Round The World with Peter
7th May 2006 - 8th May 2006What a ride! Leaving Rwanda we were heading for Lake Tanganyika. We had found out that the ferry doesn’t leave from Burundi anymore, due to the problems in that country, so instead we had to get to Kigoma in Tanzania. Crossing the border was no problem at all. Getting from the border to Kigoma would prove a bit more difficult. We had to catch a minibus to some small town, Benako. There we had to change to another bus to take us to Nyakanasi. So far it was no problems. The connections worked really smoothly. Getting out of Nyakanasi to go all the way to Kigoma was a different story altogether. Basically we had a choice of hitching a lift with a truck passing by or to wait for the bus. People told there would be a bus, but no-one knew when it would arrive. So we started looking around for a truck. After not too long, just long enough to try out everything edible for sale along the road in Nyakanasi, we found a truck that could take us to Kibondo, about halfway to Kigoma. So we figured that we might as well take it. The truck was just full of people. The conductor is also on the back of the truck – drinking whiskey and gin out of plastic bags! He’s having a right old party. After standing at the back of this truck for about 2 hours it stops and we’re told it won’t go any further. Problem is we’ve only made it about halfway to Kibondo. The small town of Kayoko (or something like that) where the truck has stopped has a very basic guesthouse and an even more basic restaurant. I’m not even going to start to describe these places because it might make a lot of people ill at ease. When we ask the conductor why we’re not going to Kibondo he replies that we’re in Kibondo district, which is where he meant that we were going all along! As luck would have it though he and some of his friends wanted to go to Kibondo that day as well and he offered to help us find another car that could take us all the way. That’s when I started to get suspicious. After a very short while he came back and said he had found one. Adele, Jim and I would have to pay 9000 each. He and his friends would only pay 2000 each. We had been had. In the end we agreed to pay 5000 if that’s what everyone else paid as well. Off course they claim that it is. But somehow I don’t think that the old ladies and everyone else they cram into the vehicle before we leave is paying that much (normal ticket price should be about 1500). Not to mention the people we pick up along the way. This truck ride is probably the most uncomfortable ride I’ve ever done. The vehicle was packed with people. I’m sitting with half my ass on a piece of metal, the other half in the air. I have to put my feet on a spare tire. Every time we hit a pothole I hit my chin against my knees. And there were a lot of potholes! After a while we stop to take on more passengers. That’s when I get out and stand at the back of the truck, with 1 leg inside, 1 leg outside, holding on to the roof. After a while Adele joins me out there to look at the sunset. That’s when the police drives up to us and asks what the hell we’re doing. They tell us to get on the police truck instead. So we do. But also that one is full of people and their belongings. So it’s only marginally more comfortable. But because they drive about 3 times as fast it’s probably even more dangerous. After getting to Kibondo we’re taken to the police station where we have to answer a lot of questions and also get told about the danger of traveling that way. Especially through that area, where there are a lot of rebels and other armed people. The next day we board the bus to Kigoma at 5am. In any civilized country that bus ride would have taken maybe 2-3 hours. It took 6 long hours! The road was in a terrible state and the bus in an even worse. What a ride it had been. 2 days of nightmare traveling. I was definitely ready to get on a relaxing boat cruise now.
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