Tanzania or Bust

Here is the story about our journey. I wrote this on Friday morning, but am now just able to post it.

(Warning... this is a long one)

There were times during our journey when it seemed like we were never going to get there. The past two days have been filled with more stress and strain than I have ever experienced before in Africa.

We aimed to leave Nairobi at 9:00am on Wednesday. It was really important we do so because we had a nine hour road trip ahead of us, plus the time at the border. We needed to get to Korogwe before dark so we could quickly buy mattresses and supplies in order to house ourselves, Gordon and our driver that evening. Plus, it's not safe to drive after dark.

Fortunately, our driver showed up on time. 7:00am. We loaded up the truck, they had tea and we left by 7:45. Slightly behind schedule. There were a few things we had to get before leaving Nairobi – Nala's transportation documents, temporary travel permits for Gordon and the driver, gas, car insurance, etc. We hit traffic and didn't arrive at the Ministry of Livestock until 8:30. George went in with our documents and quickly secured the paper we needed. Unfortunately, he had to wait over an hour for one person to sign it. What made it more frustrating was the guy knew George was waiting and was just chatting with a co-worker. George got back to the car around 9:45. By 10:30, we got the travel permits for Gordon and the driver. Then the chaos errupted.

We had to get insurance for the car to travel to Tanzania. We were given quite a few different estimates: around $100, $60, and $40. Of course we wanted the cheapest. Somehow one of the guys giving one of the higher estimates, issued the insurance and delivered it to the car. We were expected to pay the higher amount which we weren't ok with. We hadn't agreed to that. Meanwhile, the guy who helped us arrange for the car was working on another insurance policy that was cheaper. In the end, we paid the lowest amount.

Then more chaos. The people who booked the car for us were really middlemen between us and the driver. We paid our deposit on Monday and were supposed to pay the rest on Wednesday. When we tried to pay, there was a ton of confusion about the balance due. Phone calls were flying back and forth between George, the middlemen and the driver (who may or may not have been the owner). The middlemen decided to change the terms and were going to keep money they weren't supposed to. For this reason, the driver pulled over and refused to leave. George tried to sort it out, but the end result was us having to pay the difference between what the middlemen were keeping and what they were supposed to give the owner. It wasn't fair – we did our part and this was an issue between the owner and the middlemen, but we had no choice. We had to leave.

By the time we finally left – it was after 12:00. There was no way we could make it to Korogwe that night. That meant we had to pay for a hotel for the four of us in Moshi – an additional cost we hadn't planned for. As we drove, we discovered the middlemen had lied about other things. They told the driver we were booking the car for three days and were going to Arusha (Korogwe is an additional five hours past Arusha). At this point, I was just relieved to be on the road. It would take two hours to reach the border and I estimated it would take us an hour to get through.

Wrong. It took three hours. We had to get export docs from the Kenya side for the car. Then we had to get import docs from the Tanzania side. The driver had to leave the car's official log book at the border to prove to the authorities he wasn't going to sell the car there. Plus we had to get our passport stamped out of Kenya and into Tanzania. The Kenya side was fairly easy. Once we got to the Tanzania side, that's where we hit problems.

Clearing immigration was simple for us, but clearing the car and Nala was a challenge. Once we had the paperwork from both sides, we thought we were ready to drive off. It was 4:00 by then and we were anxious to leave. We drove to the last gate to show our papers and the policewoman decides she wants to look in our suitcases. Then she says we have to declare each item as well as Nala. No one prior had mentioned this to us. We are in a private car with private belongings and shouldn't have to declare anything. So, George went back to the customs office where he was told he had to get an official value for Nala from the vet's office on the Kenya side. We got her for free. She didn't cost us anything! George ran back over there and found the vet's office. They had no idea what he was talking about. One of the vet's employees went back to the Tanzania side and told them what they wanted didn't exist. It went back and forth for a while until we finally were allowed to go. This process took another hour.

By 5:00 we left the border and headed to Moshi. I was so relieved to have made it through the border process. On the way to Moshi, we had a few more police checks, but since we had all the right documentation it wasn't a problem. We arrived in Moshi at 8:00 and booked rooms at the hostel we have stayed at before. By that time we all were exhausted and starving. We hadn't eaten anything the whole day.

After a yummy dinner (beans and samosas for me!) we went to bed with the plan of leaving Moshi at 6:00am on Thursday. Gordon and the driver had to get back to Nairobi Thursday evening since we only booked the car for two days. We had a three and a half hour drive to Korogwe, plus they had a nine hour drive back to Nairobi as well as border time. The border closes at 6:30pm so it would be really tight.

We left Moshi by 6:30 on Thursday and arrived in Korogwe at 9:45. I was really pleased with the time we made. George changed places with the driver to take us to our house. Just as I breathed a sigh of relief... we had made it.... George was pulled over by the police. He hadn't done anything wrong. We suspect they saw the Kenya license plate and thought it was an opportunity to make money. His offense... driving with sandals. So bogus. The reason they pulled him over? We never found out. They made him pay on the spot before letting him go. This delayed us a bit and we finally pulled into our house at 10:30. Because time was short, George dropped off me, Nala and our stuff and left to see Gordon and the driver out of town. He still had to go to the back, pay the driver and fill up the gas tank.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this... George's phone got lost or stolen somewhere on the journey. So, he wasn't able to call Lulu to tell her we arrived. I just waited with Nala and our stuff on the front porch. Then George went to Lulu's house (fortunately he remembered where it was from our dinner there last time). She wasn't there, but her neighbors called her and he was able to meet her to get the key.

Once George got back, we entered our house and brought in our stuff. Shortly after, Lulu came and George left with her to get a few items that we would need to sleep there: mattress, blanket, food, etc. By the time they came back, it was pouring rain. The rain would continue on and off through Friday morning. I was fine with that since it kept the temperature down.

So... we made it! How do we feel now? Relieved to be here, but exhausted and drained (in every way). We are thankful the Lord brought us here and hope to rest and recover from the stress of the journey over the next day or two.

Thank you for praying. The journey was rough, but God is faithful and we are here now.