Gary told us it would be so, and it certainly came to pass, a mountain pass, as it happened. The route was such a change from what had gone before, and it was no time at all before the flatlands gave way to the Uluguru Mountains.
The huge preponderance of HGV traffic meant that our average speed dropped considerably as we crawled up the pass behind tanker after truck after tanker. It would seem that accidents involving poorly-maintained and/or recklessly-driven HGVs are a daily occurrence. Certainly there was one very lucky boy on his way down the pass, whose tanker, possibly only minutes earlier, had left the road on a left-hander. Substantial trees had prevented him from enjoying the short way down. Why ARE there so many tankers anyway? There do not seem enough vehicles for them to be servicing. Except other tankers. The same applies to fuel stations. Why?
Lunch was taken in a true picnic setting under trees, a change from the rushed fuel-station forecourt experience. At Iringa we left the well-metalled highway and onto a dirt road to Chugera Campsite for two overnights. Shortly after erecting the tents and hanging out some laundry, the rain came down in stair rods, and tents were, for the second time this trip, manhandled into new positions, under cover, more for the fact that the ground around the tents would quickly have become a sea of mud than for any suspicion that our tents are not waterproof.
Tomorrow a full-day game drive in Ruaha NP.
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