Wami Mbiki Wildlife Reserve 7-8th July 2004

 

 

 

... and we thought it was some kind of bird reserve... With a national holiday on the 7th of July, Idar got another chance to ride before leaving Tanzania. The day turned into a great adventure, and a near disaster. We had tsetse flies with resulting allergic reaction, impassable areas, a broken gear pedal and a close encounter with elephants

 

 

 

 

 

 

GPS print-out, added with colour

 

 

 

 

After a great 65 kms drive from Idar's nice house in Bagamoyo, refuelling in Msata for a big trip -- Henrik this day with another and bigger tank

 

 

Into the wild...

 

 

We soon realised that there could be elephants ahead! Hadn't heard of that from those who had done the track on bike before. Could be that they didn't meet them as animals migrate according to seasons
Fixing a loose bolt when everything was still pleasant

 

 

 

 

This is the track. Passable so far. Having received a GPS track from someone claiming to have done it two years back

 

 

 

 

 

impassable!

If the other guys really passed here, as the GPS said, then the vegetation must have grown a lot in two years!

Know it's hard to imagine, but we spent more than an hour passing through an area only a few hundred meters wide. We had to leave the bikes -- making a GPS waypoint, otherwise we might not have found back to them -- and then wandering around to find a way to cross the tall grasses and bushes. The waypoint 'possible track' shows the point from where we gathered we would be able to ride 'normal' again. The waypoints 'into grass' and 'out grass' indicated where we decided to try taking the bikes through the most intense grass and bushes
We managed. In the end!
The original GPS track went straight from where we left the bikes to around 'possible track'. We turned the tracker function off for a while, as it was confusing with all the tracks we made walking around. Instead we made a bearing from where we left the bikes to further ahead on the original GPS track. It was a good strategy
Two Scandinavians getting lost???

Scandinavians 'found' America so we can also do this, at least with a GPS!

This is where we later passed through...  by bike!

Scandinavians never give up! Besides, it got much worse later... (we were happily unknowing). This is where we came out of the (nearly) impassable area, just some 20 metres before the waypoint 'possible track.' Notice GPS on Henrik's handlebars, we were using it all the time
   

 

 

 

 

Good with some air!

 

 

 

The following two to three hours were indescribable. We were invaded by tsetse flies. Henrik, the one that got most severely bitten, has more than 150 bites. And he got an allergic reaction, itching all over, also places he weren't bitten

we remember them as being this big!
Soon we shall see if we get the grave, but easily curable, so-called sleeping sickness

It was even unbearable to stop for water because of the flies

To make things even more unforgettable, Henrik had his gear pedal torn off by a branch and could only ride in second gear

Rather dehydrated we were thinking that an allergic reaction from tsetse flies is probably better than one from elephants...

... Then round a corner we dumped into a group of eight to ten elephants. The big ones much bigger than the ones you see in Mikumi National Park. With the sound we were producing they probably thought it was an attack by some 100 lions -- which we later heard that there are plenty of there as well. At least it seemed so, because they were really, really angry. Of course Henrik's bike stalled. And I pretty much worked on getting it kick started again, which is not easy with an elder 600 CC in gear! Having it done, we turned the bikes ready to ride and made a lot of noise. Finally the elephants went off, and we could continue on the track!

In such situations, you don't get to take a lot of pictures...

 

 

 

 


Looking at the brighter side of things, which we normally do:

  • we saw, besides the elephants, waterbucks, thompson's gazelles and dozens of different kinds of birds...

  • and differently than in Mikumi National Park -- where the animals are so accustomed to cars and folks that they just stand there starring at you as though they're on dope and have already met you dozens of times before -- in Wami Mbiki they really run and jump...

  • we did not surprise a lion round a corner or walking in the grass

  • it is an amazingly beautiful area, would like to come back in an air-conditioned car, all windows closed

  • we will never forget it... Ever

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching the offices of the reserve (there is a car road going there from the south), we were told that we could have encountered lions as well. It was not for the sake of the picture that the one guys carries a rifle

 


Henrik receiving "local medicine" (it was just ashes) to cool down the allergic reaction from the tsetse fly bites. It helped. Henrik had his bike upgraded from using (only) second gear to using (only) fourth gear, kind of better suits long stretches. Then we took the road straight south and out of the Wami Mbeki area

 

 

Fifty kilometres later, down south at the Dar Morogoro main road in the Bwawani village we consumed a high number of cokes

 

 Idar had all the beers, Henrik still not feeling well on juice and paracetamol. We decided to sleep over in Chalinze. Next day, back to Bagamoyo and Henrik further on to Dar