March 12, 2025 to March 13, 2025
Day 161-163: Moshi to Kimana
We continued a little further along the bone shaking road, then turned left to go around the base of Kili. The road climbed, the traffic thinned, and the scenery changed from the savanna plains to a tropical jungle. We’d been off the bike for 4 days and took it easy on the first day back, staying in a town that is clearly frequented by tourists. We got caught by a ‘fly catcher’ the touts who stand on the road junction and try to deliver unsuspecting tourists to a hotel. We did get caught, riding a hundred metres (vertically) further uphill than necessary to be delivered to a hotel that was never going to accept the price the fly catcher had promised us. We weren’t all that happy about being misled by this tout (it was crazy steep) and made it clear he wasn’t being helpful and should leave now. The hotel was ok about it, but the fly catcher wouldn’t learn – hope springs eternal – he further tried to get arrange us a car, take a tour to the waterfall, anything. Even after we’d found our way back down into town, found another place to stay the night, the same fly catcher turned up to be dismissed all over again.
But this little town did have great fried chicken, in the unlikeliest of small eateries. The place we slept was, erm, less than ideal. There was a bar across the patch of dirt that functioned as a road, and they merrily played beats all night. Or most of the night. We often can’t hear the music, just the thump of the bass that travels straight through walls, concrete, windows, and your body.
More up along the quiet road, surrounded by more jungle, a few good views of Kili to the Kenyan border.
The Kenyan border was easy to pass though. We’d applied for the eVisa online a few days before. We spent longer than expected in Moshi, so we were a few days later than our expected arrival. No issues at all getting our stamp into Kenya. The Tarakea border post was fairly small though, so we didn’t get hassled to buy a Kenyan phone SIM. And we had to go looking for someone to change our few remaining Tanzanian Shillings into Keyan Shillings.
It was a lovely roll downhill from the border to Loitokitok (just fun to say the name of the town) and then on to Kimana. We found a bank (that doesn’t charge foreigners a fee to withdraw cash). While looking for a place to sleep, a Spanish guy found us (we’re not hard to spot being the only white faces on the street) and he and his Kenyan wife found us a hotel room that was better than we expected at about the same price as an average Tanzanian room.
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We feel like we’ve raced through Tanzania and not really given the country much of a chance. It was hot, and we’ve spent a fair bit of time looking at what’s next rather than enjoying the place we are in. And sleep deprived from the music speakers that seem to be built under, or in, all the hotels we stayed in…
Today's ride: 119 km (74 miles)
Total: 8,134 km (5,051 miles)
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