Songea
Tanzania · Africa
About Songea
Songea is the capital of Ruvuma Region in southwestern Tanzania. It is located along the A19 road. The city has a population of 286,285, and is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Songea. Between 1905 and 1907, the city was a centre of African resistance during the Maji Maji Rebellion in German East Africa. The city is poised to experience significant economic growth in the near future as the Mtwara Corridor opens up in a few years. It is projected to be the sixth fastest growing city on the African continent between 2020 and 2025, with a 5.74% growth.
The city took its names after one of the Ngoni warriors, killed in 1906 during the time of German repression of the Maji Maji rebellion.
After the Second World War, the area was marked for rapid agricultural development linked to the ultimately disastrous groundnut scheme. A railway had been planned from the coast to Songea and actually appeared in 1950s high school geography text books. During the liberation war with Mozambique the Songea area was a restricted zone and occasionally suffered aerial attacks by Portuguese forces. Its remoteness made it vulnerable to ivory poaching, and communications remained...
Songea travel guide
Getting there
Dar es Salaam – Sumry Tsh 32,000. You get a soda and a snack, plus there’s the Al Jazeera stop. Moro – Scandinavia Tsh 28,000 Iringa – Super Feo Arusha – Hood Tsh 35,000 Njombe – Fikiri Trans Tsh 8,000 Phone number for the Songea office: 0756-286-674 Masasi – Tsh 15,000
Getting around
Taxi no more than Tsh 3,000 from anywhere to anywhere else in Songea town—it isn't that big a place.
Eat
Sorry—no cheese, no ice cream Supercafe – Lots of little foods that can add up to big hela. They’ve got tiny burgers in big buns and warm banana bread. Get a glass of passion juice! Songea Bakery – The sign calls them lizatot, but Jenna calls them “Entimenes” they’re that good. They have tables inside and outside under an umbrella. Mtini Pub – It’s a kibanda under an mti. (There are cheap guest houses around here too; they’re noisy though from the bar crowd.) Agape Cafe – It has Tanzanian fare plus some baked goods. You can sit in a booth, watch television.
Sleep
There are guest houses all around the standi for Tsh 5000 to 10,000. Don Bosco – Tsh 5000 self-contained single (but the beds are double-bed size), big room with a television, the running water isn’t hot but the matron will bring you some if you ask, less than five-minutes’ walk from the bus standi. On Sunday mornings, you wake up to the entire Catholic mass over speakerphone from the church next door
Go next
Towards Lindi and Mtwara, a large section of the A19 road is under construction. From Nantumbo to Nangomba the tarmac road turns into a very rough dirt road. In the rainy season this stretch of road poses a serious obstacle, with mud, sand, rocks and flooding to contend with, and a 4WD or off-road bike is definitely recommended. It wouldn't hurt in the dry season either!
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.