I’ve never actually stayed in Dar es Salaam before; I usually just take a connecting flight from the DAR airport to the island of Zanzibar where my family is from.
The first thought I had when we were on the road to the hotel was: “it’s so crowded”. We were stuck in traffic for two hours but at least we had entertainment from people on the sidewalk yelling out their life story and random people coming up to the car to sell items ranging from peanuts to tables (I kid you not, there was a man walking around from car to car trying to sell a table).
The next couple of days involved exploring Dar es Salaam which included shopping at the local markets, eating at the popular Swahili restaurants and of course, being stuck in traffic.
On the third day, we woke up quite early to pack our bags, checkout and wait for my mum’s cousin to pick us up to go to Morogoro for a safari. The road out of Dar and into Morogoro was jam-packed but eventually after a few hours-drive, we made it.
“Um, uncle, where are we?”, my brother asked when we got out of the car and saw the dodgy looking motel in front of us. My uncle said that there wasn’t a need for a proper hotel because we’d only be utilizing the place for a few hours to sleep and be up and out by 4 am.
We shrugged and entered the motel, got our rooms, dropped our bags (very reluctantly on my part) and left to go find somewhere to eat.
We found a little corner side restaurant where we sat to try sekela (grilled chicken served with salad, French fries and tamarind sauce) for the first time; it was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t help myself from ordering some more.
Once we were back in the motel, my family and I went into our two bedroom apartment and my uncle left to his on the note that we’d meet in the lobby at 4 am.
At 4 am, my family was grumpily waiting for my uncle in the lobby. The lobby was so dark and there was no one in sight, so we just sat around waiting until we heard a “can I help you?” come from somewhere. It was as if I was in a scene of Adam’s Family; this guy just literally slow-mo stood up from the bottom of the reception desk in the dark and spoke before turning on the light. Safe to say, we were terrified. My mum screamed bloody murder, I jumped to my father, my father let out a girlish squeak and my brother hid under the table.
Once we got our heart rates back to normal, we followed our uncle who just came down to the car for a 4-hour drive to the national park. At around 8:30 am, we reached the reserve and our uncle said he’d be the driver and tour guide which turned out to be the best decision because we were able to control where we wanted to go and how long we wanted to stay in each area.
The animals we saw ranged from lions and hippos to giraffes and wildebeests. It was so quiet and so peaceful watching the animals in their natural habitat. The only scary part was when we saw an elephant walking towards the car and I started praying that I wouldn’t be made into an elephant play toy.
Featured Image Credit: (Tanzania.co.tz Photo)
EYAS 