Arusha

Chapter Seven

I crossed into Tanzania from Uganda at the border town of Mutukula. I needed to get to Arusha and it would have been simpler to go through Kenya, but I did not have a double entry visa. Immediately upon crossing the border, I realized that English is much less commonly spoken. In Kenya and Uganda I never had a problem communicating in English but in Tanzania things changed. I went to a restaurant and actually had to leave because I couldn’t communicate that I needed vegetarian food. For any vegetarian out there say “mimi sili nyama.”

I spent thirteen hours on a bus going from Bukoba to Arusha. One thing that struck me as totally unique to Africa is the way of getting road trip snacks. The bus pulls over and locals swarm to the side of the bus holding an assortment of food upon their heads. You reach out through the window and grab all sorts of goodies: packaged biscuits, a boiled egg, fries cooked in egg, popcorn, or ground nuts. You hand down your money to the vendor on the street and if you don’t have exact cash you hope that they hand up your change in return. In my experience they always did.

Tourist vs. Volunteer Visa

I only spent four days in Arush due to another unfortunate Workaway experience. I’ve talked to other volunteers and we all seem to be under the impression that there is an untold rule to lie at the border and say you are touring Africa. If you admit you are volunteering you need a specific, more expensive visa and paperwork from the organization you are volunteering for. Workaway and a host can’t straight out tell you to lie because then they are directly breaking the law. It’s kind of a don’t ask don’t tell situation. If the organization you are volunteering for never mails you specific paperwork in order to apply for a volunteer visa, you can assume you don’t have to. I arrived at my host in Arusha after paying the already doubled price (for Americans) visa fee, only to be told that I needed to pay an additional $250 to switch to the volunteer visa.

They clearly should have told me this before I arrived. I was confident I could find a host that wouldn’t require the “proper” visa so I decided to leave. I spent a few days in Arusha before I locked down a host in Dar Es Salaam.

I was surprised by the amount of mzungu I saw in Arusha. Mzungu fly into Arusha before going on safari. The city center is full of fancy hotels that no backpacker would want to pay for. There are actually hostels if you want to pay $10 for a shared room. I found a local guest house four kilometers from the city center for $7 a night. It was a private room with my own toilet and it was lovely. I could eat fries, eggs, cabbage, cassava, fresh vegetables, pineapple, and mini rice pancakes from street vendors for less than a dollar.

In Africa I always had a rule to be in by dark. I was warned when I arrived that it wasn’t safe to be out after dark. The sun would set at 7 PM so I actually became quite an avid reader in those hours before I fell asleep. Another reason to stay in after dark is mosquitos. They don’t really bother you during the day and from the safety of your bug net they won’t bother you at night.

Nearly Robbed

Unfortunately, there was a night in Arush when I was forced to break my indoors before dark rule and the consequences were almost dire. I was at the Four Seasons Hotel in the center of town by the clock tower. They let me order a coffee and use their wifi for hours. I was taking care of pressing matters with my bank and next thing I knew it was dark out. I should have paid for a motorbike ride but I needed to stop and get street food for dinner. Plus I wanted to save the cost of transport.

I had almost finished the four kilometer walk to my guesthouse when two guys got on each side of me. They told me they heard other guys talking about robbing me and they came over to “keep me safe.” One guy did all the talking and the other guy was only there to keep me blocked in. I realized there were two outcomes: A) they were the ones that wanted to rob me and they were making small talk until we got away from people or B) they would walk me home and then require me to pay them for their services. Creeped out, I popped into a bar and found a motorbike taxi that took me to the guest house.

Moral to the story: saving a few shillings is not worth losing your phone, debit card, or anything else on you. Also, if you’re traveling alone, especially if you’re female, try to be in by sunset.