The United Republic of Tanzania, to give it it’s official name, was a former British colony, then called Tanganyika. The Zanzibar archipelago was regarded as a separate colonial jurisdiction. The British had taken Tanzania over from the Germans after the First World War, it formed part of the German East Africa. Tanganyika gained independence in 1964 and Zanzibar received independence in 1966. In 1964 the two countries united to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanzania is a member of the British Commonwealth. Although the two countries are officially united, Zanzibar is self governing. Before colonization Tanzania was an important link in the old Persian and Indian trade routes, whilst Zanzibar was more inhabited by the Arabs and to this day Arabic is still widely spoken on the island.
The border crossing from Malawi was efficient and painless. First revelation was that the Malawi currency was worthless outside of Malawi. Lucky, I didn’t have much left. What little I had I changed into Tanzanian schillings. There are a number of touts hanging around outside offering to guide you through. I refused their services as it is a one stop border post and was easy. But they can be irritating. One tout tried to push in front of me at the customs window. I firmly blocked him and placed my helmet on the counter further blocking him. He had a group of 3 people with 4x4s. They can be quite pushy. The first check was a medical one, had an infra red thermometer pointed at me, my photo taken and my name registered. I had to queue up for this as there was a bus load of people before me. We had to stand in the sun, and I was sweating so I have no idea what that thermometer showed, but whatever it was they let me through to the main hall. First stop, exit stamp from Malawi, my carnet stamped out of Malawi, then Tanzanian immigration. I got an entry stamp for 90 days and had to pay 50 USD. Next stop was Tanzanian customs to get my carnet stamped. This took for ever. The official was really slow plus he was working on 3 things at once. Then he asked me for my itinerary and where I was gonna exit Malawi. Jeeezzz, my itinerary changes every 5 minutes. I showed him my proposed route on google maps. He finally stamped my carnet and told me that I had 1 month. I protested as I had a 3-month visa, and I didn’t want to rush. But he just said extend it at anyone of our branch offices. That’s just more agro and hassle. But I was finally finished. I didn’t need to buy insurance as I had COMESA.
Next stop was Mbeya. I needed to get a sim and get orientated so took a hotel in the centre. I also discovered that I didn’t have East and West Africa on Holly my Garmin Zumo nav unit. I tried to buy them online but because I was in Tanzania, they wouldn’t let me download. To cut a long story short Susie used my laptop in Amsterdam to log on to my Garmin account and bought the maps. Then I had problems putting them onto Holly. Susie got in contact with Garmin in Holland and surprise, surprise they looked at my account and saw that I had world maps and a Zumo Travel Edition, and they refunded the money. Saying that I never had to pay for maps. Not only that, but he put the maps onto my Garmin Express, and I could just download them onto Holly, no problem. They also offered technical backup. This hotel turned out to be a good choice. The owner was from Nepal and his wife was from India. They were also amazed when they found out that I had been to his hometown in Nepal. The restaurant served really fantastic Indian food and was central.
My Indian dinner in my Hotel in Mbeya
My plan was basically to ride up the Indian ocean coast to Dar Es Salaam. I headed across country to seaside place called Lindi, two days away. The countryside was amazing. Hilly, with coffee plantations and banana groves. I stopped first in a town called Songea. Then stopped in a crossroads town called Tunduru, this was mainly a truckers stop with loads of local places to sleep. Also ran into the first rain since South Africa. I have been timing this trip to run into the tail end of the rain season from the different countries and to follow the sun. But due to climate change or whatever the rain season lasts longer. But once I got to the coast it got warmer and drier.
Lindi was first settled in the 18th century by Omani Arabs. Some of their architecture can still be seen today. Lindi also has, like all the coastal towns along the Indian ocean, a really nice white sand beach. It also has a fascinating old harbour. There was a rusty old cargo boat from Zanzibar loading up with sacks of something. The captain offered me and the bike a lift to Zanzibar…. This ship didn’t really look like it would make it out of the harbour. Then further on down there is another harbour where time has stood still. This is the Dhow harbour, home to the fishing fleet. These are old wooden sailing boats that the fishermen use to fish with. See like named photo album. It was truly a remarkable sight and experience.
