Post series: Africa Trip 2016

After camping at a basic site we found outside Arusha, we traveled down through Dodoma province towards Iringa in the southern part of Tanzania. The road degenerated into a mountain trail at parts and massive road works in other sections.  Guess we should have done our homework better but we had the right car and the scenery was good. If we return in a year’s time much of the road works will have been completed with lovely tar roads in sections, while other sections will still take a while.

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Bishop Mulinge had arranged for us to travel to the foot of Mt Kilomanjaro near the Amboseli Antional Park, before we headed down to Malawi. His son, Shalom, was driving their car and it an effort to avoid a head on collision veered off the road into the car concerned!  We taped it all on our dashcam… It was his mistake and he felt so bad about it. Both cars were badly damaged and could not continue,  but all 5 occupants escaped without any injury at all, including our friend Myron, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. After the cars were towed away, another car was arranged and we were back on our way again!

We arrived at the AA Lodge, Amboseli later than planned but happy to be there safely. We camped  in the parking area and a  Masai  was assigned to guard us. We were very close to the foot of Mt Kilomanjaro but the clouds insisted on keeping her totally covered and hidden.

We said our goodbyes the next morning and left for the Tanzanian border.

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On Tuesday afternoon  we drove into Nairobi to meet up with Myron Philips from CT and Bishop Mulinge, who was hosting us, before attending the dinner meeting with the PM of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, arranged by Kenyan Friends of Israel.  Security was very tight and many of the roads were closed off. While waiting for the meeting to start, we  met a number of really lovely people. The most ardent lovers of Israel in Kenya were all there!  The event itself was good with various initiatives between Israel and Kenya being announced. Unfortunately Bibi had to leave after he addressed the meeting to continue with various meetings he had not concluded in the afternoon and did not stay for the dinner itself.

On Thursday morning Myron Philips and myself addressed a  pastors breakfast attended by about 70 pastors from Kenya.  It went very well and I was encouraged by their good response and feedback.

On Friday afternoon we moved into a hotel in Nairobi near the church which was hosting us. I had agreed (crazily) to talk at a 10pm church meeting which would end at 1am in the morning! While having a late supper in the hotel restaurant, a lady stole my handbag off the chair I was sitting on, while I was sitting on it! Something that they are apparently doing at the moment in the city… the hotel is insured and we hope that they will refund the value concerned. Fortunately no passports were in my bag and also not too much cash – but my phone and  diary were … with much of my contact information, so please email me your cell and/or landline details.

The next morning we drove 2 hours to a village where  Apostle Bishop Dr… yes, really! ( I can’t remember his name) had a big meeting arranged where I spoke.  I was blessed to receive our first offering for the newly launched organisation Am Israel Chai.

Our last meeting was Sunday morning at the main church service before we could finally relax. We met wonderful people who have crept into our hearts.We hope to back soon, as I have been invited to return and speak again.

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Limuru – St Pauls University, NetACT conference (Theology and Community Development)

After getting through the border post into Kenya fairly easily we headed towards Limuru, 30km outside of Nairobi. The country is beautiful and the people are even more industrious than the Tanzanians. Little businesses everywhere and crops growing on every available piece of ground.

The worst part was the almost totally invisible big bumps,  found  every few 100 metres, through every village, and there are many!  (My dad would have hated it… speed bumps were his pet hate). Well, our brakes did not like them either and were soon complaining louder and louder as we entered the town of Kisii.  Marc said that we would need to do have them looked at asap and that we could not drive on as they were. It was a Sunday and most shops were closed… but then we drove past a Total garage with a small service bay and there was a  friendly mechanic who organised some brake pads from a friend of his, as the suppliers were closed, and quickly replaced them! The actual front right hand side disc was damaged beyond repair, but that could be replaced in Nairobi later in the week.

Drove down through a steep part of the Great Rift Valley and arrived at St Pauls University, outside Limuru, where Marc was to attend  a NetACT conference where he  had to speak on Monitoring and Evaluation on behalf of the EFSA Institute.

We were housed for the week, in one of the staff homes on the property, as they were away at the time. What a blessings to be able to unpack the car and sort and clean!

