To Dodoma

Location: the rooftop balcony of DM hotel – second cheapest hostel in Dodoma
Time: The same time as the mosques call for evening prayers

We had originally planned to get Dar es Salaam via Dodoma: the bus to from Moshi to Dodoma, and then the train from Dodoma to Dar – but we heard rumours one or both of these journey legs were impossible due to road/track damage from rain so we omitted Dodoma and travelled straight to Dar es Salaam. A shame because train journeys are ace.

When we arrived in Dar we enquired at the train station and learnt that the train was back in operation and we booked first class tickets for the next available journey purely for the fun of the ride – to Dodoma, leaving in a few days. The line to Dodoma is one of two train service in Tanzania and runs twice a week between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma 1254km to the west.

We were told to report at 4pm on the Friday and that the train would leave at 5pm. We arrived to truly chaotic scenes at 3.30 – endless people shoving and rushing, shouting, sweating and carrying and passing luggage to one another. We joined what looked a bit like a queue to get onto the platform. We were befriended by a 12 year old boy who realised that we were completely lost and he explained that people were competing to get there luggage weighed on an ancient set of scales. His dad somehow allowed us to skip to the front of the queue (playing the confused foreigner card to our advantage again) where we pointlessly and inefficiently had our luggage weighed by some guards with klashnikov rifles. The boy, Khari, became our enthusiastic guide and saviour, taking us to the platform where we eventually found out we had to consult a tatty piece of paper on one of the walls to find out which carriage was ours. He also kindly translated for us and ensured I wasn’t ripped off when stocking up on bottled water. We exchanged facebook details, we’re best buds now.

Since we went first class, we had a sleeper room to ourselves which had a couple of bunks and a sink. There was a toilet cubicle in our carriage - a hole in the floor opening straight onto the tracks - and the next carriage down was the buffet car (serving only chicken and rice, of course).  We sat sweating as our cabin gradually became more and more suffocatingly stuffy until we pulled away from the station from at about 7.30, a mere two and a half hours late. I set my alarm clock for 7am as we expected to arrive early in the morning and I didn’t want to sleep through our stop. To prevent malignant hyperthermia we had to keep the window open throughout the night, though this meant we had to endure the mosquitoes – we both have several impressive new bites. 

The train went even slower than I imagined it could go, but we eventually got to Dodoma at about 2pm – having spluttered some 450km with frequent and seemingly random stops where local people would try and sell us food and drink (green/grey water in old mineral water bottles) from the trackside. I spent a large part of the Saturday morning enjoying the breeze with my head out of the window watching farmers working in the fields and waving at excited grinning children as we chugged past mountains and mile after mile of red and dry desert and occasional greener forests.

Dodoma is the geographical centre and political capital of Tanzania, a small town in the middle of nowhere. Its desert location brings to mind Las Vegas, but is arguably less exciting being about the size of Hereford but with infinitely worse transport links, and has the feel and layout of a mediocre car boot sale. After we checked into the hostel we walked around almost the whole town and promptly booked a bus back to Dar. I had a Tanzanian favourite “chipsi mayai” for dinner: chips omelette. It was ok.

Having not shaved for a week and a half I now sport the most impressive facial hair I’ve ever had – it looks like I’ve fallen asleep face down in some chocolate 100s and 1000s, and a very few of them have stuck to my chin. Tasks for tomorrow: 1. Shave, to try and look less like a paedophile. 2. Find some internet to upload these words. 3. Await bus back to Dar.