As an introduction from my former self, here's my impression of Dar es Salaam in October 2006, after about a month in Tanzania.
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My first glimpse of Dar es Salaam was from the air. During most of the flight from London a thin layer of clouds floated below us. It wasn't until landing that we broke through the haze and the corrugated iron roofs, banana trees, and small patches of green and brown became visible. It was disorienting; I couldn't make out the shape of the city I thought I would easily recognize after pouring over maps and photographs.
Driving from the airport to my apartment in a neighborhood a few miles away, I became even more disoriented. The trip took nearly an hour, as we moved through a what seemed to me to be a chaos of cars, bicycles, pedestrians, and down streets lined by a jumble of buildings. From my vantage point, neighborhoods stretched endlessly, lying low to the ground and full to bursting. It is only now, after nearly a month, that I'm no longer constantly lost, and am beginning to be able to read the city.
Main streets radiate north and west from the city center, from the historic core along the port. These are the roads I drive on most often. They are paved and most are lined with small one-story buildings that house convenience stores, beauty salons, tailors, butchers, restaurants, and multi-storey buildings that contain offices and apartments. Beyond this first row of buildings, streets are unpaved and the buildings are much smaller, roofed with corrugated iron. Houses are close together, often accessible only through narrow alleyways. During the rainy season water rushes through these streets, and forces the inhabitants to evacuate. The water rises so high that people stand in the doorway and dump water by the bucketfull outside the house; they store their mattresses up high so they rising water doesn't ruin them. In many places there is no running water or electricity. My own apartment is just off the main road, and--except for the large quantity of ants marching along the walls and pale geckos--could be an apartment almost anywhere in the world.
