Dar Es Salaam - Reaching the Indian Ocean - Tanzania

Wednesday 1.05:

The last full month of our trip has started. It is sad to know that the end of our trip is not in the far future any more. We leave Mbeya early in the morning and drive the full day 500 kilometres to Mikumi passing through the high and lowlands of central Tanzania with different climate zones ranging from 18 degrees to 32 degrees Celsius. In the dark we stop at a lodge/campsite that is owned by a Swiss. We have spaghetti carbonara and Bolognese for dinner. Delicious after too many days of local food (no offense).

Thursday 2.05:

After driving the whole day again we arrive in the late afternoon in Dar Es Salam. The traffic is a real nightmare in this city counting 2.5 million inhabitants. It took us ages to drive to the Nissan dealer where we had to check on minor issues we have with our car. On the way there I tried to take a little forbidden shortcut to pass by an endless traffic jam. Too bad that a local policeman caught me doing this. He stopped me and started  yelling at me that I have to pay a fine of 30000 Tanzanian Shillings. We said we want a receipt before we pay. He replied than he has to take me straight to jail. We offered him to pay 15000 without a receipt and he seemed to be happy, meaning all the money obviously goes straight to his pocket. Once he received the money he suddenly was our best friend. He stepped into our car without an invitation and directed us the way to the Nissan dealer. We were even allowed to cross red lights and by pass traffic jams with him in the car. After all the dealership had already closed. Somehow we made it  through the nightmarish traffic in the dark to the Indian quarter in the center of Dar Es Salaam. We found the Safari Inn a cheap more or less clean budget hotel.

Friday-Monday:

On Friday we first walked to the nearby Mozambique Embassy to get our visa. They told us we an invitation letter of a hotel in Mozambique and a hotel booking slip. Of course we did not have both of it so we had to spent the whole day finding a hotel in Mozambique who could send us these documents. When we finally did the Embassy was already closed. Which means we have to stay in Dar Es Salaam until Monday when they reopen. While Ju arranged all this I dealt with the Nissan dealer were we brought our car to have the front bushes exchanged. This will also take until Monday afternoon.

In the afternoon we found time to walk through the center of Dar Es Salaam. Despite all the horror stories we heard about the city we liked the lively atmosphere in the centre. Indians, Muslims and Africans live peacefully together, at least it seems like it. The oldest buildings in this young city were built by the Germans like the Lutheran church where we listened to the practice of the gospel choir. One of the best things are the many street eateries with big barbeque grills where we had delicious grilled chicken. Finally we arrived at the Indian Ocean where we hugged each other for having crossed the entire continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean in the last 4 month.
On Saturday and Sunday we visited the National Museum and the Mwenge African Crafts Market where we bought a few souvenirs. After just 3 days we already start greeting people we got to know in our quarter of the town.

Monday 6.08

In the morning after we were woken up by the call of the Muezzin,  I went to the post office to get visa application letters printed out.
After a 8 piece samosa lunch we walked once again to the embassy to hand in our visa application to the sleepy woman behind the counter who was trying to hard not to be the least helpful. We had to walk to a bank to pay the 60 dollar visa fee. Here we had to wait another half hour in a long queue. Once back at the embassy we were told that we get the visa 5 days later on Friday afternoon. Considering that they just have to stamp a frustrating long time. The rest of the day we spent at the European style Garden restaurant. We both tried to rebook our flights to the 19^th of June. It turned out not so easy as planned. There were no more available seats in the same price category. For me it was cheaper in the end to book a complete new flight on the 17^th.

Tuesday 7.05:

Early in the morning we went to the Nissan Dealer to check on our car. They told us that it was more serious than expected. We waited the whole day for a quotation. In the afternoon we finally received it in shock. In the end we cut the costs down from 3000 euros to 1000 euros. Alex one of the main managers of the huge repair shop gave us a lift back to our hotel.  He convinced us that Mozambique can be done in 2 weeks and encouraged us to go up to North Tanzania for the rest of the week.

Back at the hotel we met Alex, one of the local budget tour operators. He turned out to be a genius sales person. In half an hour he convinced us to book a 3 day safari for 360 euros to the Ngoro Ngoro Crater and the Serengeti Park where we have the chance to see the annual wild beast migration.