Deviation

This is a typical experience on the road. A HGV with an hastily affixed abnormal wideload sign on the front facing us on the wrong side of the road. However our driver Ernest is a steady, placid sort. One of those drivers who puts passengers at ease, and doesn’t do daft things behind the wheel.

Travel times for identical journeys within Tanzania have a very large standard deviation. Today’s time was as abnormal as the lorry’s load, based on the last time I did the same journey from Songea to Morogoro. What took about 11 hours in November today took 15. To be fair I think one reason could be the less kamikaze approach of Ernest’s compared to the driver we used in November. As the journey dragged on I tried to pass the time productively by reading a million documents on my phone.

It was lovely to hear my colleague Mohamed, a recent addition to the team, look around at the big green landscapes and proclaim that he doesn’t feel the need to chase work and life in Europe when Tanzania is so beautiful. Well said Mo.

Even though it was quite dark by the time the main road passed through Mikumi National Park, wildlife spotting was as easy as in daylight. Every time I have passed on the main road through Mikumi I’ve been surprised at the number of giraffe, zebra et al hanging out by one of the country’s major routes.