A day on the bus

30/07/2011 - 31/07/2011

I've done a few of these before.

Getting up before dawn and sitting in a seat squished, hot and bored no knowing how long the journey will last.

Also unable to drink because the toilets are absolutely disgusting.
It was disappointing to learn that our routes DIDN'T go through any national parks unlike most of our contempories who'd been gifted a free safari.
It's ironic that journey in Swahili means safari!

We did see some spectacular scenerary including some peculiar rock formations in the middle of nowhere. I'd love someone to research how and why they are like this - so interesting.
I definitely fle tlike we were driving through the African outback.

We also spent a large chunk of time negotiating with William about price. He seemed keen to charge us more than we'd bargained for; something we weren't too keen on e.g. $90 for accommodation, a taxi and the ferry.
We managed to negotiate this down to $60 but it definitely felt like he was ripping us off.  There's no way two taxis can cost that much and we know that our accommodation and ferry tickets were cheaper than that...grrrh. He's definitely made a profit on us.

We arrived into Mwanza a lot earlier than I'd expected (10pm) and were left lingering in a dodgy street with a lot of people enquiring about taxi pick-ups.  Not safe.
Sarah was anxiously trying to contact the taxi driver who'd got her number off William.
It all felt very disorganised and we were really exhausted.

Finally the taxi driver showed up and we got in - at least the guy seemed to know William.
When we asked how far the hotel was he mentioned that he didn't speak English, which was slightly concerning.
After what seemed a far too long-a-journey we pulled up outside a hotel...definitely too posh for us!!

Apparently double rooms were like 20000TSH per night! We waited anxiously for the other three girls who had been joined in their taxi by a couple of other guys and were panicking somewhat.
Thankfully they turned up soon after.

The rooms were lovely and the beds were definitely the most comfortable I've had in Tanzania so far.
Had a well-earned rest after a long long day.


31/07/2011

After yesterday's adventure we spent today in the very nice MS Hotel where we were able to get a very good breakfast, included in our payment as well as access to our rooms ALL day.

We discovered that the hotel cut the power during daytime to save on bills and very conveniently put the electricity back on in time for sundown.
We had TV in our room and the only English channel was showing Arsenal playing New York Red Bulls (featuring Thierry Henry) in the Emirates Cup.

We didn't get a chance to see the matche's conclusion as it was time to leave for the ferry, but Arsenal were winning when we left it (their first trophy in a long time!)

We were travelling 1st class on the ferry but this was not what I would call 1st class, so I'd hate to see what 2nd and standard class were like.
The worst part was negotiating all the flies that swarmed the lights. YUCK!
We treated ourselves to a meal in 1st class dining - also 2nd rate with no menus, although I'd happily eat that dish every day in Africa.  Plantain, spinach and tomato. Yum!
Then bed.  Which was torcherous as the ferry kept waking us with its horn or engine sound and we wondered if we'd arrived early!!! Or how we'd know if we had.
Fortunately a crew member came round to wake us up to say we were finally pulling into Bukoba.

At LAST!