So, we finally got out of Arusha on the worst bus ever. I’m sure after a few more bad bus rides, I will have to revise that. We got two seats on the “Air Jordan” express, if Michael only knew. 13 1/2 hours from Arusha to Mwanza. The bus was old and crappy, there was NO suspension in the rear end and we were seated over the rear wheels, so the force of every bump was transmitted directly up into my lower back and spine. When I think of this bus I immediately get a headache. Justin nicknamed the bus driver “Anton the bone crusher” for good reason. My favorite character on the trip was the driver’s assistant who was wearing a T-shirt that said “Ruth’s Bat Mitzvah, March 12, 2003” and had the NYC skyline across his back. He was continually running around yelling at people and handling the loading unloading of luggage.
So the first 6 hours were on unpaved roads. Africa needs the three P’s, Pavement, Plumbing and Power. This guy was driving like a maniac the entire time, by this I mean he did not slow down for any bumps or road disturbances. The buses are only allowed to run during daylight hours in TZ because the drivers are so bad it would be deadly at night. Given this, Anton, was hell bent on getting us to our destination by sundown. After an hour I admitted that the ride was way worse that anything I could have imagined. I literally thought the rear axel was going to come off, I don’t know how those buses have any longevity.
After noon things got a little better because we got on paved roads. TZ does not have a fully paved route between it’s second and third largest city (Arusha and Mwanza) crazy right? Well since there is no functioning constabulary in each town there are only speed bumps. Anton would take these at 40-50mph. I mean the entire rear half of the bus was routinely airborne including all the passengers, I saw little kids go flying into the air about every 15min. I have never seen anything like this…His favorite trick was to pass another vehicle who had slowed down for the speed bump at the speed bump. He also had some other good tricks, passing fuel trucks on bridges, blind passing, all good stuff.
Unbelievably we survived and arrived in Mwanza. Mwanza (The city of rocks) was actually very cool because for the first time yet in Africa we were not continually heckled by street touts. It is a nice little town on Lake Victoria, with these huge granite outcroppings that form the surrounding hills around it. Can’t swim in lake because of crocs and parasites though.
After two days in Mwanza, we set sail for Bukoba on the MV Victoria. This was an experience, this is the rust bucket ferry that runs from Mwanza farther up the coast where you then have to take another Bus ride up into Uganda. Imagine Bogart on the African Queen, that was us in our little sleeper on the MV Victoria.
We originally tried to book passage to Kampala on a couple of cargo ships down at the port. That was quite a way to spend an afternoon, two Muzungo’s totally out of place down at the shipyards cruising around and trying to find the captain of these little ships and then passably communicating our intentions. It would have been quite the story if we pulled it off. Anyways we finally booked an overnight cabin on the MV Victoria and got into Bukoba at 6am.
We were on the bus at 7am and arrived in Kampala by 2. By 7pm Justin had had our first attempted pickpocket experience of the trip, setting a good tone for the afternoon in Kampala. So all in all quite a day. We are off to go whitewater rafting on the Nile in the next couple days and then off to see the gorillas.
Kampala is crowded, crazy and smoggy and has terrible traffic. Thus far Uganda seems to have a great deal more infrastructure than TZ. We will see as the trip progresses. There is definitely more economic prosperity here than in western TZ.
Recommendations -
Hotel Tilapia in Mwanza http://www.hoteltilapia.com/
Hotel NewPark in Mwanza
MV Victoria
Avoid -
Air Jordan bus lines in Tanzania
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