Bus trip from Moshi, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya

There are a few options for getting to Nairobi from Moshi, including flying though it's quite expensive. In fact, a private taxi to the airport in Moshi is as much as a bus to Nairobi! A plane ticket costs about $300 dollars and the bus about $20, so even though my organization was paying, it would feel a bit irresponsible to fly. It was also my first time to Nairobi and I always enjoy seeing the change of landscape when I go somewhere new.

One of my co-workers is Kenyan and she recommended taking the Impala Shuttle. She said it takes a little longer but is much safer and they won't, "leave you at the border". While I've never actually been left at the border, I have felt the frantic and chaotic nature of some border crossings and I've definitely seen people get left behind by their bus. This can be particularly difficult as your luggage typically remains on the bus through the border checkpoint.

View in the bus, pre-Arusha switch. 

The bus was scheduled to leave at 6:30 but didn't get on the road until 6:45. It was a mini bus, what they call a coaster in Jamaica. I like these buses because they are a bit bigger than a regular mini-bus but they still have enough power to pass slow moving trucks. I was really excited because the bus wasn't full and I had plenty of room to stretch my legs. I also got a spot on the west side of the bus to avoid the sun. This is a big time travel tip when traveling by bus in the tropics, especially if there are no curtains. Thus, I was disappointed when we pulled into Arusha an hour and a half later to switch buses. The bus I entered was already fully loaded and I had to settle for sitting in one of the fold down seats in the middle.

Mt. Longido from the north look south. 

The group was a mix of what I deduced were Kenyans and Tanzanians, with a few other East Africans mixed in. The bus trip to the border was entirely uneventful; the only thing to note was the passing of Mt. Longido, a small mountain close to the road that wasn't nearly as imposing as Kilimanjaro or Meru, but a nice contrast to the flat Savannah surrounding it.

Mt. Longido looking from the west to east. 

When we got to the border we were quickly hustled to the departure desk. The line went quickly and afterwards I was unsure where to go. I wanted to use the restroom but our driver quickly found me wandering around and shouted for me to proceed to the Kenyan immigration. He seemed to have experience corralling and moving passengers through the border and his pointed commands stopped me from explaining that I simply wanted to use the toilet.

Crossing over to Kenya.

I followed some other passengers across the road. At this point it was very unclear where to go as the road wound around to the right but we walked over a small hill to the left. The Kenyan immigration point wasn't really well marked from the road so I was happy my other passengers knew where we were going. The border could certainly be described as porous as we didn't pass through any closed area or checkpoint anywhere along the process.

The Kenyan side had a money changing bureau, small shops with phone credit, and a small visa office. It was easy enough to buy the tourist visa for $50 and before I was finished, the bus was waiting. I was most surprised by the large amount of Masaai women that were selling handicrafts to passengers waiting for their bus. The border wasn't a busy border by any stretch of the imagination and there seemed to be a wealth of sellers.

Waiting for the weigh station. 

The journey from the border to Nairobi was very straightforward until we reached closer to Nairobi. There were suddenly huge modern industrial complexes by the highway. Some of these were cement factories, warehouses, and cryptically named "logistic centers". It was a stark contrast to the small scale mostly natural resource exploitation that I see in Tanzania and certainly supported the argument that Kenya is the most industrialized country of East Africa.

The highway opened up to four lanes on each side but we suddenly saw a massive traffic jam of semi-trucks. Without hesitation our driver pulled across the median and drove into oncoming traffic. We were quickly followed by other cars and we proceeded slowly flashing our lights and honking as we went. The traffic jam was massive with semi-trucks lined up for literally miles (or kilometers, whichever you prefer). Although our driver's maneuver was dodgy, it's absolutely within the confines of developing country driving and I was happy when we cut back across the median in front of the trucks.

I arrived safely downtown at around 2:00pm. The trip was quick, comfortable, and best of all, absent of traffic!

