{BAR}
 
       
       
     
  INTRODUCTION

After leaving the expedition in Zanzibar resting for a week, myself, along with two other lads from the expedition, Will and Wayne (commonly known to the expedition as "Wherever there's a Will there's a Wayne!") got the ferry to Dar-es-Salam to find a coach to take us to Moshi and book our guides and porters to take us up Kilimanjaro. Moshi and Arusha are the main centres to organise a trip up Kilimanjaro mainly because the two towns are so close to the mountain.

On arriving on the dock side in Dar-es-Salam, the first task was to organise transport and head north up the coast to Silver Sands camp-site on the Tanzanian coast to pack our cold weather kit at the truck. The hardest part of organising a taxi was working your way through the hundreds of tout's constantly trying to sell you everything you don't want.

The truck was parked up at this camp-site and manned only by two unlucky expedition members who had drawn the short straw on the truck security rota meaning they wouldn't get to see Zanzibar in all it's monsoon glory. Luckily we had been diving the whole time, which meant we were wet anyway! Silver Sands camp-site is a popular overland truck stop, and therefore secure, so a safe place to leave the truck.

Once we had actually got back to the truck by taxi, it was approx. 9.00pm and dark.

The expedition had basically been following the monsoon north and up until now avoided it. But now we seemed to be in the thick of it, so it was dark by 6.00pm every night. Packing for our early departure took us well past midnight, that is once all of my kit was actually located from the darkest reaches of my locker. My locker incidentally was underneath the spice store and under the back row of seats on the truck, so inevitably every time the truck bounced over a hole in the road, my gear became peppered in various spices and dried chillies.

We stretched the kit out under a street light outside the camp bar and checked each others stuff, to make sure each of us had not forgotten anything. It seemed quite weird to be checking through equipment such as fleeces, down jackets, and Helly Hansen base layers considering we were walking around in only shorts and it was nearly midnight!!!! Finally we were all packed and ready to leave at 6.00am to go back into Dar-es-Salam to pick up mail and sort out a coach to Moshi. We chose Moshi because it is closer to travel to than Arusha.

On arriving in Dar-es-Salam to catch a bus to Moshi we realised we had walked into organised chaos. There were a lot of ‘clapped out but colourful' buses dotted around with vast gatherings of people, both around and on top of the buses, strapping things to the roof and packing sacks and boxes into the baggage compartment. Some of them were tout's for the bus companies, some selling either bunches of banana's or trays of biscuits and samosas, and others were local people who had come into the city for provisions; it didn't really matter what they were doing but as soon as they saw Westerners with rucksacks, they swamped us with a barrage of ever increasing in volume sales pitches, which usually involved not taking "no thanks" for an answer.

We did manage to push through the crowds to get near a bus, which was we were informed going to Moshi in half an hours time. It was at this point that the whole trip up Kilimanjaro including that nights accommodation was organised, signed and sealed. I think these people have a remarkable communication system considering a street tout knowing we wanted to go to Moshi on a bus, had deduced that we may want go up Kili, and made sure he got word to a guy who worked for a company that dealt in such trips. The man that appeared was called Esau and worked for a company called Phoenix Tours. He appeared dressed in a shirt and tie with a clip board full of information about his guided trips up Kilimanjaro, speaking very good English and taking us under his wing, he guided us through this chaotic place, to three seats on the bus - amazing!!!!!!

Of course we were dubious of this guy, but he had made sure that our bags remained on the seats next to us, rather than in the cargo compartment under the bus, at no extra cost to us, but cost Esau a very heated argument with the ticket collector. This was a relief because we were all sure that the bags wouldn't have been there when we arrived in Moshi. Once we were on the bus and seated with bags in sight, he began his sales pitch to secure us as his clients. The deal he proposed sounded good, including a bed with a meal in a hotel on arrival in Moshi, a five day trip up Kili, and the cost of the bus fare to Moshi. All that remained was a haggling session (which is pretty standard in Africa) about the price. We did manage to lower the price once we established that the mountain was not in perfect condition at this time of year, and we would be interested in going on safari to the Nogongorogoro Crater after going up Kilimanjaro with his company if he could organise it. Which of course he could. I don't think Esau was too impressed with the fact that none of us had any money to pay something in advance, and he would have to be paid in the morning before we set off from Moshi, once we had chance to change some money. Even if we did have some money we wouldn't have flashed it around on the bus.

We sat waiting on that bus for two hours before we set off. During this time three fights broke out around various buses caused due to certain tout's stealing other tout's prospective customers, or some people throwing other peoples luggage out of the cargo compartment of the bus.

During the bus journey we spoke to Esau quite a lot about his family, and our lives back in England, and what we were doing in Africa. The bus actually had a TV and video which constantly screened very violent martial arts films. I have a theory that the violence in the films was meant to take the passengers minds off the fact that the bus was travelling so fast and being driven so recklessly. I could also see why a driver from another overland truck I met at Silver Sands said the journey from Dar to Moshi is known to western travellers as the "Jesus Bus". It is driven so badly that it makes you say "Oh Jesus!" as you just miss endless collisions with horns blazing and swerve around tight corners not suitable for buses making the tyres screech.

My initial impression of this guy Esau was so far so good. The bus journey took approx. 7hrs and we arrived in Moshi after dark. Moshi was quite a small town, but definitely had the influence of the west. It had some internet and telephone facilities and some small hotels. It also had its back street's and with it no doubt it's muggings. Esau lead us away from the bus station down a main road, then off down some side street, and into our hotel. I must say wandering around Moshi late at night with every piece of expensive mountaineering kit I owned on my back did make me feel uneasy. I reckoned I must have had nearly £1000's worth of kit with me. He made sure we were shown our rooms and introduced us to our guides. Then it was time to freshen up and meet up for dinner with a nice clean bed to look forward to. (What a long day I think I must have arrived in Moshi with jet lag after that coach journey).


READ PART ONE

  

Jason's Account
BACKGROUND
INTRODUCTION
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4


DOWNLOADS
Word File - 7.3Mb
Text File -
Zip File - 4.3Mb
Photographs

       
       
     
COPYRIGHT 1999 INFINITEZERO LTD
THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED: 18/02//2000
FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS WEB SITE,
CONTACT US AT info@infinitezero.co.uk