Hubers go Africa
Travelling in Sub-Saharan Africa
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In the highlands of South Tanzania
There are many reasons to draw a completely different picture of Africa in South Tanzania: A green region with mountains up to 3,000 meters high, with tea and coffee plantations, in a pleasant climate (the coldest and wettest in Tanzania) – without mosquitoes and without tsetse flies. And there are even clever electricians who not…
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From the lonely jungle to the chaotic city of Mbeya
The romantic trout fishing camp no longer exists. Nevertheless it gets dark even today in the wild. But as there is always a village somewhere we are the main actors for about 70 children’s eyes who watch with excitement and awe how we set up table and chairs. After they have understood our question about…
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Another country, another border: Tanzania
Our first impression of Tanzania was rather discouraging. While we received the visa within 10 minutes, we were desperate with the papers for the cars: The electricity had collapsed, the PCs didn’t work and so the border crossing took almost five hours. And since we were the only Whites, everybody soon knew us. When Lore…
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Bye Malawi
Today, Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. 70% of the population lives on less than 2 US dollars a day. The most important export goods are tea, tobacco and sugar. And it is not only in years of drought that the country depends on the substantial financial contributions from Western institutions…
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Pay by the hour
We leave the Nyika plateau to the north. The endlessly long Chisenga pass is interspersed with boulders, has deeply washed out gullies and behind an unpaved edge it drops steeply into the depth. 150 km to the next tarred road. 150 km that take 7 hours. As remote as the road is, there are always…
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Malawi’s highland
On our way through Malawi again the landscape changed signifcantly. After the border it was monotonous, flat and deforested; the middle fascinated us by Lake Malawi, green sugar cane fields and huge mango trees; now we feel like in the Scottish highlands. We left Malawi lake, drove through rubber forests and a hilly landscape…
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Retreat to paradise
Trucks with sugar cane (cultivated in the northern part of Lake Malawi) leave no doubt about who has to leave the road. But finally we made it to our destination at this lake which feels like the sea. Zucker ist neben Tabak und Tee das wichtigste Exportgut Malawis. Entlang des Malawi-See kommen uns immer wieder…
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Kindergarden excursion
Our hotel in Lilongwe was beautiful, but soon we had the urge back to nature. However shopping was overdue and the next bigger city probably a week away (when buying memory cards and a mobile router we realize that not only the pharmaceutical but also the electronics market is firmly in Indian hands). We left…
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Malawian Calculations
We have arrived in country 4 of our „7 countries in 77 days“ journey: Malawi. At the border again the usual expensive and bureaucratic process: visa application + temporary car import (yes, we have a „Carnet de Passage“) + road tax + a national car insurance. US dollars preferred. On the road we change our…
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Bye Zambia
Ten days in the Luangwa Valley are past. Although none of us is a hygiene fetishist we feel the need for change: The sand and dirt everywhere, the shower water from the deep brown Luangwa and the annoying tsetse flies arouse the desire and anticipation for a beautiful hotel with clear water, air conditioning and…