Travel back to Moshi

 Travel back to Moshi

Breakfast is pretty good this morning. We meet Robert at 9am for the 441km drive back to Moshi. The boot of the car is now full of Robert’s shopping rather than computers.

We drive through Singida and up a hill which gives pretty good views back over the town.

As we drive on we get our first glimpse of Mount Hanang in the far distance.

Driving on we pass into Manyara region.

We get better views of the mountain as we drive closer. It is 3,420 m high is the fourth-highest mountain in Tanzania, if you count the three peaks of Kilimanjaro as one mountain.

This part of Tanzania is very agricultural and we see lots of crops growing.

When we get to Babati we stop for lunch.

The food is very good.

After lunch we drive down the road between Tarangire and Manyara. At the Tarangire junction there is a huge market in full swing.

We are soon reminded that we are back in the “tourist area” of Tanzania. We stop to buy some water and are immediately surrounded by a whole load of hawkers trying to sell us trinkets etc. They are incredibly persistent and don’t want to take “Hapana asante”…No thank you….for an answer. We have not experienced this on our trip around the lake zone. In most places no one approached us and in the few places they did, it was with food and when we said “No thank you” they were happy to move on or just stop for a general chat.

As we drive towards Arusha I take some pictures of buses and also of some donkeys who brought the traffic to a standstill when they stopped in the middle of the road and didn't want to move.

When we get to Arusha Robert wants to call in on his brother Thomas who has recently moved to a new house. They have a few banana trees in the garden that will soon have ripe bananas and also some chickens that have settled under the car. The family are very friendly and give us sodas and a meal of rice and meat (which we dont really need as we had a good lunch earlier and are meeting Robert’s friend Abdullah for a meal later). We eat a small portion and then have to leave again as Abdullah is waiting for us.

We arrive in Usa River at about 5.30 where we meet Abdullah in a bar. He has offered to buy us dinner which was very nice of him. He has a business project that he is trying to get off the ground and we spend quite a bit of time discussing it and trying to offer some advice. 

The food is good but by 7pm Robert wants to leave as we still have the drive back to Moshi. We arrive back at More Than A Drop at about 8pm. This is where we will be staying for our last 4 nights in Tanzania. 

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Singida

 The Drive from Tabora to Singida

This morning when we check out we find that the room and breakfast only TSH 70,000 (about £24) so cheaper than we thought and very good value.

Today we are driving about 330km to Singida. Robert wants an early start so we leave at 8. We still have Tim with us for the first part of the journey.

The drive is quite interesting as Robert has some shopping he wants to do on the way. The first item is onions - 2 different sorts. There are loads of people selling them by the roadside. I am not sure how he decides which one to stop at but luckily the onions look good and the price is right.

The next thing Robert wants to buy is rice. Apparently Igunga is the place to do this, however the first place we stop is only selling corn.

We pass plenty of rice growing in the fields.

The next place we stop they do have rice but it’s not a good enough quality. However the guys there are very friendly and are happy to chat and for us to take photos and even ask if they can take photos with us while Robert looks at the rice. Anyway we move on.

The next place we stop they are drying the rice outside. It is a much bigger place and the price is too high. Who knew buying rice could be so difficult 🤣.

Anyway we have now reached the bus station in Igunga where we drop Tim off so he can get a bus back to Katoro. No photos here, its not allowed!!

By now it is about 11.45 and time for some refreshments so we stop at a local hotel. We have chai, chapati (for me), eggs ( for Pete) and soup (for Robert). 

We are soon back on the road and Robert sees another place for rice. The price is a little high but the quality is ok so we buy.

We now cross from Tabora region to Singida region.

The last thing on the shopping list is cooking oil. Again lots of people are selling it by the side of the road.

Robert picks somewhere to stop and of course all the ladies rush up to the car to try to get him to buy their oil. I have no idea who he bought from in the end but the ladies were all friendly and happy for me to take photos of them and their children.

As we drive on the landscape gets a bit more interesting and we see the Sekenke hills ahead of us. Driving up them we see baboons by the road.

As we go over the top of the hills we get some good views.

As we approach Singida Robert turns off the main road so we can get some good views of the lake.

We haven’t booked a hotel so decide to look for one down on the lake shore. The first one we look at is called the Regency hotel and seems fine. A bit more expensive than some at TSH100,000 (£33) for the room and breakfast but the room is good and so is the view so we are happy with that. They even have a swimming pool, not that we have time to use it. We check in and then go to the restaurant to get some food.

The restaurant gets quite busy but the food is good. Today is Saturday and so I think the pool and restaurant are busy with locals, we seem to be the only tourists. It’s fun so sit and listen to the kids having fun in the pool. We don’t do much for the remainder of the day other than sit and share a bottle of wine with Robert and rest for the evening.