Woolly says – We’d left our accommodation in Zambia with hugs from all the staff who have looked after us so well. A short ride to the airport and our two connecting flights did exactly that, we felt we were on a roll. I was looking forward to our next country one of spice!
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to the south; Zambia to the southwest; and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, is in northeastern Tanzania. We won’t however be climbing that as the human’s knees would probably give up. Instead, we were heading for Dar es Salaam.
Dar es Salaam meaning ‘Abode of Peace’ is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over five million people, it is the largest city in East Africa and the sixth largest in Africa. The town was founded by Majid bin Said, the first Sultan of Zanzibar in around 1865.
Jo had prebooked an airport transfer and we hit the manic streets which seemed to be the complete opposite of an abode of peace. It reminded me of the streets of India but with less beeping and far more dust, it was chaos. Arriving at the accommodation in a grimy back street didn’t fill my heart with joy and having been told that there was no Wi-Fi we took a cursory look at the non to clean room and decided to leave (it feels as though we are making a habit of this!) Jo managed to log onto the receptionists own Wi-Fi and booked another place and off we went in another taxi.
What should have been a twenty minute journey turned into an hour and a half, mainly due to the fact that the driver didn’t have a sat nav or google maps.
Woolly says – Finally bunkered down in our new digs we managed a quick call with Zoe to let her know that we were both alive and headed for bed.
We had prebooked a city tour as one of our many plans for the trip was that we would only be staying in the city for a few nights and wanted to cover as much as possible. Due to a visa issue on the next part of the trip this had now changed so we would be staying longer but had decided to keep the trip anyway.
A lovely gent collected us on foot and us being the types we are followed him towards the main road thinking the bus would be parked just up the road. After a five minute walk Jo ventured to ask about the bus, ‘I’m doing your walking tour’ my human looked flummoxed and explained that there was no way we could do lots of walking in the heat and that my little legs won’t make it. He looked down at me and back to Jo, we can take buses and tuk tuks and I will carry the small one.
Not wanting to lose a day of seeing things I looked down at the mammoth and he nodded, and off we went.
Woolly says – Now you will have to bear with us as by the time we had arrived back to base to write the blog most of the information given had long been forgotten. We climbed onto a local bus and set off for the largest market in Dar es Salaam, no idea anymore what it was called.
But it was packed with people, noise and dust from the roads, just like Turkey it had different sections so a jeans area, a car parts area, fabric area etc etc and it went on for miles with Jo’s little legs racing to keep up the pace.
Our guide, Adnan told us all sorts of things about Tanzania and was fascinated by our travels and adventures.
Woolly says – with the market becoming a bit much we paused for a moment to admire a large column which apparently had once had a flame on top, before heading into ta café for a drink were the three of us continued to chat and Jo showed him pictures of Wales and England along with other countries.
Setting off once more we headed for the Botanical gardens which was actually on our list passing mosques and churches the conversation didn’t stop, and we were all having a great time.
The gardens let us down as they asked for a huge amount of shilling for a walk round an area smaller than a football pitch, we decided not to be ripped off and set off to find a bus to the fish market.
The local bus was crammed awe bounced up and down on the poor road surfaces finally coming to a halt as we smelt the fish in the air.
It was a fascinating place with stalls of freshly caught wares on tables and the Tanzanian people buying huge basket of all varieties on offer.
The floor was covered in fish frying in the sunshine which wouldn’t take long given the heat even the cloud coverage.
We walked towards the seafront and stood watching the boats selling directly to the public if they waded close enough or to the agents who were waist deep in the water.
Having taken our fill we walked towards the ferry to take us across to Bongoyo a small island which is much cheaper to live on than the city itself and where people commute from using the ferry every day.
Deciding to get something to eat we stopped and sat in the shade consuming the local fast food of a chip omelette, rather nice especially with the hot chilli sauce. Heading onwards we wandered into the island where traffic seemed slightly less extreme.
Crossing the road, we found ourselves on another fishing area of beach and stood watching a whole new world of shacks and fishing boats living life. Just across the bay stood the skyscrapers but here was a different life, two worlds within one.
It was fascinating as was the hugely pregnant goat that wandered past.
With time ticking away we headed back to the ferry and walked on and on until we finally came to a bus station which didn’t have a bus going our way so a tuk tuk obliged and took to another bus area where we climbed back on and sat bumping away until we swapped onto another bus. The city is humongous, and we would never find our way back at this rate.
Finally, a further tuk tuk journey and we scooted round the corner and our accommodation came into view. Our lovely new friend who had enjoyed the day as much as we had left us promising to keep in touch.
It wasn’t the day we expected but it had been glorious all the same and the city had proved to be one of absolute chaos and mayhem at all points from abject poverty to the richest of places it had been a fascinating way to see some life and we had only walked ten and half miles!