James Dontje

Working in international development. Interests: biking, agriculture, poetry and pottery.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 30. Well, if you will pardon the pun, this is a clean sweep of 30 Days of Biking in Tanga. My admiration and respect to all the bikers here who bike everyday, carrying loads, people, and their hopes for the future.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 29 (posted late). While all bikes in Tanga seem to haul some kind of cargo, there are also some purpose-built cargo bikes like these two.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 28. More rain today in Tanga. I stayed dry (mostly) dodging showers while running errands in town.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking. Day 27 (posted a day late). Not your typical Tanga, TZ, biker but we enjoyed a two day visit by Daren who is on his way from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Johannesburg, South Africa.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 26 one day late. Bike parking at the supermarket.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 25 (posting two days late). One Tanga intersection late in the afternoon. 8 minutes, 23 bikes. https://t.co/CrCiAxLDA5

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 24 (yesterday). No bike , but it was too good to pass up. I wore my helmet into the supermarket. At the check out, the cashier's daughter saw me and insisted on putting her bike helmet on. With her mother's blessing to use the photo, here is her happy face.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 23. With all these bikes around Tanga, some of them need repair. Besides a many near the large market (I think of it as a bicycle street) there are many roadside repair shops like this one, and also tire pumping stations like that in the second photo.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 22. Earth Day. The earth spoke today in the language of rain almost nonstop from the wee hours of the morning until evening. So my ride was short, dark, and muddy. So my photo is from yesterday's sunset before the rain rolled in.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 21. Besides charcoal, wood is another common fuel here in Tanga, often transported by bicycle.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 20. No rack, no problem. Just put your schoolmate on the top bar in front of you.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 19. Less rain today. But the level of bike bling remains the same. Many riders here in Tanga dress up their bikes in a myriad of ways.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 18. The long rains have begun in earnest and got very wet on my second ride today. But during a break in the rain I took this photo. Some of the used bikes sold in Tanga are on the small side IMHO but many people, like this man, seem to like them.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

Alas, three day trip away from Tanga interrupted my #30DaysofBiking. The only riding I did was at Arusha Bicycle Center, a wonderful place to find used bikes.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Dusk in Tanga during Ramadan. This Muslim man is probably pedaling home to break the fast.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 12. Kids bike in Tanga, too.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 11. Boda-boda. Carrying passengers by passengers by bicycle (and motorcycle) is a full-time occupation for many in Tanga.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Day 10. Bikers in Tanga come from many places. Ferdinand (left) and Dimitri from France passed through Tanga on their way from Nairobi to Johannesburg. In the afternoon, my ride for the day took me to the ocean to watch other non-motorized transport.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking Bikes (and motorcycles) bringing the charcoal supply to town. But sometimes the riders need to rest.

[James Dontje @DontjeJames]

#30DaysofBiking My photo from yesterday (Day 8) is not the best quality but it represents another side of biking. While taken here in Tanga, it illustrates that with the right bikes, more people can ride bike everyday, not just in April.