Final Days in Dar

Final Days in Dar

What a wonderfully bonkers place Dar is. Frankly absolutely nothing going for it except its proximity to Zanzibar and some amazing Indian Ocean Resorts. Dar itself is one of the less impressive cities in Africa, worse than Nairobi.

I spend my final couple of days sorting my onward travel and flight bookings as well as soaking up the sun and surviving the insufferable humidity. I've booked a flight up to Kilimanjaro departing Friday, much more expensive than a bus but I've done ok for money on this trip and its nice to treat yourself rather than have a 10hr sweat fest of a drive.

On the morning I'm due to depart, I meet Rick and his partner who are flying to Zanzibar this afternoon. We agree to share a ride to the airport and get chatting. He lives in Livingstone, with his own island no less, which he runs as a very small travellers accommodation in the middle of the Zambezi river. Jungle Junction is the name and definitely a place to check out when I go back there. He also got the train from Zambia across but it sounded less eventful than my trip.

We leave Mikadi in plenty of time and its just as well. As soon as we get off the ferry we're straight into traffic chaos. If you think London or New York is bad, just go to Africa where accidents and diversions are common place, police regularly shut the roads to let government officials travel through in clear traffic and all the while your surrounded by shifty looking people ready to steal your worldly possessions.

The 3 of us and our luggage are cramped into a tuc tuc, a squeeze but it turns out to be an inspired choice. We're darting in and out of traffic, cross into oncoming lanes, horn blaring almost constantly. It's not safe and I wonder how we didn't have a massive crash at every corner but its the only way we would of made it to the airport. The journey took over an hour as it was and its only about 8 miles. In hindsight it's a wonder there isn't a permanent pile of smashed and broken vehicles at every corner in Dar. There are no rules of the road, not even first come first served. As you assume a car has the right line to make a corner or move up a lane, there are 5 others forcing their way in front including our tuc tuc. I can touch several other vehicles, almost brushing my foot as we go past. There's no other word but chaos to describe it.

On arrival at the airport and wow, has to be one of the smallest, shittiest, least secure airports I've ever been to; and that's something from my Africa and South America travels. I'm pretty sure there's nothing to stop people getting to the runway through the lorry sized holes in the airport fence. The terminal building is half open air before you go through a security scanner and check in, then there is another scanner for your hand luggage before you go into the waiting areA by the departure gates. There must be 10 gates and a waiting area the size of a village hall and that's it. Let me remind you this is the only terminal in this airport which is the only international airport attached to the capital of this big country. I'm sure lonely planet said this was one of the largest and best airports in Africa, it's clearly misinformed. Still it's better than a sweaty bus. All we need now is for my baggage and me to be reunited at Kilimanjaro airport and ill be happy, from there I have a taxi waiting to take me to the Hoff Hostel in Moshi for a pre Kili dinner and briefing. That said the airport workers are having great fun tossing the luggage about on to what I assume is our small prop driven plane.

So my bag made it. The plane was tiny, 50-60 passengers at the most but otherwise a great flight. Now just waiting for my airport taxi to the hostel, god knows where he is ATM.