Iringa
Thurs 20th Mar
It was raining in the morning and I had to use my umbrella on the way to the bus stand…after having knocked on room no. 4 to get the lady to open the front door of Ivory.
I was at the stand before 5:30, in theory for the 06:00 departure, but we didn’t actually leave until 07:00. Oh well, it’s interesting listening to the story telling, seeing the people sleeping in shop doorways being woken up, etc.
In my front, aisle seat I could stretch my legs. And to add to the comfort, there wasn’t anyone sitting next to me for nearly 3 hours. Oh, and the cost of the trip was 47,000 or £15 for a distance of 678kms.
At Babati a French couple got on and the wife sat next to me. What broke the ice was her asking what the young guy was selling from his bucket. I asked…he said ‘Ndege’. I said ndege means bird, but they didn’t look like birds to me as they were so small. On closer inspection they did look like tiny birds, and I bought us one each to taste. They were surprisingly tasty with a slightly crunchy texture !! I’d never seen anything like that before; perhaps a local delicacy.
The terrain/scenery is not particularly up to and just beyond Dodoma. The French couple were getting off at Dodoma. I tried to help them find the best place to alight in order to decide on whether to go by bus or train to Morogoro. In the end it was an absolute disaster and they had to get off at the main bus station which was 5 to 10kms out of the city. They wanted the city centre. I felt bad that I couldn’t make the conductor understand…
We arrived in Dodoma at about 14:00…. (7 hours from Arusha). We left about 14:45 and arrived at 19:30. The scenery was much better as we were climbing/descending over a range of hills. We arrived in the dark but having been in Iringa before, I was confident about my whereabouts.
A boda for 1,000 took me straight to the Kalenga hotel where I stayed last time. I got a room for 25,000 and went straight across the road for a maharage na chapati. On returning to the hotel, Phil phoned, so we had a good chat.
I had two beers which surprisingly only cost 2,500 each. So, with a small bottle of KVant for my room, the drinks bill was 10,000bob..(just over £3).
Fri 21st Mar
Breakfast was to be the same every day…omelette, 2 pieces of bread, yam and watermelon. I didn’t like my room as it faced the building next door and was rather dark and had no view. I asked to change rooms and requested the same one as last year on the top floor opposite the new large mosque which was still under construction. Good..no early morning call to prayers !!!
I was a bit tired from my travels the previous day. Wandered about in the vicinity of the hotel. Found a bar called Warm Up which was showing European Cup football.
Beers at 3,000 were surprisingly 500bob more than at my hotel.
I went to same restaurant…Babanusa… across from Kalenga for dinner. 4 samosas seemed to fill me up.
Back to Kalenga for a couple of beers and use of wifi then to my room.
Sat 22nd Mar
This is when I had to make up for a big failure last year. After breakfast I went to the dala stand just around the corner. After waiting nearly 45 minutes, we went on our way to Isimila. That was 30 minutes, followed by a 15 minute walk to the Stone Age site. I bumped into the ticket office guy, so I started telling him why I’d come back.
In the office I tried to get away with paying the citizen’s rate of 2,360 (like I did last year), but at least managed to settle on the resident’s rate of 11,800Tsh. Success, as that was 5Usd instead of the tourist rate of 10Usd. The guy also explained how to get to the second canyon with the sandstone Pillars.
I took a short walk around canyon no. 1 which I’d already explored last year. There was one sign saying to the Pillars, but after that …nothing. There was a path initially (which was where I reached last year), and then I found myself walking over a maize field. After 15 minutes I stumbled across a little path that came out at a viewing point over gorge/canyon no. 2.
And there began over 2 hours of amazing exploration of different sandstone Pillars and general shapes caused by ancient river systems water erosion. Any pillars were left standing due to a protective ‘cap’ of much harder rock.
An amazing geological site with a mix of fine grey sand which one sank into very quickly, and a very course and crumbly rock material. The pillars can be up to 30 meters high, ranging from quite wide ones to narrow column like shapes.
Anyway, I’m glad I made it …incredible geological feature. I started following a little stream that I thought would lead to a way out, but when I started feeling lost, I went back to where I started. Even then I looked for another route back but felt I was getting lost. I heard a group of kids who were collecting fire wood, and they pointed me in the direction of the same maize field I crossed earlier. I found a better path and at that point I knew where I was.
