Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

 Some Like It Hot – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dar es Salaam
Friday 7 January 2011

After our troubles getting to Paris, the EgyptAir flights from Paris to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, via Cairo, were uneventful. The planes were on time and our luggage even arrived the same time we did. The glitch was it was an overnight flight, arriving at the ungodly hour of 5:20 AM on Wednesday January 5. In Paris time that was 3:20 AM, so even though we slept for part of the flight from Cairo, we arrived tired and slightly jet lagged. Thank you Jambo (which means Hello in Swahili) Inn for ensuring our taxi driver was waiting for us. At that time in the morning there was little traffic and we had a speedy ride to the Inn where a room was waiting for us.

We crashed until 10 AM when we decided we should get out and stretch our legs. That is when we realized we were not acclimatized to Dar heat. Add to that the fact that Dar is not the most beautiful of cities and the narrow streets are nothing but a gridlock of cars trying to negotiate through town without traffic lights or traffic police and you can understand why we didn’t get far that day. We did find a decent, inexpensive restaurant near the hotel. Besides that we just caught up on more sleep.

We were still suffering the next day, but we did manage a bit better. Our walk took us past the Askari Monument, in the middle of a traffic circle. It was built on the site of a statue of Major Herman Von Wissmann, a German explorer and soldier, who became Governor of German East Africa in 1895. The British tore it down after WWI and erected a bronze statue of an Askari (African) soldier to commemorate all those Askaris who fought and died for Britain in WWI.

The most interesting aspect of Dar was the people watching. The men generally wear Western wear or Islamic robes and the women wear a mixture of western clothes, traditional African printed cotton dresses or skirts and blouses. A smaller percentage of the women wear the full Islamic black chador and hijab. We were entertained at lunch and dinner watching the parking toutsacross the street from the restaurant direct drivers into impossibly tight spaces and out again without causing any damage to their car or the multitude of pedestrians. Watching the women balance impossible loads of eggs and other produce on their heads and the men ride bicycles piled high with goods was awe inspiring. I managed to get a few photos of the parade of people from the safety of our small balcony.

The wind did blow and the rain fell during our crossing to Zanzibar but we were safe and sound in the first class Air Conditioned room on the Azam Fast Ferry. The trip was almost an hour later than usual and the sky was overcast for our arrival but it wasn’t raining and it was cooler than the mainland.

We even felt energized enough after checking into our room to set out to explore Zanzibar Town. It reminded me very much of Morocco with its Islamic architecture. The streets of the Old Town are narrow and twisty, shaded by the walls of the buildings on either side. Most of the buildings are built around a central courtyard with just a solid concrete wall front to show the street. The doors provide individuality. They are sturdy wooden structures with intricate carvings on the lintels and down the sides of the door. Some are reinforced with steel studs, like a suit of armour, harkening back to the days of frequent enemy raids. We had lunch in a traditional restaurant near our Guest House where you choose your food from covered Stainless steel serving dishes and are charged minimal amounts for each dish. There are many western style restaurants as well but we prefer to eat locally if possible. We can always eat pizza at home.

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