Day 11: Kisolanza to Iringa to Dodoma (Tanzania)

Iringa to Dodoma

Fred: Great guy.... like most Tanzanians

I took the tar road to a town called Iringa. 50km later I was there. No problem. Its a nice town /city. Vibrant, safe, and reasonably neat. It has many side streets crowded with vendors.

A guy named Fred (whom I asked for directions and who proved very helpful) showed me to Vodacom's headquarters where I got my Tanzanian sim card sorted and made contact with the world again.

Iringa Street Scene

Iringa taxis (these guys are all over the country and will take you anywhere for a price) no helmet needed

Lunch snack before leaving from Iringa for Dodoma

My lunch time snack supplier (Iringa, Tanzania)

IRINGA to DODOMA (The road through the Masai backyard)
I left iringa and headed for DodomaThis was the toughest road I have driven in my life. It was under construction. Every now and then an engineering crew with big machines and a Chinese chief in charge was working. I traveled 250km. Wow. The road went from 4*4 trail next to the new surface, to something out of an off road motorcyclists dream. Rocks, then sand, ups and downs, corrugations, then more rocks.

Trees with character, who would have thought.... I loved each one.

I loved the trees in Tanzania, so majestic.

Tanzania 2013: And people still use Ox wagons.... daily

On the side of the road Masai warriors walked with their sticks. Tall, elegant, brightly coloured. I dropped my jaw for each of the hundreds I drove past. Wow. Baobabs everywhere..... Everywhere. And then more Baobabs. The 250km took me 7hrs. In places the piki piki (scooter taxis) squeezed through the rock barricades, and I with them. At times the diversion road was on the left (of the road under construction), then it was on the right of the new road, here and there you wondered, where, which side, where's the road?

Tanzania 2013: Masai youth

Nice ear lobes brother..... wow

The women, beautifully dressed in bright colors, with buckets on their heads, or wood, or something else. I dropped my jaw every time. People love seeing the Dakar (my bike). They wave when I drive by.

Eventually I arrived in Dodoma and unfortunately could not understand the Garmin. I first stopped at the university, then a house shop. The young man there went with me to find the Christian Conference Centre Tanzania (CCT) where I got lodging for the night (11 000 shillings).