Blogs from Dar es Salaam, East, Tanzania, Africa - page 8

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Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam January 11th 2011

Powa That means - How are you? (Mambo) Good/Fine (Powa) the Africans have had great fun today teahing me Swahili and find it hilarious when I get it wrong :) but can I get them to say Funky Cheese to the camera.... no way :) I started off deep in thought this morning, I had been reading that when we flush the loo we use more water (7litres) than many Africans in poverty uses in a day so I was watching the sprinkler covering the grass at the hotel thinking that this was wrong on so many levels - I see men out in the street carrying buckets of water to their home and here is a hotel throwing it all over the floor. Todays training sessions was fun, Mike pretended to be a victim that ... read more
Trainees Team B
Febronia
Hose fixing guy

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam January 10th 2011

yes you read that right, I was informed today that if a man arrives home and finds a Masai Warriors spear on his front garden then the warrior is WITH his wife and that he is to leave and never come back ... well there you go folks... imagine that in Berkshire! Trained some of the guys today, Mike has asked me to do a section on workplace inspections so this will be short as I will be working into the evening on it, but I will leave you with a picture of a lovely bag that I received on my doorstep this morning with a newpaper in it, a recycled bag - for all those who believe me to be a green nutter - I truely love this bag and wonder if I shall get ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam January 9th 2011

Here are my pictures from today, sitting by the pool - yes I forgot to take the price tag off of the sunglasses :) off for a shower now and then meeting Mike at 8pm for dinner 7.30am pick up tommorow morning for work...... read more
hot and sunny

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam January 9th 2011

Just started planning a road trip to Dar es Salaam, from Johannesburg, and back. It well known that the anticipation, and reminiscing has nothing to do with the reality of the African bureaucracy, heat, flies, and potholes but here I go. At this time it is early day's but the rough idea is as follows: Start +- 8th of April 2011 in Johannesburg South Africa on our faithful steeds BMW GS1200's myself and Johnnie Mayer, cross the border into Zimbabwe at Beitbridge-Mussina and make our way up through Harare to Nyamapanda / Mozambican border. This area is called the Tete Corridor and is not far from the Cahora Bassa dam wall with some excellent Tiger fishing and accommodation. From Tete the idea is to travel on the Western side of Lake Malawi and East of the ... read more
Mariaan Hubner
Johnnie and Helane
Heinz and Mariaan

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam January 9th 2011

Wow - Terminal 5 is amazing, I was very impressed with it and for those of you watching Little Britains Come Fly with me I swear I saw Taaj on the tarmac! The Flight was reasonable, seemed to go fast, I watched Toy Story 3 and had a beef dinner before getting my head down which is when 2 Cheryl Cole wannabe's decided to have a long conversation about shopping and shoes - the BBC has alot to answer for after sending Cheryl Cole to Kilamanjaro... any how moving on... I have arrived safely .... We were collected by a nice chap that works for the company, his name is Suitbert (Sweet Bert), he made sure we were safely sent off with the driver and we will be meeting with him early tommorow morning. when we ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam January 7th 2011

Landing in Tanzania. 1:30 a.m. $100 visa at Immigration. Customs. Why on earth does the only flight from Johannesburg to Dar Es Salaam land a 1:30 in the morning? Just the beginning of all things backwards. All of this just so I can sleep on a bench in the airport until 5:15 a.m, catch a taxi into Dar Es Salaam and begin my search for the “easy to find” and “everyone will know it” YWCA hostel. Exhausted. Confused. Frustrated. Luckily through all this I made two new South African friends who endure this grueling process right along side of me, Lindy and Matt. I finally found the YWCA just as the clock struck 6:15 a.m. Unfortunately, I find out at this point that it does not officially open until 7 a.m. and that they will not ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam November 6th 2010

I swore I'd never come back to Africa. Unlike many who grew up in the colonial era and on the continent (I spend much time in Ghana where my father was in the gold mining industry) or folk who have worked here (I also worked as a younger man in Nigeria, Uganda as well as Tanzania), I never formed that visceral attachment to the place. So many years ago I left for Asia which seemed to me to have a greater complexity and depth of civilization and where the dynamic of life seemed so much more exciting. But here I am again. Thirty years after working for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on cashew in Mtwara (south on the Mozambique border) I find myself once again in Tanzania, specifically in the Oyster Bay ar ... read more
Cafe Classico
The Slipway Centre
Great Coffee Menu

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam October 31st 2010

Tanzania is a peace-loving country. You have only to examine its language to figure that out. Tanzanians have a plethora of ways to say that everything is fine, ok, peaceful, and so on. Salaama, mzima, nzuri, poa, safi, etc., etc. When I asked my Swahili teacher how one says "I'm not doing well", she told me that I shouldn't say that because it raises too many questions! Better to just say, you're fine. Language is indeed a reflection of culture. Recently, Tanzania held presidential elections, which it holds every five years. The incument, Kikwete, was re-elected, although there were many grumblings of dissatisfaction with his performance. When I asked my taxi driver why, if they were unhappy with him, did people still vote for him. My wise, if not-so-educated or conversant in English taxi driver explained ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam October 28th 2010

You know you’re going stir-crazy when you feel bored and you still have 5 hours left of the second out of three flights before you reach home. I’m trying not to sleep because then I won’t sleep tonight, but during the first flight I could hardly keep my eyes open. So I’m sitting here in the dark of the plane cabin reflecting on my time in Tanzania. It feels so much different than Nepal. It is not as chaotic, but just as poor. It also doesn’t feel as historical or bound in so much tradition. But the beaches and blue-green of the Indian Ocean make it beautiful, if you can get past the muddy beaches and piles of trash that are accumulating on many stretches. And it’s interesting how quickly the developing world starts to feel ... read more

Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam October 26th 2010

I flew back to Dar Sunday evening, on the same 12-seater plane as the flight out, but this time I was in the back row of 3 seats. The view from 3500 feet was still spectacular. But the wait at the airport in a crowded room with no air conditioning was not so pleasant. Stan, my taxi driver who I call whenever I need a ride somewhere, met me at the airport. If he’s not available, he sends a friend. This time it was he and another guy driving his van. On the way to the airport on Friday he told me about his wife and 2 girlfriends. I’m not sure if he was kidding or what…I’ve found that Tanzanians like to tease me, so sometimes I do not know if they are saying something just ... read more




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