Dar
Sat 7th. A good nights sleep. I didn’t eat too much at breakfast, knowing there was a ferry ride at 09:30. A short walk to the ferry terminal; straightforward boarding; front seat; hour and three quarters crossing; a couple of rough patches but didn’t need the sick bag…almost though !!
I had a cup of tea at A T Shop. Went to Riki but only one expensive room left. Tried Keys but totally full. Back to Riki and offered room 606 for 40,000 instead of 45,000. Same happened last time when 606 was the last room and I got it a bit cheaper.!!! The only thing wrong with it is that a little puddle of water collects beneath the AC ??

I went to check out where precisely the Gerezani stage was that dalas left from to go to Mbagala stand, in case I needed one for the next day. It was only 10 mins walk away. I bought SMS top up and water. I went for an early dinner of beans and a chapati at Kipata restaurant just down from Riki. I then went to the Congolese pub for 2 Castles and to catch up on my blog.

From there to 24/7, and by sheer luck the England vs Ireland match of the Uefa Nations Cup was about to start. I only watched it up until the early 2nd half as I had a relatively early start the next day. I had decided to make my way down the coast to Lindi; I had never been down the coast before, only upwards on the 2 occasions that I’ve done it, so this was to be a good test of how easy/difficult it is.
Oh, England were winning 2:0 and in fact that was the final score.

Lindi..2nd visit

Sun 8th. My plan was to go to Mbagala stand to catch a bus to Lindi. 1st visit was in April this year. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the route, but decided to just go and see what happened.
The early breakfast didn’t happen; instead of 07:30 it was 08:00. I was all packed and could leave immediately after breakfast. 10 minute walk to Gerezani stage and straight into a dala dala. It was 30 minutes to Mbagala whereas I was told 10 minutes. I didn’t hear the announcement and overshot the bus stand and after being dropped off I had to walk back 15 minutes through a very busy Sunday market.

I reached the Stage by 09:00. Was shown a bus going to Lindi and paid my 32,000. It wasn’t a Coaster or a big bus, but somewhere in between. I got a front seat. Was told we would leave at 10:00 but it was gone 11:30 when we left. Then time spent at a petrol station and by the time we really started to get going it was after 12:00. Then a few minutes up the road, a big traffic jam because of a vehicle accident. That set us back over an hour and a half, so a 2 hour delay by the time we got going properly.

After that all went well.  7.5 hours to Lindi, arriving at 9:30 pm. Boring scenery and some rough parts of road but I was happy with the whole journey and didn’t feel any annoyance. Only that my left knee was playing up from all the sitting. By 09:45 I was at Nageme Inn. I was given room no. 11 for 12,000 or about £3.50.

Mon 9th. I woke up a bit late. Reached the black coffee guys at the dinosaur roundabout in time for 2 cups. From there it’s a straight walk down to the beach.
From there I went into town to get a feel for where shops were that I might need to use. Like mini supermarkets, and in particular I needed to buy a new shirt. At the third attempt I found a black and white short sleeved shirt for 19,000…down from 22,000. At around £5, I suppose not too bad a price but was expecting shirts to be a bit cheaper. Made in Turkey.

It was after midday and, wearing my new shirt, I went to the Magereza beach bar for one drink and to film a little video to send to Mary in Zurich on her birthday.  I used the wifi at Sea View hotel to send the video via Renato’s WhatsApp.
I had dinner of chapati and beans at Califonia and then went to my room which is only a 5 minute walk away.

Tues 10th. Terry arrived from Liwali in the early afternoon. I had coffee at the dinosaur roundabout. I decided to take the advice of the Immigration guys last April, and went to their offices to ‘report in’. I’m hoping to avoid them knocking on my lodging door in the early hours of the morning and trying to find something wrong that they can use to try and extract some money out of me.

Checked the price of Lindi One lodge…almost directly opposite Nageme..as an option for Mark if we make it this far next year. A good price actually,  at 20,000 ( less than £6 ) including hot water, AC, and a sit down toilet. It was a chips mayai for dinner at 2,500, or 70 pence. Africa Nations Cup Tanzania vs Guinea ? at Califonia…good atmosphere,  esp as Tz won 2:1.
It was getting on a bit so I went back to my room.

