Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
After an early, early start in Dar we caught a 14 hour coach to Mbeya in the South of Tanzania. While the ride wasn't exactly thrilling we did pass through a game reserve on the way. It was quite exciting seeing wild elephants, rhinos and assorted antelope for the first time, even if we were going past at 60mph!
We arrived in Mbeya just after dark and climbed off the bus to a mob of taxi drivers. We refused to pay the extortionate fares they wanted and instead walked to the hotel followed by 'Alan'. Alan claimed to be a tour operator, bus conductor and taxi driver all in one. Rather than leave us be at the hotel he followed us in, then followed us to the local restaurant to 'talk business'. Despite us making it quite clear that we didn't want to book any tickets he stuck around as we ate. Half way through the meal an extremely stoned Rasta sat down to give us tips on where to go in Malawi. It was very clear that Alan and the Rasta didn't like each other, espically as the Rasta guy was saying we could get to Malawi for a quarter of the price Alan was quoting. After finally getting rid of them we fell fast asleep.
Next morning we woke up looking forward to looking round the town and getting a bus to Malawi. However, our faces soon fell as we walked down to reception only to find Alan waiting for us. He than sat with us during breakfast as well, saying nothing and texting on his phone! There were thunderclouds circling Alice's head and after finally getting the hint Alan let us be.
Mbeya itself is not a particularily exciting place, though we did get chased round the bus station by hundreds of bus drivers which was amusing if nothing else. We decided it was time to get going and caught a bus after lunch. Bus is probably being too kind - four wheels and a tin can held together by string is a more accurate description. The trip started slowly as we picked up more and more passengers. Soon people were so crammed in that they had to sit on other people and try not to stand on the chickens. About an hour in we had gone only a couple of miles. The area is very mountainous and so the bus was struggling to get above 20mph. Just as we seemed to be getting away from Mbeya the bus stopped on a steep incline. After much kicking of tyres and poking of engines the bus turned around and coasted all the way back to the bus station. Turns out they'd forgotten to put any petrol in it!
Three hours later we were getting concerned we wouldn't get to the border before it closed for the night. After asking how long it would take we were informed in somewhat broken English that the bus wasn't actually going to the border at all - friendly bus station touts had stuck us on the wrong bus! We jumped off at the next town and grabbed a taxi instead. Turned out it was a much better idea and we cruised the remaining 50km to the border to the gentle sound of Westlife's greatest hits.
On the other side of the border we caught another taxi to Karonga. Despite being stopped at a few road blocks, and a heated exchange between a policeman and another one of the passengers in the taxi over some unknown object in the boot of the car we finally arrived and checked in at a hotel by the beach.
- comments