Dar Es Salaam

DAR ES SALAAM

‘………This is my first glimpse of Dar es Salaam…………a vast rippling blue-black lagoon and all around the rim of the lagoon there were pale yellow sandy beaches, almost white, and breakers were running up onto the sand, and coconut palms with their little green leafy hats were growing on the beaches, and there were casuarinas trees, immensely tall and breathtakingly beautiful…..And then behind the casuarinas was what seemed to me a jungle, a great tangle of tremendous dark-green trees that were full of shadows and almost certainly teeming….with rhinos and lions and all manner of vicious beasts. Over to one side lay the tiny town of Dar es Salaam, the houses white and yellow and pink, and among the steeple and a doomed mosque and along the waterfront there was a line of acacia trees splashed with scarlet flowers…..’

(from Going Solo by Roald Dahl)

Dar Es Salaam has come a long way since the late 1930s when Roald Dahl first glimpsed it. With a population of over two million and on area of more than 1350 sq km, it is Tanzania’s major city, capital in everything but name, and one of the least likely places in the country for sighting rhino or lion.

However, despite its sizes, Dar is pleasant city with a picturesque seaport, a vaguely oriental feel, and much of its colonial character still intact. While there’s not much to actually do, there are enough historical building, attractive nearby beaches, shops and good restaurants especially on the fast developing Msasani Peninsula – to keep most visitors busy for at least several days.

Big Kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH