Transportation

One of the challenges of Tanzania is the transportation. There are very few roads and fewer still that are paved. What we consider a two-lane road is the type of road connecting major cities. However, “two lanes” is a mere suggestion here. I have counted up to five vehicles abreast, not counting the pedestrians, piki-pikis (motor bikes), and bicycles. There will be one vehicle occupying each side of the “normal” space on the road. Then, there will be cars trying to pass on either side of these two cars. Finally, there will be an impatient individual who decides he isn’t getting there fast enough, so passes between the middle of the two lanes.

There is also no right-of-way, for pedestrians or for those going straight ahead when there is a crossroad. Cars backing up do not wait for a pedestrian to walk by. They just back up. It gets a little hairy near the round-abouts. Everyone is trying to get through, people are trying to cross the street, and no one seems particularly concerned about what the next driver is trying to do.

Today, I had my first ride in a dala-dala. This is the most common form of transportation (other than walking). A dala-dala is a sixteen-seat passenger van. However, here a dala-dala will hold up to twenty-five people at one time. Ours today had twenty-one people in it. When we first got on, Tom stepped aside, thinking he was being nice in letting me have the one last seat (or so we thought). I started to sit, but the man behind starting thumping on his seat, motioning to a 12-inch space beside him (literally a twelve-inch space). That was to be my seat. Well, my hips haven’t measured twelve inches across since shortly after my birth, so it was a bit of a struggle. I was jammed next to a woman on one side and the man on the other. His elbow nestled into the space above my hip bone and remained there the rest of the journey, as jammed in as we all were.

So we started off. The van rarely stopped completely when just one person was getting off. It would slow down while the passenger disembarked, and then speed back up before the door was closed. The price, however, was “right.” It cost us 300 tshillings, the equivalent of about 33 cents, for the ride.

The photo below is of a typical dala-dala. I was severely scolded for taking this picture by the driver of the van. So, even though it is nothing special, enjoy it as I took this at my own peril!

Yako ananana (see you later),

Sue

Well, the picture wouldn't upload--you'll have to use your imagination!