Laurie has now earned both her truck and night driving badges. She attained the first on her thousandth successful petroleum tanker pass during our eleven hour run toward the Malawi border. We traveled through pleasant landscape punctuated by hundreds of roadside villages teaming with young people, motorbikes, petal bikes, foot traffic, HUGE trucks, merchandise and opportunist traffic cops all too eager to extract shillings.
After our safari we collected our cars and pointed south, enjoyed a cool morning run, stopping for a group picnic at a farm.As is often necessary, the rally group overnights in different hotels. While some lounge by pools, others get less of the advertised luxury. We just chalked up the Vamos Hotel in Iringa to catagory B and requested staff bring us a light bulb.
In Mbeya half the group were hauled in vans to an “adjoining” lodge after checking in to control at rally central. Nice place, unfortunately our driver did not know it’s location. Ninety minutes of darkness, bouncing on quite bumpy dirt roads, fuel gauge on empty. Laurie and I, weary travelers, now thirteen hours on the road, collapsed In our bungalow and requested another light bulb.
Good run to the Malawi border, then words fail me.
“Utter chaos” seems too frivolous to describe the next four hours. The film “King of Hearts” comes to mind.
Malawi. Good roads, few trucks and police. A very big lake. Young people walk. Boys ride bikes. Villages highly social, not much technology, a few satellite dishes per village, less material wealth. Pigs, goats. A stunning mountain pass on a rough road.
Delayed by our border games, we made the last kilometers in darkness, uncomfortably aware the road was shared with unlit children and animals. The Grand Palace Hotel lives up to its billing and we are all reunited, even friends who were towed 90km to join us.
Your Nav
Let’s torque tires.
Friends discussing borrowing fuel from Fang.
Mustang thought they were out of fuel.
Actually line frayed through. Fixed now.
We formed a Fangio team, The Juanderers.
Jock and knob hills Malawi
Field Trip
Malawi. Good roads, few trucks and police, boys ride bikes.
About to pass one of the thousand petroleum tankers during
our eleven hour run toward the Malawi border
Be sure to check the Beastly Fang to see if there might be a more current log.
