After a great last night in Livingstonia, I woke up 4 minutes before my alarm was set to go off at 5:00am, woken by the birds and the sun starting to rise. I packed my tent and headed up to the road to wait for the pick up truck that was supposed to pass between 6 and 7am. Amazingly, right at 6am the truck showed up and I climbed into the back for a very uncomfortable ride down the mountain. I was hoping it would be a better option than the motorbike that had felt very hazardous on the way up, but my knees were jammed into the back window of the truck as I perched on the side, as we made our way slowly down the mountain. However, there was still a chill in the air and the views were gorgeous. Plus it made it easy to get transport on from there, as I got the coveted front seat of a shared taxi all the way to the border.

The border was a bit chaotic, but not too bad, and I exited easily and found a real (not a street changer) money changer to convert my Malawian kwachas to Tanzanian shillings. Unfortunately, the money changer was out of Shillings, but said there was a bank on the other side of the border. Of course, the bank’s atm was out of order, and they didn’t accept Malawian kwachas, for whatever reason. So I was forced to use a street changer, for a pretty terrible rate. Oh well.

I got into Tanzania easily, handing over $50 USD for a visa, which the kind border official implored me to use again within 90 days if I entered from Kenya, Rwanda or Uganda, being an agreement between them. It was unlikely I would be back before then, but at least I knew it was an option. I grabbed a moto taxi for the short ride to the minibus station, hopped on a minibus that was actually a small bus (not a cramped van like in Malawi), with my own seat, and pretty soon I was in Tukuya, my final destination for the day. It wasn’t even 1pm! Amazing what you can get done when you get up at 5am.

I checked into a recommended motel (pricey at $17 a night) and had my first real bed in about 34 days (I had camped every night in Malawi) and my own bathroom! And it was relatively clean! I was contemplating what to do when I heard a knock on the door. It was a tour guide named Michael and he had heard I was interested in a tour. I hadn’t said that at all, but I was happy to see him nonetheless. I had been planning on staying two nights in Tukuya, but seeing as it was only 1pm and I wanted to get to Rwanda quickly, I negotiated for him to take me around for the rest of the day.

We headed off by motorbike to God’s bridge, passing countless banana, pineapple, mango, coffee and tea trees along the way, before arriving at a natural metamorphic bridge, dubbed God’s bridge by the locals, as only he could have made it. It was impressive, but the journey there made it. From there we headed into the mountains to a crater lake, where it was reputed to still be home to German treasure, who buried it there to thwart the British who had taken over the country. I thought it was a bit farfetched, but when I heard the lake was 170m deep, and saw the single track dirt road leading to the lake, I believed it. I couldn’t imagine bringing serious equipment there. I went for a swim but didn’t see the treasure. 

As the sun set, we headed back into town, where I grabbed dinner at the hotel and tried Tanzanian beer, after being implored by the kind owner. He bought the beer so I was happy. In return, I told him how good it was, but other than being exceptionally cold and bigger than the bottles in Malawi, it tasted like any lager. It was enough to put me to sleep though, especially as I had another early start with a bus to Sumbawanga leaving at 6:00am the next morning. I was hoping to have breakfast at 7am and then leave, but had been warned multiple times about the bus station and its hassles, particularly for females, in Mbeya, so got up at 5:30am to catch the direct bus and skip Mbeya.

This worked out well, as the bus didn’t get to Sumbawanga until 5:00pm. I had thought about staying two days here, but couldn’t see any sign of tourism, so bought a ticket out for the next morning at, you guessed it, 6:00am. Of course I had to be there at 5:30am. I wandered down the street looking for a guesthouse in my guidebook, but found a clean looking one advertising wifi (which I had found a total of 1 time in Malawi) for only $14, so I was stoked. I then found an Indian restaurant serving delicious chicken curry and real chai. I was sorted for the night and braced myself for a long journey the next day, where I was heading to Kigoma, jumping at the chance to bypass Mpanda which my guidebook had warned of hotel theft and a scruffy town.