There are no tourist facilities in Singida town: no game parks, no white water rafting, no beaches, palm trees, or souvenir shops. There are two small lakes and lots of impressive rock formations which look like piles of huge boulders. There are nice friendly people, though communication can be a problem if you don't speak Kiswahili (Swahili). English is often limited to good morning and what is my name? I also met many charming people with excellent English.

There are places to stay, places to eat and drink, banks, an internet cafe and several places which do photo processing.

Things To Do
I spent some time just exploring the town and surroundings on foot. I looked at the local rocks and lakes, walked to nearby communities to meet the people and explored the town.

There is some night life, consisting mostly of quite a number of bars and a disco or two, so it is not the desert you might expect. The cinema now is used as a disco but videos are shown daily and nightly, and films and live football matches are often shown in video show places. Some bars and eating places also show sport, mostly football (and little else!) on TV. Some Tanzanian TV, mostly national news and soaps, is in Swahili but the rest is in English.

Getting There
Singida has a direct but slow rail link to Dodoma, the official capital, and Dar es Salaam, the main commercial centre on the coast. Rail is my preferred means of travel as buses on rough roads go too fast competing for passengers and it is very uncomfortable. The road links by bus to Dodoma, Arusha and Tabora are typical rough bumpy roads. The road to Dodoma is due to be upgraded to a properly surfaced road within the next several years.

Safety
Non-Africans are a little unusual, though I saw several others while I was there. In the villages around the town, a white skin does still draw attention and some young children are a bit scared until they see you mean no harm. Adults and older children often find this very funny and take delight in using you to frghten small children. I should stress that small children don't normally find me scary.

Almost everyone was friendly and though in the town I was approached for money, often by street children who I got to know a bit, little real pestering takes place here. It's a lot safer than Dar es Salaam or Arusha and interaction is good-humoured and unthreatening. I heard of no violent crime and was told it was safe. I did wonder about the wisdom of wandering around in the dark carrying valuables but nothing happened. Caution is advisable, as is avoiding flaunting wealth and valuables. Crime may increase since it will be more easily accessible when a properly surfaced road is built in the next several years.