Today is our final day of our epic journey. Our ETA was to be 1600hrs but there have been major slippages and the latest information is that the ETA will be 2200 hrs! But it varies depending on to whom one speaks!
I awoke feeling very cold, which necessitated a jumper ! We were in the
Mbeya Range and the temperature reflected it. Tanzania appears more prosperous and in the wide valleys market gardening is practised widely with the women and children doing the back breaking weeding!
We passed through the Usungu flats and the Iringa region; the region where most of our aid is spent. It looked prosperous.
Won shared her cabin with three Zambian women - one of whom was a nun. They explained to her that they often came to Tanzania to purchase vegetables as Zambia's food is genetically modified (GM) and Tanzanian food is not. As a result, they regard the Tanzanians as healthier.
We stopped at station after station - the ETA continued to slip
The produce being sold changed as we entered Equatorial Africa - bananas were everywhere.
My CC bought a bunch from a little girl. He asked the price Tsh200 (20cents) and for that she wanted to give him a huge bunch when he took only 6 and gave her Tsh500, she was ecstatic! However, Mama was there to collect the earnings and smiled benevolently at her daughter- job well done. Boiled eggs were also on sale, unopened, with salt on top! . Doughnuts, cooked beef and chicken, corn on the cob. Water and minerals were on sale . Dinner from the platform.
The countryside rolled on ... The ETA was now between 01.00 - 02.00hrs. If we made it by 02.00 it would be better than 5 days, which the Tasara recently took when the last passenger coach derailed from that train! No one was injured - luckily! The track is not the best in places .....
The driver told me that a goods train had derailed and he had to give up one of his engines to take the derailed train back to a station! They usually leave them to rust at the side of the track. We saw some on our journey!! More delay!
We read and relaxed as much a possible - no observation deck on this train.
We were scheduled to pass through Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage site at 16.00, where we might spot more animals. But alas! It was 20.00, when we reached the Park and it was dark. Dawn is 0600, dusk 1800hrs. To soften yours and my disappointment, dear reader, I'll show you another beautiful African sunset.
It appears we will have to spend another night on the train!
Goodnight dear reader, the end is nigh, Dar Es Salaam is in sight but when?
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