As you enter the port you are greeted by a raucous scene. A thriving fishing area, fish market, transit point, and gathering spot with bars, restaurants and crowds, that can clearly be heard and seen as the ship passes by. It was quite a welcome.
Then you see the skyline of a modern city spread out before you engulfing it's older landmarks and think, this is going to be really something.
Unfortunately as soon as you leave the port you get ensnarled in major traffic and inch your way along to your first landmark, which is a clock tower milepost in an unkept park in the middle of a traffic circle, complete with advertising. Are we in New Jersey?
This spot measures the official distance to all points in Tanzania and unlike the beautiful, well-kept, tidy little milepost that marks the half-way point between Cape Town and Cairo, located in Arusha, this well, was underwhelming. It seems Tanzanian's like mileposts, but now we were wondering "what's next".
Next was a ride to and through the University, which is quite prestigious in Africa, but not very photogenic.
Even far from the City Center, traffic was unrelenting, but it did afford the opportunity to get some candids of street life.
Then we went for lunch at a swank hotel, which was good for a mass feeding of a few hundred tourists in a cavernous ballroom.
After lunch, we headed for the Tinga Tinga art gallery, which is a very large, open air craft workshop, shopping area and was made famous by the creator of the Tinga Tinga style, Edward Tingatinga at that very location in Dar Es Salaam. The style has spread all over Tanzania and Kenya. It's reminiscent of Haitian Folk Art. Lot's of stuff you wouldn't want on your walls, but some is spectacular and all of it is fun.
Unfortunately, we took no photos of the paintings as we dove in trying to find a specific style of Tinga Tinga. There were literally thousands of paintings and we managed to find the only two in the style we wanted, but we bought them and were very happ, especially Kathy, who loves to and excels at bargaining. You'll have to come over to see them.
That folks was "exotic" Dar Es Salaam. What would Mombassa bring we wondered as we crawled our way back through snarled traffic wondering if we really weren't in the Port of Jersey City.
Sometimes places work out fabulously, but our trip to Dar Es Salaam was disappointing. You are are at the mercy of the tour company and guide, but we had our paintings. It was a good day.
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