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Published: December 3rd 2012
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Crossing the border from Kenya to Tanzania, on Lunga Lunga, there was a big problem for me, because I was using Taiwan passport, because of the diplomatic problem between China and Taiwan, the Kenyan authority gave me the visa and also the entry stamp on the paper, not on the passport, after long talk to the border immigration, they gave the stamp, and told me never come back again, finally passed the Kenyan border, and now going to entry Tanzania, I got a problem again, the rule was to stamp on the passport where had the Kenyan exit stamp, but my stamp was on the paper, after long talk again, they gave me the visa and stamp on my passport, not on the paper, after almost 2 hours, finally I crossed the both borders, and officially I am in Tanzania, the bus almost left me behind.
Finally I am again on bus to Dar Es Salaam, or better, to Tanga city first, because of broder problem, I arrived in Tanga late, but enough to catch the last bus up to Dar Es Salaam, leaving at 5 PM, and the trip suppose to be 7 hours, but some accident happened on
the road, then the whole trip took 13 hours, long and unexpected trip, so I couldn't stay in my host's house that night, I arrived only next day early morning, and the only good thing happened to me was meeting a nice Kenyan woman, named Catherine, who helped me on the road, because people didn't speak English, only Swahili, she was going to buy things in Dar Es Salaam, and she lives in Mombasa.
The day I arrived in Dar was the same day my wife suppose to arrive too in the afternoon, so I booked a Holiday Inn to receive her, but she didn't show up, then later I checked the email, she left a email saying she couldn't get into air plane, because Chinese company don't allow the people go to another country for tourism without return ticket, so she bought a return ticket, and only got flight to Dar next day, then I went back to Holiday Inn to cancel the reservation, but I paid a 20% as fine, well it is OK, so I was trying to find a cheap place to stay in a internet cafe, and guess who I found by chance? Christian!!
The guy who was travelling with me and Kiarash from Ethiopia to Kenya. In the end, I stayed in the same place with Christian, and next day he was going to Zanzibar, a famous island near to Dar. Then I moved to another nice hotel waiting for my wife, we spent 2 nights there, and we met a German guy in Kenyan embassy who was going to Kenya at same date as us, so we matched to go to Kenya together, then we went to Zanzibar as well.
We stayed in a couchsurfer's place in Zanzibar, the host's name is Jack, that was the first time I paid for accommodation in couchsurfing, but the host put the condition in his profile in advance, so it is OK, and he also was a very cool guy. The Zanzibar island is a very beautiful and peaceful place, with a crazy and chaotic streets in the Stone Town (city centre of Zanzibar), when you go to Zanzibar, you will pass the immigration again getting a entry stamp, like going to a new country, later I knew the Zanzibar want to be independent from Tanzania, anyway, we enjoyed a lot our 3 nights
there, going to see the dolphins, to visit the turtles, one of them was over 150 years old, pretty big one, to do snorkelling, to eat a lot of great seafood, actually the prices in Zanzibar weren't cheap at all because of a lot of tourists there, but it worth to spend a time there for sure.
Now we are heading back to Mombasa again, so back to Dar from Zanzibar, and we stayed a night in a hotel near to German guy, then next day in the morning we will get a bus to Mombasa. This time I clipped the Kenyan visa in my Taiwan passport to pretend it as a normal visa, so passing by Tanzania immigration was no problem, very easy, but I was afraid about the Kenyan side, because the Kenyan officer released me that day saying : "you don't come back again by here", then I was attended by another officer, she called me to get in, and start to ask the questions like: "are you Taiwanese or Chinese?", "who clipped the paper in your passport?", "In theory you can get in the country once with this visa, but how can them stamp your
passport?", in the end, she released me and gave me again a entry stamp with same visa, I am back to Kenya again!! Now heading to Mombasa to meet Kiarash up.
Only 8 days in Tanzania, in the coast, there are too much places to go yet, so it is a little hard to say about Tanzania, but the Zanzibar was really a great place, and I found the Kenyan was nicer than Tanzanian, and the cost in Tanzania was definitely higher than Kenya, anyway, I would like to go back to Tanzania later to explore better.
Final accounting of Tanzania (2 persons) :
- 8 days
- Total USD 1060 ( this time was out of standard, because of high level hotel in Dar)
- Average USD 66.25 per day (per person)
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Darolt
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Very nice experience!
Hello Way! Sometimes I came to this blog, and I'm very happy with all I see... thank you for to share your nice experience with us. Still playing chess? See you! =)