Dar Es Salaam

Dar es Salaam - not the capital city of Tanzania (Dodoma is) - is the economical heart of Tanzania. The biggest port next to Mombasa on the east coast of Africa, supplies the Hinterland, but also whole countries like Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda and Zambia. The cargo gets offloaded and packed on to trucks which are seen all over Tanzania.
Dar es Salaam means "harbour of peace" and got important when Sultan Majid bin Said of Zanzibar decided, that a port on the mainland of Tanganyika would be helpful. When he died the importance of Dar Es Salaam declined again. But only two decades later in 1887 the German East Africa Company established a station there and trade came back. In 1900 the construction of railways began and boosted the local industry.
The British captured Tanganyika during the First World War. Indians were brought in to built the railways and became part of the population. 1961 after experiencing rapid growth Tanganyika became an independent country and Dar es Salaam served as the capital. Even after Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the current country called Tanzania. 1973 Dodoma was made the capitol city, but still lacks the importance of Dar Es Salaam.
I arrived in the huge bus station, which is conveniently 10km out of the city. Traffic jams are omnipresent. After the minibus drive I took a short ferry to cross the harbour and a tuktuk eventually brought me to Mikadi Beach. Just a couple of kilometers outside the city center there is a wonderful beach, with clean water and bungalows. A good base to get to know a zombie city like Dar Es Salaam. My foot got really bad and I didn't move to much during the first few days. Weekends a lot of local people from the city come to swim in the ocean. Actually they don't swim, because they never learned it. Tragically a kid died during my stay. He drowned even though there where no waves nore currents.
The owners are a really nice Chilean-Zimbabwean couple with cute little girl with whom I played a lot. Mikadi is also a stop of the overland tours coming from Cape Town to Nairobi to visit Zanzibar.
The city it self is rather dull with no real historical part. A lot of rich - mostly white - folks live north of the city heart in smart neighborhoods in mansions behind high walls. I met up with two girls, who I got to know in Mombasa and went to Western style bars with views of the bay. Quite nice, quite expensive.
My foot got better, I got a visa for Malawi (100$ for one month) and read a lot of books. After one week of camping beneath the palm trees, swinging in the hammock, white sand and amazing sunrises I was ready to go to Zanzibar.