Arusha, 16 Mar 2007: Storm Rocks, and Lions
by Lianna
We
exited Rwanda through the tiniest border in the world, where there were
no forms to fill in and where the border guards were happy to let people
stroll around, through the border and back again, to look at the powerful
waterfall that thunders under the bridge in no-mans land between Rwanda
and Tanzania. 200m further on, we tried to enter Tanzania at a much bigger
border, but one at which the customs official had 
decided
he wanted the afternoon off and had gone home; this is such a quiet border
with so little traffic, that he probably gets away with that all the time.
It was only several hours later, after we'd persuaded people to phone
him and get him back to work, that we entered country number 4.
Driving on the day after, we were unsure of what to expect. These roads
were reputed to be some of the worst on our entire route, and after the
epics in Rwanda, we were more than a little nervous. Happily, their reputation
was undeserved, and we spent a couple of days driving towards Mwanza on
the banks of Lake Victoria. On our way there, we started to notice more
and more outcrops and boulder fields. Solid beige granite, it looked like
there was enough easily accessible, solid rock here to spend months climbing
and bouldering here! 
So
we stopped and went climbing. The rock really was great, and standing
atop each boulder, all you could see was more of them, in every direction
for as far as you could see. It is no exaggeration to say that we drove
for 100km throgh the biggest, most sensational boulder region I've ever
witnessed. An area big enough for most of the world's more famous bouldering
areas to disappear in without trace. It is probably several hundred times
bigger than Font, for example. This bouldering area has no write up in
any climbing source that I can find, and it is hard to overstate its significance,
with the one huge drawback of accessibility.
Regrettably, for about the only time on this trip, we had a deadline
to meet and so our time here was very restricted. We'll be back!
We found a lovely little camping spot a short distance down a good dirt track, with friendly and curious but quiet locals who left us in peace most of the time - although lots of the kids came bouldering (and were worryingly gung-ho with it all. I was envisioning a spate of broken ankles in the area soon after), and many of them still joined us for a spot of white-man-watching in the evening hours.
We
relaxed that evening, playing with the local kids, watching the full moon
rise, huge and orange between the dark clouds to shine an eerie light
on the boulders. In the distance, flashes of lightning carved up the sky
with their impressively complex forks. The air was warm, and the thunder
was rumbling ever more constantly. But the storm was distant. No need
to worry.
At least not until a few hours later when we were in the eye of the storm
- the craziest storm any of us has ever been though. The rain was cacophonous,
beating down incessantly on the tents. The flashes of lightning, bright
enough to hurt your eyes, were separated by fractions of a second, and
grounding on the boulders right next to us. The thunder, which did not
abate at all, was deafening and right above our heads. But the wind: the
wind was the problem. With two of us in the tent, we just about managed
to keep it on the ground, though all the poles had collapsed and we were
trying to hold the roof off our faces. Pegs were ripped out of the ground,
and the fly was flapping madly, threatening to become a parachute to drag
us through the fields. Re-pegging was not an option because with only
one of us in the tent, it would surely blow away. Nothing is waterproof
enough for a storm like this and everything was wet. 
Other people weren't quite as lucky as we were and did get blown away. At least three people were rolled, wrapped in tent, through the fields. All the tents collapsed, all the sleeping bags were soaked, nobody slept.
Though
our period in the eye of the storm was probably no more than 15 minutes,
it caused carnage. When morning came, we found a war zone. People sheltering
in BiRT, soaked and freezing. We took the morning to dry off, recover,
warm up in the sun, and find our nerves again after they'd been so frayed
that night. The small dirt road that we'd traveled in on was now a pond,
2 feet deep, and we spent the morning digging trenches to drain it.
The storms continued to threaten over the following days, and it was a bunch of very nervous people that pegged their tents perfectly, using all the guys they could, each evening! The bouldering had been excellent though, and spirits were high as we looked forward to a swim in Lake Victoria, and then one of the highlights of the trip: a day driving through the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation areas.
It turned out to be an epic day. Leaving camp before 5am in order to be at the gates for opening time, we were rewarded with one of the most vivid and crisp sunrises I've ever seen - dawn over the East African savannah really is something special.
Seeing as we were transiting through (albeit slowly) in such a conspicuous vehicle, nobody had expected to see much. So baboons, wildebeest, zebra, giraffes, hyenas, jackals, duikers, water buffalo, impala, gemsbok, thompson's gazelle, grant's gazelle, springbok, kudu, and all manner of giant birds of prey were a real bonus. Then we saw a herd of elephants, and shortly after, a pride of lions! People pay more for a week safari than for several months on Hot Rock - and we saw just as much - including a hyena demonstrating that size is important, to a jackal which had made a fresh kill.
Unfortunately though, we had misjudged ever so slightly how was it was
all the way through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. 17 hours after entering
the park, and following lengthy discussion with the authorities (and perhaps
a little cash under the table) regarding being allowed out of the park
well after it shuts (NPs are open sunrise to sunset, after
which all travel into, out of and through the park is prohibited) we finally
reached Arusha, our destination for the day!
