Border Crossing and Mbeya

From Kalonga it takes less than an hour and a half to hit the Tanzanian border.

Visas for Tanzania can be purchased at the border, but only US dollars are accepted. Having changed local kwacha for US$50 back in Lilongwe, For this i am granted a three month visa which also allows me to re-enter during these three months from any of Tanzanian's neighbours. Very cool.

From the border i walk 2kms to catch the bus heading to Mbeya - the "capital of the South West". It's a three and a half hour ride in through mountanous lush vegetation. My altometre on my watch gets a reading of 2200 metres - the highest i've been since leaving The Ganj last December.

Arriving into Mbeya i have lost an hour (Tanzania is +3GMT) and it's too late to purchase a rail ticket for Dar Es Salaam. Twice daily buses plough this route taking aome 12 hours, but i take advantage of any alternatives - bus trips have been so frequent, so crowded and so uncomfortable on this road trip. The journey by rail is about 24 hours. Tanzana run two express trains a week and i get the next available train out of here. I opt for 2nd class and costing TSh23800 (1st class Tsh32,400, Superseater TSh21600 and 3rd class TSh19600) leaving 2pm Wednesdays and Saturdays. Delays are not unusual.

Mbeya itself is an unattractive spread out city that serves primarily as a transport hub.After small-town Malawi, Mbeya seems unfriendly and un personable. Finding people who speak evern the most basic English is difficult. I was hoping for an omelette breakfast but it ends up as chapatis and a sprite. I can see the need for a crash course in Swahili if i am going to navigate successfully.

If you have to go through Mbeya you could do far worse than stay at Holiday Hotel. The better rooms are TSh15500 and there is the Metro Cuisine restaurant opposite for food.

Why Mbeya has decided to place their railway staion in a field outside the city is a mystery.