Day 266 Tanzania 26/07/2011, Cana Lodge hotel, Dodoma – Central lodge guest-house, Iringa. 9 hours of bone jarring, organ rearranging travel.

It would have had to be this morning that the hotel staff managed to arrive late for preparing breakfast. We stood outside the restaurant at 7am having loaded the bikes, so we could quickly eat and then head down to the bus station. Instead we left with no breakfast having run out of time.

Arriving at the bus station the first thing that we noticed was that there was no bus. The guy from the booking office reiterated the reporting time of 7:30am and departing time of 8am to us, by way of explanation. All the same it seemed a little strange bearing in mind our assumption that the bus started from Dodoma main station. While we were waiting, we got chatting to a friendly guy, Louis, who told us where to wait and talked about how he had helped with 'Tour d'Afrique' when they came through. 7:30am came and went as did 8am, by now we beginning to wonder what had happened to the bus. Having experienced Africa time before though, we knew it was too early to start getting concerned!

Eventually at 8:15am the bus arrived already half full of passengers. Where they had all come from we will never know. Thankfully Louis was on hand to help us get the bikes loaded; he at least understood that we didn't really want our wheels crushed underneath all the luggage! When we started to load the bikes on, we were told that it was going to cost 15,000TZS (£6) each to carry them. This was a little on the steep side bearing in mind it was more than our tickets. I tried offering 10,000TZS each thinking that we had paid 5,000TZS last time and it was twice as far. Somewhat annoyed about the situation we eventually settled on 12,000TZS; apparently the bikes were 10,000TZS and the luggage an extra 2,000TZS. What makes it a little galling is that not once did we see any other passengers charged for their luggage, no matter how many sacks of rice, flour, grain or chickens and ducks they loaded on. In the end, the most important thing was that the bikes were stowed and we were on the bus. Seeing a mechanic covered in oil and laying under the front axle, didn't fill us with a great deal of confidence that we would have a trouble free journey though!

8:30am and we were on the road, certainly not at walking pace but not a great deal faster. About five minutes later and we were stopped to pick up more passengers and five minutes after that and so on and so on. The bus could seat 62 people with probably 10 children sitting on laps, plus at least 20 standing in the aisle. Add the driver and two ticket collectors/helpers and you have nearly 100 people on board at any one time. To say it was a little crowded was an understatement! Crowded and not particularly fresh smelling; especially later when everyone seemed to be eating dried fish and there were three joints of meat hanging from the sun roof!

The journey was 9 hours of bone jarring, sweat inducing, organ-rearranging pain. The constant vibration meant that we were too concerned about ourselves to worry about the bikes in the hold. Thank goodness for Ipods as they helped to block out some of the noise from the rattling windows and creaking, banging suspension. On a brighter note it was certainly an experience, one we will happily never repeat, and at times the scenery was very attractive. Fortunately the bus diver stopped for a break after about 4 hours, so we could get some food and stretch our legs. Prior to this there had been no toilet stops at all. Sipping our water had been the order of the day, although with the heat on the bus we had been sweating most of it out. Lunch was a tasty chip omelette each and I mistakenly had a cold Pepsi. What hadn't occurred to me was that a cold fizzy drink on top of a greasy chip omelette added to a heavily vibrating bus may cause a certain amount of nausea. For a short while I felt like I would have to get the bus to stop, so I could run off into the bush! Gradually though the feeling passed and I was able to, if not enjoy, at least put up with the rest of the journey. By the time we arrived in Iringa at just after 5:30pm, we would happily say that we never wanted to get on a bus again.

Unloading the bikes and luggage brought great plumes of dust from the cargo hold and sadly two quite badly scratched bikes. It looks like they had rubbed against the metal floor in a sawing action, going straight through the paint to the bare metal. Fortunately they were not dented, so it looks like we will be on the lookout for some more stickers to cover the damage. For now they have been patched up with duct tape! It is very difficult to get too precious over the bikes, considering the type of journey we are on, but it is still quite sad. Once again though we are glad that we have bought bikes with heavy duty steel frames, the damage could potentially have been much worse instead of just cosmetic.

