Bus Rides

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So, travelling across Africa by public transport has it's moments. Sometimes it's fun, other times, it's not. There are a couple of bus journeys that stand out above the rest though.
Firstly, on my 2 day mission from Nkata Bay in Malawi, to Arusha in northern Tanzania. The first day, I left the campsite around 6am, and caught mini bus's, mid sized bus's, taxi's and even a bicycle to get to Mbeya in Southern Tanzania. It took about 13 hours. Then getting back to the bus stop at 5:40 the next morning to catch the bus to Arusha.
I didn't realise there were time limits on bus travel, and either the driver was crazy, really wanted to arrive quickly, or some other unexplained reason, but he drove the pants of that thing. We left at 6:00am and I haven't been on many bus's that felt like they were involved in a rally. On mountain pass's, I could hear the tyres screeching as he floored it around the corners. The guy I was sitting next to, a mushroom farmer, said that it was normal for the bus's to drive like they're sedans. It was a long 18 hours across Tanzania..

The other trip, was from Nairobi, to the town of Moyale on the Ethiopian border. I'm not sure of the distance, but I think it's only around 800kms. The 'bus' that left from the Somalian Ghetto of Nairobi was only 2 hours late, and was more like a truck. the cabin was separate from the passengers, the seats were close together and upright, and the floor was too far away, so I had to use my tent as a foot rest. We got going at 6pm and it took a couple hours of driving around through pouring rain before we even left the city, and at one point while sitting in traffic, the guy 2 seats in front of me was almost robbed by a couple guys on the street. Great start!
I fell asleep and woke up when the bus stopped for dinner around midnight, but I opted to sleep instead of eat. The next stop I remember was in the morning, as the sky began to get light, and the few devout muslims stopped to get out and pray on the road. Some guy tried to convert me, but I thought I wasn't quite ready for that sort of change in my life.
Shortly after, the tarmac ended, and we still had 400 - 500 km's to go. The suspension on the truck was what I would call 'hard' and the noise from the truck vibrating was really loud. I wouldn't have been surprised at all if the whole thing just fell apart in the middle of the road. We passed brightly dressed Masai farmers, with their cool jewellery, and staring faces, and a few camel trains, about 40 or 50 animals all loaded up, walking in the middle of absolutely no where. There was no vegetation, not even grass for a long way. The whole drive across Kenya took a full 24 hours, and by the time I reached Moyale, the border was closed so I stayed in a fairly gross hotel. Apparently it was one of the nicer ones...
Ethiopia is another story.

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Comments

[pablo and iTZIAR]

lucky you
Do not complain so much!!! many underground rides to work are more packed than yours... and you are on holiday!!!