During our time in Dar es Salaam, Ewa and I stayed with Sam, the ODI in Tanzania. We did not only enjoy free accommodation, but something much more valuable than that: insider advice! Sam showed us all the interesting sights, the great restaurants, told us how much to pay for taxis and souvenirs so that we would not get ripped off and arranged trips for us! It really makes a big difference if someone can tell you where to go, what to do and maybe most importantly – what not to do so that you don’t have to rely on the Lonely Planet’s - sometimes dodgy – recommendations (a restaurant near my work somehow made it into the guide – I went once and have not had the slightest desire to ever set foot in that place again!).
Sam arranged a bicycle tour, the “Dar Reality Cycle”, for me and Ewa, which took us to the heart of the city away from all the tourists! I was expecting old city bikes with broken breaks and no gears and was pleasantly surprised when I was given a mountain bike and a helmet. But soon I realised that this was not a luxury, but a necessity: Even though Dar is the economic center of Tanzania and fairly well developed, most of the roads are dirt roads and we had to cycle through huge potholes, over massive stones and up and down hills and stairs … it really was quite adventurous and I was relieved to have a helmet on!
Our guide didn’t only show and tell us how people in the slums of Dar lived, but also let us taste it: for breakfast we stopped at a house where a woman made us fresh chapatti – a type of pancake, which I immediately fell in love with! We sat in front of her house while she was making it and, wrapped in old newspapers, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast! I soon learnt that in Tanzania all the local food is deep fried for a very simple reason: hygiene. Frying food in a bucket full of oil is the best and probably the only way to make sure that all the germs are killed… that is, until it is wrapped in newspapers, which have been lying on the floor for days! But despite being incredibly greasy, street food in Tanzania is yummy and I tried to sample as many “local specialties”, such as chipsie-maiai, an omelet made with French Fries – as possible.
Continuing the tour we visited markets where fresh vegetables, fish and meat were sold. Tons of oranges, beans in every colour and hundred different types of rice were neatly piled up on blankets. Fresh and dried fish was lying on dirty wooden tables with thousands of flies buzzing around them. Chicken, tied together by their feet or squished in tiny cages, were everywhere waiting to be sold and killed on the spot. Sometimes they were slaughtered there and then and every part of the chicken was sold – the head, the feed, and the interiors! Nothing goes to waste and apparently chicken legs are quite nice – surprisingly, I wasn’t keen to try!
While I loved the fruit and veg markets, I was equally fascinated by gigantic markets selling all sorts of clothes in ridiculous quantities! Next time when you think you’re doing a good thing by donating your old shoes or clothes to a charity, don’t fool yourself - The clothes aren’t given to the poor, but sold on until they eventually land on such markets in developing countries! It was surreal to walk through such a poor neighbourhood without basic sanitation, rubbish in every corner and chicken running around and to see vendors selling original Adidas trainers and LaCoste shirts as well as thousands of bras and tacky summer dresses! What I found even more amusing was that the traditional clothing had been given a western touch: Tanzanian women wear a khanga, a kind of sarong, with patterns and colourful prints. They always signal a certain message such as that someone is a good host, that a mother has recently had another baby or that a wife is horny (seriously!). But between the traditional patterns one can also find some, which have a less meaningful and more modern aspect to it. For example, a lot had Michael Jackson on them and our guide explained to us that Jacko had recently replaced Barack Obama as the nation’s favourite motive. I am not entirely sure what the meaning of these clothes may be, but I hope it signals an interest in politics or a good (or bad?) taste in music!
The Dar Reality Cycle certainly was an incredibly interesting and rewarding experience and I wish more tourists would go on such adventures. It really opens ones eyes about the way thousands of people live in African cities with no infrastructure, electricity, basic sanitation or rubbish removal. Things looked bad, when we went and I do not want to imagine what the place looks and smells (!) like in summer when temperatures don’t drop below 30°C. Funnily enough, in all this dust, dirt and disgustingness all the little girls wore the most adorable dresses made out of colourful materials and cut in ways that would make Cinderella jealous! It was really bizarre to see girls with runny noses play among chicken and garbage while dressed like little princesses!
The tour through the heart of Dar really gave me a feeling for what living in this country must be like, but then Sam showed us another side of living in Dar and took us to an Ethiopian restaurant set on a balcony overlooking a beautiful garden! With big lampions and cushions, traditional furniture and music, the restaurant served excellent food, which probably cost more than the majority of Dar’s citizens earned in a month! On another evening after a trip to Bagamoyo, a very sleepy town with a very sad history as Africa’s biggest slave port, Sam took us to a bar in the centre of Dar right by the beach! Feeling the soft sand under my feat and seeing the skyline while a local band was playing some “Bongo Flavour”, I couldn’t help but envy Sam for living here! Another time we went for drinks at Dar’s finest hotel. Sitting at the rooftop bar among people who spent hundreds of dollars on drinks, was surreal when thinking about our cycle tour, but we still managed to enjoy a cocktail while looking out on the harbour!
Ewa and I spend another day in Dar, shopping, lunching and exploring the customs of twenty of the 120 tribes of Tanzania. After seeing the fifth hut, which consisted of nothing but a dark room with a fire place in the middle, I started to lose interest. But we actually found some traditional housing with more than one room, two stories and areas designated for “women talking” - how cool is that? My absolute favourite was a hut with a few poles in the middle and straw mats on the floor – it turned out to be a house for the family’s boys, who looked after the cattle at night and slept during the day, and was described as “well structured”! I could not see the slightest hint of a structure, but I guess when it comes to traditional housing, different standards apply.Among all the things we saw, one scene emerged to be typical for Tanzania. It was not the packed Dalla Dallas (minibuses), the vendors selling pre-peeled oranges or the kids running around offering pre-packed cashew and peanuts, but the TingaTingas. TingaTingas are bright coloured canvas paintings on which street artists draw traditional tacky scenes, such as big birds, animal families or Massai warriors. Often the animals are arranged in circles that would provide hours of entertainment to every drug addict... They were all kind of pretty, but I could not get myself to buying one because I knew I would never find a place to put them. Saying that, they would look really cute in a kid’s bedroom, but I though it was a bit too early to think about the deco of my children’s rooms…
Apart from the pleasant and peaceful TingaTinga’s, which brighten up every street corner, the second biggest feature of Tanzania’s streets is hearing “Karibu!” wherever you go. “Karibu” is the Kiswahili for “Welcome” and plays an important role in everyday life in Tanzania. Even more than in South Africa, out here it is considered to be rude not to welcome someone and enquire about their health, that of their family and their overall well-being before asking a simple question or bargaining. While this is probably a much nicer and friendlier way of living than in Western Countries, it does get annoying very quickly. Wherever you walk, people shout “Karibu” and it is often followed by “You are welcome, please have a look” by vendors, who try to sell pots, masks and authentic Massai jewellery.After four exciting days, Ewa and I left Dar and caught a ferry to the tropical island paradise of Zanzibar. Friends had told me lots of stories and I had seen so many pictures of the beautiful beaches, the charming sights of Stone Town and the romantic restaurants that I couldn’t wait to get there and see it all for myself! With such high expectations, I was always gonna be disappointed by my first sight of Zanzibar: the harbour with gigantic freight containers and the crowds of people attacking you offering accommodation and transport was far off from the remote island with the little fishing boats I had expected. But Zanzibar did not disappoint me for long … more about that in my next post!
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