Songea

Get in

Dar es Salaam – Sumry Tsh 32,000. You get a soda and a snack, plus there’s the Al Jazeera stop.

Moro – Scandinavia Tsh 28,000

Iringa – Super Feo

Arusha – Hood Tsh 35,000

Njombe – Fikiri Trans Tsh 8,000 Phone number for the Songea office: 0756-286-674

Masasi – Tsh 15,000

Get around

Taxi no more than Tsh 3,000 from anywhere to anywhere else in Songea town—it isn't that big a place.

Eat

Sorry—no cheese, no ice cream

Supercafe – Lots of little foods that can add up to big hela. They’ve got tiny burgers in big buns and warm banana bread. Get a glass of passion juice! Songea Bakery – The sign calls them lizatot, but Jenna calls them “Entimenes” they’re that good. The have tables inside and outside under an umbrella. Mtini Pub – It’s a kibanda under an mti. (There are cheap guest houses around here too; they’re noisy though from the bar crowd.) Agape Cafe – It has Tanzanian fare plus some baked goods. You can sit in a booth, watch television.

Sleep

There are guest houses all around the standi for Tsh 5000 to 10,000. Don Bosco – Tsh 5000 self-contained single (but the beds are double-bed size), big room with a television, the running water isn’t hot but the matron will bring you some if you ask, less than five-minutes’ walk from the bus standi. On Sunday mornings, you wake up to the entire Catholic mass over speakerphone from the church next door

Go next

Towards Lindi and Mtwara, a large section of the A19 road is under construction. From Nantumbo to Nangomba the tarmac road turns into a very rough dirt road. In the rainy season this stretch of road poses a serious obstacle, with mud, sand, rocks and flooding to contend with, and a 4WD or off-road bike is definitely recommended. It wouldn't hurt in the dry season either!