Colour, chaos, cacophony and a crash course in Swahili.

All at 31 oC that only dropped to 26 at night. With high humidity.

Just getting to Tanzania was a crazy day with constant uncertainty.

My flight from Livingstone, Zambia was cancelled, but I managed to get booked on another airline. A miracle because there are only three flights a day.

But making the connection to my flight in Lusaka was uncertain. It meant jogging from domestic to international terminals. And was only possible because I had no checked bags.

Fortunately the other flight was delayed so I made it! Whew. 😥

The drive in from the airport was a good preview.

Horns blaring, tuktuks zipping around like little bugs while motorcycles slid between lanes.

Then it was getting oriented in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania.

I was in a central area (blue dot), which was great for walking once I figured out which way from the different traffic circles.

Fortunately they had different statues to keep them straight.

Walking down the street was a constant greeting of ‘Jambo’ which sounds like jumbo and means ‘hello’. Easy to just Jambo in return.

But ‘Mambo’ is ‘how are you?’ An easy response is ‘Poa’, loosely translated to ‘cool’.

‘Karibu’ is welcome, and ‘Sante’ is thank you.

Definitely got lots of practice on Day 1! Then it was adding more words.

The Kivukoni fish market is huge and busy. But I found out immediately that people didn’t want their picture taken. So you will see lots of ‘backs’.

It’s a primarily Muslim country, but some churches as well.

KKKT Azania-Front-Cathedral was built in the 1800’s by German missionaries.

St Joseph Cathedral (1903)

Kariaboo Market has a new building under construction, but for now it’s spread out for blocks.

My favourite street food has been mishkaki, grilled beef kebabs and plantain. 500 schilling each piece.

This was 2500 schilling (Cdn $1.40)

Tea sellers walking on the street used charcoal to keep their pot hot.

A walk towards the embassies (no photos allowed) was on a cool leafy street. Very welcome at 31 oC.

National Museum of Tanzania had a special exhibit of the building of the Tanzania-Zambia railway in the 1970’s. It was a joint project with China.

JF Kennedy made it one of his priorities to reach out to African leaders from newly independent countries. Shown here with Julius Nyerere, president of Tanzania.

One small aspect of the Kennedy-Nyerere friendship would go on to have a monumental impact on US politics. In 1961 Nyerere joined the board of a program aiming to send East African students to the US for higher education studies, which Kennedy also supported. Among these students was Barack Obama, Sr. During his time in the US he met and married an American woman, and they had a child together. Nearly five decades later, Barack Obama became president of the USA.

There was a huge Indian population in Dar.

A great lunch thali for 12,000 schilling (Cdn $6.70)

Peanuts for my snack bag.

A bit amused to find Canadian peanut butter.

I also bought a big bunch of small bananas for 1000 schilling (Cdn $0.56) and a mango for 2000 schilling (Cdn $1.12).

Birthday roses! And they let me capture the moment!

Transportation was on the back of motorcycles all the way to modern buses.

It was good to stop back at my hotel to cool off and decompress! I loved my 17th floor view!

And my friendly gun-toting security at the entrance! Though the streets felt much safer than down south, I still maintained my good habits!

Then it was a high speed ferry to Zanzibar. The conditioned comfort was worth the VIP ticket for the waiting room and two hour trip in assigned airplane style seating. With coffee and snack service.

Time to break the story into two.

See you in Zanzibar!