Coming to Africa

MEMORABLOG: 20.11.1998

Africa... first stop... Entebbe... where the hell did I hear that name from? Ups... some decades ago an abducted plane landed there, and some people never left Uganda... Again, since the beginning of 80th, this should be a relatively safe country. One thing struck me... the african heat when stepping out of the plane during our one hour stop. Soon, we were in the clouds again, passing Victoria lake and Kilimanjaro...

Final stop... Dar es Salaam.. To be honest, i didn't know much about Tanzania before. Fortunately i bought myself a Lonely planet just a few days before. And let me say, its my first trip outside Europe. And let me add, we both are completely unprepared and without any previous travel experiences. But, why complicate things, lets enjoy... And we did... when getting visas we were pleasantly surprised, as the citizens of Slovenia we had to pay only 20US$, while all the dutch and those EU citizens had to pay 50US$...

So, whaaaat next... ufff... luggage delivery is chaotic. Everybody can walk in. So, if you are not fast enough, your bag can disappear... even if it is worth nothing. But we were fortunate. Everything was waiting us. So, what next. I guess we have to get a taxi or something. And at least 50 people was trying to catch our look, and they were shouting taxi, taxi, cheap, ... Crazy... Frantically i open LP for the first time (yep, that was a first lesson - get basic information about your destination in time) and start searching for transport. Prices are outdated, so it doesn't help us really much. And the guys are yelling their prices from 10-12.000 Tanzanian schillings...

Jambo, jambo, jambo... Officially, "jambo" means "hello" in Swahili. But to tourist in Tanzania, it means "look at me, I want to sell you something.". And that doesn't stop with taxi drivers...

And then we see something familiar. A lone traveller, from our country... We started talking, and actually we waited for his plane to depart. That guy, lets call him David (and there is no chance that i remember his name, sorry) has been in Tanzania several times, and as usual business he buys in region of Arusha souvenirs and etc. and then sells them on stalls around Slovenia. So, he has an unofficial business going, not sure whether everything was completely legal. Who cares. He gave us lots of insights. We got a first impression of the country that was very helpful (and that we couldn't get from any guidebook), how and where to change the money and so on... Even, for the first time he bargained a taxi for us to take us to our hotel - Jambo Inn... Starting price was at the beginning 12000 TSch, and eventually dropped to 5000, which was very fair price... at least for us...

Jambo Inn was... well... khm... interesting place... one of those low-budget hotels near main Dar bus stop. It was clean, with quite short beds and keylock was in a strange state (like somebody already broke in a few days before). The only downpoint was, that its quite near the mosque and its very loud speakers...

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Buying a bus ticket was funny. At the end we didn't buy it, we just decided to buy it in the morning, or the day we decide to leave Dar. But before, we got shown at least ten different busses, from Kilimanjaro express to Kilimanjaro express video coach... They were pulling us apart, to see even more busses... They let us »hear« the sound of the bus... And the ticket office was... well, just a shack, made of old bus tires...

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Later in the evening, after a tasty meal downstairs, somebody knocked on the door, actually a doorman.

He cried »There is a woman outside«.

And?

»She wants you.«

Damn. We haven't even settled in and prostitutes are coming for us. I was never a magnet for women, so i'm not really accustomed to that. Where the hell are we? But OK. The last thing i want to have in Tanzania is sex, so...

»She wants to speak. She mzungu«

Ok, i dressed (and was already figuring out a blonde swedish in trouble and nowhere to sleep), and went downstairs. She looked like... well, probably a woman, with dreadlocks, at least when hearing a pitch voice I believed she was a female... Came back up to the room a minute later and said to Adi... She wants to speak with us regarding the safari. She is a white german woman, a bit on a ugly side, should we go down or hide?

We were feeling adventourus so we went down to see what she has to offer. And basically, this was the first tourist trap lesson (yep, lets do it the hard way). She explained, that she is organising a safari, that she is a guide, originally from Germany and she now lives here... We were quite happy to speak with someone in german or english, so after a few beers and a presentation of »Paradies safaries« we'll make a deal. We'll go with her on safari from Arusha, just we have to catch a bus next morning... We cashed out 100US$, got some kind of contract and someone brought us also a bus tickets for the morning bus... Well... only then i opened the LP. It said there... »beware of touts«, »don't give money infront«, »check the blacklist«, ... Paradies safari wasn't on the black list, but paradise safari was... so... what the hell... oh, well... tommorow is a new day... lets enjoy our first night in Tanzania and worry tommorow...