We met people from a number of African countries, who are mainly involved in various theological institutions, including a number of lecturers from Stellenbosch University theology department!  Really connected with a couple from Vryheid, SA, who might even join us on our tour to Israel this year and who invited us to stay over with them on our way back to the Cape.

In between attending some sessions I used the time to prepare for the upcoming meetings later in the week, in the Nairobi area, with Bishop Joshua Mulinge.

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We left the park in the afternoon and headed towards Lake Victoria to camp over before heading into Kenya the next day.

Only found two camping spots on Trip Advisor in the area  and chose one. It was a beautiful spot, situated on a tiny peninsula jutting into the lake.

We sat on the rocks watching the striking sunset. Our bliss did not last long as were soon swamped with millions of lake flies/”miggies” as we know them. Fortunately they were not the biting type…We ordered a quick meal of fresh fish at the lodge and then hastily jumped into the roof top tent to avoid the miggies covering  our car.

The next morning we headed out in a hurry, as we had to get through the Kenyan border post and get to St Paul’s University in Limuru, a town just north of Nairobi, where Marc would attend and speak at a community development workshop of NetACT (an Africa wide network of theological seminaries & universities).

Unbeknown to us, one of our tyres had not survived the bad park roads…As we drove out from the lodge, the manager stopped us and asked us a favour, to break up a $50 note for him. While Marc was looking for the change another guest noticed that we had a flat tyre and  informed us… our first and hopefully only one of the trip. Almost immediately two young guys offered to help change the tyre and they watched in fascination as Marc plugged the hole (did “surgery” on the tyre as they called it) with his repair kit. God continues to be faithful!

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We drove through the gate into the Serengeti  Park  area and enjoyed the stunning  scenery of the grasslands while the sun was setting.

Thankfully, the temporary cable solution held up on the really badly corrugated road to the camp site.  We woke up to the sounds of the bush and some buck and buffalo nearby.

As we started driving we realised that we had a problem as Marc’s temporary solution would most likely not survive the extremely bumpy roads till we exited the park.  We were 15 minutes into the drive and Marc was just saying that he wished he could drive up a ramp and see what was really going on under the car, when we came across a road leading to some activity. We drove in and found ourselves in a workshop in the middle of the Serengeti!!

Marc drove straight up the ramp, the mechanics checked it out and offered to weld the bracket back within half an hour. We left with it stronger than before, very happy to pay the $40. How awesome is our Father!!

We would not have stayed at the particular campsite that we did (and then not have driven past the workshop) if Marc had not run into a guide (named Enoch), the day before at lunch time, who recommended it to us.  How reassuring to journey through this life with our heavenly Father, who knows all things and can organise these details … very humbling indeed!

We spent the day in the Serengeti and enjoyed the vast expanses and seeing a number of herds of buffalo and one of at least a 1500 wildebeest during their migration.

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After booking and paying  for our entry permits in Arusha, we headed towards the Ngorongoro Crater area. When we planned the trip we had not realised that the already expensive park fees were going up substantially on the  1^st of July. We booked and paid in Arusha and then entered the park at 17hoo on the 30^th June. We were apparently  literally one of the last people to enter the park at the old rates, according to the park official at the gate! A SAVING  of a cool $120/R1800… Wow, that was a close one…

After viewing the amazing scene of the crater from the rim we headed towards the Masai village of Endulen where Katie had booked us in at the village hospital’s guest quarters (better facilities and much cheaper than camping in the area).  We passed a number of buffalo standing right next to the road as well as elephant crossing in front of us, hyena and many zebra on our way there.  All in all, a good introduction to the crater area and of what was to come the following day.

We woke up early and headed towards the crater, as it is the most expensive park we had ever entered and we intended to make the most of it! The crater drive down is quite spectacular and we soon realised that we were the only self drive car in the entire area. All other vehicles were Safari (Swahili word for ‘journey’ by the way) tours.

