Day One 25th June 2010 – I WISH I was Amazon

After we got over the disappointment of mode of transport been changed from Land Cruiser VX Amazon to the Toyota WISH-I-was-Amazon we finally set off from Embakassi at 7pm after the Brazil vs Portugal match despite a few (read many) delay tactics by the wives and ‘wives’.



Kiarie, Shem, McCrutch and Jomo at Embakassi

Several pee-stops later courtesy of the Heineken brigade namely Shem and name withheld we got to Border town Namanga at 9:30pm very impressed to find DSTv at the Kenya Customs Office and caught a few minutes of the Spain vs Chile match.

Shhteam FC at Namanga Customs Office

You are now entering Tanzania

Border crossing was pretty much straightforward and a few brokers later we had paid COMESA insurance plus reflectors, fire extinguisher and a first aid kit.
Enter Tanzania – and our first brash with the Tanzanian authorities was a mere 200mts into TZ after Shem decided to play fool on a signal to stop by the TZ border cops. They finally caught up with us at the diversion (more on that later) and the conversation went a little like this.
Cop: Mulidhani mumeshika lami mutaenda kabisa? Hamukulijua barabara litaisha?
Cop: Hamuoni gari letu limeandikwa STK? (Equivalent of GK) now we know.
Cop: Muonelea tupoteze mafuta ya seriakli?
A few apologies later in our best Swahili they let us go WITHOUT A BRIBE!!!!
10 minutes later and our second brash with the TZ authorities was hilarious after Shem inexplicably decided to knock a cop from behind luckily he was not injured and again NO BRIBE REQUIRED!!!!
Diversions – there were 47 yes fourty seven diversions between a 100km stretch between Namanga and Arusha got more shakes than a milk shake.
Third time not so lucky – Our third brash with the law resulted in paying a bribe this time after a thorough car search the officer declared that carrying bottles of Viceroy is againt custom laws and blah blah blah – Damage Tshs. 10,000

Not very clear but I swear if you look carefully you will spot a few giraffes we came across on the road to Arusha.

1:30am – Finally at Arusha and we sign off wake up call set to 0615 hours

Driver of the Day – Jomo 1 – Test drives for McLaren F1 in the off-season

Quote of the Day – Utamu wa kitu niku kosa kushiba – TZ Customs Officer