I was so glad to be able to make one more visit to see a friend in Ifakara before leaving. An added bonus to visiting her is that in the compound where she is living there is a pool, which hadn't been filled the last time I visited, so I was really looking forward to a swim!
Although Ifakara doesn't look far from Iringa on the map, the Udzungwa mountains and National Park are in between, with Ifakara situated SSE of Iringa. Subsequently we have to go 3 or so hours east towards Dar (and try to convince the bus drivers not to charge us for all the way to Dar - sometimes successfully) getting off at Mikumi on the edge of the National Park there, and then get whichever bus is heading usually from Dar to Ifakara to pick us up en route. Today we had managed to convince our regular bus company for when we go to Dar, JM Luxury Coach, to give us a discounted ticket, so we arrived happily in Mikumi, ready for the second leg of the journey. (Thanks Wim for the pics!)
We thought we were fairly well prepared what with all the bus travel we have undertaken, but it was definitely the worst bus journey ever... Ifakara had seen heavy rains, and the land was so saturated there was nowhere for the rain water to go. The river had overflowed, and the dirt roads had been so churned up it was the most bumpy, scary bus ride yet. We were debating en route which were our top 3 worst bus journeys, and it was a tough call, but it definitely made top slot by the time we arrived in Ifakara....
If you want a bus which makes fewer stops and is more comfortable to sit on, then the bigger bus which comes from Dar is the way to go. However you can get one of the smaller, local buses, which leaves when it's full and makes regular stops as the 'conductor' literally hangs out of the door the whole way hollering the destination name in the hope of picking up more passengers. Obviously these methods have mixed results. On this occasion, although we were promised a seat by the ticket seller (of course! Live and learn...), we had to stand for 5 hours all the way, clinging on for dear life along the bumpiest road I have ever experienced. It should advise in the guide books that wearing a sports bra on these journeys is recommended. At one point, when the driver saw the traffic backing up because of a stuck lorry, he decided to take a short cut:
At least we got to sit down for the hour it took them to dig it out!
While our bus was being dug out of the verge, the other vehicles continued to try and assist each other getting through the absolute worst section, which lasted for about 50m:
Finally we reached Ifakara and the pool - only to find out they had recently chlorinated it and nobody was allowed to use it for 48 hours! Birgit didn't know when that 48-hour period would be up so we prayed - well, I did! - and enjoyed a couple of days relaxing in good company.
Birgit had an awesome idea for recycling her milk container and growing her herbs!
We had a tour of the St Francis hospital where Birgit is volunteering, met some other staff and volunteers, and then hired bikes to go and see the swollen river.
And before we left we were able to get 10 minutes in the pool! Bliss :-)
Getting the bus from Ifakara to Mikumi we managed to get seats. This is thanks in part because we didn't go for the earliest bus and also we were getting on at the beginning of the journey. It turned out to be very fortunate as in fact we had to stop after two or three hours to pick up the passengers from the earlier bus. Theirs had broken down. It took about another half hour to sort out their tickets so we got off and stretched our legs: thankfully our bus made sure its own passengers got on first before the new ones joined us.
Then of course we had the challenge of getting a decent bus back from Mikumi to Iringa. By the time we reached Mikumi, what with getting a later bus and then having to stop and pick the passengers up, the JM Luxury and most other big buses heading Dar to Iringa had already passed through Mikumi. We settled for a local bus, took with a bucket of salt the eta from the ticket seller, and settled into our seats. Once it got under way even this daladala bus had trouble climbing the hills and stalled a few times...not a great trip for bus travel! It was getting dark by the time we returned to Iringa, but at least we had a seat!
