After the safari I decided to go south to Malawi but flying in Africa is very expensive so I decided to take the bus. I googled and read a lot about this route, met two people who have done it and got some guidance but even before starting the trip I knew it would be long.
From Arusha, Julia and I took the bus to Morogoro and stayed with her friend for a night. The bus journey was long but very comfortable. We went with a company called abood and I was actually impressed by the quality of the bus. It wasn't like in the dala dalas, everybody had a seat and it was a nice bus but still no A/C although it was advertised.

Our journey started at 5:15am by leaving the hostel and then at 6am sharp the bus left the station, as promised. 

I have never been on a long distance bus in Tanzania and I quickly learned that an empty bus stays empty for about a minute! Around the corner were literally hundreds of people waiting to get a ride to Moshi in the nice long distance bus. From there the 11 hours on the bus were an insane number of stop and go picking and dropping off people and packages.

All the stops were quick but after 4 hours we got a "proper" pee stop:

And then 3 hours later a pee and lunch stop, this time with decent toilets.

Every time we got in a proper bus stop sellers came in the bus selling bread, chocolate, soda, water, peanuts and so many more things. When the stop was short people would just come to the windows and start screaming trying to sell their goods... kind of overwhelming.

Once I woke up to find a man selling stuff while the bus was moving; he had a huge bag and out of it came out so many things! He sold face cream, tooth paste, tooth brushes, exfoliating gloves, acne cream... he had so much in his bag! The funny thing is that it works, people actually do their shopping from the bus! 

I kept falling asleep in the bus but when I was awake the scenery was beautiful! At one point I woke up and it looked like the Philippines outside of my window, palm trees and green mountains all around. So pretty!

The bus ride was nice to see the lifestyle of Tanzanians. It is somehow shocking to see the level of poverty that some people live in. For hours and hours all we saw were mud huts with people sitting outside and kids playing with nature or with tires or regular items. In a way it made me reflect on how little we actually need to live and survive and how we live a life so full of luxury!

At 5pm we arrived in Morogoro and took a taxi to Julia's friend house who was kind to let me spend a night with them. Once we got to the station we ignored the taxi drivers, went to buy my ticket for Mbeya for the next day, and then Julia handled the taxi driver like a pro for the price we wanted to pay.

That night I spent it in Morogoro and Julia's friend made us a delicious dinner! 

Now... the 2nd day of my journey!

The day before I got a ticket for the 9am bus to Mbeya but Julia's friend said "it's gonna come at 10, probably is the one from Dar" but still I wanted to be there at the 8:30 check in time.

At 8am I left with my backpack and waited 15 minutes for the taxi driver who was supposed to get there at 8... pole pole!

I arrived at 8:30 and of course everything is disorganized and a hundred people are screaming "mzungu" at me and trying to take my backpack from me, so annoying! I said "hapana asante" and walked to the office and sat there... for more than an hour and a half!!!!

Finally at 10:40 the bus arrived and I got in. 

The bus was so bad compared to the one the day before. I was disappointed! I got a window seat with no actual opening and I need air in order to survive long rides but luckily the guy in front of me kept it a little open the whole way. I was happy to finally be in the bus and start the 11 hour bus ride, but then I noticed... my seat was right under the speaker! That's probably the worst spot you could get in a Tanzanian bus; they blast Tanzanian pop music the whole ride or play super loud movies that involve a lot of shootings! So annoying!

Anyway, I had accepted the way things were working out and then... the bus stopped! Everybody got out! What? Whyyy?!? I just got on 5minutes ago!

The stop took like 30 minutes at the company parking lot and then we were on our way! Yeay! 

We drove non stop and I fell asleep and prayed most of the time. The guy was speeding and although the road was good there were a lot of turns. At one point I woke up because we stopped and we were at a police station! It turned out the driver was speeding and was stopped by the police. It was funny to see how the driver told everybody to stay in the bus and no one listened. Everybody gathered around the driver and a police man even began screaming to one of the passengers. 



After 20 minutes I decided to get out and walk around to stretch and when it was time to go a couple of guys screamed "mzungu" at me to let me know it was time to go.

The rest of the ride was pretty much uneventful. The road condition did change and it got really bad and the worst it got the more the driver liked to speed! I was lucky to have a kind Zambian guy next to me who tried to feed me meat and shared his oranges with me.

Finally around 10pm we reached Mbeya and the bus started to stop all over town. I was checking my map so my bus partner asked me where I was going and he told the guy from the bus. Well, it turned out that they wouldn't stop at the main station so the guy got me out, took my backpack, and put me in a motorbike to my hotel.

I arrived at the hotel and it turned out they had given my room away and took me next door to a run down and yucky motel. No big deal, I just needed to sleep 4 hours!

3rd and final day!

At 4:30am I woke and got ready to start my day! I dropped the key off and the guy from the motel actually walked me to the dala dala station and put me in the right dala dala... I had prayed for God to send angels my way... maybe this was angel #1!

At 4:55am I was inside the dala dala to nane nane station which took 10 mins to depart and 20mins to get to the station (400Tsh.)

At 5:30am I got inside the coaster to the border at nane nane (5,000tsh.) When I arrived the bus was almost empty so we had to wait about 30 minutes to get full. 

Silly me thought that going in the front seat by the door was a smart move so I could stretch my legs! Ha! I forgot that they overpack their dala dalas and I actually spent more than two hours crushed between my backpack and the sardines coming in!

Finally at 8:10am I  arrived at bus terminal near the border and took motorcycle for 1,000Tsh so it would go quicker than walking 2km!

By 8:20am I had arrived at the border! Yeay!

Weird sign at the border! haha

Then I had to walk to the office to get my departure stamp. By almost 9am I was finished with Tanzania and entered Malawi!!! The visa process was easy but took about half an hour and $75!

By 9:30 I walked out of the border and by 9:45 I was already in the matutu (the Malawian's dala dala) heading to my first stop… The mushroom farm!




1. Direct bus Arusha to Mbeya: 55,000 shillings  ($25)
with Mohamed Classic Bus- total time 19 hours
(Also can get bus from Dar, Iringa, or Morogoro)
** Good accommodation in Mbeya: Millennium inn (right across the street from station) OR Mbalizi Lodge (free transport by Millennium inn, 2 min drive or 20 min walk, apron 2-3km) both offer nice single room with bathroom and hot shower for 20,000Shillings/night

2. Dala Dala from Mbeya bus terminal to Nane Nane station: 400 shillings ($0.20)
time: 30-45 minutes

3. Bus from Nane to Nane to Border: 5,000 shillings ($2.20)

4. Motorbike from bus station to Border: 1,000 shillings max ($0.40)
or walk 20 mins carrying your backpack!

5. Do all the processing, walk to Malawian side (Stop for a selfie at the Welcome to Malawi sign!)

6. Matola or shared taxi from Border 
- to Karonga: 1.000Kwachas (30 mins) $1.40
- to Livingstonia intersection: 2.500Kwachas (3 hrs) $3.40
- to Mzuzu: 5.000Kwachas (5hrs) $7
- to Nhakata Bay: bus to Mzuzu then transfer to mazola/ taxi to Nhkata bay: 1.500 Kwachas $2