Tanzania
– July and September 2007
Route
In total we spent 30 days in Tanzania, effectively going
up the east coast and down the west. We entered over the Rovuma River
car ferry in the south, driving up to Arusha via Dar and Zanzibar and
into Kenya and Uganda. We then re-entered through the north-western
border at Mutukula and travelled down the edge of Lake Tanganyika to
Malawi.
Border formalities
The Rovuma River* border-post at Mwambo was quiet and easy. Customs
were friendly and had good English but failed to inform us that we needed
to pay $20 for road tax and $5 for fuel tax (payable in US dollars and
valid for one month). We found out about this when we tried to leave
the country and had to find the money in order to get our carnet stamped.#
The border at Mutukula was also easy to navigate. On
the Tanzanian side, we paid another $20 for road tax and $5 for fuel
tax. You have to register at the police station after Immigration and
Customs.
Visas (UK citizens) - $50 for an automatic 90 days multi-entry,
obtained on the border.
Third-party insurance is compulsory but there is nowhere
on the Mwambo border to buy this. We got ours from a Reliance Insurance
representative in Mtwara for 25,000TSH (about £10) for 3 months.
*Note: see the Mozambique entry for details of the
Rovuma River crossing.
Impressions
Tanzanians on the whole appear business-like and progressive.
The Swahili language and culture is to the fore and it’s good
to see billboards and adverts in a non-European language. English is
still the business language and you will find it spoken in most of the
larger towns.
General driving conditions
Speed limits are 60 and 120 km/hr (with other signs). We saw no police
cars outside Dar es Salaam but there are police road blocks in most
small towns. These slow you down rather than cause any problems. Road
conditions varied from good tar to rocky riverbeds.
After Mozambique, there seemed to be a lot more vehicles
on the road (especially Landys!). Most of the vehicles along the western
side were UN and aid agency cars, driven by aggressive young men quite
prepared to sacrifice child pedestrians and other motorists for the
greater cause.
N.B. Tanzanian drivers indicate to inform you of the
oncoming traffic hazards rather than to indicate their intentions (indicating
right means ‘Do not overtake’ rather then ‘I am turning
right’).
Specific driving conditions
Main arteries are generally very good but roads away from these can
be terrible. Most trade in the west is done on Lakes Tanganyika and
Victoria so the roads are badly neglected. Out of the 30 days we spent
12 driving.
- Mwambo
to Mtwara – bumpy dust road (1 hr)
- Mtwara
to Masasi – good tar with numerous roadblocks (2 ½ hours)
- Lindi
to Selous Game Reserve – temporary dust roads on the B2 road
works (Lindi to Somanga) followed by terrible pot holed, dirt road
to Ikwiriri where there is a new bridge and a turning to the park
not marked on our map. Patchy 4x4 track to park gate. Too much to
do in 1 day (10 hours)
- Ikwiriri
to Dar es Salaam – road building programme, beautiful where
complete. A comfortable days drive from Dar to Selous.
- Dar to
Arusha – good (dirt) minor roads to Msata on the A14, via Bagamoyo
(2 days drive).
Returning to Tanzania from Uganda, we took four days
to drive down the western side from Mutukula to Mbeya, with a side-trip
to Kigoma. We chose to visit the lake at Kigoma because we thought it
would be the most accessible point, however the road into Kigoma is
very bad so maybe investigate other options. Our 4 days driving was
broken up as follows:
- Masaka
(Uganda) to Biharamulo – good tar to Muleba, then graded dirt
road to Biharamulo, both the B8 (6½ hours)
- Biharamulo
to Kigoma – good surface continued on the B8 to Kasulu. Be warned,
there are terrible corrugations to Kigoma (8½ hours)
- Kigoma
to Mpanda – the B8 is good to Uvinza, after which the road through
the forest reserve is a very rocky, unmade road (8½ hours)
- Mpanda
to Sumbawanga – dust roads of varying standards. Very bad in
Katavi Park (7½ hours)
- Sumbawanga
to Mbeya – the B8 has bad corrugations until Tunduma. The Tanzam
Highway is good tar apart from a small section before Mbeya (6½
hours)
- Mbeya
to Chitimba Beach (Malawi) – good tar roads all the way (4½
hours). It’s an easy days drive from Mbeya/Tukuyu to Chitimba/Livingstonia.
