Songea
Mon 7th Apr.
I wasn’t sure whether to have a cold wash or not…but I did. A bit of a shock when seeing the gate locked and there was no sign of Rita. I knocked on room no. 1 and apologised for waking the guy up..!! Then I saw ‘mapokezi’ and called out Rita, and thankfully she was there and unlocked the gate.
Interesting folk at a bus stand early in the morning. The old guy saying that life wasn’t worth living and he wanted to follow his parents to the grave. We left just after 06:00.
Uneventful journey. Nice scenery of rolling hills between Mbamba Bay and just beyond Mbinga. We stopped for under 10 minutes in Mbinga so the whole trip to Songea was under 4 hours. I hopped on a boda for 2,000 to go to the central Songea bus stand.
I made some quick enquiries about buses to Masasi then checked into Ugabe hotel. I went up the road for a nice tea. I washed my zebra shirt. I found the Airtel office was closed. I went up to the newly discovered part of town.
I decided on the kiti moto/bar place next to Jordan River. Was walking with a guy going to the same place for kiti moto and eventually sat together and chatted. And we were both called James. !! Ok meal. Ugali a bit hard and meat was really just roast pork…not kiti moto with herbs/spices. James agreed with me.
I finished my beer slowly and went back up the road to a pub showing a Yanga vs Coast Union match. I watched the match and enjoyed the atmosphere. I left and bumped into James again. I bought a snifter for my room and retired relatively early.
Tues 8th Apr
I had a good sleep. A slightly better breakfast than usual, although there was no coffee/tea, but the hot milk was fine.
I went to the Airtel office to buy Internet bundles and enough ‘calls’ to phone Mum. I then went to the Selous office to buy a ticket (31,000Tsh or about 10Gbp) to Masasi for the next day. I’ll stop at Masasi for the night before going on to Lindi.
At least it was a dry day. I went up the road for a tea. Back at the hotel I washed my shorts and lay for an hour or so on the roof in the sun until they dried. After showering I went up the road to a different pub and met the owner and chatted for ages. I bought a small bottle of Zanzi from him; he charged me 8,000 which seemed too little, I’ll check its price elsewhere.
I considered finding a new kiti moto place, but in the end I went back to Jordan River; it was much better this time.
From there it was to Golani opposite Ugabe because I wanted to report back to Terry who recommended it to me. It seems the guy who Terry knew had sold up this year, so it was all change. Actually, the place was nicer…new chairs/furniture and the shelves behind the bar were fully stocked.
Back to my room earlyish as I had an early start the next day. The wifi wasn’t working unfortunately. Oh, I drank the small bottle of Zanzi … rather good !!
Masasi
Wed 9th Mar
I got up too early of course as it was a travel day. But the main problem was worrying about getting the boda and getting to the Seed stand which is a few kms out of town for 5:30 to catch the 06:00 Selous bus.
I needn’t have worried. Lots of bodas near my hotel. I must’ve annoyed the driver by arguing about the boda price, and he drove incredibly fast until I asked him to slow down. It was only 10 minutes to Seed, and we didn’t leave until nearly 07:00 anyway.
The journey was smooth and quicker than I expected. A major stop at Tunduru just over half way. After that and nearer to Masasi, are those incredible rock formations. I say rock, but they are the size of hills and there is a geological explanation for their formation which I’ve forgotten.
It was only 7 hours from Songea to Masasi and we arrived at 2pm. Because the bus was going to Mtwara, if you wanted Lindi you would have to get off at mnazi mmoja junction then catch a local dala to Lindi. Good decision to stop off in Masasi, otherwise nearly 2 hours to the junction, plus possibly tedious getting into Lindi.
Anyway, I went almost straight away to Holiday Motel on the opposite corner to the bus stand. I always stay there as it’s on the main road with easy access to the restaurants and bars. For my 15,000 I got a room at the back with just enough water coming out of the shower and a fan that just stirred the air sufficiently.
I walked up the road to Kibo pub. Nice big airy pub but they didn’t have wifi anymore. I stayed for 2 beers and watched the first half of Simba vs an Algerian team in an African Club competition. I then went to a bar very close to my lodging where I had chips mayai and watched the rest of the match, which Simba won after a penalty shootout.
I then went next door to my room. I had originally thought to stay another day to explore Masasi, but with no access to wifi I decided to keep going to Lindi.