Bus to Loshoto

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Bus Ride to Loshoto - Tuesday, 2-14-06

For 8,500 TSh each (Tanzanian shillings, about $8) we bought bus tickets to Lushoto. It turns out that I bought tickets for a non-express bus, so it stopped along the way for just about anyone who wanted a ride. Unlike India we didn’t have to share our seats with one or more passengers and they didn’t fill up the aisles with people and luggage. Although like India, the bus had a driver, head conductor and assistant conductor.

At bus depots vendors hawk everything from food to trinkets to shoes and almost anything else for that matter. In Moshi they mounted their wares onto cardboard covered frames so that they could hold them up close to the windows. Truly entrepreneurship at its best.

The ride was a hot and dusty five hour journey in the Maasai Plains along the base of the Pare Mountains. We passed miles and miles of plants that looked like a cross between pineapple and yucca. Some had six to eight foot tall stalks growing up from the center. At the top of the stalks were clusters of pod-like things so we figured they must harvest these to eat. We later learned they were sisal plants whose leaves are used to make rope.

About four hours into the ride we came to Mombo at the base of the Usambara Mountains. We stopped to swap a bunch of passengers and luggage. They also loaded five, hundred plus bales of something, perhaps cotton, onto the roof. Skinny Africans stooped over and carried the bales on their necks and shoulders. Somehow each one managed to struggle up the ladder on the side of the bus and shed their load onto the roof. Each bale landed with a loud, rumbling thump over our heads.

Soon the bus was off again, now winding its way up the Usambara Mountains toward Lushoto. With each mile the temperature dropped a bit and more trees appeared. About half way up we stopped at a grummy little town with bustling market. I wasn’t sure if this was Lushoto or not, so I scurried off the bus to ask the conductor and to keep an eye on our luggage as they unloaded stuff. Happily I learned that this wasn’t Lushoto.

We lumbered up the mountains for another half hour. Our driver was fairly cautious as he wound his way up. Much to my relief Africa seems to have missed the Mario Andretti bus driver mentality that a lot of developing countries put up with. Again, as we climbed the temperature dropped and number of trees increased. The vistas became more spectacular as we approached Lushoto.

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Photos

Vendor at Bus Stop
Vendors hawk their wares at every stop of the bus. This fellow had all his stuff mounted on a board so he could lift it up to the windows.

Inside our Bus
Typical intercity bus in Tanzania.

Climbing to Loshoto
As we rose from the Maasai Plains the temperature dropped mile by mile and the scenery grew more beautiful.