And were we blessed… the Safari guides have ” insider” info sources of where the lions etc. are and yet we drove right into the path of lions a number of times before they did, much to some of the guide’s eventual  consternation. The crater is unique and a limited area so you are almost assured of seeing excellent game.  We also saw herds of buffalo, zebra and wildebeest and even saw a massive black rhino cross the road near us…he/she really caused a traffic jam, as everyone wanted to see a rhino!

The trees, vegetation and general scenery is very beautiful and the whole experience was almost surreal!  We eventually rather grudgingly left the park, just in time, we hoped, to make it through the outer park gate before the dead line time. We had been warned that even a minute late would result in an extra $200 charge!

The road outside of the crater area deteriorated rapidly and 5 km before the gate, with 20 min to spare, we heard a noise under the car. The metal bracket, partly holding our 70 litre extra fuel tank in place, had broken right off and was dragging on the ground.

Marc used spare rubber cables and plastic cable-ties to temporary hold it in place, for how long we were not sure…and rushed to the gate, making it with 5 minutes to spare!

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The next morning we made our way down the mountain on the suggested route and arrived in Arusha , where we stayed over with Katie, a missionary mid-wife from Cape Town, who we only met a few months ago and Anna, a nurse from New Zealand. Both volunteer with Maternity Africa, as mid-wives,  in the town. www.maternityafrica.org

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Left for Arusha and needed to find  a camp spot on the way as the place we had planned to camp at did not seem to exist anymore. Found a spot through google maps called Irente Farm Lodge, near Lushoto village,  based 1000 metres high, on  top of the Western Sabara Mountain range. We love camping with a view so up we decided to go…the owner sms’d directions but we took a wrong turn and ended up driving the scenic route, straight up the mountains, along a very narrow windy road with steep drops, through remote villages. When the children saw us they would shout with  great excitement, ” mazungu”, which is their term for white person, dating back to the 18th centuary. It literally means  “wandering around aimlessly” or one who is lost, as many explorers who arrived then appeared to be…It was fairly appropriate for us at the time as well!  I don’t think that they see many people passing through their village, although it is 10km shorter to the top.

Fortunately we did not meet any cars coming down as it would have been very problematic to pass… It also turned out that there had been an accident between a bus and a truck on the road that we were supposed to have taken and we would have been stuck behind them for a number of hours,  if we had not taken the “wrong turn”…( a God inspired mistake…?).

When we arrived at the top, a friendly local Christian man named Joseph appeared, who quickly took is to see the spectacular sunset from the best vantage point just before it set and gave us some generally good advice. We had the clear sense that God had arranged it all…We make our plans but God really does direct our steps!

We proceeded to camp at the German farm Lodge a few metre down the road. It is run by German Lutheran and has a dairy farm which produces fresh milk, yogurt and cheese. They also run a school for the blind and an orphanage which the lodge, camp site and farm activities support.

We were the only people camping in a forest clearing on top of the mountain and heard the most amazing nights sounds all around us. Owls hooting at each other, bush monkeys chatting etc.

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Spent the night in Dar es Salaam on 17^th June with old family friends, Dave and Angela Scott.  A special couple who live out being a blessing to others. We were grateful to leave our car in their safe hands for the week we would be in Zanzibar.

We arrived back in Dar es Salaam a week later and stayed over with our other special friends, Etienne and Rani and their 3 children. They have been in Tanzania for 3 years and have planted a branch of Liberty Church. It was great to be able to visit their church and witness the good work that they are doing. They were finishing off a series on Joseph and allowed me (Vivienne) to share the prophetic Messianic picture of Joseph, as relating to his Jewish brothers.

We also visited the coastal town of Bagamoyo with Etienne and his family. Bagamoyo is another place connected to the slave trade and the name means – ” Where  I  left my heart”.  Many thousands of slaves were marched through the port on their way to a life of slavery in India, Persia, South and north America etc. Livingston spent time in teh area and witnessed the brutality of the Arab traders including mass murders of the indigenous African people. He diarised much of what he witnessed which helped lead to the abolition of the slave trade near the end of the 19th Centuary, although it only came into effect in Tanganyika  in 1922.  David Livingston’s body left from Bagamoyo back to London

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