EDIT: On the way back the journey was equally as easy. The only additional thing that occurred was the presence of two hustlers at the border who claimed to need to inspect your exit stamp and collect some money. They were two grimy looking guys, easily identified as scammers, though they spoke confidently and with authority. It took me a second to realize what was going on before I hurled a Swahili insult (wapumbavu/idiots) and moved across the border.

Trip to Nairobi, Kenya

Map of Kenya and East Africa with my route(8 hrs by bus) in red.

It's been a hot month of bombings and insecurity and unfortunately I had a scheduled monitoring and evaluation workshop to attend in Nairobi. I certainly had to have a good think about the safety of the trip but after following the country's activities closely in the last weeks, as well as consulting with my fellow Kenyan co-workers and their friends, I came to the conclusion that I should go, though limit my activities in the city and as usual, keep my head on a swivel.

I think its important to look past the headlines and look deeper (for better or for worse) into Kenya's instability and security threats. Whether it's over water, elections, or religion, Kenya's climate has been tense for decades. The recent rise of Islamic extremist terorist goup Al-Shabaab, as well as the unstable environment in bordering Somalia, has added terrorism into their mix of problems. The government is notoriously corrupt with the reputation akin to being the Nigerians of East Africa. To highlight their controversial government you can look no further than the scandal currently rocking their president. Their recently elected president, Uhuru Kenyatta, is in the awkward position of also being on trial by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity as a result of his alleged inciting of ethnic/tribal/political killings following the re-election of then President Kibaki. So it's a real complicated case, lot of ins, lot of outs, lot of whathaveyou.

Some of the things I knew I had to do: avoid trendy upscale areas, avoid markets, reduce movement during peak hours, and no sightseeing. This was all pretty easy since my workshop took up the whole day but it is still frustrating to be moving around with a slight sense of fear. And anyone that knows me knows that I like adventure so it's unfortunate that I had to restrain myself from wandering around the city.

However, I did have an enjoyable time in Nairobi though I was twice stopped and harassed by police. I later heard that the Kenyan government has been quietly deporting thousands of illegal Chinese immigrants (as well as Somalis) but at the time I was very confused why I was subject to such harassment. The first time they stopped me was when I was walking to a restaurant and a patrol of maybe five soldiers in full army fatigues with rifles stepped in front of me with one officer grabbing my arm and asking me where my papers were. I felt like I was in middle school being escorted to the principal's  office as the officer clamped down on my arm and dragged me back the direction I was coming from. After I pointed out that I was an American and my passport was at the hotel I was staying (which was literally 30 ft away) one of the soldiers stepped in and asked me about my work. He said he was familiar with it though I could sense he was stepping in to create a good excuse to let me go. His partner was still stonefaced with an eagles grip on me though after some chatting with the other guy they let me go. I turned back to the direction I was originally heading and the bystanders certainly enjoyed cursing the police with me as well as inquiring what happened.

The second time I was stopped was when I was walking to a taxi stand with my backpack. A road block had been set up and as I attempted to walk past the police stopped me, asked me for my papers, and rifled through my backpack. Both times I was stopped, I think the police were shocked by my background and purpose for being in Kenya as they were probably expecting to have either successfully rounded up an illegal Chinese immigrant or receive a huge bribe. I'm astounded that they didn't attempt to find at least something I was almost doing wrong in order to illicit a bribe!

Somali dish of rice, chicken and veg.

One of the real highlights for me was the food. There were lots of cheap eateries that provided food with a Somali, Kenyan and Ethiopian flavor. There was also a lot more fruit available in Nairobi than in Moshi. I bought a fruit bag every day full of mango, pineapple, papaya and watermelon.

Fruit stand!

A mix of pineapple, watermelon, mango and papaya for 50 Kenyan Shillings ($0.57). 

