Mwanza Baby! 🌅🧗

This post was meant to go up as I enjoyed the beauty of Lake Kivu but as Corona would have it I am home winding up my day😭. This therefore means that the plan to tick 3 countries off my list didn’t come to fruition. I was however able to shortly explore one country before the Covid-19 situation became alarming💔. For that, today I will share with you all about Mwanza.💃

Mwanza is a town located in the western part of Tanzania and 16 hours, by road, from Nairobi🚌. It is a very beautiful and safe town with amazing amazing people and a spectacular sunrise🌅. I got to spend 3 nights and 4 days there and here are the tips I picked during my time there. Enjoy😉😉

NB: The prices mentioned are in Kenyan Shillings (Kes) and are converted from Tanzanian Shillings (Tsh) in the rate 1Kes = 20 Tsh.

Transport

I used Modern Coast for my departure and return journey. It cost me 3,150/= in total; 1,000/= to and 2,150/= from. I can recommend one to use them as they kept time and had very good customer service. You should however be careful during booking not to fall prey to the lie that only VIP seats are available!

Border requirements

The two main things you will need while crossing over is a Yellow fever card and a Passport or Temporary permit.📝 It is important to note that while crossing the Kenya – TZ border, you will need to get stamps from both sides.

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Accommodation

What I am about to share with you is a gem😭. Upon arrival in Mwanza, we left our bags at the Modern Coast booking office and went to hunt for a place to sleep. Rock City Lodge was the first lodge we checked out and it was absolutely love at first sight😆. Being only a four minute walk to the Buzurunga stage it was very clean, affordable, had free breakfast and a beautiful ambience😍🙌. We settled for a double room because in TZ people of the same sex are not allowed to share a room with one bed🤕. The double room went for 2,000 bob; I paid 1,000/= a night.

Sim-cards

Because internet connectivity is importanter😜we bought a Sim card immediately after securing a place to sleep. We got an Airtel simcard for 150/= and 2.5GB data at 100/=. The network connectivity was spectacular but what surprised me was that they take your fingerprints during sim registration🧐.

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Money

In regard to money, the first thing is to atleast change some of your Ksh to Tsh before the journey📝. Because Kenyan money is not recognized in TZ you may be unable to even get some water when need be.

On changing currency’s, the modern coast office had a good rate of 1 Ksh = 20 Tsh. You can change your money here. I however had to wait for Monday to change mine as I had unfortunately changed mine to dollars (USD) before the journey. The rate for USD was really good but if you will be arriving on a weekend kindly just carry your money in Ksh.📝

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Fooood!

If you are a foodie Mwanza is the place for you😂. You will eat, snack and eat again without feeling an effect on your budget🙌. The cheapest meal, that wehad, was a plate of rice and beans at 50/= and the most expensive was a plate of rice and fish at 600/=. At this point, I will let the pictures do the talking.

Getting around

Figuring out places while in Mwanza was quite easy. I think this is because we stayed close to the stage and that their transport system is quite similar to what we have here; only cheaper. We entirely used Matatus and Daladalas🏍️. The seating arrangement on their matatus is very funny so just make sure you don’t pick the seat behind the driver; you will fall🤣. Also, Google maps was not very accurate but the locals were very willing to direct us and even escort us to where we were going.

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Budget

Saving the best for last😉. I wanted to keep this trip under 10,000/= and I’m happy to announce that a sister was able to achieve this!🤑 The TravelSpend app, mentioned on my previous blog, really came through as I easily keyed in the expense type and amount with two simple clicks! Here is the expense breakdown!🤓

Return journey transport – 2,150

Accommodation – 3,000

Food and Water – 1,065

Sight seeing + Guide tips – 2,250

Transport and Airtime – 820

Incase you are wondering why I haven’t included the transport cost from Nairobi to Mwanza; it is because I booked the ticket in January during the 999/= offer Modern Coast had.

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My total spend ended up being 9,285/=. I even ended up changing 250/= back to Ksh😎 after buying some shoes and a globe as souvenirs. For 3 nights and 4 days, do you think I hacked this budget thing? Let me know below in the comment section💬

As per the usual 😉 see you in two weeks as I share with you a Mwanza look book highlight the activities we got into👯. Thank you for reading and see you in two weeks❤️.

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See you soon🤗🤗