Travelling to Dodoma - Capital of Tanzania

 Today we are driving to Dodoma where Robert’s brother Charles lives. The drive is about 240 miles but on Tanzanian roads that could take quite a while. Robert wants to leave at 8 so we are up promptly, packed, had breakfast and are just paying by the time he and Shabani arrive.

To be fair the roads on this journey were not at all bad and for the first half of it there really weren’t a lot of lorries. Shabani drove at a steady 70-75km/hour although he did have to slow to 50km/hour every time we went though a village. Robert’s aim was to get to Dodoma by 4 as he needed to go to the bank there to process a payment to the TRA (Tanzania Revenue Authority) and the bank closes at 4.30pm.

As always Pete takes some photos as we drive along. The monument/statue for this roundabout is clearly still under construction

The landscape changes as we drive further from Tabora. It looks like crops grow well in this area as there are lots of rice.We also spot some fields of sunflowers.

Now at present trains are not a big thing in Tanzania. There is an old narrow gauge railway line that ran from Mwanza up on Lake Victoria, via Dodoma to Dar es Salaam but this it is slow and only used for freight. However they are now building a new standard gauge railway line for the same route which is being built beside the old one. You can see in the pictures below, the old and new bridges, the crane being used in the building work and the old line.

The morning drive is uneventful and we reached Manyoni where we stopped for lunch, just before 1pm. We eat at a fairly uninspiring place and she doesn’t seem to have a lot on offer to eat despite the large number of huge pans they seemed to have over a fire. In the end Peter and I opted for the standard rice, beans and greens while Robert has beef. Shabani somehow seemed to get a bit of BBQ chicken which was brought to him half way through the meal but I am sure she didn’t offer us that. Anyway it was all piping hot. The only real bit of excitement was when the fire under one of the pans got out of hand for a minute or two!!

After lunch Robert clearly feels we need to up our speed a bit if we are going to get to the bank before it closes. So our journey becomes slightly less smooth but nothing we can’t cope with. Before lunch the road seemed to consistently climb but after lunch we had a long fairly steep descent. I’m sure this road will see its fair share of accidents, luckily we didn’t witness any today.

Later we actually drive over a new bridge crossing the new railway line and can then see the old and new lines side by side. The part from line Dar to Dodoma is now operational and Robert’s son Peter is actually making that journey this evening to meet up with us. He is now in his early 20’s and this will be his first train journey.

As we approach Dodoma the scenery changes again and then the town appears. Dodoma is actually growing quite fast and some houses look very new.

As we drive into the town centre the traffic gets heavier and we are relying on Google Maps to find the bank. We get stuck in the middle of a traffic jam and then decide to try to turn around and find a different route as time is going on. 

We eventually arrive at the bank just before 4. Although there seem to be several stages to the transaction Robert emerges from the bank just before 4.30 when it shuts so he is very happy.

Robert’s brother Charles has recommended The Royal Village Hotel to us. They have rooms from TSh 60,000 but we decide to take one for TSh 80,000 (about £25) which includes breakfast. It is all fine and we take the opportunity to have a shower and relax while Robert goes off to sort out hotels for him and Shabani.

We meet up with Robert later for dinner. Just across the road from our hotel is a whole row of places serving all different types of chicken so we decide to eat over there. The whole place has quite a vibrant feel to it and is very different to anywhere else. We pick a place and order chicken with onions and chicken with coconut milk and vegetables. Both are really nice and we have a good evening.