Road in the rainy season

 

Mud.

 

In the dry season the roads are dusty labyrinths of pot-holes and corrugation. The rains can transform them to slippery mud with pools of unknown depths scattered throughout. We recently took a road in Pwani Region during the end of the rainy season and after a heavy rain the previous night. The road was actually in pretty decent condition though there was a tree fall that we had to maneuver through. There were also some sections of the road that were under construction and the roller had not yet hardened the dirt. This resulted in some sections of extremely sticky mud. We encountered a bus along the way and it had drifted a little bit off the main road. It managed to muscle it's way out with an impressive kick of the engine and some wild fish-tailing.

We were lucky that the trip was uneventful but as usual we had the tools to address any unfortunate incidents. The first key item is a tow rope. Driving etiquette in Tanzania encourages assisting stranded drivers and thus vehicles are willing to at least try to pull a stuck vehicle out. But often times vehicles lack sturdy ropes and something as simple as attaching a rope to a vehicle turns into a more labor intensive affair. 

If you can't pull the vehicle out, you've got to dig and try to create traction around the wheels, usually by stuffing branches, logs, debris, etc. A shovel is a necessary tool to excavate around the wheels. Another necessary item is a machete. It can handle all the small cutting but a small axe is another useful item to have as it helps to cut branches that may be thicker than the machete can handle. There are different techniques depending on the situation so you want to ensure you have all the necessary tools to give yourself the best chance to dig yourself out!

I've written more about vehicles getting stuck in the mud here...

A palm tree had fallen and we just barely fit underneath.

This is a case where you absolutely, under no circumstance, want to divert from the established path.