Tanga to Moshi

Whilst Tanga is a generally laid-back town, walk anywhere close to the main bus depot and all hots up.

Fortunately i book up the day before. I'm told the journey is some four - five hours so i have no qualms about boarding at 10am for a 10.30am departure with Airbus.

It is already extremely hot and i have had a 30 minute walk with my luggage so sweat is pouring off like a sauna from my face as i board. I wait, wait and wait and then wait a bit longer as temperatures continue to soar made worse as there is no air-con on the bus and there is absolutely no wind coming through the windows.

We finally depart at 11.15am and the road conditions are quite good. However we have our first breakdown within the first hour as the driver and his three stooges spend a hour or so tampering with the undercarriage. Nonetheless everyone pretty much waits patiently by the side of the road and aimlessly watch on.

We are told to re-board and the bus continues onwards for another hour and a half, but the bus is clearly behaving erratically with short bursts of speed before violently vibrating and slowing down again. By 2pm i am hungry and bored but fortunately we stop of at Lushoto for a quick bite and rehydration time.

The mountains are on the right hand side and there is a more arid feel to the lushness of what i have seen for the most part of Tanzania.

By about 6pm the cone of Kilimanjaro rises before my eyes with glaciers hanging dramatically off the summit. It's a beautiful sight to behold.

However, just as we enter into Moshi at 6.30pm clouds descend and the mountain-top vanishes in an X-Files kinda way.

The bus ticket costs Tsh10,000.