Africa. The birthplace of humanity.

The name resonates with a primordial beauty. Africa has everything. Millenia of history. A harsh, unforgiving and yet beautiful landscape. An abundance of varied and dramatic wildlife.

What it didn’t have, was a fat, sweaty white man making cynical, slightly humorous comments (well, actually it probably did, but allow me this conceit).

So, Tanzania. Our first port of call was Dar Es Salaam and from the moment we touched down at the Julius K Nyerere airport, and spent 90 minutes in immigration, I knew we were in for a treat. The moment we tried to take our first taxi and it required jumper leads to start, I could sense this was the beginning of something special. By the time we drove in from the airport, and noticed a truck with 15 men in the back, one of whom was holding an AK-47, I was positively shitting myself with excitement.

Dar Es Salaam is the capital and largest city in Tanzania. However, coming from China via Dubai, Dar had a slightly more humble feeling about. Suffice to say, that I could probably urinate over the tallest buildings in Dar without splashing on the walls.

Likewise, don’t expect a sea of neon lights. I’m pretty sure London was better lit than this during the Blitz.

That’s not to say that Dar doesn’t have its charms. There’s a lively fish market, a bus station and even a choice of 2 supermarkets!

Our hostel was located on Libya street, possibly not the most auspicious of omens with which to start a trip. However, it turned out to be a very respectable establishment with good food and nice people.

This turned out to be a metaphor for our whole time in the city. It was never quite as scary as we thought it was going to be.

Despite Tanzania being one of the safer countries in Africa (an honour akin to being named the prettiest girl in the women’s shotput), we were constantly warned not to go out after dark for fear of violent crime. It was only after we went outside after dark, that I realised my legs were are so white that they actually glow with a slight fluorescent light. Suddenly, I felt very conspicuous indeed, and each passer by looked like a potential mugger preparing to perform an emergency walletectomy.

However, our time in Dar passed without us being mugged, raped or abused in any way. The worst incident involved my travelling companion discovering that he had a problem with doxycyclin after popping a couple of Malaria tablets five minutes before catching the 10 hour bus to Arusha.

And, for the duration of my Tanzanian posts, I will include a highlights and lowlights of each place I visited.

Dar Es Salaam Highlights:

1. Not actually dying
2. Discovering “Tangfastic” lollies in the Supermarket in the town centre.
3. Watching fishing boats by the bay.
4. A very nice Chinese restaurant with an “all you can eat and later regurgitate” menu
5. That moment when you touch down and realise “Shit, I’m in Africa!”

Dar Es Salaam Lowlights:

1. Interrupted electricity supply frying my ipod charger.
2. Being terrified of going out after dark for the first two days
3. Mosquitoes the size of small hummingbirds
4. Being pestered by the touts near the docks
5. That moment when you touch down and realise “Shit, I’m in Africa!”

Next week: The Bus to Arusha

This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2012 at 6:49 pm and is filed under Overseas Trips, Stories, Trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.