Dar es Salaam city and traffic is frenetic and a little
crazy but no more than other African cities. There are some confusing
one-way systems in the very centre of town and we hit roadworks on the
way in from the south.
Accommodation
We stayed in Tanzania for a total of 30 days, 15 camping and 15 in guesthouses
and hotels. All rooms came with a bread-and-instant-coffee type breakfast.
Some particular notes:
- Mtwara
– the cheaper accommodation was run down and not good value
for money. Couldn’t find a campsite. We treated ourselves to
a lovely sea-view room in the Southern Cross Hotel!
- Masasi
– a natural staging post on this road so the local guesthouses
are numerous and good value
- Selous
Game Reserve – as an alternative to the pricey lodges inside
the reserve there are many cheaper riverside camps (20,000 –
25,000TSH) springing up outside Mtemere gate
- Dar es
Salaam – in town, we stayed at the Econo Lodge, which is good
value and has OK supervised parking. There are lots of seaside campsites
north of the city and south via the Kigamboni ferry, which you can
catch at the end of Ocean Road
- Arusha
– excellent campsite with good facilities at Masai camp, 3kms
east of town.
On the western side of Tanzania we found hardly any
campsites and stayed in local guesthouses and church run institutions,
which is an experience in itself.
- Kigoma
- the town was very busy with aid workers and Congolese businessmen
and finding a room was hard. The one campsite was the beautiful Jacobson’s
Beach Resort. It’s difficult to find (take the road towards
the point and look out for a sign) but worth it for its lakeside position
and bilharzia-free swimming. Go during the week and you’ll probably
have it to yourselves
- Katavi
Park. It’s not really set up for independent tourists has very
wild campsites that we didn’t stay at but wished we had. It’s
not really set up for independent tourists - speak to the park wardens
before going in
- Mbeya
guesthouses are all at overpriced, Tanzam highway rates. The camping
at Mbeya Green Inn is acceptable. Instead, try Bongo Camping, 70kms
down the road towards Malawi at Tukuyu. Bongo is a local NGO project
to promote AIDS awareness, also running English and Adult Education
classes. New facilities, great food and good place to find local guides
for the mountains and surrounding highlands.
Going to Zanzibar
Kipepeo Beach Resort, south of the Kigamboni ferry, offers camping at
9,600TSH per site and charges 2,400 (£1) per day to park your
vehicle whilst in Zanzibar. You can then take a dala-dala back to the
Kigamboni ferry and walk from the other side to the port. Zanzibar
is fantastic. Allow enough days on the island and bear in mind it takes
pretty much a full day to travel from Dar to the island even if you
think you’ve booked a fast ferry! For ferry
tickets go direct to the choice of ticket booths at the harbour, ignoring
the aggressive and unhelpful touts…
Mechanics and other practicalities
Dar has hundreds of garages and parts shops and it is quick and easy
to get a drive-in grease-up or express service in any petrol station.
In the west, Mbeya is a practical town and good for
getting chores done. Obviously the internet is still painfully slow
(and no WiFi) and the mechanics should be regarded with caution (terrible
welding job at Highland Motors and a small radiator hose, replaced at
MVTC, was split again and spurting coolant within two weeks). MVTC did
fix our gearbox though – they are in Mbalizi, west of the town.
Food and water
It’s easy to buy fruit and veg on roadside stalls everywhere (citrus
fruit on the coast, cashew nuts in Mtwara). The east coast was all Swahili
food, influenced by the Indian Ocean with chapattis and trade wind spices.
There are loads of good places to eat in Dar but we
liked Chef’s Pride – really good local pile-up food. Also
recommended are Annas homemade meals at Bongo Camping in Tukuyu and,
nationwide, chips mayai (chip omelette) for around for 10,000TSH from
roadside stalls.
Water supplies became dirtier and less frequent away from towns.
Costs
We spent around £50 a day (two people). This is probably higher
than most countries simply because of the expense of Zanzibar and the
fact we were travelling quite quickly. We didn’t visit any of
the major parks as the prices were very high for foreign-registered
vehicle (e.g. $US200 just for the car at Ngorogoro).
Diesel prices were generally 1,400 to 1,550TSH (about
60p/litre).