Written by Caryn & Jim Josephson
We made it safely to Dar es Salaam after an 11 hour drive. It’s a long drive but quite interesting. The terrain is varied and the roadside commerce is fascinating! The road is known as the Tanzam highway because it is a primary transportation route between the ports of Dar es Salaam and inland African countries starting with Zambia. Sections of the drive remind me of some of the National Parks in the western US. Most of the road is one lane each way so there is a lot of passing involved.
In villages and towns the main forms of transportation are daladala (bus), motorbikes (drivers hire themselves to give one or two people and/luggage rides), and small 3 wheeled vehicles called Bajajis that hold a driver and 2 passengers.
Because the drive is so long, we left at 6:30 with an early breakfast. We stopped at Tan Swiss, close to Mikumi National Park for juice, coffee and samosas. Driving through Mikumi, we saw baboon, impala, giraffe, Eland and zebra.
Different sections of the highway specialize in different goods, such as tomatoes and onions. One of my favorite sections is the “basket tree” section where there are multiple examples of trees with baskets hanging off them.
Closer to Dar es Salaam, the road turns into a dived three lane highway.
We arrived at Wistas, where we spent the first two nights, and had dinner there.