Legho Hotel, Singida

Updated: July 16, 2000

Habari wa nyumbani!

Our road trip to Singida was another adventure. We left Dodoma at 6:00 AM in order to leave enough time to meet with the local official during the early afternoon in Singida (arrangements had been made by phone from Dodoma on Friday, the 14th). We need to provide letters of introduction from the Antiquities Unit in Dar es Salaam to several authorities here in charge of immigration, cultural affairs, police, etc., and we need to receive a letter from Singida to take with us to Mahenge.

The distance from Dodoma to Singida is about 269 km. When we had gone about 3 hours, or about 75 km into our trip, the perpetually sickly Land Rover lost a wheel! It wasn't dangerous because we were only traveling at about 25 km/hr. However, it was a major breakdown that was going to take some time to fix. We decided to have the driver catch a ride back to Dodoma to get parts, and left Charles Msuya and our cook, Matthew, with the vehicle to wait for his return. We expected the three of them to make their way to Manyoni (about 50km farther down the road) last night and to catch up with us in Singida today (Sunday). Bonnie, Gregg, Pat, Kent, Jason, Beth, Ferdinand (the Antiquities representative), and the second driver continued on to Singida hoping to meet with the officials here.

Photo in Singida at Legho Hotel with Executive Director of Singida District Council, Mr. Charles F. Mwagowa. From left: Gregg Gunnell, Bonnie Jacobs and Mr. Mwagowa.

We arrived last night at around 6 PM. We had a very kind and generous reception here from the manager and staff of the Legho Hotel who were expecting us (after our experience in Dodoma, we decided to make reservations ahead of time!). Fortunately, the hotel manager knows the Executive Director of the Singida District Council, Mr. Charles F. Mwagowa, who we were hoping to see upon our arrival. He was phoned and came to see us and we had a lovely visit. He's very interested in hearing about our work and plans to come to see us while we're camping near Mahenge.

We are on a fairly high plateau at about 5200 ft. (1600m) and the countryside is striking. We passed large expanses of Acacia scrub to woodland with outcrops of gigantic boulders in sometimes bizarre configurations interrupting the view to the horizon. As we got nearer to Singida, we saw several enterprising children selling soft-drink bottles full of honey. We noticed honey-keeper's hives (hollowed out logs) hanging horizontally in the trees.

Because we are now inland and high, the weather is absolutely perfect. We need our sweaters as soon as the sun goes down and in the morning and the temperature is quite pleasant, especially in the shade. We think our camp will be wonderful and are anxious to get there.

Today we have sent the Land Rover for some minor repairs while we wait for the second one to arrive. We will also buy some supplies still needed for our camp such as large water barrels, kerosene for the lanterns, and charcoal for cooking. Mr. Mwagowa has arranged for one of his employees to help us with the shopping as he knows where to find things.

The hotel is delightful, having a large garden area with thatched-roofed tables surrounded by mongoose colonies which provide hours of fascinating entertainment.

Not long after finishing this entry this morning, our three compatriots arrived in good form with the vehicle fixed and running! We are very happy to be reunited again and to see that all is well with them.
We finished all the shopping except fresh fruits and veggies which we will pick up tomorrow before we leave.

Photo at Legho Hotel with Jesse Msonsa,
District Academic Education Officer, Singida Rural.
Shown from left: Kent Newman, Mr. Msonsa, Bonnie Jacobs, Charles Msuya (Muhimbili University Anatomy Department), Pat Herendeen (GWU) and Gerhard Melchinger, Designer, CAPU Singida (Crafts and Artisans Education Unit) from Germany. Gerhard is a new acquaintance of ours who is staying at this hotel. His job is to develop local economies through handicrafts.

This afternoon we were visited by Jesse Msonsa, District Academic Education Officer for Singida Rural. He and S.A.Y. Senggo, our shopping guide and employee from the Agriculture Department, will take us around to all the officials who we must greet before leaving tomorrow morning. They have all been very helpful and are enthusiastic about our efforts to bring our expedition to the web.