Our stay didn't get any better last night. At about 8:30pm there was banging on our door from the guest-house owner shouting that he wanted to talk about our trip to the rock paintings. When we didn't immediately open it, he started trying the handle. We told him that we weren't going and eventually he took the hint and went away. People seemed to be constantly in and out of the building, with men shouting to each other and doors being banged. This was on top of the badly tuned radio, being played at its loudest setting. At 6:30am there was more banging on our door, this time by a woman, telling us to get up now because it is a long walk to the rock paintings. Having never agreed to go in the first place, let alone walk, this was all very strange. Eventually our shouts of go away were heeded.
When we eventually left we were pretty much ignored, It seems that when the owner realised we weren't going to spend any more money with him, he lost all interest in us. As had the guy from the paintings office, who also ignored us as we cycled away. Unless proven wrong, I would suggest that there is an arrangement between the paintings office guy, the guest-house owner and the guides, to pocket all the money that comes through visiting the site. With no competition, you have no choice but to book through them. The stay would rank as one of the most unpleasant I have had. I am sure the paintings are very interesting, but while this is the sort of treatment that you receive, I would suggest that people give it a miss. World Heritage have a lot of work to do, although having visited many of their named sites it is hard to see that they have done much other than increased the entrance prices for westerners dramatically. Rant over!
Back on the road it was much the same as the day before except not as steep. Good surfaces gave way to sandy rocky sections and buses and lorries continued to race past showering us in dust. Once again though the people, especially the children, were all really friendly. It is just a shame that the kids all run away when you get a camera out. What wasn't so welcome was keeping running into our previous nights host, on the road. Hearing him shout 'hello my friend' every time we rode past wasn't helping my mood at all. Debs had managed to put it all behind her and was just enjoying the scenery, if not the road surface. I meanwhile was still angry about our stay. Riding down rough, stony descents at 40km/h and not reaching for the brakes was probably foolish, but it certainly got some of the annoyance out of my system.
Before too long we were turning off towards Kondoa in search of a guest-house. The 'New Planet' was listed in the 'Lonely Planet' East Africa guide and seems very nice. After getting settled and having a shower to wash the dust off, the owner accompanied us to the bus station. We have decide to skip the next 180km and go straight to Dodoma. The 100km of unsealed road that we have ridden on has been challenging to say the least. If we could guarantee that we would encounter fewer sections of sand then it would be definitely ride-able. Tour d'Afrique came through here earlier in the year, but they were riding unladen bikes and were fully supported. Aside from the countryside itself there is little of any interest along the route and we still face 200km or more of unsealed road when we leave Dodoma. If we decide to ride that section.
Booking a bus to take us proved to be more difficult than planned. It seems that the timetable that was printed in the guidebook has changed and all of the sensible timed buses were full. The fact that Swahili time is different to GMT didn't help matters either. Eventually we have settled for a 6am bus, which mean we have to be there to load the bikes and gear at 5:30am. Fortunately the man in the ticket office was helpful and spoke some English. At least going early we will arrive in Dodoma in good time, which will make finding accommodation easier.
Having arranged a bus we planned to have a meal at the guest-house restaurant, only to find out that it had no food! The guest-house owner helpfully took us to another guest-house where we had a nice buffet style meal and sodas for 9200TZS (just under £4). We will be having an early night tonight and will unfortunately have to leave in the dark tomorrow. The next blog will be from the nations capitol.
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