3 June, Monday: Iringa -> Tungamalenga

The morning was fresh with a cold bite in the air. We had local Tanzanian coffee with fresh cream and milk. For breakfast we were given home made bread and home made delicious creamy butter. Hartmut sent us off with some batches of his butter. We left the farm feeling rejuvinated and ready to continue our Tanzanian journey. We stopped in Iringa for food supplies where we had a wider choice of meat products in the mini supermarket.

Just after 11 am, now the sun warmly shining down on us, we got onto our bikes and headed for Tungamalenga. The road started off tar and after a few kilometres, we entered a narrow, gravel, main road to the Ruaha National Park. The road was quiet with a few motorbikes and trucks going past but the ride was mostly downhill, so far. We zoomed down the hills surrounded by thick dry Mopani, which was so different to Iringa, green forestry. We stopped along the dirt road under a Mopani, but this came with the Mopani flies. Mom and I were in giggles watching Chris getting so annoyed and wrapping t-shirts and hats around his head. He irritatedly went to sit in the car but then the flies came to Mom and I, the laughing quickly stopped. Today we had tuna mayo for lunch. This was so exciting as we'd been saving the tins from Hoedspruit.

We continued the ride and we passed a few very small villages, with few people inhabited in them. We cycled through the most beautiful hills of dry bush veld and Umbrella Thorns sticking out in the horizon. Its nothing live weve seen before in Tanzania. Its such a big, biodiverse country, rich with culture. Now, with tummies full, the sun over 30 degees, flies buzzing around us, long climbs up the hills, for the first time in 3 weeks did I feel like giving up. I have been wondering when the time would come when I get over it or get tired of cycling and today, I just feel exhausted and man-down. However, Mom and Chris were there, continuously supporting me and encouraging me. We found a campsite called Chogela, just outside the village of Tungamalenga, where we pulled in and set up camp. I had a scheduled RhinoArt lesson with the children in the village through the Nomad-Tanzania Trust, this being the reason we came out all this way, so thats exciting. As we drove into the campsite, we were bombarded with 5 eager hosts willing to help, constantly offering to put up our tents, wash the dishes. It was a bit irritating but after eventually understanding our sign language trying to say "no thank you" they gave us our space. The hospitality in Tanzania is really so welcoming and the locals go above and beyond to make you feel comfortable.

Mom about to set up camp

Despite the hot day we had cycling, with the night falling down, came cooler temperatures and we got all wrapped up in our winter clothes. Before getting into bed, we played a few games of Rummycub, which Chris will be happy to share that he won ALL 3 games!

Cycled: 53 km

Time: 2:36 hrs

Ave speed: 20 km/hr

Ascent: 276 m