So… Kenya on a bus here I come!!!

My way to Kenya!

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So… Kenya on a bus here I come!!!
Wait... It was more like on my way to kenya on a pick up truck, then a matola, then a taxi, then a motorbike, then a bus, then a dala dala, then another motorbike, then a 20 hour bus, then another dala dala, then... it was endless!

I left the chalet in Kazuni at 6:20am and walked to the gate. By 6:30 I was already in a pick up truck on my way to Rumphi, the closest town around.

Fun dirt roads!

When I got on the pick up truck the back had already about 15 people and a motorbike! I threw my backpack in and up I went. The ride was much better than the one up the mushroom farm since it was flat but still very bumpy and uncomfortable. Naive me thought that maybe we couldn’t fit much more people but as we kept stopping the bags on the bed of the truck made it to the roof of the truck allowing more people to stand. At one point I thought we couldn’t fit anymore but of course a couple more fit if they sat on top of the motorcycle strapped in the back of the truck! haha the sight was just hilarious!



Mid way to Rumphi we stopped and the driver and the guy collecting money got out and started pumping air with a ball pump into the tires! Oh my! There were still like 20 people on top of the truck! Each tire took like 5 minutes and when I peaked to see the one near me it still looked pretty flat! I just prayed not to die in a pick up truck accident, those tires could have exploded any second!

An hour and a half later in a pick up truck with 23 people,15 bags and sacks, a motorbike on the bed, and completely covered in red dirt I finally made it to Rumphi!

Dusty much?

I got off the pick up truck and right there there was a matola with the sign “Karonga border” so I asked the guys if they were going to the border and they said yes so I gave them my bag, went to get some food, and hoped in the back of the matola.




The ride to Karonga took forever! We had to wait for an hour to get the bus full and then we kept stopping. In Malawi there are many police check points I think to make sure that busses are not too full and that every body is sitting but the matola drivers are “smarter” than the police. The drivers know all the police points so they will overfill the bus and have 6-10 people sardined in between checkpoints. I figured that in every stop the guy collecting money talks to the person to see how far they are going, if going farther than the police check point they can’t get in but if they can be dropped off before they are welcome to stand uncomfortably in the bus. 
It was very funny to see how all the locals will pass kids around and switch seats before the check points. From what I observed children couldn’t be in windows and only 4 adults could be in a row and probably there could only be a certain amount of lap kids per row therefore the switching back and forth.

It never looked like this at police checks!

During every single check point the police would walk around the matola and look inside. In one of them an officer asked me to open my window and said “money”, I looked at him and said “No” and made a mean face. Then we had a funny exchange
Police: “Money” again
Me:  “At the border they tell us not to give anybody money” 
Police: “Where are you going? Where are you from?”
Me: “To the border, from El Salvador”
Police: “What language do you speak in your country?”
Me: “spanish”
Me again: “You shouldn’t ask for money”
Police: “I never asked for money, you heard me wrong-Passport”
Me: “You can look at it but you can’t take it”
Police: “I’m an immigration officer”
I gave him a mean bitch face and showed him my passport, he took it, left with it and came back a minute later, gave me my passport and left. So freaking annoying!

After 3 and a half hours in the matola I finally made it to Karonga, the city! Everybody got off and I was confused! Why is everybody getting off? Isn’t this going to the border? So I got off and asked the driver if he was going to the border and said I needed to find another matola! Are you serious!?!?!
I went to the guy who charged me 4,000kwachas to the border and complained. He said the 4,000kwachas were from Rumphi to Karonga. I started to get angry, then he added “Rumphi to Border 5,000”… Ha! He really doesn't want to mess with me when I’m angry!
I complained, I said that I had asked specifically if this was going to the border and he had said yes, that we had a deal, and that the 5,000 was a lie! That’s 5,000 is from the border to all the way to Mzuzu and from Rumphi to Mzuzu is 2,000 so it was impossible this was 5,000 so he had no choice other than give me my 1,000kwachas back! (well, I actually took them out of his hands!haha)

With my 1,000kwachas in hand I went out to find a shared taxi since I was sick and tired of the matolas. The first taxi tried to charged me 1,500kwachas but I said that it was 1,000kwachas and he said “Ok, go with that guy” and pointed at a taxi on the street. I got in the front seat and searched for more people to get to the border.

