Bus ride from Moshi to Ifakara: Too old for this!

Map of Tanzania and our journey. 

Our journey to Udzungwa National Park was quite challenging due to the distance between Moshi and Ifakara. Since there are no direct buses we had to split the journey into two legs: one bus from Moshi to Morogoro (8 1/2 hours) and then Morogoro to Ifakara (6 hours). Since the bus leaves early in the morning, it's tempting to just continue on the journey since arriving at Morogoro at 2:30 feels like there is plenty of time and perhaps not worth losing another day of travel and staying in a guesthouse. Still, at the end of the second leg during hour 13, we were left wondering if we made the right decision.

The first half the journey was notable as our bus was overheating and something appeared to be wrong with the radiator. We stopped and opened the engine (which is between the driver and the door inside the bus) and a massive amount of heat and fumes spilled into the bus. The conductor poured water into the radiator and was apparently trying to flush out the old water though it's unclear exactly what was going on, other than people suffocating slowly in the bus. We had to stop a few times repeating this procedure and luckily it was in the last hour of our journey so we didn't despair too much.

When we booked our tickets, we went the day before and the guy declined to ask our names. We asked him why he didn't ask our names as they usually do and he said he'd remember us. The next day when we came we saw he had written "mzungu"(foreigner) in our seat slots B1 and B2. 

Nice grassland landscape somewhere along the way. 

This gentlemen was sleeping inside a gigantic tire. I thought it was notable. 

Sisel farms with mountains in the background approaching Morogoro. 

The journey from Morogoro to Ifakara was more trying as there was a women with three kids sitting behind us, all of which had possibly peed themselves. I'd like to think that due to years living in developing countries I have a pretty strong tolerance for the smell of urine but this really pushed me to the limit. The bus was a very old one, circa 1970's, with obviously outdated shocks and seats literally falling over. On top of that, the last two hours of the ride were on a dirt road (not smooth!) and I've never before been on a bus where the driver drives with such reckless abandon. My entire body was vibrating and I literally thought the bus was going to fall apart like a cartoon. The driver basically drove how I would drive if I was intentionally trying to damage the bus. Nonetheless, we made it.

Our way back to Moshi was equally entertaining and we had the benefit of a cool and cloudy day while traveling. It's one thing that can really make or break a bus trip in the tropics: the heat. Nothing like a layer of sweat acting like an adhesive to stick you to your seat or exchanging sweat with your neighbor from any part of your body which is contacting theirs. But as I said, this bus trip was relatively comfortable and uneventful.

Udzungwa mountains covered in morning mist.

Cool and cloudy day as we passed over a river. 

However, the second half return trip from Morogoro to Moshi was more trying. Apparently no buses originate in Morogoro so everyone is at the mercy of catching a bus that is coming from somewhere else. We were told to wait an hour for a bus to come from Mbeya. Seeing as it's 11 hours from Mbeya to Morogoro on a good day, I was thinking it would probably be delayed and I was correct as we ended up waiting about four hours. When the bus finally did arrive it was a chaotic scene was about six passengers jockeyed for open seats on the bus while the bus obviously didn't want to waste anytime on the long journey.

View of the mountains from Morogoro bus park. 

We managed to get inside and Ana scored a seat in the front while I got a seat packed in with a woman and her three kids. We eventually switched seats with someone so that Ana got to sit next to me though she had to have a child on her lap the entire time. I was also unfortunately victim of sitting on the woman's "garbage" bag, which was a hat soaked in pee with a bag with poop inside of it. I somehow didn't see that it fell underneath my butt on the seat at some point and although the smell of urine was strong, I had just assumed it was coming from somewhere else. This is a common occurrence as these long distance buses usually only stop once per every eight hours of the journey. There are a lot of children (and possibly adults) that soil themselves.

All challenges aside, the best part of our bus trip was going through Mikumi National Park. The road traveled 60km straight through the park and on the way there and back we got to see elephants, giraffes, zebras and a variety of ungulates. It was exciting to see locals get excited to see wildlife as I can assume everyone on the bus could never afford to go on a proper safari.

Zebras grazing at Mikumi National Park. We lucked out and there were about a dozen elephants next to the road but I wasn't quick enough on the draw with my camera. 

Since there was no airport nearby, we were forced to travel by road. However, this was one of the first trips where I truly felt, "I'm too old for this" and where I really felt the trials and tribulations affecting me negatively. The feeling was mutual among the traveling party as we began to discuss our financial situation and the possibility of purchasing a car in the future. I guess it takes sitting on a pee soaked hat filled with poop to prompt this conversation.