In the end it was still an interesting trip and I was happy to have seen East Africa's biggest hub and one of Africa's most important cities. Although I'm not a huge city person, I always enjoy a visit and it's interesting to compare and contrast with other African cities like Accra, Lagos, Kampala and Dar es Salaam. Nairobi certainly has its personality, though I can best describe it as being slightly on edge at the moment!

Food: Ugali

Ugali with beans and greens, a classic.

The main starch consumed in northern Tanzania is ugali. Ugali consists of maize flour (cornflower) cooked with water until it has a thick dough-like consistency. It's eaten with your hands and is usually rolled into a bite size piece and mixed with a stew or beans. It's very similar to some other African starch staples (Garri in Nigeria, Fufu in Ghana, Posho in Uganda) in that it's a thick rather tasteless clump of starch. It's available in almost every small cookery, restaurant and social gatherings that present food like weddings or funerals.

Nice piece of ugali. 

A beginner ugali eater is highly obvious and very messy so it's an important skill to learn. Because you eat it with your hand it is widely accepted that you need to wash your hands before eating, though this doesn't always mean with soap, especially in rural areas. It's always a conundrum when offered food in an area like that, do you skip washing your hand (cultural inappropriate, risk of germs on hands) or do you put your hand in the basin of water that four people had previously rinsed their hands in? And might I add, four people that probably have a higher probability of carrying something that will cause you to have diarrhea for two days straight? Sometimes you get lucky and someone pours water from a jug into a basin allowing you to rinse your hands, and sometimes you're even luckier and there is soap to accompany you.

I thought it was interesting that all these regions had a similar preparation and style of a starch with varying core ingredients (yam, maize, cassava). I found myself wondering about the pre-colonial foods and found this interesting tidbit on this extremely informative website about African food:

Before the European colonization of Africa and intercontinental trade, the staples of the African diet were rice, sorghum, millet, barley and lentils. Starting around 200 to 300 AD the Arabs brought dried fruits, rice, mangoes, citrus, black pepper, ginger and other spices by way of trans-Saharan camel caravans. By 500 AD traders introduced bananas and coconuts from Malaysia. Muslim influence began around 700 AD and spread rapidly throughout the continent. For hundreds of years there was an Indian Ocean slave trade when Muslim Arabs and Iranians traded goods for slaves. By the 15th century, the Europeans arrived and started colonizing Africa. The colonies of France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Portugal are gone but their influence on local cuisines remains.

Africa has five culinary/geographical regions (not geo-political areas) that derived variations of cuisine depending on their contact with the rest of the world. The regions are Ethiopia, West Africa, East Africa, Portuguese Africa and South Africa.

Many of the foods we eat everyday originated in Africa. Wheat, barley, oats, millet, Blackeye peas, sorghum, tamarind (part of Worcestershire sauce), okra, yams (not sweet potatoes), watermelon, cantaloupe, sesame, cumin and sugar beets all originated in Africa.

These staple starches like ugali are eaten by literally everyone because they are grown by everyone in rural areas. It's common to see people eating ugali twice a day, every day. In Nigeria people would have a garri porridge for breakfast with proper garri for lunch and dinner. Most things are boiled since oil is very expensive and also because people cook over an open fire. Because the goal is to serve many people and get full, repetition of foods is not really an issue.  People eat what is in season and what they can afford, hence the ubiquity and popularity of these starches. Rice has become more popular as trade increases and most rural areas consider it a delicacy reserved for special occasions.

It's something we have really lost in America when thinking of our current disconnect with growing and consuming food. I'm not even sure what I would say my staple starch was growing up..bleached wheat flour maybe? And although I'd probably seen a wheat field I had absolutely no idea how to process it from the raw material to the wheat flour until I looked it up out of curiosity at an adult age. Would we even know where to begin if we had to harvest our maize crop and turn it into a flour? And on top of all this, when we finally process it to a starch, we would realize that we all had forgotten how to eat with our hands.  