By 2pm I had crossed both borders and it was extremely easy, no queues for anything.
Bye bye Malawi :(

Hello Tanzania!

Since I knew my way back I went on a motorbike and then got into a dala dala to nane nane station and then changed to another dala dala to Mbeya main bus station. When I got off at nane nane it was crazy, I had at least 10 men screaming around me to go in different dala dalas and they really made me mad, so mad that I just screamed “Stop it” at all of them! I think I have never screamed that loudly in my life! They all immediately shut up and looked at me so I just added “I’m going in that dala dala” and walked away. Before entering I asked the locals if it was going to the main station and they said yes, so I went in.

Once I got to the main station I had to go find a bus company but by then my driver knew what I was looking for and told me which guy to go with. I walked into their office and asked 100 questions about the bus, the schedule, the drivers, the road… anything imaginable!
I even asked for them to walk me to the bus so I could see it before making up my mind. Last time the Abood bus was such a disappointment that I had learned my lesson.
The bus looked decent and the guys were nice so I decided to go with them. They assured me that I would get to Moshi by the next day at night which didn’t quite makes sense to me so I asked them how because if we looked at the time and distance I wouldn’t be able to make it at 9-11pm to Moshi. They assured me that they take a shortcut through Dodoma and that I would get to Moshi that same night.

 I went back to the hotel across the street from the bus station I had booked last time but once again they were full. They put me in a car and drove me to their other hotel 2km away and gave me a nice private room with hot water for 20,000Tsh ($9)


The next day at 6am I left Mbeya. The hotel had said that they would give me a free transfer and they would pick me up at 5:15am but guess what? That din’t happen! By 5:35am I was angry and told them I needed to go right that second! The car never showed up but they did pay for a motorbike transfer.

I arrived at the station, had no trouble finding my bus and I was on my way to Moshi!

The bus stopped once at 11am… that’s 5 hours after we left! The toilet queue was so long I couldn’t go during the 10 min stop… and I didn’t know that the next stop would be at 6pm!!! And that’s exactly why I do not drink any water in African busses! 



Mohammed Classic Bus company

At the 6pm stop I was able to go to the toilet but not buy food because the food court was closed! Our next stop was at 1am at Arusha!

So, during the 6pm stop I met one guy from Arusha who told me I was not going to get to Moshi that night but that he would help me out and guess what? He was right!

We arrived passed 1am and no way I could get to Moshi! This guy fought for me to get a transfer, he said I had paid for it and that they needed to take me. After much back and forth we figured out that there were 9 people with a Moshi ticket but no Moshi bus. This guy made the company move me into their office to wait for the “4am” bus which turned out to be a 5am, of course!

It doesn't matter what means of transportation I use, it always is an adventure! As a mzungu who loves adventure and find these things funny (although annoying) and part of the journey, I feel for the locals who actually need to get to their destination, can’t afford to get held back for hours, and there is zero sympathy for them.
As the foreigner I was given a space in the office to keep warm and sit down in between the lost luggage and a couple of card boxes with chicken but where were the other people who got a ticket for Moshi? Outside! In the cold… so unfair!


Those cardboard boxes have chicken in them!


At 4:45am I just heard “MZUNGU!” and woke up, grabbed my bag and was in a dala dala to Moshi… finally!

At 7am after walking in the rain I got to my hostel in Moshi and was received by a happy “Andrea! You are back!”… Feels nice when the staff remembers you, it means I am doing something right!


The next 3 days I spent them in Moshi catching up on emails, blogs, and enjoyed my resting time before heading up to Nairobi! 
Got to see a little bit of Mt Kili


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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

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About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com