#2: [17-Sep-05]

10-Jun-2004 -- I had to drive down to Mbeya in Southern Tanzania for some business and I was able to take down 9S 33E and 9S 34E on back-to-back days.

9S 33E was a bread'n'butter CP. About 40 km SW of Mbeya, the CP just on the west side of the rail tracks which run into Zambia. A Chinese firm is working on rehabilitating the Tanzania-Zambia road, so there was no problem getting to the general area. I guess the Chinese want good infrastructure to export their goods into emerging markets, so building the road makes sense.

It was about 60 km to go to a little town called Mlowo where we turned off on a track that lead us in a near straight line to the CP. We dodged through some fields and past houses and the road kept taking us the right direction. We came to the rail tracks and there was a convenient underpass and we were able to park the car within 150 meters from the point.

We walked through the fields and hit the point which was situated in the middle of a mixed plot of beans and potatoes.

What more can I say? It was as easy as it gets however, 9S 34E was a bit more of an adventure!