Traffic Jams

Stone Town to Korowge.

We left the Garden Lodge at around 7:00 a.m. and headed for the ferry dock where we cleared Zanzibar Immigration and boarded the ferry to Dar es Salaam.  The whole process took about an hour.

The ferry ride to Dar was about 2 ½ hours where we met our truck and headed off to Korogwe.  The first hour on the truck was spent clearing Dar traffic jams.  I don’t really mind the traffic jams as there are all kinds of interesting activities taking place along the streets.  Watching people running to and fro, vendors trying to sell their wares and just watching the interaction of people on their daily routines is always entertaining.

Around 11:00 a.m. we finally cleared the Dar traffic and broke into the ever-changing countryside.  It’s interesting - we pass through areas that are bordering on being a desert and suddenly everything changes and we find ourselves travelling through lush productive areas and then back into arid areas.  I don’t know what causes the wide swings in the climate, but I suppose that higher elevations and mountain ranges which catch the Indian Ocean trade winds would be part of what causes both dry and wet areas with the leeward side of the mountain squeezing the moisture out of the clouds before they reach the windward side.

The heavy traffic through Dar es Salaam resulted in us arriving at our campsite a little later than we planned.  We had a late supper and I bedded down for the night.

Tomorrow, if we are lucky and the weather is clear, we will get a good view of Mount Kilimanjaro.