Watched on by seemingly the whole bus station, we reassembled the bikes and laughed at taxi drivers who kept approaching us to see if we wanted to go on a trip today/tomorrow etc. Obviously they were the only ones who hadn't noticed that we had our own transport with us! With the bikes back together and loaded we headed up the road to the 'Central Lodge' guest-house. The room seemed alright, so we will be here for a couple of nights. We have to get some supplies before we move on and apparently Iringa has a good market.

The room may be alright but the restaurant was a bit of a let down. Having rejected 'Hasty Tasty too' across the road for being too expensive we returned to the guest-house, only to find that they had run out of just about everything. We had hoped for rather more than rice and beans, especially as they had such a large menu on display. To make up for the lack of food the bar does sell the cheapest beer we have had in Tanzania though, 1600TZS (70p) is a bargain. One beer was enough tonight and we were glad to head back to the room. The journey had taken its toll, so it is a good job we are not moving on tomorrow.

Day 265 Tanzania 25/07/2011, Cana Lodge Hotel, Dodoma. Bus tickets, some shopping and plenty of food.

Not only is the 'Cana Lodge' hotel the best place we have stayed in Africa, it also does the best breakfast. Although heaven knows what the green fruit juice we had was, guava? Having eaten, we headed back to the bus station to get our tickets for our onward journey to Iringa. This time the ticket man was there and we managed to get ourselves booked on for tomorrow. There was some confusion however when we enquired about the bikes. As he didn't seem to understand, I showed him our bicycle ticket we had been given from the last bus company. Seeing a different price on the ticket, he took it to mean that I was questioning the price of the tickets for the bus. Shouting for a translator, another guy arrived and started telling me that the price was the price and they weren't overcharging us. All the time I was trying to explain that we knew they weren't overcharging us, I just wanted to know how much taking the bikes was going to cost. Eventually we got it sorted and I think they accepted that I wasn't accusing them of anything. Unable to issue a ticket for the bikes, we were told we would have to sort it out tomorrow morning. It shouldn't be a problem, but it would have been nice to be all paid up before tomorrow.

For anyone wondering why we are taking the bus once again, perhaps we should have read and listened to this excerpt from www.ibike.org:

'If the line that stretches across the map from Arusha to Dodoma and Iringa intrigues you; you'll want to think about it at least twice. The northern quarter is paved. Also recommended is the northern section between Babati, Bereko and Kolo. It is beautiful. But between Kondoa, Irangi and Iringa it is mostly flat, bone jarring and has little of interest'.

By luck it seems we rode the beautiful part, but that was bone jarring enough!

Leaving the bus station we walked back into the town and had a stroll round the shops/stalls buying some supplies along the way. Finding shower gel, in Dodoma at least, is a tricky and quite expensive affair. It seems that the locals just use ordinary soap and western brands are fairly dear. From now on I will be smelling 'sweet as the cotton candy, sunny and Mediterranean as the mandarin' or at least so the bottle says! Stopping at a chemists we also purchased some water purification tablets; we probably should have had some from the start, but better late than never. Our shopping trip was rounded off with a cup of coffee and milk tea at 'Rose's' café.

Back at the hotel we grabbed the netbook, maps and guide book for Malawi and Zambia and went to do some forward planning. From what we can see it looks like we are really going to like Malawi. Having planned our route for a while, we returned to Rose's café and had a nice lunch of beef curry and rice for 3000TZS each (£1:20). Getting a decent meal has seldom been a problem in Tanzania.

Not much to report for the rest of the afternoon. We made a few phone calls to our nearest and dearest and enjoyed a few beers in the restaurant. We have another long bus ride ahead of ourselves tomorrow, which will hopefully go without a hitch. The road ahead looks great and we are eager to get back on the bikes. We should have the luxury of a sealed if not smooth road all the way to the Malawi border.

Day 264 Tanzania 24/07/2011, New Planet guest-house, Kondoa – Cana Lodge, Dodoma. A very bumpy, but not as long as expected, bus journey.

Having not had the best nights sleep, we woke at 4:30am to get the bikes loaded and ready to head to the bus station. By 5:15am we were on our way, in the dark, through the unlit Kondoa streets. The journey only took a few minutes and we soon arrived at the equally unlit bus terminal. The first two things that we encountered were a closed ticket office and a bus with no roof rack. Assuming that we were looking at the right bus where were we supposed to put our bikes?!

