Africa for beginners

To go to Africa for the first time is definitely an adventure. Apart from arriving on Saturday and doing some shopping on Sunday there was not a lot going on. Because the girls that are living in the student house went to Mafia Island for a few days I was mainly alone. The cook or one of the guides looked after me from time to time but most oft he time I was lazy. Surprisingly, on Monday the door opened and for people walked in. Hannah and Anya come from Morogoro and work in a project for disabled children, Robert also comes from Morogoro but he will now change the hospital he was working at and will stay in Dar es Salaam and Luy lives in a guest family in Dar es Salaam. We introduced ourselves and after we got talking the four oft hem invited me to join them to visit a tourist market in town. So we got a taxi and went over bouncy roads tot he market. The market was really nice. Although the products that were offered were mainly the same all the time I got the first insight of African art. You could buy carved wood, ornaments or colourful paintings.

After returning to the student house we made up the next plan. The girls wanted to go to Bagamoyo a small town north of Dar es Salaam and asked me to join them. Of course I wanted to do so! I talked to my guides because they had to delay my introduction day.

For the next 24 hours the three girls showed Africa to me. They already showed me how to negotiate the price at the market but now I discovered the way of transportation. We went by dalladalla which are big and old busses. Normally they are packed with people but with long distance busses they do not get too full. Although Bagamoyo is not too far away from Dar es Salaam it took us 2 hours to get there. After the long bus ride in really hot weather we wanted to wash ourselves and unpack our rucksacks. In Africa you do not book hostels. You just knock on the door of something that looks like a hostel and ask for a room. So we found some decent rooms for a fair price in a backyard. Bagamoyo is quite small but for me it was perfect because Dar es Salaam is just too busy.

We vistited a museum about slave trade because Bagamoyo was the place were all the laves were put on ships and transported all around the world. Of course we also went tot he beach but we did not swim as there are many muslims in Bagamoyo. As we walked around and had a few laughs we found a nice restaurant that was recommended in our guidebook. Wes at on a roof terrace oft he “Poa Poa“ had some nice food, good fun and we listened to the muezzin calling. What a nice atmosphere that was!

Because we did not have so much time, we got ourselves some breakfast and juice the next morning. Later we also returned to the Poa Poa to drink an iced coffee. This was a great change because normally you only get instant coffee here.

As we drove back we sadly had to seperate. The girls wanted to go back to Morogoro and I went back to Dar es Salaam. After such a nice trip to Bagamoyo and the fun we had I felt a little bit sad. I rarely got on with people so well right rom the start. Thank you for your good advice and hopefully we will meet again soon in Marburg :)

Also, have a look at the gallery because I uploaded some pictures!