Tanzanian Buses - Where Would You Like To Go Today ?

Shall we catch a Tanzanian bus, & go on an exciting journey somewhere together today ?!
Buses are one of the main modes of transport here for people wishing to travel from one city to the next

You can catch a bus to Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique or Malawi

So .... which city would you like to visit today ?!

Where would you like to go today ? Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda, or Rwanda ?

On almost all Tanzanian roads, you will find these buses running – especially along the major routes like Dar es Salaam or Arusha to Nairobi, Kenya. They’re bright, shiny and travel at break-neck speed on long, open stretches of road ! (We don't have 'highways' or 'freeways' here). Just ask a friendly local in whichever town or city you happen to be in, where the closest bus depot is - hop on, and enjoy the ride !

Buses are the main means of transport for local Tanzanians to get from one town or city to the next. They are also a popular choice for travellers on a budget, and I know several tourists who have successfully (& safely) travelled around Tanzania on them – and had great fun in the process !

Whenever one of these buses passes slowly through a town, or slows down at an intersection you see lots of vendors running up with boxes of goods for sale for hungry/thirsty passengers. The vendors push the goods up through the windows – shouting their prices out, haggling & running alongside the bus in order to keep up. I’ve watched many an exchange of boiled eggs, bottled water, peanuts, bananas or bread between vendors and bus passengers – a great source of business for the vendors and no doubt a source of entertainment for the travel weary passengers !

As a matter of interest, catching a bus from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, Kenya would take you around 13 hours and the trip from Arusha to Nairobi would take you around 5 hours (of course these times may vary slightly depending on how long it takes you to get through the Namanga border post which lies between the 2 countries). If you’d like to go to the Kenyan coast, then a coach from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa takes around 12 hours.

You can also travel from Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe (approx. 27 hours) in Malawi, or even to Mozambique, Uganda (this route usually runs from Nairobi via Dar es Salaam to Kampala) or from Kampala, Uganda to Bukoba on the shores of Lake Victoria.

If you’re a traveller reading this, and plan on using one of these bus services sometime in the future, my advice to you would be to take something to eat & drink with you on the bus, along with a small pillow and some reading material. Have your camera handy, too & be prepared to meet, talk & make friends with your fellow travellers – Tanzanians are naturally friendly, welcoming people and you will find that your fellow passengers will be only too happy to tell you more about life in Tanzania, and to point out any interesting landmarks along the way !

Certainly more exciting than catching a 'plane from one city to the next, buses allow you to really get a ‘feel’ for the country and the wonderful Tanzanian people –so sit back, relax …. and enjoy the ride !

A Giraffe Birthday Cake !

This giraffe cake was perfect for my son's first birthday !

He was a very happy giraffe - and tasted nice, too !

My son turned 1 in June when we were in South Africa visiting my parents, and my Mum & I made him a giraffe birthday cake together, which I’ve been meaning to post on the blog for a while now !

We used the ‘standard’ basic cake batter recipe which is a ‘fool proof’ one I got from my Mum – she used the same recipe to bake birthday cakes for my sister and I when we were kids ! (You can see the birthday cake I made for my daughter using this same recipe - when she turned 4 - over here).

Looking back on the photo’s of the cake after I’d taken them, something suddenly struck me though – an important part of the giraffe was ‘missing’ and could so easily have been added on to complete the cake. I can’t believe that I never noticed it on the day ! Can you tell what it is ? If so, leave me a comment below !

Here’s how we made our giraffe -:


Basic (Plain) Cake Batter

200 gm Margarine (or Butter)
1 ½ Sugar
5 Eggs
3 cups Flour
4 tsps Baking Powder
2 cups Milk

Cream the margarine & sugar together. Add the eggs, beating well. Add the sifted flour and baking powder, then the milk. Beat all together until well mixed & pour into 2 greased 23 cm x 23 cm (approx) round cake tins, 1 greased 30 cm x 13 cm (approx) rectangular loaf tin & 4 cup cake cases. Bake at 190’C/375’F/Gas Mark 5 for 30 - 40 minutes until a knife inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the tins/cases.


Butter Icing

1 cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
2 – 3 tbsps Milk (Optional)
Brown Food Colouring – a few drops
Yellow Food Colouring – a few drops

Cream the butter and icing sugar together. Add a couple of tablespoons of milk if you need it to be a little smoother. Place a quarter of the mixture into a separate bowl & add a few drops of brown food colouring to it, until you get the desired shade of brown. Add a few drops of yellow food colouring to the remainder of the mixture, until you have the desired shade of yellow.

To Decorate

5 – 6 strips of Liquorice (I used the ‘twisted’ kind)
2 brown Lollipops

How To Assemble Your Giraffe:

Get a stiff, covered board long enough for your giraffe to fit on to (we used a short wooden shelf covered with foil !) First, take the 2 round cakes & position them to make your giraffe’s head and body. Next, cut the cake from the loaf tin to size to make your giraffe’s neck. Use 2 of the cupcakes to make his ears, and the remaining 2 to make his feet.

Ice everything with yellow icing, and then use the brown icing to make ‘spots’ on your giraffe’s body and neck, and on his ears.

Now position 2 liquorice strands between the body and feet portions to create the legs. Use some more of the liquorice to make his mouth, eyes & nostrils and place the 2 lollipops on his head to make the ‘horns’.

Voila - a giraffe is born !

Tanzanian Roads Travelled This past Week .......

As regular readers know, I've been quite busy lately with lots of new projects on the horizon - building a house on the land we've just bought, refurbishing our guest cottage, school runs .... not to mention catching up with old friends (from sedate morning tea's to boozy barbecues !) and .... shopping trips to the city.

So, I decided to post a few photo's of the roads I've travelled this past week - just to give you another idea of what a diversely beautiful country Tanzania is. The road above is the 'driveway' to my daughter's school - which is nestled on the edge of a very old coffee plantation. Beautiful, isn't it ?

The other road scenes were taken on the way to our plot, on the way to the city, on the way to a friend's house - all over, really ..... I particularly like the shady, tree lined road above - and always feel really peaceful when driving along it ....

So much of Tanzania is still relatively untouched - no power lines or telephone lines to marr the horizon (although we do have several really ugly mobile 'phone towers dotted here and there).

Punctures are a common occurance here, but as long as you are prepared you're usually okay. Within minutes of stopping you can expect around 1 million kids and people from the nearest village to surround your car offering to help (as you provide them with their daily entertainment !)

My children are so used to driving on bumpy roads and sleep better when we're driving on them, than they do when we're on the tar !

If you'd like to see some more incredible African roads and scenery from different parts of this magnificent continent, then pop on over to two of my favourite African blogging friends .... 'One Stoned Crow' over in Namibia has posted breathtaking photo's of Namibia's stunning Orange River road in a recent post over here and Jo at 'Memorable Meanders' who is currently posting from her home in the Sudan (did you know that the Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt ? I didn't ! Browse Jo's blog & visit some of them with her !) did a (heart wrenching) post on 'Children of The City' early this week - click here to read that and see the streets of Khartoum.