Cycle 5 Travelogue: Hello Tanzania!
We crossed into Tanzania and the riding quickly started to change. Our first few days took us along the foothills of Kilimanjaro with beautiful views of the mountain, banana plantations and plenty of avocados. The route was a mix of tarmac and gravel. Some of the gravel was pretty rocky and had us appreciating the pavement when we got back to it! We also had some steady climbs and headwinds to contend with.
As we headed towards Arusha the scenery opened up and we started seeing more Maasai villages and safari vehicles. We even spotted giraffes, wildebeest and zebras along the way. One day brought a long climb on the T2 followed by a very welcome descent into Arusha. From there we continued north through safari country with more hills, busy stretches of road and some quieter sections. We covered more than 395 km in Tanzania over these first five days. By the time we reached Katesh our shoulders were feeling it and we were definitely getting into the rhythm of life on the road! ~ Kristen
TANZANIA: Day 3, Tarakea
Monday, July 6 2026
- Rode across the border from Oloitokitok at 2:30pm.
- Asked the board patrol where to stay and he said the Rock City Hotel 300m down the road.
- Got into the hotel at 3:30pm. A bit of back-and-forth to stay here: there’s no Wi-Fi and they don’t seem to want to speak English with us, but will stay here anyway as the other two places are unknown and there’s a restaurant here.
- Well apparently they solved the problem and there is internet! lol. It’s only $15 US for both of us to stay, so…
- Dinner at 6pm of rice, eggs and peas in a decent sauce. PL is weary and being cautious, but a good Kili beer makes it taste just fine.
- Talked about what we’re gonna have for breakfast with the cook, and he sent out for some jam as PL had said we wanted to make sandwiches.
- Back to our room early to hang out and look at the routes more.
- I was reading until pretty late, but PL fell asleep probably around 9:30.
