Dar es Salaam

Dar Es Salaam is a beautiful and confident city in East Africa. The city has a mix of African, Arabic and Indian influences yet keeps close ties to its Swahili roots. The city has a picturesque seaport and some historic and high rise business buildings, many shops and restaurants. It still has the hustle and bustle of any African cities. The bus terminal is where a tourist gets harassed. The touts targeting tourists can be more pushy than else where.
I settled in at Econolodge in a city center area and had dinner at a popular local restaurant "Chef's Pride". The local food is a mix of Indian and Swahili. You can easily access to very good quality Indian food here including vegetarian Indian snacks.
I took a long walk to the seaport. It was a scenic shore side walk past a park where local couples hang out and a few food stalls. There was a fish market at the port where a lively fish auction was going on. Fish auction is daily routine here. Fisherman brought fish in the morning. Fish of a sort was stacked up on a table and sold to the party calling out the highest bid. The auction was held by a mediator. I threaded through the crowd from one table to another. The sizzling bidding crowd includes the local "mama" dressed in traditional African Kanga and carrying baskets made of mangrove. Across the street, there was a massive " deep fry work shop" where piles of fish sprinkled with salt were dumped into the sizzling oil in the gigantic pot. Heavy smoke comes out the pot and overcasts the whole workshop. Fresh live fish became dark and dry and was taken away by the street food stall vendors who sell this type of dry fish. The reason that freshly caught fish is sold through auction and deep fried right away is because the fishermen don't have a means to keep fish cool and fresh nor a means to sell them in other way. The fish out of deep fry process can be kept for a long time. It was a little adventure for me to capture the fish market scene in camera in this rough and aggressive crowd.
North from the fish market along the coast I carried my way to the upper middle class section of Upganga and upmaket residential areas of Oyster Bay and Msasani, from which I took a bus ride back to city center.


As much as I enjoy the city of Dar Es Salaam, I did encounter some difficulty of traveling here as a solo woman. Communication with locals is not as easy as in Kenya or in Uganda for most locals only speak Swahilis. In Da Es Salaam I felt I attracted more attentions and harassments. Dealing with annoyances from curious and ill meaning locals has been a challenge throughout the trip. Dar es Salaam requires more patience and will power.