Fronds

A dawn departure from the Rwenzori Mountains on the road towards Kampala and Entebbe. The scenery was highly evocative: hilly, low-lying cloud with banana fronds blanketing everywhere and poking through the mist.

Travelling to Nairobi went fairly smoothly. Departing Nairobi for the flight to Dar es Salaam timed exactly with sunset. Someone on the back row who was observing Ramadan chose the very moment of taxiing on the runway to get up and pray loudly to mark the breaking of the fast. Because it initially sounded like he was having a meltdown, the air steward was not impressed, and she told him off. A group of fellow travellers, some government guys who we vaguely know through our project, made a joke that if the dude wanted to pray, he should do it quietly. Then they were laughing loudly about it for the whole plane journey and still going at the baggage carousel in Dar es Salaam.

Travel can be a monotonous parade of shuffling in line and presenting documents, yet it can also be an amusing experience in people-watching.

Back in Dar, people are commenting on the current visit of Kamala Harris. Her motorcade required the closing of some roads and people getting stuck. My assumption is that the Tanzanian government has taken the visit of a high-ranking US dignitary very seriously due to serious security issues in the past related to the US Embassy. But it doesn’t help the Average Joe trying to mooch about the city.