Saturday in Dodoma and Sunday Travelling to Moshi

 Today we had a pretty relaxing day. We spent the morning around the hotel and then met Robert for lunch. We went to one of the restaurants that always has plenty of food ready prepared so there is no long wait. I was very excited to see that along with the normal choices of rice and ugali they also had spaghetti which we don’t often see on our trips. They also have beef stew or liver, beans and greens. It’s TSH 7,000 (£2) for a plate of food whatever you have and I have to say it was all good.

This place is obviously somewhere that the buses stop judging by the number of wash hand basins and the amount of food they had prepared. Luckily no buses arrived while we were there and it was very quiet.

This evening we had been invited to dinner by Robert’s brother Charles so Robert and Aaron picked us up about 6ish. 

We had a lovely evening there and were entertained by Charles’s 2 youngest children Dennis and Dorcas. We had a nice meal accompanied by a very good Italian wine. Opening the wine did cause some amusement as it had a cork, clearly not something Robert was used to dealing with and in the end Aaron had to come to his assistance!

So the following day was Sunday and we were travelling from Dodoma to Moshi. Robert wanted to leave at 7.30 but unfortunately although our hotel said breakfast was served from 7am nothing was actually ready until 7.45! So we grabbed a quick chapati and some fruit and were ready to leave soon after 8. After a stop at the petrol station and then ATM we were on our way.

The road is pretty good being tarmac all the way apart from a few diversions for roadworks.

At the moment the riverbed is completely dry.

Every so often our progress slows right down as we get stuck behind a very slow moving lorry going up a hill and it can be quite difficult to get passed.

This part of the drive as far as Babati is really quite picturesque and we enjoy the scenery.

We arrive in Babati soon after 12 and stop for lunch at another one of these places offering the usual selection of food that is already cooked….the Tanzanian equivalent of Fast Food.

We are on our way again by 1pm. The drive this afternoon does not offer the same nice views.

As we approach Arusha town we drive passed the airport which has been expanded over the last few years and is now able to accommodate some mid size planes.

There is now an Arusha bypass which you can use if going straight on to Moshi but we aren’t using it today as we going to drop Aaron at the Bus Station in town so he can get a bus back to Mwanza tonight. The traffic gets heavier as we drive into town but nowhere near as bad as before the bypass was built.

It takes a little while to locate exactly where to drop Aaron but eventually we work it. We say our goodbyes and drop him off. Robert will now drive the final part of our journey.

We can tell we are getting near the turn off for Kilimanjaro Airport when the street lights appear.

We arrive in Moshi about 6pm. It’s been a drive of around of around 320 miles (512 Km). 

Robert drops us off at More Than A Drop B&B which will be our home for the next few days. We have stayed here many times before and are welcomed back by Jacky and shown to our room.

It’s been a long journey so we don’t do much more than unpack some essentials and then enjoy a cold bottle of white wine and some pasta on the terrace. After 2.5 weeks away from tourist areas we are now back into an area frequented by climbers and safarigoers and the Western menus that are provided for them 😀…..and it made a nice change.