Day 89: Kigoma – Biharamulo (Starlight Hotel)

We have breakfast a little late, and it's almost too warm. During the day, the thermometer rises to 32 degrees Celsius. And it's a bit oppressive and hazy.

It's 396 km to our destination today, the Starlight Hotel in Birahamulo on the way to Lake Victoria and the border with Uganda. It's going quite well; the road has excellent tarmac, but many villages make things a bit slow.

It's absolutely crazy how everything on the left and right of the road is covered in red dust. How intense that must have been when even the main road was still a dusty track.

We arrive around 5:30 p.m., pay a good 10 euros for a room (bathroom use), and will spend the night, somewhat noisily but safely, in the parking lot.

Did we mention that we're traveling in a predominantly Muslim area? The muezzin calls have been with us for days.

And did we mention how helpful Google Translate is again? Today, Brigitte negotiated the purchase of some bananas (no, not a whole bunch, just a few pieces) in Swahili :-) After paying, someone had to get a knife to cut the bananas from the bunch.

We've since learned "Leo" (today), Ndizi (banana), Maji (water), polepole (slowly), Ndiyo (yes). Asante sana (thank you) also to Peter from Kigoma...

While we thought this morning that we had handled the challenging days well, this evening we're feeling the effects of the long day of driving and are tired.