NEVER EXPECTED TO BE SURPRISED LIKE THIS S7 EP.42 | Pakistan to South Africa
This way...? Steady... Need to keep the panniers clear. We are through. Had the pannier touched the side...
Would have gone down straight into the lake. But the lake water is clear. Is it gonna happen now? And exactly at this location... It's all muddy through and through.
Pray we don't get inside a big ditch on this road. This scenery is amazing. Especially in this rain... Assalam Alekum Everyone.
And Welcome Back to the Channel from Bujumbura, Burundi. Unfortunately, it's our last day here. I had a 3 day visa but I didn't get it extended. So we have to leave today.
So that we can get on with our journey. To explore some more African countries. Today I plan to go to Kigoma in Tanzania, which is about 250 km from here.
According to Google, it's gonna be a 6.5 to 7 hour ride. There are different routes for that. But we'll take the most scenic route which runs along Lake Tanganyika. Hopefully we'll get to see some beautiful scenery of Burundi. We'll make sure that we have fun along the way and reach Kigoma by the evening. The border crossing between Tanzania and Burundi will also be a part of our ride.
Hopefully that will be a good experience as well. We'll be sharing everything with you as we go. Just need to grab our stuff and set it up on our motorcycle.
And then get ourselves a nice cup of Burundi coffee before we leave. Bismillah... In the name of Allah... *Prayer for the journey* May Allah make this a wonderful and memorable day for us.
Right now we are going for breakfast with Faiz. After that I'll get going. Burundi is no different from other African countries in the context of... how someone poor is extremely poor while someone rich is extremely rich. That scenario is the same for almost every country in this region. This area is quite beautiful and clean with spacious roads and nice houses.
This whole road is like this. Looks more like the area for elite. Seems like fuel stations are selling fuel today. At least that's what those cars suggested.
But it's good that we took care of fuel yesterday. You never know what the situation would be this morning. We could have ended up looking for fuel here and there. This is Buja Cafe. Let's park the motorcycle here.
Faiz has brought us to a special cafe for breakfast. Bujuma Cafe Buja Cafe How old is it? Or is it the oldest one? I don't think so. No, it's not the oldest but one of the most famous ones. I've been told that the coffee here is amazing. That's Munawer. And that's his wife.
Meeting them for the first time. Thank you so much for joining me for breakfast. It's a pretty nice cafe.
And you can see that I have ordered a lot of breakfast today. Don't want to stop midway to eat something. Got some fruits, coffee and croissant. Okay then. Allah Hafiz. Bismillah... In the name of Allah...
Faiz really took good care of me. Regarding prices... Actually Faiz didn't let me pay anywhere. So I cannot tell you the exact prices. However, I can say that Burundi is relatively the cheapest country in East Africa.
The fuel stations here are mostly empty now. You won't get fuel anywhere. It was available only for a few hours in the morning. One may find it some time later today. But for now, people have just parked their cars in front of the fuel stations.
We can ride for about 340 km with our full tank. The tank of our motorcycle has a capacity of about 11 liters. So far we have a great fuel average. Let's see. Let's see how many kilometers it actually covers. But our target distance today is around 250 km.
Insha Allah we will reach Kigoma without any problem. I think the road here is not in a good condition. Google also showed that it had some red and yellow patches. I think that means there are pits on this road that make people go slow.
Google highlights such anomalies by using different colors. Here you can notice the difference. We saw a really nice road and beautiful houses in the morning. An elite sort of area in the beginning of our ride. On the contrary, now we are riding through a normal Burundi area where a common man lives.
There are small tin houses. Very congested... Almost stacked together. If the whole road is like this, I don't think we can reach Kigoma even by nightfall. Let's hope that it will get better soon. Sort of a similar situation that we faced when we were coming to Burundi.
For that ride, the first part of the border was really bad and then it was much better. The city doesn't seem to end on this side. We get through one market and find ourselves in the next one.
In the meantime, the road continues to be shabby. Apparently we are in for a Burundian adventure on this road. Look at those corn cobs.
Fruits and more. It's the first time that I'm seeing so many people on motorcycles here. Just like the boda boda service in other countries. Didn't see them in Bujumbura. But here I can see those guys.
Look at how people are carrying such huge loads on their bicycles. It's not an easy task to do this on such a hilly road. The fun ride begins now. With the lake on one side and the mountains at the backdrop. Hopefully we'll be riding along this lake now.
I have not seen this scenery at many places in Africa. This natural scenery of Burundi. These mountains and lake...
The whole country is like this. It's a small country but it's all hilly. Except for some areas by this lake.
Such as Bujumbura which is more flat. We can do one thing. I have a lot of Burundian currency. Because Faiz didn't let me spend money anywhere.
I want to distribute that among these people. That's all around 5 to 6 dollars. Good Lord I think stopping here like this could be dangerous. Because more people would expect you to give them money. I exchanged around 100 USD. I don't know if I can get it changed back to dollars or Tanzanian currency or not.
Need to be careful here. Oh My God... It's awful. It has turned into a dangerous looking offroad. This way...?
Need to be steady. I should keep the panniers clear. We are through. Had the pannier touch the side. We would have ended directly into the lake.
The water in the lake is clean though. Go Rangeley Go. Good Good The good thing is that this road does not have a slope. Imagine if it was an uphill road and you had to go through this mud.
That would have been impossible. I don't remember having to ride on a road like this, so far on this tour. Burundi made sure that we have the African adventure. Or is it about to happen... Exactly at this location...
The whole area is filled with mud. Pray we don't get inside a big ditch on this road. There could be a bigger pit in the middle. The first big town after Bujumbura. We have covered about 35 km so far. We have witnessed a different Africa in this ride.
Compared to what we have seen in the areas we recently visited. Unlike this area, they were much more developed. I just try that you get to watch something different in each video.
Compared to other East African countries, the people here have a tougher life. Dark clouds overhead. Looks like it's gonna rain real soon. Let's see how far we can go before that happens. When you are close to a rainy patch, you start sensing some wetness in the air. The air also gets cooler.
I'm already having that feeling. Apparently we are not too far from rain. Exactly as I predicted, it has started to rain.
Looking at the volume of these clouds, I think it's gonna rain for some time. Let's get the jacket on. Still not a heavy rain though.
I can now see many resorts here. Is this also a resort? No. I guess it's some sort of a military base. We are now in the main rain patch. It's pouring here.
However, we are fortunate that the road here is much better than what we had before. You never know this road can just end by the next turn. I can go at a speed of 30 - 35 km/h. I don't think we have seen this kind of rain in Burundi during our short stay here. We had a light rain in Bujumbura yesterday but that was nothing. It didn't rain on our day 1 as well.
And today when we are leaving, it has started raining. This scenery is really amazing. And it looks even more beautiful in this rain.
I mean it's still a light rain so no worries. We are enjoying ourselves. The road is relatively better now. Riding along the banks of the lake.
2024-03-06 08:36
