Morogoro Metro Line

We don’t really have a metro but the transportation system gets us around well enough. We live just several kilometers from the center of town and can walk there easily. It’s a pleasant walk, downhill all the way. I’m starting to know my way around the various shops and where in the market to pick up rice, potatoes, or any vegetables or fruit the wakulima didn’t bring this week. Coming back with things to carry is a little arduous so sometimes I’ll call Eric or James, taxi drivers we’ve gotten to know, and get a ride back with them or just walk up the hill where the view is beautiful all the way back home as this picture that I took walking home today shows.

An alternative would be the ubiquitous piki pikis, motorcycles that offer rides on the back. I’ve never ridden one and plan to keep it that way. I hope that I never see anyone I know on one, either :) Piki piki drivers are, in my opinion, too willing to take risks in order to get somewhere fast. They scoot between lines of traffic and act as if they own the road. Some women passengers ride them “sidesaddle,” which is heart-stopping to me, even clutching a baby in their arms.

In town, walking or taking a taxi is an option but when I leave town and head for, say Mzumbe, I’ll take a dalla dalla. They are small VW style buses that carry people between towns. There’s a crowded and somewhat chaotic dalla dalla stand in Morogoro where you can get a ride to any town within one hundred kilometers or so.

The dalla dalla capacity, in terms of actual seats, is about 20, depending on whether four are crowded in the front seat with the driver. But there is a small “aisle” on one side of the little bus and so people get packed in there standing up and end up virtually in the laps of everyone sitting around them. As precious as seats are under these circumstances, people will give them up to older people or to women with children.

There’s always a “conductor” on the dalla dalla who stands inside the door, manages the crowd, and collects fares en route. Conductors are young men with a kind of pizzazz that often includes “hip” clothing like low slung pants and they and the driver will pack in new passengers as we roll along the road until it’s completely amazing. The dalla dalla “packin’em in” record, when I was on board, is 27 people. I’m sure that record can be broken. Every time I get on one, I wonder hopefully if this is the day we sail on to 28, a cause for celebration. It doesn’t seem humanly possible because, when we had 27, the conductor had to put much of his body out the open window in the side door but I think this could be achieved if small children were added to the pack.

The last time that I rode back into Morogoro from Mzumbe, I was sitting in the very back of the dalla dalla, which is a good place because it’s far from the “packin’em in” aisle. Beside me was a skinny young man sitting next to the back window and when we pulled into the dalla dalla stand, he just folded up his limbs in a mysterious way and exited right out that little back window before I knew what was happening.

For longer distances, big buses are a good option. They usually sell only as many tickets as there are seats and the seats are assigned and relatively comfortable. The Abood Bus Company runs a line between here and Dar and various other places. If you’re on a long bus trip and need to use the bathroom anytime, you are truly on your own. (David Sedaris’ stadium pal might come in handy then). Dar is only three or four hours away, so that’s doable for me. When I rode here from Dar on the Abood bus and struck up a conversation with my seatmate Joel, it turned out that he works in Morogoro and knows Dave! So it’s a small world, even here.