Dora's alarm

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The taxi to Kigoma airport pumps out a constant stream of Michael Jackson from its radio, just one aspect of the heavy media coverage here accompanying his death. I can only imagine what it must be like in the US. The approach to the airport has some intriguing warning signs - exceeding the speed limit carries a fine of TSh20,000 or three years in prison or both, whereas loitering after 7PM could incur a fine of Tsh1,000,000 or a year in prison or both.

Kigoma airport may well be the smallest I've ever been to, eclipsing Coca in the Ecuadorian Amazon for minuteness. The departure lounge is more like somebody's sitting room. The journey to Dar is dull, the highlight being when the stewardess comes round a second time with some remaining uneaten sandwiches, which she distributes to the needy English on board.

From the air, Dar possesses many buildings under construction, and from the ground it has the appearance of a modern city. I'm able to use my ATM card for the first time since Uganda. Disappointingly, it's as hot and humid as Kigoma but at least places have fans or even AC. The main budget hotel area is in a Muslim enclave, and tracking down a cold beer is not a simple task. My hotel forbids "persons of immoral turpitude". There's an enormous Indian community in Dar as a whole, which means welcome lashings of vegetarian food. I also have an enjoyable visit to a Chinese restaurant where 90% of the customers are Chinese, though it takes me a couple of minutes to figure out that "squip feeler ass veg" means squid tentacles with assorted vegetables.

There's nothing much to see in Dar but its status as an entry point for the tourist hordes heading to the Serengeti, Mt Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar is obvious, with levels of hassle greater than I've experienced since Egypt - the taxi drivers that block your way when you're trying to cross the road, the safari/ferry/hotel/whatever touts that fall into step with you with their disingenuous "Jambo!", etc.

I see an agricultural machinery store named Vincent Diesel's and read about an Internet cafe in a building owned by T&A Secretarial Services. With Mozambique awaiting me just a couple of countries in the future, I look for a Portuguese dictionary but the best bookshop I can find has none - however, bizarrely, it does have a Scottish dictionary.

I read that, in all of Tanzania, there is no university offering a degree in Swahili - the national language. I'm also surprised to discover that the African Union (a pan-Africa body representing all the continent's governments) had decided to ignore the ICC's arrest warrant for Sudan's President El-Bashir, the rationale being that El-Bashir was supposedly key to achieving peace in the country, so he is free to move around Africa without fear of arrest. Another unrelated factoid comes up via some random Internet browsing - a couple of times I've tried to shake someone's hand when they've been introduced to me but they've offered me their forearm instead, which I find is because they must have just washed their hands and don't want them sullied by someone who hasn't.

After confirming that the wildebeest migration is still in the Serengeti, I head northwest to Arusha to find a safari (blogged separately). On returning from Arusha, I spend a couple of admin days in Dar then bus down to Mbeya.

Dull but possibly useful info
i. I took a (special hire) taxi from the hotel to Kigoma airport, which cost TSh5,000.
ii. Flights from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam on Air Tanzania go 4 days per week, leaving at 3PM and costing TSh198,000 (the office in Kigoma only accepts cash). The flight takes 50 minutes to get to Tabara, where you'll be on the ground for 30 minutes, then another 1 hour 50 minutes to get to Dar.
iii. The "official" (i.e. it's written on a board) taxi fare from Dar airport into town is $25 (=~TSh33,000), however you should be able to negotiate it down to somewhere around TSh15,000, simply by threatening to go out to the main road and catch one there.
iv. I stayed at Econo Lodge, paying TSh20,000 for a single room with fan. The hot water in the shower is rarely present, and when it does appear it's only lukewarm, but Dar is hot enough that a cold shower is more pleasant anyway. Water pressure (at least on the 5th floor) is low. Breakfast is included but it's a pitiful one - banana, watermelon, tea, and 2 slices of bread.
v. I ate often at the nearby Jambo Inn - decent food with plenty of veg options, but they all looked suspiciously similar. This place is a foreigner magnet.
vi. There's an excellent Chinese, Tai Huo San Zhuang, on Jamhuri St between Morogoro Rd and Zanaki St - great food and plenty of Chinese customers as a recommendation. They're also one of the few places in the area to serve beer. Note that the AC is cold so take a jumper.
vii. Book prices here are the best I've seen in Africa so far - usually the jacket price converted to TSh.

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Photos

Lots of mass
St Joseph's Cathedral

Movenpick hotel
Never heard of these guys before I came to Africa, but they seem pretty big in the luxury market

Purple cross
White Fathers' mission

Comments

[Sika]

forearm shaking
In Malawi, if someone offers their forearm, it's usually because their hands are dirty and they don't want you to dirty yours. But, as we have discussed, Malawians are different than Tanzanians, so I don't know if it applies there, too.