Morogoro - Rural Tanzania

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The coach journey to Morogoro was uneventful and fairly comfortable. We were dropped of at the bus station a few kilometres out of town and soon found a taxi to take us to Mama Pierina’swhere we had arranged to stay for a couple of nights. The accommodation is very basic but then the price reflects that, and the climate is so humid that only having cold water in the shower was more of a blessing than a curse.

There isn’t a lot to Morogoro but we really enjoyed our short stay. The railway station was rather quaint and we got some curious stares from onlookers as we wandered around the overgrown tracks and the rusting wrecks. Although a shunter was moving some stock around, there didn’t seem to be any sign of any impending movement.

We also enjoyed popping in to the New Acropol Hotel (not as grand as it sounds) where we were the only customers. The bar area is like an old hunting lodge with bits and pieces of animals all over the place! The first night we ate at our accommodation where the menu has a Greek slant to it for some reason, and the offerings were very tasty indeed. Sadly they were out of moussaka but the lasagne was a good substitute. We also had an excellent curry in Red Chilli the second night, but the streets are so dark that venturing further afield was not really an option.

Wandering around during the day you get a real sense of what a bustling rural Tanzanian community was like. Our plan had been to organise an excursion out to Morningside but the cost was prohibitive and the number of hours hiking just to see some crumbling buildings and get a wonderful birds-eye view of the town exceeded our what our weary minds deemed acceptable!

Plan B was to walk out to one of two more exclusive hotels in the foothills of the nearby mountains. Whilst we had a lovely walk, our plans to swim in their pools were thwarted. Alongside the seemingly defunct golf course the manager of the Morogoro Hotel told us that of course the pool was open and we could pay to use it. We pointed out to him the “closed for maintenance” sign and the workman cleaning the bottom of the pool. We were told that we could still pay and sit by the pool until the work was compete in a few hours’ time. We walked on! On the very edge of town in an absolutely stunning location was the Nashera Hotel. This time the Gods were against us again as their pool was closed for maintenance for two days. It looked like it would have been a splendid spot to chill out but I hope the maintenance includes cleaning the water as it was a rather uninviting shade of green.

Leaving town was supposed to be easy. We had pre-booked seats on a bus, but when we got to the bus station we soon began to realise that all was not well. OTA High Class did not live up to their name. For two hours we were moved around the bus station with our bags being told the bus would be arriving soon. Some 90 minutes after our scheduled departure they finally told us that they had not sold enough tickets and that the bus would not be leaving. Then they grabbed our bags and escorted us through a drainage ditch, over the main road, through someone’s garden and onto a minibus. Such transport would have been a quarter of the price we paid but of course no refund was coming our way. There were three passengers for every two seats, plus everyone’s baggage, and we then endured a hair-raising, occasionally dangerous, super-uncomfortable journey to Iringa.

Welcome to Africa!!!!

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