Maybe it’s too early to be writing this (given we’re only about a quarter of the way through this big continent) and it can be interpreted as a blatant generalisation, but we have to ask - “Africa, where is your pride?!” We’re referring to the constant begging… And it’s not just the kids, crippled or elderely that are doing it but the educated and relatively well off Africans. Time and time again we have met people who at first seem generous and willing to help out a ‘foreigner’ passing through, only to discover that there is a catch… Two examples:
- We stopped in a small village in Rwanda to have some lunch. As is typical of Rwanda, dozens of people immediately surrounded us and the bike. One guy came forward asking (in English) if we need some help. We could have managed to order something ourselves but always like to meet the locals and appreciated the offer. All was going well until our new ‘friend’ insisted we buy him a beer. “Why should we buy you a beer?” we asked. “Because I was the first to help you and I’m poor” came the answer. We tried to explain to him that if we gave money and gifts to every African that asked for it, we’d be broke by now.
- The second example is from Tanzania. Again we stopped for some food. A middle-aged man sms-ing away on his mobile phone, came up to us for a chat. All was cool until we asked whether they had a well or spring from which we could get some water. He said they didn’t because they’re a poor village, but we could change that by giving them a ‘grant’. What’s wrong with picking up a shovel and digging a hole yourself, we thought…

Not everyone is like this of coarse and we’ve met some fantastic people. Most Africans are super friendly and always smiling, but some just can’t help themselves when they see a white face. We realise a lot of it has been caused/influenced by western countries, who use corrupt governments to feed off Africa’s rich resources and think that a bit of humanitarian aid will silence their conscience. Also ‘generous’ tourists who think material possessions is what the Africans are missing don’t help the situation either. But we don’t buy the argument that if you think you’re poor, the world owes you something. We’ve been to many countries and regions of the world (Mongolia, central Asia…etc) where people have less than here, yet don’t expect anything in return for their hospitality. It’s not for our benefit that we say all this (although it would make for a better travel experience), but how can a country (continent) hope to prosper and move forward when they feel helpless and give up their pride so cheaply…?

Ok, now that’s off the chest, back to our travels…

While still in Kigali, we met a German cyclist who told us it’s possible to visit Goma, just over the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, without officially stamping out of Rwanda. Goma was engulfed by overflowing lava from a nearby volcano in 2002 and apparently is worth seeing. But even better is the volcano itself which is still very much active and has a permanent lava lake within its crater. We wanted to check this out, but before we could even attempt to cross the border we were told that the national park around the volcano is currently closed because some rebels have made it their home! It wasn’t to be this time, but the volcano is definitely on our list of things to see…

Rwanda is not accustomed to independent travelers so when we decided to just pitch our tent near a small village, the word spread quickly and soon we had visits from both the police commissioner and village chief. They wanted to see what these two mzungu’s were up to (ie. if we were sane) and whether we needed any help. That wasn’t it though, the following morning the local military commander also traveled down from the nearest town to personally check we weren’t a couple of rebels from the neighbouring DRC. Having learned our lesson, the following night we pitched our tent in a police compound

Burundi is just overcoming a long civil war, so they’re not used to seeing any tourists. We were keen to see a place hardly anyone ever mentions so we bought some visas on the border (US$20 for 3 days) and pointed the Africa Twin south. By midday we had passed the capital of Bujumbura and by evening we were half way through the country. Yes, Burundi is a small country but boy does it have a lot of people about!! Everytime we stopped for a break (even between villages) we were instantly surrounded by onlookers. Dozens of them…

For some it was the first time they’ve seen a white guy, so the curiosity is understandable. Everything we did was watched closely, once in a while someone would make a high pitched “Ehh!!” typical among many of the African countries we’ve seen. For one night we made the mistake of pitching our tent at a local catholic mission… just beside a primary school!! We won’t go into details, but lets just say we had about 200 pairs of eyes watching us pitch the tent and cook our dinner

So it was with some relief that we entered the relative open spaces of Tanzania. We took a rest day in Kigoma, during which we changed our planned route and headed east to Dar es Salaam because we wanted to see the beach More than half the road to Dar es Salaam was dirt, some good and some bad…

There were some really nice bits through forest and open savanna where we enjoyed a few nights of bush camping without any ‘visitors’ (human or animal).

We’re now kicking back at a nice beach camp on Kigamboni - just a few minutes from Dar. We’ll get some sun, fill our bellies with seafood and beer, get a Malawi visa and then hit the road again for a short safari through Mikumi National Park. There shouldn’t be any lions this time