I've heard that the main road (B3) from Rwanda, east across Tanzania has recently been torn up by the Chinese !

Has anyone got any recent info on it ? Is it going to be like the Bandit highway ??

I heard from one biker that it will take four days and is a total nightmare buts its the only road east.

Ted

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A reply I received by email... Many thanks




Hi Ted
I'm not registered at the Hubb so I'll reply to you by e-mail. I have
been driving the road in the opposite direction at the end of October
this year, and it was very far from being a nightmare.
I can tell you about the condition between the turnoff to
Ngara/Burundi Border and Singida.
Turnoff Ngara/Burundi to Lusahanga: Tarmac, some potholes
Lusahanga to Kamaha: Tar but two sections of resurfacing (=your
driving on a parallel dirt road). One section of 20km by the Germans
around Ushirombo/Bukombe and one section of 15km courtesy of the
Chinese just before Kahama. These sections may change/have changed due
to ongoing resurfacing.
Kahama-Singida: Good tarmac
We came down from Arusha to Singida and this part is in fact right now
being surfaced by the chinese between Tarangire NP and Singida. I
can't tell you about going east from Singida from experience but was
told it's all tarmac now. We could drive from Singida to the Burundi
Border in two days with our Truck which is much, much slower than a
bike...

Save Travels
Cheers
Thomas

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Hi Ted,
I took a route out of Rwanda into Tanzania and through to Malawi, in July this year.
I visited Lake Tanganyika (Kigoma) which was a great, if a little difficult, ride. I sense you're in a bit of a hurry, but if you have the time I'd recommend it very highly.

More details here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tst...t_tanzania.php

After that I headed generally eastwards to Dodoma, another recommendation. It's the capital, but is all sand roads except the road with the parliament building and the main road around it. Quite strange. Nice place to stay.

On that stretch I took a wrong turn heading to Singida and ended up on 30 miles of deep talcum powder that took over half a day. That's to say, the whole route is good tarmac but you can find plenty of places to go off-road.

From Dodoma I continued the loop round to Mikumi, Mbeya then south into Malawi.

I think, by a close margin, Tanzania was about the friendliest country of the whole trip. But I was on my own, and in Tanzania you're not allowed to be on your own, so people will always look after you and keep you company.

There's a LOT of road building going on and I seemed to bump into Tanzanian road engineers all over the place, and they know exactly what roads are tarmac and which are still being upgraded. Just mix a lot with the locals and you'll find them!

Have a good trip.
Ken

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I drove the B3 from Rwanda to Dar recently and the road was almost all very good new tar, barring maybe some sections between Dodoma and Dar, but nothing too bad.
made it from Rwanda to Dar in two days overnighting in Dodoma.

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Thanks so much for the info. Looks pretty ok then.

Just trying to work out how long it will take me because I want to be in Malawi for Xmas but still having a great time in Uganda

Regards, Ted

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
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Hi Ted,

so here's me in the depths of a colder than normal English winter and I thought I'd pop into WH Smiths and noticed issue 2 of the Adventure Bike Rider. So I bought a copy, took it home and, as usual started glancing through from the back page and who's ugly mug did I find staring back at me but yours!

Have a great Christmas matey.

Regards

Reggie

HAHAH ! You can't escape this mug mate

Don't miss the next issue. Apparently I've got an article in there about Sudan..

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.