough I dared not touch them. After about twenty minutes of searching I found a rock was lodged in the handbrake release underneath the car. I worked the rock out and checked everything and no long term brake damage. I let them cool off before starting again. So figured my one incident for this trip was done and I was good to go. HA!
Next morning I pick up Diantha at her
The part of the trip to Babati is great and very pleasant with friends who make the 6 hour journey much nicer for me. When we got to Babati we were told a good place to eat would be Sarafina's which happens to be the same name as our favorite breakfast spot. We had brought some picnic items and when we find it, it is perfect hotel/restaurant with a great view of one of the mountains and tables all set out on the grass areas. They came rushing out to meet us and excited even though most of us just wanted sodas to go along with Diantha's homemade bread and Chillie's cheese a rare treat itself. It is pleasant time with friends and as we leave some locals have noticed us and want pictures with us as we leave. It is a rock star's life here sometimes.
About 1 1/2 hours outside Babati I hear a sound and instantly lose power again. This time it is not the brakes but the rear axle hub has come loose with the bolts sheared. Not a great feeling in the middle of nowhere. I tried several things I thought would band-aid the problem to get us to a town but nothing worked.
 |
| what it looked like when I got out of the truck |
Now to the actual story of the blessings of our travel. First I am with Diantha who has much better Swahili skills than I. First I call my contact to see if he knows someone that can help us then she calls the person who set up her trek up Kilimanjaro for her vacation. When she called him, a group of young Masai girls had stopped to see the Mzungus (white folks). They were very skiddish but at the same time wanted to converse. Then they sang for a while but in all of that we got the name of their village and from that the person called told us we were near a town where you turn to the Ngorongoro crater a big safari hotspot. There would be vehicle fundis there (craftsmen). So we flag down a couple traveling along the same road and they give Diantha a ride to the town since her Swahili is better than mine. I stay with the vehicle in the middle of nowhere.
After getting to this town, she finds a man who is the driver for a big farm nearby who is town getting water for the farm. He introduces her to one of his mechanics and a person who can give us a tow into the area. Good fortune has smiled on us quickly along with the pleasant nature of Tanzanians.
 |
| the tow from our vehicle note the strap attached to the chain. |
This problem happens so often (it actually happened on my 2001 trip) that they sell the bolt repair kits everywhere. It took almost 3 hours and I tipped because they worked past their normal closing to finish up the job. All in all it cost close to $75 for the tow of 30 KM? and $25 for the repair kit and another $75 for labor and grease.
We found a cheap nice hotel and spent the night in the town because traveling after dark is very dangerous around here with the number of cattle and donkeys that roam free and the guys driving the buses all have death wishes or at least drive like they do. So I only lost one good meal in Arusha but everything worked out wonderfully and we both could not help but be amazed at something that would put a vehicle in the shop for a week or so barely interrupted our trip.
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