I had to wake up at 5 am this morning to catch the Dar Express bus to Dar Es Salaam. A guy from the lodge drove me to Karatu where the bus left at 6:20 am. I had bought my ticket the previous day, so I was sure I had a seat and the fare was cheap (10 Euro) for such a long journey. Basically, it was a day on the bus since the trip to Dare Es Salaam took 12 hours. At least, for once they played music that I knew, including some hits of the 80s that made me hum along, like “Promise Me” by Beverly Craven or “Especially For You” by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue – naa, does anyone else remember them?? They also put on good old Lionel Richie who reminded me of the Serengeti safari and loads of Celine Dion who seems to be a real hit all over Africa. Weird what such a bus ride can do to you – I even liked the instrumental version of “My Heart Will Go On”, which sounded so familiar and made me oddly feel at home.
Overall the bus was in good condition and the ride was really nice. There was lots to see outside and Tanzania really has a beautiful and diversified landscape. Especially the colourful region around the Usambara Mountains nearby Lushoto in the Northeast of Tanzania made me want to get off the bus and explore this place. Well, at least I have something to come back to one day! On the way, we stopped in Arusha and Moshi where the bus was ‘attacked’ by street sellers who persistently tried to make you buy their merchandise through the bus windows. It was amazing, not only did they offer snacks and drinks – which to a certain extent makes sense –they also tried to sell you all sorts of other things: whether you would have wanted a fake mobile phone, a new tooth brush, or a loaf of toast bread – it was all there. At least, it was an interesting scene to watch, although sometimes almost a bit of sensual overload.

When we finally arrived in Dar Es Salaam it was past 6 pm. I was supposed to be picked up by a friend of Renate who offered me to stay at her house until I would make it to Zanzibar in a couple of days. The first thing that stroke me when I got off the bus was the heat and the traffic – it almost took my breath away! As mentioned before, it was quite cold in the North where I just came from, plus Dar Es Salaam is a big city with all the hustle and bustle related to it. I was almost a little shocked and felt even worse when I couldn’t find Esther, Renate’s friend. It turned out that there were two main bus stations in Dar and I had no clue where she would be waiting for me. So I picked up my luggage and tried to move away a little from the crowd that was pushing around the bus. I didn’t know how Esther looked like but there was no woman who gave the impression that she might be looking for me. At some point a guy came towards me and asked if I was “Makeena”. Totally neglecting that my name might sound a little different when pronounced with a Swahili accent, I said no and turned away. He took off in search for somebody else but came back a little later followed by a girl and said he was here to pick me up. I was reluctant – maybe this was just a way to pick up single white female travellers? I asked him about Esther but he didn’t speak much English. At least, it seemed the girl understood what I was saying and she said something to the man, whereupon he dialled a number on his mobile phone and gave it to me. In the end I was happy to hear that it was Esther who confirmed that she had sent her driver and daughter to pick me up.

The man drove us back to Esther’s home a little outside the city centre of Dar Es Salaam. I had no idea what to expect of this place and was relieved when we arrived at a relatively modern building several floors high. The entrance and stairway up were dirty and not very welcoming but at least this place looked halfway decent. Esther’s apartment was small but equipped with almost everything you would also find in a European home. Esther is a black woman in her late 30s I’d say. She is working in Public Relations for SOS Children’s Villages, an international organisation that provides homes and childcare support for unprivileged children and teenagers world-wide. Esther is married to a German husband and has two children from a previous marriage. Her husband and son were out of town when I visited but her housemaid and the housemaid’s mother and baby were there. When I arrived this night, she also had a friend at her place and everybody was gathered around the TV in the living room. (As it turned out over the following 36 hours, TV seems to play an important role in these people’s everyday life.) I was given a mattress on the floor in one of the bedrooms and discovered that showers in Dar Es Salaam are somewhat similar to how they had been in St. Katherine’s, Egypt: The whole bathroom serves as shower cabin which is odd when you have to share your shower with a toilet...
After I had refreshed myself, Esther, her friend and I went out for a drink at an open-air bar nearby. This was the night when France won 2:1 against the UK in the Euro Cup. The game was shown on a TV screen and we were partly watching it while having dinner which consisted of fried potato chunks with Ketchup for me. It was funny because we had no table, so we basically ate out of our laps. This was also the first time I was confronted with local hygiene habits: Since there is no cutlery and you eat the food with your hands, the waitress arrives with a plastic bowl and a jar of water before serving the food. You hold your hands above the plastic dish and she pours the water over them for you to rinse your hands. If you’re lucky, there is some toilet paper to dry them afterwards which in this case there wasn’t. So far so good - if only I could be sure they don’t use this water to refill their jars!

I finally went to bed around 10 pm tonight, tired but happy that I made it this far.