Showing our tickets to the man at the front of the bus he gestured for us to get on, I obviously gestured towards our bicycles and luggage. Some shouting later and it became clear that the bikes were to go in the lockers underneath. We can't say we were particularly pleased about that as we had visions of them being thrown around the hold on the bumpy road. To make matters worse they wouldn't fit where they wanted to put them. Eventually I started to remove the wheels, nearly loosing one of the wheel skewer nuts in the process. By the light of a feeble torch we got the bikes small enough to fit and had to step back and hope that they put them in with some degree of care. Unfortunately both bikes wouldn't fit in the back locker, so Debs' bike was placed in the front lockers on its own. I was even more concerned about this, as at least mine was surrounded by our bags. Debs meanwhile was just placed in the middle of a large empty cargo hold. The small tarpaulin they placed underneath may help a little, but we had to hope it didn't move around too much!

6am arrived and remarkably the bus left on time. We had visions of still being sat on it in the bus station at 7am. I guess we will never know how bad the road would have been to ride on, but judging by the violent lurching and banging of the bus as we sped along, we would say not great. As the sun started to rise we were treated to a beautiful red sky, which momentarily took our minds off the buses attempts to rearrange our internal organs! With every bang and bump I tried to put my mind off thinking of our bikes bouncing up and down in the hold.

Sitting relatively comfortably in our seats we began to wonder when a bus was deemed full in Africa. At every small village, sometimes just the side of the road, we stopped to pick up more people. One lady even boarded with a live rooster under her arm and then proceeded to squeeze her way past everyone, while the rooster struggled in her grip.

We wondered whether there would be a so called 'comfort break' on the bus and can safely report that the answer is no. What seems to happen is that as soon as the bus stops to pick up passengers anyone desperate for the toilet leaps off and heads into the bush. Assuming that enough people take their chance and join the first, the bus driver doesn't drive off leaving the passenger trying to rearrange his or her clothing as they chase after the departing bus. We quite wisely decided to hold it, I suspect the chance to watch a 'mzungu' (white person) chasing after the bus would be too good for the driver to miss!

After only 4 hours, we had been told 6 hours, the bus pulled into the Dodoma bus station. With fingers crossed and a certain amount of trepidation we set about unloading the bikes. Somewhat miraculously the bikes and luggage, aside from being filthy, appear to have escaped unscathed. With a small crowd watching we reassembled the bikes got loaded and headed off in search of a guest-house. Dodoma may be the nation's capitol, but today at least it seemed like a quiet, sleepy town. The streets are wide and well sign-posted and there was little traffic. If the 'Lonely Planet' hadn't marked the hotel that we intended to stay in on the wrong place on the map we would have ridden straight there. With a little help we doubled back on ourselves and arrived outside the 'Cana Lodge Hotel'. The hotel is by far the nicest place we have stayed in Tanzania, except our tent of course! We have a large room, with a comfortable bed, plus hot water from the taps! No more cold showers for a couple of days at least. What has made us laugh however, is the fact that the hotel security man made us fill in the vehicle log book and we have been given a pass that we have to show to take our bikes off the site. Good for security, but it made filling in the vehicle registration section a little tricky.

Having got settled in we had a good lunch in the hotel restaurant and then wandered back to the bus station to enquire about taking another bus to Iringa. We have decided that it is just going to be too difficult to get supplies and water along the road. With an average speed of just 7km/h it is going to take an awfully long time to cover the 260km to Iringa! Unfortunately the ticket man wasn't in his office, but that didn't stop us having a laugh with some of his helpers/passengers. After finding out we were from England, Queen Elizabeth and David Beckham were mentioned and we were then introduced to the black David Beckham. Your guess is as good as ours as to who he was, but it caused much hilarity. Eventually we were told to come back this evening or tomorrow morning and there would be no problem getting tickets. Waving goodbye we headed back to the hotel, so far it looks like we are going to like our short break in Dodoma.

We didn't feel like exploring too much last night, so we returned to the hotel restaurant. Aside from a lengthy wait, the food was once again very good and above all really cheap. A few beers rounded off what has been a tiring but good day.