Reflective windows and birds

I'm unsure what the proper window nomenclature is, but our windows of our house have a slight reflective tint on the outside. The more light coming from outside, the more reflective the surface becomes. The result is that many territorial birds frequently find themselves battling a reflection of themselves. Interestingly enough, the only bird to demonstrate self-recognition (being able to recognize oneself in a mirror) is a magpie, putting it alongside dolphins, elephants and all great apes.

Although it's very detrimental for their energy reserves, it does give us a great view of some birds as they are unable to see us peering through the other side. Even with binoculars it is impossible to view these small skittish birds from up close, so needless to say, it's a real treat when I hear a bird rapping at the window!

This male Grey-Headed Kingfisher is highly territorial and after a while of pecking his reflection, he took time to cough up a pellet. 

This sunbird has a nest in our yard and he frequently attack himself. 

Socially responsible companies in the area

One of my favorite things about living in a developing country is the availability of local products. I find it much easier to purchase local food and other products. You have to dig pretty deep into information about farm subsidies and trade agreements to understand why it costs so much to buy local "organic" food in America compared to mass produced agriculture. I remember being shocked while living in Jamaica that there were two types of potatoes available in the marketplace; one imported from the US and one local. The one grown in Idaho and transported a thousand miles was somehow cheaper than the one grown up the road in St. Ann.

Whether it's a result of an undeveloped economy, lack of advanced agriculture techniques, or other factors, fruit and vegetable are extremely local in Moshi. The seasonality of some items, especially fruits, helps to link my eating patterns with growing patterns in the area. This is something I feel is being lost in America as supermarkets are stocked with the same fruit and veg year round with only a few items remaining distinctly seasonal.

Market in Moshi

Although the produce is local, when I finally buy my carrots and potatoes from the market woman, there is a lot of value lost from the original grower to the final seller. This is a result of a countless middle men and although everyone gets a small profits possibly supporting the argument of job creation, the original grower still loses a lot. This process is highlighted in an awesome article by the Economist following the journey of an onion in India from farm to marketplace. Although things aren't as complicated as India, it still gives you an idea of how complicated the process is in developing countries.

I attempt to be as socially responsible with my purchases as possible. I think it's one of the most effective ways to combat some of the nasty side effects of capitalism, as well as directly supporting local and transparent businesses. Having spent years in developing countries I've seen the exploitation first hand and can not deny that my cheap Old Navy t-shirt is made at the expense of some rural migrant in a sweatshop in Singapore, or that my coffee is grown on a clear cut patch of rainforest by exploited migrants paid a penance. It's something I thought was "too much to think about" for some time but now I have dedicated myself to buying local products, second hand goods, and supporting local businesses.

Two awesome companies in the area are Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union in Moshi and Tanz Hands Bread in Arusha. Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union is a cooperative supporting small scale coffee farmers in the region. Because of the elevation around Moshi, coffee is a major cash crop for locals. They also have a beautiful coffee shop in central Moshi and offer tours of the coffee farms as well as information about the farmers they support. They are Fair Trade Certified and sell delicious coffee at a reasonable price.

The chic KNCU Union Cafe

Tanz Hands and offshoot of the Usa rehabilitation center in Arusha. The organization serves as a rehabilitation and training center supporting and assisting young people, especially those with disabilities. Tanz-Hand´s bakery was opened in June 2013 as one of the income generating projects of Usa River Rehabilitation Center. They offer awesome bread and other bakery treats. The typical bread here is a bit sweet and full of bleached flour. Tanz-Hands offers whole wheat bread and many other healthy combinations. There is an organization in Moshi that takes orders every two weeks for those who can't make the trip to Arusha.

Behind the counter at Union Cafe. Legitimate coffee shop!

In the end I can have a healthy and nutritious diet while consuming products from Tanzania. Even the few packaged goods we purchase (oats and pasta) are produced in East Africa. In fact, the only import we use is the 5L bottle of olive oil we brought back from Spain!