Of how I crossed Tanzania

I managed to got from Chwele, in Kenya, to Nakonde, in Zambia, after literally crossing Tanzania within a week. During those exactly 7 day I drove more the 4.000 km using more than 17 different vehicles, including buses, matatus, tuk-tuk and bodaboda (Kiswahili for motorbike taxi).

    Boiled eggs seller in the bus station of Iringa, Tanzania. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

That was a trip full of surprises, a huge lesson about how to travel in East Africa and, obviously, an opportunity to get to know more about the the differences and relations between the different countries and the opinion of their citizens about each other.

             

                   The long way across Tanzania. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

               Tuk-tuk station near Mwanza, Tanzania. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

          Green nyanya (Kiswahili for tomatoes) in Mwanza. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

          Leaving Mwanza, in Tanzania early in the morning. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

In order to get my tourist visa renewed I head to leave and reenter the East Arfican region, which is composed by Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Since the borders to Somalia and DRC Congo are not recommend to cross, for obvious reasons, and I need an visa issued in home country to be able to enter Ethiopia, there wasn't any other choice but to go Zambia all through Tanzania.

And you know what?! I just loved the idea!!

            Another bus station, Singida, Tanzania. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

From Chwele I headed down south with matatus, drove past Kisumu at the Victoria lake and crossed the border to Tanzania at Sirari. Heading further south on the way to Mwanza, I drove past the Seregenti National Park, crossing the flat land of the Masaai and entering a stony landscape before reaching my destination. Mwanza is one of the largest cities in Tanzania and economically very significant for being at the Victoria Lake.

          Another bus station, Singida, Tanzania. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

After spending a day in Mwanza I drove to Iringa, passing by Shynianga, Singida and Dodoma in the central region of the country and was surprised by the level of development of a few cities when compared to other areas in Kenya and Uganda.

          View from Mwanza, Tanzania. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

That was almost a whole day on the road. I confess that at a certain point my arse started hurting, specially when the bus drive wasn't much careful about the bumps, but I had the beauty outside the window to compensate the pain.

       On of the many villages along the road in Tanzania. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

I drove past wonderful scenarios, sometimes hilly stony areas sometimes endless green flatlands. Uncountable small sunflower plantations scatered all over and the sunflower oil sellers in their wooden stand along the roads. Apparently the main source of income in the central and southern areas. I could also realize tree trunks pieces hanging on other trees along the road what was explained to me later as being the local way of keeping bees (yes! I tasted the Tanzania honey).

      An impression of the stony landscape of part of Tanzania. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

                    Life along the road. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

          The typical sellers at the bus stops. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

I was even more amazed by the first sight of the majestic baobab trees, impressive!! I could stop photographing them emerging out of the ground, here and there, in the middle of the savannah. I could observe dwellings build around them, their shade being used as parking areas for bodaboda drivers or as playground by children.

           Baobab...

          ...baobab,...

          ...and more baobabs. PICTURES:PRIVATE.

After spending a night in Iringa, where I had that delicious "uji" (Kiswahili for millet porridge) at 6am before entering hitting the road, I drove past Mbeya and crossed the border to Zambia between Tunduma (Tanzanian side) and Nakonde (Zambian side).

                Snacks seller. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

In Nakonde an unfortunate happening spoiled my humor for a few hours, but just for a few hour. My computer, camera and some money were stolen from the my lodge while I was having breakfast, meaning I had to spend all the in the police station for them to investigate the case. The way it is, we move past bad things and leave them where they belong, in the past!! Now I had to prepare to head back home along all the way through Tanzania.

 Chai (delicious lemon grass and ginger tea) na keki (Kiswahili for cake). PICTURE:PRIVATE.

The next day I crossed back the border, got my renewed visa to re-enter East Africa, and later on Kenya, prepared to enjoy the other side of the road and to have those feeling, which are worthy living for. :)

          Small market at one of many bus stops. PICTURE:PRIVATE.

Cheers everyone and lot of Love,

Mácio Simyiu.

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Mwanza, Tanzania

We had an stop in Mwanza on our way to Bunda and then Serengeti National Park. Mwanza is the second biggest city in Tanzania and its situated at the Lake Victoria.

At the first sight the town didn't seem to be that interesting, specially during the Christmas Holidays. Even though, we had some time to kill and went for a walk through the center.

More pics coming later!

Christmas in a ferry on the Lake Victoria

Still in Chwele, before we started traveling my friend Job Matimbai told me we could take a ferry boat from Bukoba to Mwanza, on the Tanzanian part of Lake Victoria. I immediately said: Yes! We will do it! And it happened on Christmas day.

At the port in Bukoba we purchased the tickets (each 35,500 tsh, around 10€) for a cabin with beds (see pictures). Allegedly first class. Besides the passengers the ferry was transporting loads of bananas, some chickens, and other goods.

We left the harbor at 9pm. After two hours we made an stop at the harbor in Kemondo to load more bananas and reached Mwanza on the next morning at 7am.

It's was a very exciting experience specially for being Christmas.
Awesome!

Tanzania: first impressions

While in the bus to Bukoba I took a few shots of how life along the road looks like in Tanzania.

Check!