Day 129: Mbeya (Tanzania) – Floja Foundation Campsite (Malawi)
Junior Setsiba from AASA delights us with the news that we can purchase a TIP (Temporary Import Permit) for South Africa at the border. That puts that matter to rest. It will be a bureaucratic process and cost money, but hopefully not more than extending the CdP with the ADAC plus express shipping through DHL. And it gives us more freedom to plan our entry into SA.
Leaving Mbeya and heading towards the border, we decide to take a side road west. This way, we avoid a large part of the crazy construction site in Mbeya and the section of the A7 on which masses of trucks are traveling to Zambia.
Just like two days ago, it's a gravel road through rural Tanzania. Beautiful landscapes (up to 2,086 m), significantly less densely populated, with corn, rice, bananas, and other crops growing where there are villages. A glimpse into poor Tanzania, which is completely different from the tourist areas around the Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, the Usambara Mountains, and the coast.
Our Tanzania tour left us with mixed feelings: magnificent landscapes and experiences. Poverty and a simple life on the one hand, combined with vast amounts of dollars spent in the hot spots on the other. Very, very nice people, but also people with blatant greed. Corrupt police officers, but also a country where, as a tourist, you get an emergency number in case of illness. Contrasts…
Exiting the country at the Kasumulu/Songwe border is a breeze. Entering Malawi through immigration is also quick and straightforward (no visa, no fees, just one form to fill out). Things get tedious at Malawi Customs. Fast-trackers (or truck drivers) with stacks of papers that have to be checked individually and paid for individually at the cashier.
We pay 20 USD for the toll fee/tax and 15,500 Malawian kwachas (just under 8 euros) for the carbon tax. Two payments, two waits. The CdP and Wolle's passport disappear into an adjoining room with the clerk several times. The whole thing is completely opaque, and after an hour and a half, we're annoyed. And suddenly we're supposed to pay a "process fee" of 30,000 MWK. We refuse. We've never heard of it. And we show the iOverlander app, "where all travelers record what they've paid." Our defiance and the danger of publicity mean that we're suddenly finished very quickly.
And so we arrive in Malawi, the 26th country on our African tour!
Countless tanker trucks at the border. There's a shortage of gasoline and diesel. We'd already heard about it and filled up in Tanzania. But since supplies come from Mozambique, we should be able to get diesel further south in the country. By the way: Total Energy's oil production in northern Mozambique was temporarily impacted by the armed conflict, if not actually part of it.
The streets are otherwise pretty empty. Pedestrians, cyclists, mopeds. And potholes! What potholes!
In Karonga, we make one of the fastest SIM card purchases of our entire trip. Barely a quarter of an hour. 30,700 MWK (around 15 euros) for two cards and 2 x 30 gigabytes.
The supermarket across the street seems a bit socialist, with many meters of shelves filled with identical products. But a few cookies and tonic water (!) go into the shopping basket, along with a piece of gummy toast.
The Floja Foundation Campsite is run by a Dutch foundation that uses the money to support a school, among other things. It's nice here, right on Lake Malawi. We're looking forward to a quiet night.