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My friend the wind is back! I think it is the same wind which accompanied me in the first stages in Zambia, as a matter of fact I am proceeding in the same direction, I am scared that this wind which blows from East to West, will haunt me until I will start heading North in Kenya. Today it was very strong and with no truce for the first 60 km until Mukambako, then I went up to the 1800 m of Nyororo.
Because of the wind today I beat the swearing record in all the few languages I know badly. From Igawa to Mukambako, the landscape is typical of the savanna, it reminds me of ‘Born free’ the series TV which made me fall in love with Africa first, at a certain point, when the wind became unbearable I would have loaded the bicycle on a Land Rover and gone looking for the lioness Elsa …
After Mukambako the road narrows and I was often forced to excursions on the grass to avoid buses and trucks.
The Xs have reappeared but here they are green!
In the middle of a big uphill I saw an elderly couple using a wooden push scooter like those small trolleys which old ladies used once upon a time to carry their shopping at home. The push scooter was entirely made out of wood even the wheels!
When I arrived in Nyororo I saw a sign post with written ‘Kitu Chafya, COPE Italian project’, I asked the first time if it was close and I was told 1 km, then again 2 km, … at the end I did 6 extra km downhill which means uphill tomorrow, but it was worth it because Daniela, Matilde, Eleonora, Patrizia and Micael,the parents from Emilia Romagna called him like that without the H to make it easier to spell, have welcomed me very well, in a clinic, health centre they call it, where everything works with solar energy. Later we went to have dinner to Father Mariano, a missionary from Acerra, where there was pasta al sugo and coffee which I had not savoured since the day of the departure. Father Mariano before coming to Tanzania, he has been here for 12 years, was a missionary in Switzerland! After dinner he took several heart medications … swallowed with the help of a Kilimanjaro beer … without he cannot take them he said …
This is Africa, where everybody is a little bit freer.
On a uphill there was a decrepit multicolored bus at a standstill, the engine compartment open, the driver with a piece of the engine in his hands, among the dismounted passengers there was a very white musungu couple from North Europe we greeted each other and they told me ‘Good luck’ … I do not know who needed it the most.
White House Guest House Igawa S 8° 76.719’ E 34° 37.960’ – Nyororo S 8° 30.42 E 35° 04.45’
102 km