TANZANIA - ARUSHA - ROAD TRIP

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My travels have taken me from Dar-es-Salaam by Kenya Airways (pretty good) to Nairobi. After a deep breath, some relaxation at the Southern Sun Hotel (to be reviewed) and some work, then by road back to Arusha in North Tanzania. In fact Arusha is only some 285 kilometres from Nairobi so this route is normal and convenient for many folks doing business in the area.

Convenient it may be, but it's a "shake and stir" ride for which you need a well-upholstered 4X4 (in any event you do if you are aged over 25). The outward trip from Nairobi took 6 hours leaving at 12 noon in a rented Toyota Hilux. The road is probably 60 percent completed on both sides of the border, where the Chinese contractors have done their work there is a reasonable two-lane road. Not being a roads engineer I hesitate to pass judgment, but I suspect the overall standard of work is not high; in some place the hard shoulder had already subsided and for much of the new road the drainage seemed inadequate. In the places where the work is on-going, we drove on compacted dirt roads which have not been well maintained either in Tanzania or Kenya (indeed there is no discernible difference between the road – which is the main North-South Highway- in either country).

The border crossing point at Namanga took 2 hours to negotiate on the outward journey. This was due to exit paperwork for the car being processed. Visas were very easy and I was not charged either by Tanzania or Kenya for the entry stamps (which are officially $50 and $25 respectively). The return crossing took less than one hour (because the vehicle was from Kenya). We were able to eat a reasonable meal at a hostelry on the Kenyan side – chicken and chips and the service was good.

Namanga is quite inadequate for serious commercial traffic particularly of a perishable nature (e.g., food or flowers). It can take trucks up to 2 days to process their paperwork and there are no good parking or storage facilities.

In general this road is not heavily trafficked and there were no hold ups except for slow speed due to the rough condition of the road (which actually seemed to be worse on the Kenyan side). There were occasional checks by police who were very professional, but it's not a road I would like to break down on because there are long stretches through uninhabited bush outside the cell network and where there are no services. Whether this road can ever be used for serious commercial traffic (e.g., perhaps connected with South Africa) is unlikely even when the new construction is complete, It is basically a secondary road that happens to connect Arusha with Nairobi.

Arusha itself is a reasonably cosmopolitan city. Here is the headquarters of the East Africa Community and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. I found the city a little dull and for the most part the usual developing country scene of unmade roads and shanties. The centre of town is reasonably nice and there are good hotels. We stayed at the Kibo Palace Hotel (also to be reviewed) which was very pleasant.

The scenery around Arusha, however, is spectacular. Kilimanjaro was shrouded in mist but Mount Meru (nearer to Arusha is spectacular enough and apparently more difficult to climb. I was reminded of my friend Dan Saville who tragically lost his life in Afghanistan (see my post); Dan and his partner had planned to climb Kilimanjaro this December. The irony that it was I in North Tanzania and not Dan didn't escape me. I wish he had been here. The world has a strange way of completing circles of being.

After a tough day of meetings and running around (including a visit to a delightful farm family about 20 km on the road East to Moshi) and a night's sleep we headed back to Nairobi. This time it took only 4 hours because we didn't have to deal with paperwork for the car. Nairobi at 5PM on a Friday afternoon.... avoid it at ALL costs!

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Photos

Maasai Lady
This delightful lady charged me 300 shillings for the photo. But since the Maasai own most of North Tanzania (and South Kenya) why not?

Mount Meru
Taken from the South-east side at dusk

Border Crossing
At Namanga on the Kenyan side. This is the main North-South crossing point for the East African Highway.

On the Shamba
This nice family showed me their farm which has solar panels on the house, chickens and goats and a productive banana plantation.

Comments

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