Whatshot

2026
All
September
2025
All
November
All
2024
All
June
All
April
All
2023
All
March
All
2022
All
2021
All
2020
All
March
All
February
All
2019
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
2018
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
2017
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2016
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2015
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
DHS
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2014
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
KZN
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2013
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2012
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All

Adverntures with Kinglsey Holgate - Afrika Outside Edge 17

Adverntures with Kinglsey Holgate - Afrika Outside Edge 17

Author: Kingsley Holgate
Date: 2017-08-11

Heavy clouds gather as our convoy of overworked Land Rovers creak and groan into Dar es Salaam. The spice islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia and the Rufiji Delta, white beaches, swaying palm trees, dhow sails pregnant with the Southeast trade wind, mangrove inlets, ancient ruins and baobabs make up the magnificent outside edge of Tanzania.

Then South to the port of Mtwara, more malaria prevention work, and then South for Mozambique. South means home, it's a great feeling. But the only way to cross from Southern Tanzania into Mozambique's Northern Cabo Delgado province is the ferry across the Rovuma River. Rumours are rife. Some say the ferry is not working at all, others say it's stuck on a sandbank. One traveller tells us that it only runs a few days either side of high spring tide.

All agree that it's buggered and we'll be lucky to cross. So with our hearts in our mouth we slip and slide the Landies out of Tanzania and across the mud flats to the ferry point. If we can't get across it will be a huge blow for the expedition and a detour that will take us all the way to the top of Lake Malawi and then back down again to the coast of Mozambique.

It would mean that the expedition would have to split - the Land Rovers going inland and some of us lucky ones travelling by inflatable boat down through the Querimba Islands to the Port of Pemba.

I think back to the other problems we've had on this journey with border crossings: the long detour to get around the Cunene River mouth, sailing our Landies across the mouth of the Congo River, the broken ferry into Guinea-Bissau, the hassles of getting into Western Sahara, being turned back at the Moroccan Algerian border and having to find a way around, the difficult negotiations to get into Gaddafi 's Libya, the thousand kilometre journey across the Nubian Desert so as to circumvent the Sudanese Egyptian Red Sea border, closed because of a border dispute, the difficulties with the Eritrean border and Somali pirates around the Horn of Africa.

And now, so close to home, probably the last major obstacle to completing the coast, is yet another border ferry that might or might not be working - well keep you posted. It's called living on the edge.