Days 176 – 178… Thursday 14th to Saturday 16th September
Most fuel stations only accept cash but the one we stopped at had a card machine which worked after a while. Mobile money transfers are the most popular form of payment. The manager (a Chelsea supporter) took a little while to get the car machine to charge up and then work with the correct amount. Swahili is the main language and I have picked up some useful words so far:
- Jambo – Hello
- Mambo vipi – how are you?
- Poa – good
- Sawa– ok
- Polopole – slow
- Asante Sana– thank you very much
- Karibu – welcome
So many lorries on the roads and very few cars. The roads are in good condition. Stopped to get Sim card and data for the phone. Stayed at Kisolanza for 2 nights and met Nicky Ghaui who remembers my grandfather. Lovely shady campsite with walks available around the gardens and lake. Homemade bread available for purchase and farm produce at the farm shop plus coffee and cake. Very peaceful campsite. Chilly evenings and jumpers needed at this higher altitude (2068m). Had to dig out the thermals again for the night.
Allen’s perspective…
Wow there’s a lot of lorries on Tanzania’s roads nowadays. It makes the UK roads look quiet in comparison. They clearly do not have any other means of transporting goods from one end of the country to the other, and while they have resurfaced the road it is now taking a lot longer to travel a seemingly short distance. Lets hope one day they look to funding the creation of freight railway lines, otherwise they will stifle their economic progress.
