Taxi

The village where I live is a couple kilometers out side of the small city of Moshi, and when we want to go into town (most days) we can either walk for an hour or take a cab. Now don't get me wrong, the walk is very nice and perfectly safe and I make the trip on foot at least once a week, but an hour in the mid day Tanzanian sun is not something to be taken lightly. A cab to town from Karanga village only costs 4,000 tsh (roughly $4) so if you get a couple other people to go your only looking at about a $1 to get to town.

Where as in America to get a cab you would either call the company or just hail one on the street depending on where you were here in Tanzania, and probably a lot of Africa, you can actually call your favorite cab driver on his cell phone. Our favorites are Regebu, Tom, and Juma who all know us well and give us fair prices. They all speak English very well and Regebu especially likes to quiz us on our Swahili. What is also nice about them is that they know all the places that we mzungu like to go, ie; the Internet cafe, various restaurants, and the better souvenir stores. Their cars are clean and run well. From time to time Regebu will let one of the volunteers, usually Nicole, drive his car for part of the way home. Over all it's always nice to get a ride from any of these guys.

Where the adventure begins however is when you get a ride in a cab you just pick up on the street. When we are in town and want to get back we sometimes just pick up a cab who is waiting on the street like you would in any city back home. We usually try to pick a cab that belongs to the cab company, they have white cars with a blue stripe and white licence plates. Then first thing to do is see if the driver knows where we want to go. Karanga village is a little out of the way (as in way down a dirt road) and not all the drivers in Moshi know how to get there. If you cant give directions, and usually you cant, you find another cab. It's not much trouble to find any number of cabs, they seem to sit around for most of the day. If they can get you where you want to go the next thing to do is agree on a price. Cab's here don't use meters and prices are negotiable like most services. In and around Moshi we know about what we should be paying, and if a driver wants to charge too much you simply walk away. The driver will either give in and take you for a fair price or another driver will jump at the chance to take you.

The cars themselves are always a gamble, you never know what you will get. With our favorite drivers we know the cars are well maintained and clean, but there are times you are surprised that some of the taxi's you get in can make it as far as Karanga. Cracked windshields are not uncommon, and if you are in the back seat the windows may or may not open. Since I have been here I have been in only one cab with working air conditioning (it was actually a random street cab) so an open window is critical. It is also not unusual for the cab to have to stop for gas on the way. I don't think I have seen any cab with more than a quarter tank of gas since I have been here, and most are on empty the entire time.

Over all though things work rather well, and we have never not gotten to our destination. We may from time to time get stuck in a herd of cows or be unable to cross a flooded road, and on the dirt roads you will almost inevitably bang your head once or twice. But we have always made it. It's always an adventure.