Coconut seller Lindi
Lindi
Lindi, fishing boats
Lindi ruins
Next stop was seaside town, with access to the heritage ruins on the island, called Kilwa Masoko. This place has a lot of upmarket hotels on the beach, but they are really isolated and totally not worth the money. There was also a backpackers place called the Slow Leopard, sister to the one in Dar Es Salaam. But that was also really pricey and also isolated. Stayed in a local lodge in the village and interacted with the locals… way better. Organized a boat tour of the heritage ruins. Teamed up with a French girl who was staying at Slow Leopard. This was a fantastic experience. We did the full day trip which included two islands, Songo Mnara and Kilwa Kisiwani and time to swim and snorkel.
Sunrise at Lindi
The islands together form an UNESCO world heritage site that houses the ruins of 14th to 15th century Arabic ruins. These ruins trace back the history of this coastline that formed an important part in the Indian, Persian, and Arabic trade routes that extended down to and past Zimbabwe. (Great Zimbabwe) Songo Mnara has a little village where the local fishermen stay. They rotate around staying a week then the next group comes. The fish is kept in a large cool box packed with ice and brought back to the mainland where it is auctioned off. Our tour guide bought a fish and got it cleaned and fileted. The fishermen stay in little huts made from banana leaves and they even have their own little Mosque. The hike to the ruins of a Palace, town and Mosque was through a mangrove swamp. But on the way back the sea was in, and it was a hike through chest deep water. We had to carry our clothes above our heads. Then we went with the boat to a small, secluded bay where we moored up and went for a swim.
Fishing village on Songa Mnara island
Ruins of Arabic settlement Songa Mnara
Ruins of Arabic settlement Songa Mnara with my hiking companions
Ruins of Arabic settlement Songa Mnara
Hiking through the mangroves of Songa Mnara
Once we had finished playing around n the water, we set course for the next island called Kilwa Kisiwani. This is the site of the Great Mosque, Palace of Husuni Kubwa and Husuni Ndogo or little palace. The history of this whole coastline is truly fascinating and complicated. Way too much to document here. But the way that they built in those days is amazing. With limited tools they created structures of grandeur and magnitude that remain to this day. The jungle is slowly reclaiming the buildings and there is a big effort in place to preserve what remains. On the way back to the mainland we were treated to a sunset. It was a truly an amazing and tiring day. That period in our history really interests me, the interaction between east and west and to visit those ancient sites was fantastic. It kinda opened a portal in time and offered me a glimpse of a long-gone culture. I stayed another day, needed to plan out the next stop Dar es Salaam.
Gereza Fort, ruins at Kilwa Kisiwani
Ruins at Kilwa Kisiwani
Ruins at Kilwa Kisiwani
Sunrise Kilwa Masoko
I decided to go to Sunrise Beach Resort just outside of Dar. I needed more time to plan. Sunrise Beach Resort has chalets and a camping site. This turned out to be a good thing as the weather was changing… rain. The road down to the resort was kinda flooded out, but was okay. I took a chalet as camping was not gonna work. I have never seen rain like that.
Fishing boats Dar Es Salaam
The first day it was okay, but it got worse. I managed to book a little apartment in the Centre of Dar Es Salaam and now I had to get there. Dar is huge and I mean mega huge and chaotic. It is estimated that it will be the biggest city in the world in another 15 to 20 years. To complicate things a little more it started to rain again and really heavy. I couldn’t use my phone to navigate and had to rely on Holly, my nav unit. Holly and me have one thing in common we both don’t know where we are going. Then the streets flooded out. At one stage I was engine deep in water. It was absolutely a nightmare, the weather coupled with heavy traffic. But we made it. I needed to do some things in Dar. One was to buy oil. I needed synthetic oil and until now I only could find mineral. I also wanted to go to Stone Town on the island of Zanzibar and I also needed to post.
Dar Es Salaam, heavy rain
The first night I went out for a walk and landed in Veggie Heaven. I found a street filled with Indian veggie only restaurants and a Hindu temple. I ate there every night.
