Courtesy of Wasafiritanzania Blog

If you need to travel from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam, there are two main options. You can either fly or you can take a long-haul bus.

Flights run, on average, $150 USD for a one way flight. You’ll also need cab fare to the airport, which, depending on your negotiation skills, can run you anywhere from $10-25 USD as well. All in, let’s call it $175. Not too awful really, and it will likely only take you five hours start to finish to arrive in Dar.

However!

The bus ticket runs approximately 32,500-36,000 shillings, or around $16 USD. A cab to the bus station shouldn’t be more than 5,000 shillings (I negotiated 3,000), so another $2. Unfortunately my arrival in Dar was during a downpour, so I ended up paying another 32,000 shillings for the cab to my hotel, but this really should be another 10,000… so somewhere between $5-15 more dollars. For a grand total of… $33 USD. The bus is a much more “authentic” experience, which we’ll get to in a moment, but it *does* take an entire day to accomplish the travel.

Clearly, from the title of this blog, you can tell which option I chose.

Now, let’s talk about the bus.

I went the night before to purchase my ticket, which I think was the best way to do it, because I wasn’t feeling rushed or pressured to get a good price “because the bus was leaving.” I had heard from other travelers that the Kilimanjaro Express and Dar Express were recommended, but my tour guide from the day had mentioned Machame… and Machame was the first desk I saw, so I walked over. The ticket seller didn’t even try to play games. He quoted me 32,500 shillings, which was less than I expected, so I frankly just bought the ticket. I’m sure I could potentially have haggled but I knew what the ticket should cost and the price he gave was well within range, so I didn’t feel like messing with him just to “get a better deal.” I got to pick my seat, he gave me my ticket, and then I was set! I walked back to my hostel, organized transport with their preferred cab service (aka the guy who parks in their driveway) for 5:15am (call time for the bus was 5:30), and went inside to have dinner and pass out.

In the morning my cabby was ready and I arrived in about 5 minutes. My ticket was checked and my bag placed in its own compartment under the bus. I watched the door get closed and locked, just to be safe.

We all milled around outside the bus until maybe 5:50 or so, when the driver/guide instructed us to board. Annnnnnnnnnnd here we go!

I wandered in and found my window seat, and I was ecstatic when a youngish, friendly girl sat next to me, and not some random, unfriendly/smelly man. We smiled at each other and said hello, and then we were off!

The bus had drop down screens which alternately featured Swahili music videos and Swahili movies. Throughout the ride the variety cracked me up, and it wasn’t set at an unpleasant volume which was helpful. Once we were rolling around 6am, I promptly passed out until about 10. We had stopped for a bush pee break, which are always amusing. I am SO GLAD I had been on my Acacia tour before this, otherwise I would have been panicked about peeing on the side of the road and I also wouldn’t have had any toilet paper. #TIA

Of course, though, I have to be clumsy and it had been drizzling a bit and I managed to step in a puddle on my way back from the pee-break. Yes, I’m sure it was water, it was nowhere near where people were peeing. HOWEVER, the driver was convinced I peed on my foot. *sigh* The life of a muzungu. I tried to assure him I just stepped in a puddle, but who knows what he believes.

Back on the bus, I popped open the window to catch a breeze, and dozed on and off again until around 12:30 when we stopped for lunch. My seat buddy helped me order chicken and chips, which I inhaled (we had 10 minutes at the rest stop), aaaannnddd then we were moving again!

At around 2pm or so the skies opened up and it started to POUR. Like, I’m talking water deluge from the sky. We all had to close our windows or be soaked, and that’s when the trip became miserable. These busses do *not* have aircon, so we just started to sweat. And sweat. And sweat.

Every once and a while I would try to crack the window, get soaked for a few minutes, and then be unable to handle it any longer, and close the window.

It was such total misery.

Oh! I forgot to mention! The bus would make periodic stops along the way to pick up passengers. At lots of these stops, there were vendors with little cardboard boxes displaying their wares that they would hold up to the bus windows, essentially bringing their store to you. They had everything from cold water and sodas to candy bars, chips, and fresh fruit. I personally didn’t buy anything since I’d stocked up on snacks and beverages the day before, but a lot of my fellow passengers partook. It was a pretty slick system if I do say so myself.

ANYHOW, eventually it was 5pm and we got to this huge bus station, where we parked. I asked the girl next to me where we were and she told me “Ubungo.” I figured we were at the last major stop before Dar.

I WAS SO WRONG.

After sitting around for 30 minutes, I saw another non-Tanzanian hop off another bus with a backpack and I got suspicious. I turned to my friend again and said, “This is Ubungo right? Not Dar Es Salaam?” She proceeded to gasp, and explain that Ubungo IS the Dar Es Salaam stop.

ARG!

I shoved my way off the bus (lots of people were chillin in the aisle) and told the driver I needed my bag since this was my stop.

And I exited the bus.

Into a foot of standing water.

Thank goodness I wore my flipflops for my travel day.

We got my pack on, I thanked the driver, and I headed off to find a cab.

Of *course* the driver wanted to haggle with me, starting at a price of 50,000 shillings.

Helllllllllll to the no!

I absolutely REFUSED to pay more than my bus ticket for the cab ride, and he was insisting that because of the rain the traffic would be horrible.

Sorry dude. I’m not paying you more than $16 to drive me like ten minutes up the road. It’s just NOT happening.

Eventually after I stood there and glared at him for about five straight minutes, he agreed to 32,000 shillings and I was off to my accommodation. YES!

Annnnnnnnnnnd there you have it!

14 or so hours after I woke up, I was tucked safely in my hotel in Dar (the drive was NOT bad btw). I have no idea about the quality of Kilimanjaro Express or Dar Express, but Machame was absolutely fine and would have been 100% pleasant if it hadn’t rained for almost half the ride.

If you’re backpacking or you want to experience the country and the people, I HIGHLY recommend taking a long haul bus somewhere in Tanzania. You won’t regret it!