Wed 11th. Morning tea at Whites with Terry. I walked to GRM resort which was fully open this visit. I passed the fish market to where that road meets the main road into town. Nice walk to the edge of town. Enquired about the short ferry ride across the creek. I got a 10,000 Airtel top up from the main Airtel shop in town. Called by Sea View and discovered my Internet blog site payment hadn’t gone through, so was on a chat with BlueHost to try and sort it. Was there nearly 2 hours.
That took me to mid afternoon and then I went to Gymkhana pub for rice and beans. The lady tried to charge me 3,000 but I got away with 2,500; even that was over the going rate.
I had one beer at Califonia then back to my room for a nightcap of K Vant.

Thurs 12th. Morning tea and kitumbua at Whites. A walk down to the beach and along as far as Sea View.  The payment to Bluehost still not resolved after a few hours.
I met up with Terry at Magereza after midday. At 4:30 I went the Agape Beach resort for a kiti moto. I had invited Salma who works behind the Califonia bar for dinner. She was very positive and saying she would be there at 5pm but by gone 5:30 she was a no show and then proceeded to tell me she was too tired. So I went ahead with my first kiti moto this trip in Tanzania at a cost of 7,000 ( incl 3 bananas ) or £2. Although at first glance there seemed to be a lot of bones, there was actually quite a lot of meat on the bones and the meat was very tender. Not a fantastic flavour but pretty good and I was perfectly satisfied.
I met up with Terry again at Magereza after my dinner. We then had a Castle each at Califonia before retiring to our Nageme rooms.

Fri 13th.  There was a power cut in the early morning so the room got a little uncomfortably warm. Also, the water supply seemed to be affected, but I had sufficient water in my bucket for a wash. I went a little bit earlier for breakfast, although Terry was already there…at Whites. I had a boiled egg with my black tea, having decided it was better to eat a little something in the morning rather than go without until the late afternoon.

Then to the dinosaur roundabout for some black coffee. From there to the beach and along the beach to Sea View for another 2 hours trying to resolve my domain payment problem. A half hour power cut didn’t help, but I got a better understanding of the next steps and firstly I set up a PayPal account as my primary payment method. And knowing my account was valid until the 26th made me feel more relaxed.

Very hot. But strong breeze.
I got a call from Terry and went to meet up with him. The little hoteli seemed to serve up a nice rice and beans, but by the time I went back thinking of dinner, they had run out of food. I had a craving for rice and Califonia didn’t have any either.
I sort of gave up on eating any food and went to the 3 Sisters bar which was my local when staying at MM Hotel for 2 or 3 days in April.  As it was getting dark I went back to Magereza and chatted to Terry over the loud music.

Back to my room for some K Vant and cashews dipped in some of the tamarind chilli sauce from Zanzibar…very tasty. In fact, one boiled egg and a couple of handfuls of cashews was all I had to eat all day.

Sat 14th.  Breakfast..earliest yet; even beat Terry to Whites. A boiled egg and tea again. He accompnied me to the bus stand where I bought my ticket for Sunday morning for 07:30. Cost 32,000…that £9 seems to be the going rate.
I decided on doing the Ferry ride across the creek; something different. I just missed one and had to 45 minutes whilst it waited on the other side and then again on my side. It was only an 8 minute crossing and only cost 300bob on one of those small ferries that can take about 3 cars and lots of bodas and bikes. I got my timings wrong and had to spend an hour and a half on the other side. But I had a tea and enjoyed looking back at Lindi.

On my return I popped into Sea View and did FB post. By now it was about 13:30 and met Terry at Magereza for a drink and a chat. V hot again.
I returned to the room for another shower! Then went looking for an early dinner. Nothing appealed until I ended up at Califonia and decided on the Octopus (in a sauce with vegs) and chips for 8,000. It made a change and was very tasty. I used a lot of the tamarind chilli; trying to finish the bottle before travelling again.

It was only a few minutes walk to Magereza for an early evening with Terry. From there it is only 5 minutes to my room, where I packed for leaving by 07:00 the next day. Not a great night’s sleep, but that’s often the case before travelling.

Basic room but a fantastic time in Lindi. Terry had suggested Nageme and at 15,000 it was comfortable enough. Terry was staying there as well in a room for 10,000…but think mine was nicer. I love Lindi’s simplicity and variety of shops/bars/restaurants in a relatively small area. And a big Plus…I didn’t get a visit from immigration in the middle of the night !!!   And to cap it all it was great having Terry’s company and being able to enjoy long chats. Basically he was off to Madagascar after Lindi, and he’s really sold me on visiting there, but the return airfare at 600Gbp is a bit too much. Planning to be back with Mark towards the end of Jan ’25.