Tanzania roundup

I guess I promised to do country roundups so I will do one for Tanzania, too. But it's hard. I have so few good memories that I am struggling with the decision to write, even. It's ironic, when we were hanging out in Malawi we worried that we wouldn't have enough time in Tanzania, due to the visa limit that required us to leave on September 10th. As it turned out, we were there for less than 12 days, and left on the 7th, and gladly.

Tanzania is big, so that meant that we really only drove through it. Add to that the fact that we stayed in Dar Es Salaam and Arusha for a few days each and you can imagine that there were a few long driving days. So why did we rush through one of the best regarded tourist countries in the East of Africa, a place many people go to for a holiday of a life time, with such romantic and famous locations such as Zanzibar, Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and Olduvai Gorge?

Dar Es Salaam was interesting as the biggest town we have been to since Lusaka, although it certainly was not as organised or developed. We stayed a few days by the beach there, I think we were hiding out from Tanzanian reality under the palm trees. We did go into town, always fun as we had to cross on a short ferry journey, to see the museum and get the car fixed up - again and do some shopping. After that we made straight for the Serengeti and Ngorongoro (via a night at the foot of the invisible Kilimanjaro), but unfortunately had more car trouble and had to return to Arusha after a visit to Ngorongoro instead of crossing the Serengeti and heading to Rwanda. A three day stay in Arusha finished off any lingering sympathy for Tanzania and we headed off to Kenya. Coming from Malawi and Zambia we had gotten used to a very easy and pleasant life style. There were cheap and comfy camp sites within reasonable driving distances, nature reserves with reasonable entrance fees, more or less available shopping locations, with fresh food on the roadside and small but useful supermarkets just prior to running out of supplies completely and most of all people were friendly even at tourist locations, even when they were trying to sell us stuff we didn't want, even though we would sometimes get overcharged. Not so in Tanzania. Tanzania was mzungu (white person) prices and being mobbed when shopping for pineapples by the roadside; it's an overpriced hotel room with no hot water or electricity, which isn't fixed because "you didn't complain enough"; it's being charged US$480 for a day in Ngorongoro crater, and then told we'd have to pay an extra US$20 for the guide; it's signs at the Dar Es Salaam campsite: "inside camp=safe, outside camp=unsafe" and Merryl harassed while walking on the beach; it's the sight of corruption and the resulting neglect of every public piece of infrastructure, except for the government part of town; it's being stopped by traffic cops for speeding using dubious equipment and then finding that the fine is less if there is no receipt; it's money changers at the border who are seriously good cheats; it's street vendors and touts who really won't take no for an answer, rude to the point of insult when we show no interest in their rip-offs; it's being charged for parking even though there is no signage indicating official involvement anywhere in sight; being charged for guide fees for a guy who uninvited trundles after us; it's neglected camp sites and neglected museums and neglected streets and neglected parks...; oh, and it's the loudest mosques we have encountered anywhere, including Egypt, Jordan, Dubai or Malaysia - and it's Ramadan, so the Imam is on the loudspeaker from 4.30 am to 10pm at full blast, turning even the locals off. I'll stop with the negative now, you get the picture. On the other hand, there have been small moments of pleasantness, kindnesses from strangers: the Indian shop keeper, an elderly gentleman, who made sure we counted our change and printed out a receipt so we could be sure we had paid the right money, he saw us for the insecure visitors confused by yet another new currency that we were; the Maasai guards on the beach at Mikadi, looking all haughty and unapproachable in their strange clothes and clinking jewellery, but who always had a cheery "Mambo Poa" for us when he passed, jauntily flicking his cow tail to keep the flies away, jingling with every move; the gate keepers at Ngorongoro crater, who decided that we didn't need a guide after finding out that I am German (one of the guard's brother in a Roman Catholic priest in Cologne, with the improbable name of Innocent), although still concerned we would get lost - it's a crater, for Pity's sake, it's got walls all around it!; and finally Mussadiq, the awesomely helpful suspension dealer in Arusha, who gave us back our faith in the place after all the crappiness - he found bushes for the suspension, let us park in his back yard, negotiated with the annoying parking attendant and refused to take any money on the basis that he didn't have the exact right parts we needed - what a guy! And then there were, I have to admit, incredible views in the Ngorongoro crater, Baobab valley demands a return visit and Dar was a cool melting pot, which makes it a potential place to live for a little while. Still, glad to be in Kenya now.