| Zimbabwe Border - Beitbridge | |
| Transport Import Toll | £5.00 |
| 3rd party Insurance | None available |
| Mozambique Border - Nyamapanda | |
| Entry Visa | £4.50 each bought at Mozambique Embassy in Pretoria, SA |
| Other entry charge | £7 - not sure what that was for! |
| 3rd party Insurance | £8.50 |
| Transport Import Permit | £3.00 |
| Malawian Border - Karonga Road | |
| Entry Visa | None needed |
| Transport Import Permit | None needed |
| 3rd party Insurance | £10.00 |
| Tanzanian Border - (S of Mbeya) | |
| Entry Visa | $US32.50 each!!! bought at Tanzanian Embassy in Pretoria |
| 3rd party Insurance | $US15 |
| Road Tax | $US22 |
| Kenyan Border - Taveta | |
| Entry Visa | None needed |
| Transport Import Permit/Insurance | $US40 |
We thought travelling through the Tete Corridor in Mozambique was pretty hairy due to the huge potholes that seemed to creep up on us when we least expected them to, however it wasn't until we reached the road from Livingstonia to Karonga in Malawi that we realised what a bad main road actually was. What should have taken 1 hour took 4.
Tanzanian roads were a dream. It seems that part of the extortionate price they make on border entries here is actually used to pay for the roads.
Kenyan roads were another shock. One moment you're driving on smooth
tarmac in Tanzania, the next you're through the border and it's bumpy mud tracks
with craters large enough to swallow 'Truck'. We'd just spent a day cleaning
her yellow highness making her presentable again but we needn't have. Within
minutes of hitting Kenyan roads she was covered top to tail in mud. The state
of this particular road could have been because we crossed at the secondary
border of ...... Once we had joined the main road from Nairobi to Mombasa, there
was a little tarmac every now and then although huge sections of the roads were
in repair and most of the tarmac were speckled with potholes and vicious invisible
speed humps - as if you can honestly speed on these roads!
We have now reached the end of Phase II. Here are the stats for the last 32 days. As you can see, costs have increased considerably, mainly due to longer distances covered in much shorter time.
Click here to see Phase I Costs
| Phase II | 29.11.99 - 31.12.99 = 32 days |
| Distance Covered | 7,700km |
| No. punctures | Zero |
| Cost Diesel per litre | 28p (Zimbabwe) - 38p(Kenya) |
| Cost of repairs | £176.60 |
| Cost of spares | £71 |
| Cost per 100km to run Truck | £6.66 inc repairs |
| Average daily cost for Food and Drink | £6.10 |
| Example entrance to Game Parks | £60 inc. vehicle, camp, 2 adults for 24hr period |
TERRIBLE! We managed to find somewhere in each country, usually main town or city,
that we could plug into a phone line, but it usually took over an hour to make
a constant connection. Frustrating, yes, but possible.
Phone lines in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania are pretty grim. Systems are often
down and this is usually due to people stealing the copper from the lines to
make articles of jewellry to sell on the streets to unsuspecting tourists! We
couldn't believe it either.