Transport: New Motorcycle!

This style of bike is ubiquitous in Tanzania. 

I recently purchased a 150cc motorcycle, greatly increasing my mobility and providing me some much needed freedom. This will especially help since I'll be moving this weekend and I'll be much further to my workplace than I am now. It will also allow for more day trips and travel around Kilimanjaro and Moshi region and hopefully the circumnavigation of Africa :-)

The roads here are not too congested and motorists tend to drive defensively, at least relative to developing countries. The only big drawback is the rainy season, but I learned in Nigeria that with a good poncho, you can brave nearly anything.

I'm also curious to see the level of bribery here with the traffic police. I often see the police out at their checkpoints with their signature all white uniform, but I've never been in a vehicle that has been stopped. I'm a bit nervous because my resident permit has not yet processed so although the bike is registered and insured, it's in someone else's name. My license is also an international drivers license since I need my permit to get a local one. None of these issues is technically a problem but traffic police only need the slightest irregularity to hassle you. I once rode in a taxi in Uganda with a Kenyan driver that moved goods from Kenya to Sudan. After wasting about 30 minutes successfully wrangling their way out of a bribe, I asked him which country had the worst traffic police. He laughed and simply said, "All traffic police come from the same mother".