DARting around

I had a bite of breakfast at the hotel, where the waiter tried to sell me a jar of cashew nuts on the side. I refused largely because my jaw is still giving me pain and chewing and crunching actions are the most problematic. Nuts are delicious but are particular aggressors.

I had an interesting day exploring Dar es Salaam. I started off by locating a coffee shop, so I can scope out regular places to enjoy a frappuccino and slice of red velvet cake. From there I walked the length of Coco Beach in Oyster Bay. This beach is a pleasant surprise in that it’s relatively clean for a beach in the middle of the largest city in East Africa, and at low tide has exposed rocky pools covered in a carpet of seaweed. Collectors were bagging it up and carting sacks away by bicycle. One guy was on his phone in the middle of the rock pools.

At the far end of Coco Beach there are some cliffs and as I approached I could see people dancing and singing. I stumbled on them in colourful outfits, resting in the shade. The leader confirmed they were a church group on an outing, and a woman bouncing a baby on her knee asked me to send money for the child.

It got very hot and humid and I recalled the words of the driver who met me at the airport, that this time of year is ‘somehow cool’. My only course of action was to make a series of refreshment pit stops, purely in the name of research. I imbibed a nice mint and lemon drink at one place, and ingested a Turkish coffee and some baklava at another.

Panicking about running out of reading material, I found a bookshop. It seems impossible within East Africa to find a travel guide for Tanzania, although today’s shop did have a guide covering the northern Tanzania national parks circuit from 2005. The bookshop was being run by an English bloke whose 35 years in Tanzania have not softened his northern accent, and who was up in arms about the state of the UK government. Aren’t we all pal. What a bloody delight it must be to potter around in a bookshop all day in tropical heat.

I withdrew to the hotel for a cold shower and a blast of artificial coolness. A few hours of daylight remained so I caught a tuk-tuk-esque vehicle here termed a bajaj (always makes me think of Indian cuisine) to the city centre. I am in a more relaxed state than for a long time, which was helpful for interacting with the succession of hustlers, vendors, stoned artists and self-appointed guides who latched on as I strolled. I will go back when I have more time and check out more of the sights in the oldest area of Dar.

I visited another bookshop to peruse the selection, and walked away with a title on Tanzanian history. The shop consisted of books on the colonial past, law, and the autobiography of the character Roy Chubby Brown. The cashier was listening to The Prayer (Celine Dion rendition) when I was paying.

An eclectic day of getting to know my new hood.