Veggie Heaven Dar Es Salaam
Dar Es Salaam
Dar Es Salaam
Tiggy Moondust in the shower Dar Es Salaam
Hindu Temple Dar Es Salaam
Leftovers from the British Colonial time, National Museum Dar Es Salaam
The old spice trade route
I also managed to source the oil that I needed. I had been in contact with Farouk, the French biker from Mushroom Farm. He had offered me a parking spot in the secure compound of his apartment complex. He also offered me a bed for the night which I accepted. It was nice meeting up with him again, we went out for dinner and a chat. The next morning, he took me to the ferry. I will make a separate post and photo album for Zanzibar. Once again Farouk let me stay in his place when I came back to Dar. I needed to extend my TIP for Tanzania, and this was easy done. Whilst in Dar, Phil, a South African friend and traveler had commented on my post…. Cryptic, Phil type, message saying that lets meet in Kigali, Rwanda in two week’s time….Okay why not I mean it was only 1,750 km, via Kilimanjaro, away. Tiggy moondust and me…. We have totally got this… I think.
Tiggy Moondust parked up for lunch before going to Farouk
Went next to a place called Tanga. This is another seaside town. It was also a town inhabited by the Germans back in the day when they were busy in Africa. There are still a lot of buildings left dating back to that era. Spent a day exploring and chatting to the locals. Then on to a town called Moshi.
Museum Tanga building was built by the Germans
Building built by the British now a library, Tanga
Tanga Market
Tanga Market
Moshi is the gateway to Kilimanjaro and as such is just crawling with touts offering you all sorts of things.
On the way to Moshi
Wanted to stay in the Centre but all the hotels that I saw were pretty crappy or had no parking. Moved a bit out of town to a nice quiet lodge that was reasonably priced. Then came the harsh reality. To hike Kilimanjaro was gonna cost me 2000 USD plus. That is a big no way. I found a veg only restaurant in Moshi called Milan. It was brilliant. Unfortunately, the weather was really cloudy and Kilimanjaro was covered in cloud. I also had intermittent rain. Did some hiking on the base to a waterfall and visited a coffee plantation. I was shown the traditional way of preparing the coffee bean. Roasting in an earthenware pot and grinding by hand. This is a show plantation, specially for the tourist. But all around the mountain there are small family-owned coffee plantations. They sell to the KNCU or Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union. They have an excellent coffee shop in Moshi called the Union Café. It is a bit expensive but a nice place to sit and chill. I decided to move hotel as the one I was in had some noisy guests staying. I met a New Zealand guy who was also moving, we had a good chat and were gonna meet up again but lost contact. Anyway, it was time to move on.
Waterfall Moshi
Coffee plantation Moshi
Coffee beans
Men at work
Roasting the coffee beans
Roasted coffee
Market in Moshi
Tiggy Moondust parked at hotel Moshi
Left Moshi early, weather was cold and some rain. Then it got hotter and hotter. There were a lot of Safari trucks on the road all loaded with high end safari tourists. There are a lot of game parks on the road with really expensive lodges and we would be running through a wildlife corridor. I stopped in a local town called Babati for the night. Stayed in a local little hotel and ate in a fantastic little local place. Fresh chapatti, rice, casava leaves and beans. The locals were extremely friendly.
Cattle herder on the road to Babati
Local market Babati
Babati
Shop in Babati
Fresh chapatti, rice, casava leaves and beans, local restaurant Babati
Then on to Nzega, another little local town. The hotel made me a special meal without meat, and it was simply fantastic. Then on to the border and a stop in a town called Nyakasanza. I only do the border crossings in the morning because you never know how long it will take. This little town was just that simple little border town. That night I sat with the locals and ate a really nice local meal. Then I went to sit with some of the locals drinking coffee. The little stand had two big kettles on a charcoal fire. He poured the coffee through a strainer into a small cup and ohh, boy, it was really fantastic.
Beans and a chip omelette, Nyakanzanza
Best coffee I ever had, Nyakasanza
Then on to the border. This crossing took me a couple of hours simply because they searched the bike, looking for a drone. That was the Tanzanians, then the Rwanda side wanted to search the luggage looking for plastic bags, these are all forbidden in Eastern Africa. Spoiler alert, I made it to Kigali and met up with Phil but that will be the next post… Rwanda.
If you would like to see some of those fantastic places then fluff up the cushion in your favourite chair, make a nice wee cup of tea and grab a nice big slice of cake and click your way through the like named photo album on my Facebook page: Facebook album Tanzania
Thank you for reading the posts, looking at the albums, liking and commenting. Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with me, I appreciate it. My real time location: am back in Amsterdam, Holland.
Asante Kawaheri hadi wakati mwingine ……. Swahili for “Thank you, bye until next time”