Transportation

The various modes of transportation here in Tanga all have one thing in common: chaos. For starters, traffic flows the opposite way from the states. This by itself is no reason to criticize Tanzanian transportation, but it has certainly required me to look BOTH ways before crossing the street for fear of becoming a featured appetizer at the Road Kill Café. In any case, the real reason that transportation is so chaotic, is that there are never more than a total of two lanes, with no center line, no bike lanes, no sidewalks, and the right to pass anyone whenever you so choose with only millimeters between you.

Pedestrians
By far the most popular mode of transportation, the walkers in this town have a lot to look out for. I enjoy walking to school and around town because I get to interact with more of the people in this town, but at least once an outing my walking buddy has to yank me by the arm to keep me from being hit by the oncoming traffic. As far as other pedestrians, it is not uncommon for African women to walk around with babies tied to their back and/or large bundles on their heads. Men are more likely to be seen carrying CDs, pots and pans, or boxers to sell to any spur-of-the-moment purchasers.

Bikes
The bikers of this town fall into three, non-exclusive categories. The first group is just trying to get from point A to point B more quickly than could be done by foot. The second group carrying a heavy load on the front or back of their load for sale to any interested customers – maybe a huge basket of mangoes or oranges. This group is often seen walking their bike around trying to sell their product. The third group is carrying a passenger on the back of their bike. Most frequently this passenger is a woman sitting on a small platform behind the bicycle seat. She has both her feet off to one side, and is somehow able to keep her balance over speed bumps and dirt roads (sometimes even with a baby in her hands) without holding on to anything. The male passengers usually sit with one leg on each side, making it a much easier task. Overall, no one wears helmets, and riding right alongside fast moving cars and busses seems to be the norm.

Motorcycles
The word for motorcycle in Kiswahili is pikipiki. While there are far fewer pikipikis around town than bicycles, this is still a popular transportation option. These machines are sometimes better than cars for navigating the city, can go relatively fast on the open road, and are sometimes operated with helmets. Passengers are also common, and hop on the same way they would a bicycle (women with both legs off to one side, men straddling the bike). I initially thought that only men ride pikipikis until I saw a sixty-something year old woman with goggles riding past the school. Too bad I didn’t have my camera at the time.

Cars
Cars are not uncommon in town, but they certainly are not the most common vehicle on the road. Toyota seems to be the most popular car maker in Tanga and has a dealership in the middle of town. However, I think the cost of cars and fuel is prohibitive to widespread ownership. There are, however, taxis that run throughout the town that can be used for a reasonable price.

Daladalas
Daladalas are like big vans that seat about 15 people. They are used for public transportation and have routes that run throughout the city for only 300 TZ shillings per person (students ride for free). The number of seats in the vehicle, however, has nothing to do with the number of people in the car. Especially during peak hours, you will see these vehicles bursting at the seams with people. There is a daladala that picks up and drops off right outside my house that goes just about everywhere in town, so I used to take it with my host sister to get into town when there was no one at home to drive us. I would like to start using them on my own to get to the beach, the library, the supermarket etc. but I haven’t yet had the time to go on or get permission to go on a solo adventure.

Buses
Buses are the most common means of transportation over long distances. All major cities have huge bus stands where you can purchase a ticket and hop on a bus on the day of your journey. There are many buses leaving every day, but they are not legally allowed to be driving at night because they are so dangerous, so leaving in the early to mid-morning is usually a must. Buses also serve a second role as a mail-carrier. If you want to send a package, say from Tanga to Dar es Salaam, you just pay the driver to put it on the bus and off it goes!


Almost every type of vehicle from bicycle to huge truck can be rented here with or without a driver. However almost everything is at your own risk and major accidents are reported nearly every day in the news. Not even airlines are exempt from this, as a recent news article was talking about the high accident rate of planes here just last week.