The Bus Ride

The rest of our journey to Tukuyu was hair raising to say the least. Our instructions were clear: wait by the side of the highway, pickup the Sumry but as it comes in, make sure it is going to Tukuyu and it will cost you around $20. But alas, this was not to be..

After waiting for the bus for quite some time, while turning down unmarked car rides to Mbeya and overpriced tickets in the process, we managed to see the Sumry bus, full, driving past us.

We managed to run up beside another coach bus as it came through weigh station and pay the right people. Before settling in for the long journey ahead.

In short, our ride was the equivalent of a Greyhound bus speeding down a single lane road with large potholes, going 100km/hr, passing other industrial trucks at high speed. Throw in a cliff and you have two terrified Canadian vet students. It is not surprising then that the coach buses turn this into a sort of race in which our bus came 2nd (oh joy). We also managed to pass two serious accidents involving industrial trucks and an oil tanker that took up ¾ of the road. But that wouldn't deter us, as we never slowed down and squeezed between the accident and the drop off.

With offers to Malawi, Zambia and South Africa abound, we managed to find a minibus to take us to Tukuyu (2hrs away) from Mbeya. They buses seat ~24 people and we had about 40 people on the bus. Because we had our bags we had no leg room and it was very claustrophobic! I'm glad I had a window seat. All things considered, we may just take a quick peek to determine how reasonable flying would be on the way home. All in all we arrived in Tukuyu alive, albeit a little wiser and experienced but most importantly in one piece, ready to get to work.

Cheers,

Monica and Adam