I have found it interesting to observe various forms of transport here in Tanzania: some of them less speedy than others, some of them rather frightening from a safety perspective and some of them a little overloaded. Here are a few examples for you to get a bit of an idea about some of the choices of transport available:
We overtook the 3 Men on a Motorbike somewhere near Morogoro- a tricky shot, as they (and we!) were driving along quite fast. It is not an uncommon sight, although sometimes it may be a mother and child clinging on at the rear- still with no helmet in sight... scary!
If you need to transport your goods and don't have a car, it looks like very hard work, especially in the heat:
Or perhaps you need to move your whole shop and visit your customers at various locations? We often see sellers pushing their entire stall along the streets near to MAF- a strange sight until you know what is going on! The shop is set up on a large cart and the seller stands in the middle, pushing the goods along- you may be able to make out his feet underneath:
Hand-pushed carts are widely available for hire and we see many of them being pushed along Dodoma's streets, often containing amazingly heavy loads. The barrow-handlers are often barefoot and I find it incredible the way they manage the heat of the blistering hot tar on the soles of their feet- as well as marvelling over the speed at which they can move their loads. However, it is a risky business to have a hand-pushed barrow- a government leaflet recently handed to me by Dodoma's traffic police informs me that 60 barrow-pushers were injured and 6 were killed on the roads in Tanzania in the short period between January- April in 2010.
Other sobering statistics listed tell me that, in the same period, 137 motorcyclists and 136 cyclist deaths were recorded, along with 349 vehicle passengers, 57 drivers and 362 pedestrians. The roads of Tanzania can be a dangerous place to venture and we are thankful for those who pray for our safety when we travel here!
For those who wish to avoid the dangers of road travel, there is the option of the train. Andrew's sister Claire and 5 other teachers from Esther and Ben's Primary School used the recent holidays to travel to Kigoma and visit Lake Tanganika (the world's 2nd largest freshwater lake) and the National Park of Gombe with its famous Chimpanzee Reserve.
The train journey was a "mere" (!!) 31 hours- in each direction!! Claire is now safely returned to Dodoma and enjoyed a great experience,
The day that Claire left, we went along at 7:30am to wave her off. It was exciting for us to actually see the train- as it is rarely here in Dodoma - and to be allowed on to the station - normally out of bounds to non-passengers. In Tanzania, it illegal to take photos of train stations, but we were given permission to take photos of the train by a local guard and it was good to be able to see how Claire and her travelling companions would be settled for the following 31 hours!
The tickets:
The Farewell Committee at the station- a long way down from the carriage window, since there are no platforms to stand on!
We did not make the welcoming committee on Claire's return to Dodoma though, as her train pulled in 6 hours late, at 2am on Saturday rather than 8pm Friday evening- however, the train made enough noise to wake us all up as it honked its way into Dodoma, a couple of miles across town! We were relieved to know that Claire was safely "home" as we heard her transport's arrival announced in the darkness of the African night!
Brilliant blog
ReplyDelete