Day 139-148: Mbeya to Dodoma

February 18, 2025 to February 27, 2025

There are a few good options for crossing Tanzania. Some take the west route (lakes and midges), some go to the coast (Dar es Salaam + Zanzibar + beaches) and several people take the dirt road through the middle. We decided to go through the middle toward Dodoma, but on the fancy new asphalt road (and on to Arusha). The choice of dirt vs asphalt was easy – the mini dry season in Tanzania has started, but we’ve had a smattering of rain, enough that we didn’t fancy pushing the bikes through mud for a week or two.

Leaving Mbeya, we thought we might have made a mistake – the road was cracked and patched and really very busy with the trucks and road traffic from Malawi and Zambia. So many fuel trucks! But it was significantly downhill, so we had a period of overtaking dirty, stinky, diesel fume belching trucks.

About 120 km from Mbeya, the new Chinese road started, and it was a joy. Brand new (completed in 2023) with a wide shoulder and smooth surface. The diesel fumes were still pretty bad on the uphills, when the trucks were struggling. This continued for 220 km (3 days!) until we got to Iringa. The main road, and most of the trucks, continue toward Dar es Salaam, and we turned north toward Dodoma. The road wasn’t great (some potholes and patching), be we could ride side-by-side since there was very little traffic. And it was a great view for most of the way into the valley.

Fueling with what we expected to be guaranteed unhappiness in the hours to follow...but we ended up unscathed

No dramas in the last week or so. Stephen had a malaria test after having a fever for a day, but it was negative, and the fever went away by the morning. We’ve had several flat tyres, one went flat while we ate a watermelon in a small village. A couple of Maasai tried to talk to us and video the chaos on their phones while the bike was in bits. Brake pads on one of the bikes have worn out but we have spares. We’ve had a couple of clumsy attempts by police / security to get us to bribe them near the reservoir.

Stevo fixed the flat and I played selfies and charades with these guys

And then we found this little dude on the road ...silly spot for a chameleon. So we rolled him off the the verge

We’ve spent longer than we planned in Dodoma. We were racing across Tanzania to get to Kenya and then onward to meet a deadline we’d set ourselves. But we’re reviewing the forward plan now and it looks like going to Uganda and Rwanda may not be the greatest idea as the mini-dry period we are currently enjoying will end in a few weeks. Travelling in the dry season is somewhat preferable to the wet!

Today's ride: 597 km (371 miles)
Total: 7,505 km (4,661 miles)

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