Traveling to Mikumi

So, on Friday morning after breakfast we left for our overnight in the Mikumi National Park. It was very nice to get out of the hotel and see some of the countryside. Our first stop was Mlimani City again so that people could stock up on money from the ATMs; given time constraints we decided to hold off on shopping until the return. As we travelled we saw commerce all around us, inside Dar and beyond. Lot of fruits and vegetables for sale and for transport to other centers in large baskets or sacks: tomatoes, potatoes, oranges, pineapples, also huge sacks of charcoal, lots of flowers and plants in individual containers lined the road as well. We also saw lots of handmade furniture, doors and other wood products, including plain old firewood. And of course the ever present bars and cafes. And also many Maasai brightly clad in brilliant red and blue and purple shukas.

We took the Morogoro Road out of Dar; it was full of heavily laden trucks and busses. The road was mostly in very good shape; no potholes and shoulders on both sides. We moved into the Coast Region and passed through the town of Kabaha; many other villages and then a large town called Chalinze which is the home town of the current president of Tanzania. At Chalinze we found the junction with the Arusha Road, though we continued on the Morogoro Road. We passed a sisal plantation; before synthetic materials for rope were available, sisal was one of Tanzania’s primary exports for the making of rope. Then we found ourselves surrounded by the Uluguru Mountains, a mountain range, we were told, that extends all the way to Kilimanjaro. The Uluguru meant that we were close to Morogoro, a bustling town where we had a buffet lunch at a local hotel. After lunch Kuno got a cola popsicle from a bus station vendor. Once past Morogoro the road became the Iringa Road which leads past Iringa to Zambia.

We arrived at Mikumi National Park in time for an early evening game drive and by about 7:30 pm found ourselves checking in to the Hotel Genesis in the town of Mikumi (which we did not see). The accommodation and food were fine, if not basic. Power seemed to be supplied by a generator and we realized that it was turned off during the night. It was turned back on again around 6 in the morning as we heard the faint sound of the call to prayer.