Ruvuma River and the Hippos

Monday was a public holiday, and a couple of us decided to go check out the Ruvuma River and its Hippos.  The Ruvuma River is the border between Tanzania and Mozambique.  For all of those interested in how to get cross the border, here's how you do it.

From Mtwara, there is a minibus that goes to Kilambo.  Twice a day, 6am and 2pm, 4000 TSH.  It's ridiculously crowded.  The road to Kilambo is terrible, and it takes 1.5 hrs to get there.  The bus departs from this guesthouse, two blocks from the bus stand, so ask around the bus stand and meet the driver or the conductor.  The bus also gets crowded fairly easily, so it is a good idea to arrive 20-30 minutes earlier.

Once in Kilambo, if you're going to cross the border, make sure you do the whole immigration process.  The bus stops here for about 20 minutes to do all this, and then continues to the river.

From the river, it's quite a scary task.  You take a dugout canoe to get to the other side, and during the rainy season, it could be quite an adventure.  Boats regularly tip over, and people die.  There is the "Unity Bridge" that connects the two, but it connects the middle of nowhere Tanzania, to the middle of nowhere Mozambique.

The mighty seldom people-killing Ruvuma and its hippos

Checking out the hippos. There were very few hippos that day, which broke my heart.

The village by the river.

The minibus. Yo, do you have some seats?

Because if not, I have to ride this.

Well hey, how about a change of scenery?

It's the rainy season, and mid-morning, I contemplated about going to the market.  But I decided against it because of the heat.  Five minutes later, the rain clouds came.

My house on the left.  The house on the right is my neighbor Mama Happy's.

As I walked outside my house to take some pictures, I was approached by my two students from 2D.  

This scenic walkway is actually just a road that's in front of my house.  The trees here are just ridiculously HUGE.

And this is the housing complex that I reside in. Seven homes.