Day 173 – 175: Kibondo to Kigoma

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We set an alarm for 07:00 and managed to actually get up and take another shower. Just as we were about to leave the room a staff member came to ask us to move the Hilux so that the other vehicle can exit. The owner of the other vehicle was also a muzungu, but one who seemed to work/live in Rwanda.

After moving the Hilux we went for breakfast. The main dish was chicken soup. Caro incidentally saw the staff plucking feathers from a chicken the night before while looking out of the window. There were also cooked green bananas, sweet potato, cassava, and chapati.

We left at 08:41 and drove the remaining 250km to Kigoma. The road again varied between stretches of newly build gravel road and driving next to the new road as well as pieces of ‘old’ road where work hasn’t started yet. All in all, it wasn’t as bad as expected and we got to Kigoma by 14:00. The last 20km of the road was tarred.

We went straight to Jakobsen’s beach. We checked in at reception and then drove behind a guy who jogged all the way to the campsite. More than a kilometer downhill. At the campsite, there were three other groups and the guy just said this is the campsite and walked all the way up the hill again.

The other groups were an old Swiss couple in a Land Rover double cab with a caravan unit on the back. A Dutch family living in Rwanda and some Dutch Backpackers.

Caro made toasted cheese and salami sandwiches for lunch and then rinsed all the dust from the car. Hugo had to walk up to reception to quickly do some urgent work using their WiFi as there is no mobile reception at the campsite.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a swim in the crystal clear water with the sun setting over the Congo mountains barely visible across the lake.

For dinner, we made potatoes with tomato, cheese and chorizo pieces. We also made beer shandy with the Primus beer and Sprite. Our first campsite dinner where it is just the two of us again since before Ethiopia. It’s nice to have company, but it’s also good to just be alone from time to time.

We decided to stay another day. We gave our laundry to the staff to wash, including our bed sheets and duvet cover which will be washed for only the third time on this trip. It was a big bundle of almost everything and they only charged 15 000 TZS.

After making French toast for breakfast we packed a beach bag with biscuits and bananas, sunscreen, towels and cameras.

We set off towards Beach no 2 just 400m from the campsite. It’s hard to describe how perfect these beaches are. Palm trees, sand, clear FRESH water and even secluded with little to no other people. Caro went snorkeling while Hugo lied down for a bit. Hugo later went to the bathroom and when he came back all our things were strewn over the beach. The camera bag with the heavy camera was 10m away. The blue Nakukmatt bag was full of holes and 30m away. The biscuits and bananas were completely gone.

Caro saw how a group of 30 blue monkeys jumped up and down on our things throwing and tearing things open. She was however too far away to swim back fast enough.

Just after the monkeys moved on to the campsite four zebras came to drink water in the lake. What a crazy place.

We moved our things to a third little beach and went snorkeling together. There are hundreds of fish both big and small. They’re not as colorful as at Zanzibar, but still really beautiful and interesting. Some still have patches of bright blue or yellow or orange.

The wind started to pick up so we went back to the campsite and made toasted sandwiches again for lunch. We had washed our fleeces and inner cushion covers and then relaxed a bit.

Later we went up to reception to see if there is any urgent work. Our washing was also finished, dry and neatly folded. By the time we got back to the campsite the sun had almost set. We quickly made up our bed and put the duvet cover back on, before jumping in the lake again for our nightly bath. The showers only have cold water which probably comes from the lake so we just used the lake directly.

For dinner, we made macaroni with chorizo and tomato relish. We should have bought 20 of these sausages in Kigali and not just two. We also had some more beer shandy.

Everyone left early in the morning and we were still alone in the campsite on a Friday night. We kept thinking that we shouldn’t get excited too soon as an overland truck could still arrive late at night.

The next morning we were however still the only ones at the campsite. Caro made Rooibos tea with condensed milk which we went to drink on a rock next to the beach.

Later we had some ice cold pineapple pieces before heading to beach no 2 again to snorkel around the rocks back to beach 1. It was a bit cloudy so by the time we got to beach 1 we were cold. We ran out to the car to get our towels and to stand in a sun spot.

We heated up some of the left over macaroni for brunch. Just as we started eating the monkeys came again and jumped on the car and looked for pieces of food on the ground around our table. Just as Caro put down her bowl one of the monkeys grabbed it and went to lick it out high up in a tree.

After washing dishes, we went back to the beach where Hugo tried to sleep while Caro did some more snorkeling. The wind picked up again around noon so we packed up and went back to the car. Caro was carrying the umbrella, towels, and camera and wanted to rinse her flip flops, but she slipped and fell. At first, she was just concerned about the camera that dropped in the water but then noticed the blood on her elbow. It was bleeding badly, but it was Coca-Cola red and it hurt like hell on the inside of her arm.

Back at the campsite we put everything in the sun to dry and doctored Caro’s elbow. We then made toasted sandwiches yet again before going to reception up the steep hill to work on the blog.

We went back for a sunset swim for old time’s sake. A Dutch couple arrived at the campsite and invited us for a glass of Orange River Cellar box wine. Hugo had trouble swallowing it and offered to share a bottle of Primus beer for the second round. We chatted until 21:00 when we only started to make dinner. Caro made her signature coconut cream rice and beans again.