Mbeya
Tues 1st Apr
Watched a little Al jazeera news on TV before having a nice shower. Breakfast of 3 slices of bread, an omelette and coffee. After which I went to the bus stand and was first on. I picked a window seat just behind the front seat; I didn’t want to be too obvious when it came to checkpoint stops.
We left Kyela at 08:30. Only 15 mins to the main road junction and 5 minutes to Kasumulu on the border with Malawi. About 4 hours to Mbeya town. The main problem was the nearly 1 hour stop in Rungwe. Am not sure why, but there seemed to be a lot of banana purchases going on.
At that point it was raining quite heavily, but I thought that might be in my favour and there wouldn’t be an immigration road block. No stops thank goodness, but I did have my passport ready. Approaching Ujole and Mbeya it was bone dry.
I pissed a tout off at nane nane by telling him to ‘move’. He said there was no corona here and it was his country. I said I was born here …and basically, ‘f–k you ‘.
I asked to be dropped off, but instead of going to Mbeya Continental I went down the hill looking for somewhere closer to the bus stand. I found New Millenium Inn and got an awful room for 20,000. No toilet paper or soap.
I went across the road and bought my bus ticket for the next day at 06:00 with a company called Shalom. And from there I went to P of M, where I posted a Blog update and my latest FB exploits in Kyela, whilst drinking 2 beers.
I’d had nothing to eat since breakfast, having declined a banana from a lady on the bus. All the places I’d visited for food were closed…maybe due to it being EID…so I went straight to New 2000 bar. I didn’t tell Laurence I was going there, and had he been there,ok, but I was happy to have a quick drink and leave.
On my way down the hill towards the guesthouse, I was tempted into buying my first mahindi choma ( roast maize ) in 4 years from a lady cooking them at the side of the road. I’d stopped eating them around the time of corona/covid for hygiene reasons…people poking/prodding/touching.
I finished eating the mahindi at New Millennium over a beer, then went to the room where even the bathroom light contained hardly any brightness. Anyway, I put the net down and found the bed to be quite comfortable.
Songea
Wed 2nd Apr
I was awake a bit too early, but at least there was no stress. I went across the road for 05:30 and got my front seat right behind the driver. We left with all the other buses at 06:00.
So, through town stopping briefly at nane nane. Some distance along the road there was a police car stopped in the road. It seemed to act as an escort and we followed it at a very sensible pace for about half an hour. I think it was to stop vehicles speeding on the dangerous stretch of road called milima nyoka which is notorious for accidents.
Once we were let go it was fast to Makambako…just over 3 hours. Of course I knew my hotel and the bus stand from when I stayed last year. We reached Njombe about an hour later. The countryside was fairly ordinary until we got between Njombe and Songea where it got very hilly.
A combination of hills,bends,lorries, and rain, meant progress was very slow. It didn’t help that it provided the driver with an excuse to go extra slowly so he could eat his lunch at the same time.
We arrived at the Tanga stage about 17kms away from Songea town before 3pm. The boda guy looked at me and said the fare into town was 10,000. He dropped to 8,000, but as the dala fare was only 800bob, I was prepared to wait. Ok, it took the dala a while to fill up and it was a stop/start journey.
Before 4pm we arrived in town, but at least it was at the central stage only a few minutes walk from the Ugabe hotel. I checked in to a 25,000 (8Gbp) room incl breakfast, and immediately walked up the hill to a nice restaurant for a cup of tea.
Along the way I bought some SMS credit. Then down to Jordan River for a kiti moto and a couple of beers. The place looked a little run down, but the kiti moto was excellent. It arrived just as it was getting dark and it started to pour with rain.
As usual, the rain didn’t last too long and I was able to enjoy the kiti moto and walk back to the hotel in relatively dry conditions. I thought I was going to need the new umbrella I bought in Kyela.
I put a shirt to soak overnight and settled down in my comfortable room. I have wifi which is a bonus, so able to communicate with lots of people.
Thurs 3rd Apr
I had a good nights sleep with the fan going. I had breakfast just up the road. The breakfast included an omelette, a piece of yam, and kaimati.
I hung my shirt on the line downstairs and walked up the road for a cup of milk tea. I had discovered the cap on my shampoo container was broken so I needed a new one. On my wanderings I was looking out for an alternative.
I went back to Ugabe and washed another shirt. I took that up onto the roof to dry quickly and I took the opportunity to lie in the sun for a bit. I took a long way around to Jordan River so I could see more of the town. In fact I found a street with lots of restaurants and bars which I’d never seen before. I stoppped at La Chalz and over one beer I watched some EPL footie highlights.
Then to Jordan River, just around the corner, where I had my kiti moto served quite quickly. Unfortunately it wasn’t a very good one this time…more bones and not as tender as usual.
I went to a bar almost directly across from Ugabe; I didn’t want to be too far away as it was dark. Then I went to an off licence next to Ugabe because I had the great idea of buying a small (200ml) plastic bottle of spirit to transfer my shampoo into. Of course I had to drink it first in my room..!!!