Afrique 35 – TANZANIA 1 – FROM THE BORDER TILL MATAMBAKO

 We stay 2 nights in Telkia, the border town, in a luxury lodge for 20$, as Martine needs rest. The town is nothing more than a slum, with a few buildings in concrete bad made, some in bricks, and mostly in wood or mud. After comes the long climb till Mbeya, 85 km and 1800 m climbing. The first day we climb 1000 m and 40 km till Tukuyu. The second day we get 20 km descending 300 m, and then 20 km till the pass, 2300 m high, and in the end 5 km of quick downhill till the cross with the main road. The countryside is very different from Malawi. We pass by farmlands, luxuriant, with bananas, papaya, mangoes, pineapple, corn and manioc. There are a lot of houses along the road, with wall in concrete and hay roof. We see motorcycles instead of bicycles, and trucks and small buses. People too are very different, nice and helpful for free. Unfortunately only a few speak English, the local language is Swahili. When we stop in a village, always someone asks us what we are looking for, and drives us to the shop, without asking a beer or money. Children shout Mzungu, white in Swahili, good bye, but don’t beg. And also we find in each big village a lodge for 6$, very comfortable. All that makes that new country very relaxing and agreeable. On right the road is at the foot of the slope, in a narrow flat where are the farms and some fields, and on left is a very steep slope which goes till the lake, and then continues between mountains, with forest. Tukuyu is just another big slum, with a bus stop and a market, and a small district upper with a few official offices. Uyole, which is at the cross with the main road, is another slum, bigger and that is all. We spend again 2 nights for Martine. Well internet is working well. In front the mountains are covered only with grass, apart the top where there is a pine trees plantation. Certainly the forest which covered the slopes with small trees was cut down, for wood coal, and for the cattle to graze, and also to avoid animals stayed hidden inside.

Then we turn on right, following the main road till Dar es Salaam. The weather continues the same, mostly hot and sunny, with storm in the afternoon and the night. At midday we rake a lunch, chicken or meat with rice and beans or chips, in a local canteen, just a very small shop, with a few table inside or outside, and a woman cooking outside on braseros with wood coal. I slowly understand that here the people are maybe poorer than in Zambia, as the meals are very poor meat and food, and prices very cheap. The road enters in more farmlands with small houses along, less luxuriant, and more fields. The road is on right at the foot of a hill with mountains behind in the distance, presently in the continuous rain, and on left we have a large view of the flat downhill all with forest.
First day we continue downhill, for 300 m, till Chimala, with a few hills. Then we less the railway, and we enter in a hilly road, a bit steep, through forest and less houses, we are near reserves on each side. We were planning to do 60 km, but we find a hotel only in Wamgin Ombe, 80 km today. The third day is short and easy climbing along the railway. We arrive in Makambako, but we see the railway station, a few gasoline stations, a miserable cross, and a lot of trucks stopped along the road, waiting for the weight station. We pass all that, looking for a center, and we don’t see anything. So we continue, and we enter in the land again. After 2 km we understand we are already out of the town, and we have to go back. Just at this time a truck stops near Martine and gives her back her wallet with the money that she lost in the filling station in town. Thanks to them. So we go back, and at the filling stations just before the railway station we turn way to Songea. Coming from East there is a sign. We find a lodge, and I finally, at the end of the town, find an ATM where I can get money with my MasterCard. Since Zambia I mostly depend on Martine for the money, as my visa card was stolen, and most of the ATM refuses MasterCard. Matambako is just another slum, with a little more in the shops.