Tanzania - Dar es Salaam - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Where I stayed
Juba Hotel
Day 1: October 26, 2013
Our main mission was to apply for a visa at the Malawi High Commission which was supposed to be open from 9.00 till 12.30 (Monday – Friday). From this reason, we woke up quite early. We stopped a tuk-tuk guy that after a short negotiation agreed to take us for TZS 6,000. It was quite a long way and the journey could have lasted maybe 30 minutes (finally we felt a little bit bad about paying him so little but he will certainly overcharge other tourists in the future so no harm :)). When we reached the Malawi High Commission its main gate was closed. We tried to knock the gate and scream just to find someone who could open the gate for us. After a while a guy appeared so we asked him to let us in explaining we came to apply for a visa. He kindly informed us that the visa applications were usually processed on Monday. We objected that we had sent an email to the ambassador and he had confirmed us that the opening hours were from Monday to Friday. The guy was like: "Yes, but today is Saturday." And then we realized. We just completely lost perception of time. Well, we had to go back and pay for the tuk-tuk which was an absolute waste of money. At the same time we had to adjust our plans to a newly established situation, and thus we had to postpone our departure to Zanzibar for Monday. We figured it wouldn´t be smart to leave for Zanzibar without applying for a visa.
The tuk-tuk left us quite close to our hotel, however, we decided to walk to the port and obtain some basic information about prices and timetables of ferries going from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar.
Then we kept walking along the port till we reached a fish market. It is supposed to be quite famous. We have to admit that it was a great experience. The place itself is extremely dirty and smelly (not necessarily because of fish, it´s more combination of fish, **** and garbage). However, being in the middle of the entire fishing, cleaning, decision-making and even cooking process was something indescribable. We stayed there for a while and just observed.
From the fish market we went to visit the National Museum of Tanzania. It´s a very complex museum divided into several sections. The entrance fee was not higher than TZS 5,000 per person. The museum offers its visitors numerous exhibitions dedicated to the following topics:
Tanzanian history (until 1963), including notorious slave trade
Tanzania as a cradle of humankind
Human evolution process (illustrative tree)
Curious things (e.g. an airscrew from one of the first flights from Cairo to Cape Town that never successfully finished its journey)
Natural history (some tools used by tribes, introduction to a tribal witchcraft, animal planet)
At about 15.00 we were starving so we went to one of the local restaurants to have a late lunch (TZS 11,000 for vegetarian pilau, rice, beef stew, pineapple juice).
We were back in our hotel at about 16.00. It was a budget hotel run by Muslims. We paid USD 25 for a room with private bathroom. Our room was very basic, a little bit dirty, its bathroom in quite disastrous conditions; however, we still found it to be a good value for the given price. We spent the rest of the afternoon inside of our room making more specific itineraries for Malawi and Zambia.
Day 2: October 27, 2013
Since it was Sunday we decided to go to the St. Joseph´s Cathedral and attend a mass. There were various masses that day, not only in Swahili but also in English. We figured that it would be much easier to catch at least some basic things in English so we went for the English one. The mass started at about 11.30. Unfortunately it was a typically boring preaching without any inventive elements so we left after 30 minutes.
After getting out of the church we felt quite hungry so we headed to the same place where we ate the day before. We had a solid local lunch for only TZS 8,000 (pilau, beans, chapatti, two sodas).
Then we took a public bus in direction to Mwenge and got off close to the Millennium Towers which is supposed to be a hotel and business center once finished. We paid only TZS 1,000 for the tickets for both of us. The reason why we appeared at the other end of the city of Dar es Salaam was quite an interesting museum (at least according to some reviews we´d read).
The site was called "Village Museum". Gonzalo managed to negotiate the entrance fee a little bit so instead of TZS 13,000 we paid a discounted amount of TZS 9,200. Besides that, we left a tip of TZS 2,000 for a group of traditional artists that provided us with a special musical and dance performance.