Mission accomplished.
I was given a short tour of the little museum, then walked back to the main road. After half an hour it began raining so I took shelter in a little shop across the road. The rain didn’t last long and I managed to catch a dala going back to Iringa.
There was standing room only and I was squashed against the door. It was very uncomfortable but vehicles seemed to be few and far between and I was just glad to be on my way. Over 30 minutes later we stopped at the dala stand; at least I was only a few minutes walk from the hotel.
I was only in my room for half an hour when there was a torrential downpour, so very lucky to have missed it. It was late afternoon and I found my way back to Warm Up for a beer. There was no football being shown.
I ate samosas again for dinner at Babanusa then popped back across the road to my hotel. Kalenga is so convenient with its bar, Wi-Fi and lift. Oh, I paid an extra 5,000 for the new room…so, 30,000…which is less than 10Gbp. And, with an all around balcony as well…well worth it.
Sun 23rd Mar
Time for my second mission in Iringa. Nothing to report about the morning other than washing another shirt and getting the house maid to clean my room. I sat in the sun on the balcony for a little while.
I got messages from Afnan in Mombasa saying how hard up she was. I said I only had 454Ksh on my mpesa, and anyway I wasn’t sure if it was possible to send money from my phone to Kenya.
In the early afternoon I walked to the Hellenic club and Greek Church which are on the same plot. I couldn’t believe it…the gate was padlocked like last year. I called to the watchman/gardener and he kindly unlocked the gate. And he kindly fetched the key to the Church to let me in.
That was fine, but the Club was definitely closed. It seemed like the laying down of cabro paving wasn’t quite complete, but they had started that 11 months ago. I’m assuming the Club will reopen one day. But that put paid to me treating myself to dolmades or moussaka or baklava !!!
The side streets were closed to traffic on the route that high ranking politician was due to pass on. I was half thinking they might stop me from walking that route, but they left me alone.
I stoppped for a drink at Savannah bar, but the one further along the main road that I was actually looking for, looked closed. I had one beer at Warm Up then went to Babanusa for a chips mayai. There was a short downpour on the way there.That was the day really, then the evening in the Kalenga hotel.
Mon 24th Mar
I sent both bro Butch and Paul F happy birthday messages. I went to the tourist office at Alexander htl to ask how I could put T-shillings on my Safaricom number in order to send money to Kenya via Mpesa. They tried to help but…they suggested going to the VodaCom shop just down the road.
I thought it was worth a try. To my amazement the young lady managed it. She put my number on her phone; I gave her 10,000Tsh (I didn’t want to risk too much); she transferred the money in Ksh; my balance went up to about 900Ksh; I sent 750Ksh to Afnan….which she successfully received. What a result.
I went to the Bus stand in the hope of seeing Yusuf who stopped me a couple of days before, in the hope of buying a ticket from him. What happened was that Ditto stopped me in the street.
I was a bit dubious, but he did have an authentic looking ticket issuing pad in his pouch. I went with him into a booking office nearby and asked some others if Ditto was genuine…Yes, apparently.
I bought a ticket on the Shabiby line for 09:00 the next day. I know for a fact that those guys always add 2,000 to the ticket price, so I refused to give him the 22,000 he asked for, and gave him 20,000 which he accepted. There was some vagueness about where exactly to catch the bus, but because it was very near the hotel, I had to hope things would work out.
I then explored the backstreets to get a better feel for Iringa. I came across a shop selling all sorts of different shaped plastic containers. I needed one for my shampoo as the lid on my current one was broken. I found the perfect one, so another success.
I had a tea somewhere different.
I found new streets to explore. I came across the Commonwealth War Graves which were very well maintained, but you had to phone Nairobi to get a code to open the padlock on the gate.
Opposite the War Graves was a quaint bar called Officers Meeting Point. It made me think of an English country pub with its thatch roof, so I just had to stop off for a beer.
Dinner at Babanusa of chicken cutlet, egg kachori, and 2 samosas. Followed by my last night in my Iringa hotel. It had been an interesting and successful visit, and I managed to just miss all the showers.