Rwanda to Tanzania

Tuesday 23rd June. Rwanda into Tanzania: We’d arranged to meet for breakfast at 8. I was up at 6, courtesy of the dogs finding their voice again. I tried to have a shower but no water. The shower head looked positively deadly with electric wires protruding just above the shower head. I went downstairs a little later & spoke with the girl there. Later still, she brought up 4 plastic containers of water, 5 litres per container. I thought she had some master plan, maybe fill the boiler above the sink but then she walked off. They were for me to wash. Fortunately, a short while later, the shower kicked into life and it was effective, if a bit nerve racking, due to the almost bare wires at the shower head.

We were gone from there by 9, after which I updated the blog in a local internet café. It was great to read all your messages as we’d not been near an internet café in almost a week. Thank you all for that, we love to read them. We chatted about whether we should stay in Kigali another night or head for Tanzania and the vote was to go.

We’d been around most of the city and there’s little else to do so we headed for the border. It is a small country & you could easily drive top to bottom in under a day. Most borders close at 6pm & I was conscious that there would be another time zone change in Tanzania so we needed to exit Rwanda by 4.30 their time as it would be 5.30 the other side. We made it at that time and passed through the barrier into Tanzania, formalities completed, at 6.10. We were also back driving on the left side of the road again. While I was processing the carnet at the customs office, John was clearing immigration. When I eventually got to that office, I could tell by the grins on his face that the laugh was on me. He can get in free & I pay $100. I was relieved of my $100 by an almost apologetic immigration officer who said it should reduce very soon. I offered to camp outside their office it was going to happen overnight, so fun at my expense over, we headed south.

Now the fun & games really begin! At 7pm, we approached a roadblock with the gates closed and the adjacent parking area full of trucks. We waited for a few minutes and then a van driver came over & said the road was now closed until 6am tomorrow morning. Hmmm, we thought, nowhere to pitch our tents, not a very savoury area so we walked over to the police office. The man there explained that as we were on the Rwanda/Congo highway and as it was bandit country, for security reasons they stopped traffic at night, from 6pm to 6am. The van driver was also keen to go and when I asked what the bandits do if they succeed in stopping you, was told we’d be robbed. Well, that makes sense. Killing would be a different thing altogether though. Mr Policeman said he’d let us go through and we discussed it quickly and agreed. He said it seemed quiet these days. Could it be a trap? We didn’t think so because there are a lot richer pickings than us, and anyway, I wasn’t going to stop for anyone.

It was about a 60km dash and we passed a couple of vehicles coming the other way. We got to the next town, Nayakanazi, to yet another roadblock, but this was where we were aiming for anyway. We stopped at the police roadblock, the road south was still closed, and a young policeman named Vincent announced that he would take care of us. It just so happened that his boss owned a guesthouse outside town & he’d take us there. It didn’t look like there was a lot of choice; we were after all in the wild west of Tanzania. He jumped in and directed us 1km down the road & sure enough, there was the guest house.

This was where we were going to spend the night, regardless of anything. It was full of off duty police &  soldiers, sitting outside, listening to loud music and drinking beer. They had 8 rooms but guess what, only 1 available. We went to have a look and quickly realised it was not good.

At my request they brought in a second mattress, which was foam. Well, the bits that were left of it were anyway. It was chewed, split, holes in it, and extremely dirty, so I said hello to my bed for the night and then John said he was sleeping in Dusty. Now he's being fussy:))  I decided my negotiating skill wasn’t needed for this and the price quoted was Tzs10,000, which is £5. We certainly didn’t want breakfast thrown in, because it would most likely have been thrown up, given the visible hygiene factor. There was no point going to bed at 10pm because the music speaker was right outside the bedroom window &  it didn’t switch off until midnight. We sat in Dusty & had a couple of beers, watching the action unfold before our eyes. The music was quite good, it was certainly loud. Slowly but surely, couples peeled off to bed or departed in cars. it was basically a knocking shop. When the music finally switched off, and the car park emptied a bit, we got our sleeping bags and pillows out.

John hasn't changed his mind and is still sleeping in Dusty, he's petrified it's going to get stolen or broken into. I tried to persuade him to come inside but I imagine he was wondering what we would do if it was indeed stolen. There would need to be a few of them, because they'd have to push it for a start!  It was indeed the least secure we'd been in terms of parking security on this trip.

So I adjourned to the room.  As for the communal facilities, it was basic, really basic, the smells from it didn’t entice you in. But, needs must. I had to pick my time carefully because there were a few inebriated locals darting around the place, in little or no clothing. I bumped into one lady as she exited a room next to me, wrapped in a towel 4 sizes too small & definitely the worse for wear. I can just imagine the amusement as she went back to her room & said she'd just seen a white guy. I'm sure her partner would have said it was definitely time for bed. At no time however, was there any feeling of risk & everyone else just had a good time. We were now probably going to clock watch until 6, which is when the road reopens. Thankfully, I nodded off quite quickly.