In order to get back to our hotel we decided to take a tuk-tuk (TZS 5,000) because we were too tired to chase another public bus. The tuk-tuk guy was a little bit confused because he left us more than 10 blocks from our hotel (even if he swore our hotel was to found behind the next corner), however, we took this opportunity and walk through no less famous Kariakoo Market.
BASIC FACTS ABOUT THE VILLAGE MUSEUM
There are more than 120 ethnic groups in Tanzania. Most of them have their own language, beliefs and different way of life.
The Village Museum exhibits the Tanzanian culture through different designs of traditional houses and their artifacts. It demonstrates house styles of different ethnic groups.
The Village Museum was established in 1967 and it consists of 22 traditional houses and other structures.
Traditional houses are still used in villages although some of them have disappeared or modified as a result cultural and social economic changes in the society.
HOUSING
There are two main types of houses: banda (classic house) and tonga (round house).
House walls are usually made out of different materials:
- mud or grass reinforced with bamboos sticks
- only bamboos sticks
- mud with cow´s **** (Maasai)
Roofs consist of several layers of grass properly squeezed with the bamboos sticks.
Houses have generally very tiny windows from two reasons:
- Cold cannot enter the house;
- The house is better protected against enemies.
House entrances are usually solved in a very smart way (e.g. prolonged roof, narrow corridor) so that the enemies could be stopped and eventually killed quickly and easily.
Fire is perceived as an indispensable part of every house. It´s used for cooking and it´s also an important source of warmth.
Kitchen equipment is made out of wood, coconuts, bamboos, pumpkins, bark of trees, rocks etc.
Beds are made out of bamboos sticks, sometimes rocks or just mud.
LIFE OF TRIBES
Children under 12 years old can share one room. Once they are older they must sleep in separate rooms (girls further from the entrance / corridor, boys closer to the entrance / corridor to be able to protect them).
Cattle (goats, sheep, cows) lives inside of the house with people. There are two reasons for this:
- to protect it against predators, and
- to make the house warmer.
In general men are allowed to have two wives - senior wife and junior wife. The second wife is supposed to be younger and more fertile. Both wives have their own house where they live with their own kids. The man normally sleeps two nights with the junior wife and only one night with the senior wife. In case the junior wife wants to leave the village she must ask the senior wife for permission (the junior wife has to pass through the house of the senior wife to get out).
Maasai men can have up to 10 wives (symbol of strength, braveness and proudness). In order to deserve each wife´s heart a Maasai man must kill a lion (together with his loyal friends) and bring 10 cows. Such a man has a very high possibility to become a respected tribal chief.
Some tribes consider unacceptable for men and women to share one bed even if they are married. Therefore they are required to sleep separately (in two separate houses). For example, there is a tribe living at the foot of Kilimanjaro that keeps practicing such a separation.
Once girls reach the age of 16, they are locked in a separate room of their house and kept there for 4 months. This is supposed to be a wedding preparation. Marriage is usually pre-agreed.
Small boys must go through the procedure of circumcision. Only the Maasai tribe performs circumcision in case of both genders.
In general women collect materials used for construction of a new house and men are the ones who build it. In case of Maasai people women are in charge of the entire construction, men don´t do anything in this respect.
The position of tribal chief is hereditary. If the tribal chief has more sons, the oldest one becomes a new tribal chief. If the tribal chief doesn´t have any sons, there is a committee of tribal elders that decides who becomes a new tribal chief. It can never be a girl since girls are too vulnerable and they are not able to protect the tribe.
There is a tribe that honors a very special tradition. In case a child under 5 years old dies, his/her mother and father bury him/her in a corner of the house that is the closest to their bed. The reason is to keep in mind their loss.
None of the existing tribes ever had a special place for toilet. When they need to answer the call of nature they just go to the nearby bushes. They always carry a shovel with them. If somebody asks (especially kids), they justify it as follows: “I´m just going to the nearby forest to get some medicine.”
Ways of communication are the following: animal horn (e.g. wildebeest), fire or word-of-mouth.