Visit to Dar es Salaam

Before Mum and Dad left Tanzania, we all drove down to Dar es Salaam, to spend a few days there with them. It was lovely to have a few days of holiday together with Mum and Dad before they jetted off from Dar es Salaam airport, back to a colder and wetter England...

Our car journey from Dodoma to Dar es Salaam on the Friday was a mere 8 hours (!!), with a lunch stop under a shady tree by the roadside, sitting on our picnic blanket- quite a pleasant spot if you ignored the flies buzzing around!

 By the time we arrived in Dar, we were tired and hungry, so stopped for some fast-food at one of Dar's exciting shopping centres (we have nothing so modern in Dodoma, so it's always a novelty for us Dodoma-ites!).
After the meal, it was dark and getting very late. We headed off to our Guest House with heavy eyes, very much looking forward to a good night's rest. However, the Road to Sleep did not run smooth, as we got lost down some rather dubious backroads of Dar es Salaam, bumping around on dreadful mud roads in the black darkness of night! Finally, Andrew found the tar road which led to our destination. It was with relief that we drove into the entrance of the Guest House, but as we stepped from the airconditioned car, our tired senses were overcome; we felt Dar's hot and humid air enveloping us, a strong smell of seaweed filling our lungs and a cacophony of frog-song assaulting our ears! A tired Ben, climbing from the car at 9.30pm that night, could not stop laughing at the strange, loud noise of the frogs and was highly amused by the odour of rotting seaweed- but poor Dad was quite overwhelmed and wondered what kind of place we had brought him to!!

By morning, the frogs were quiet, the smell of seaweed had abated and we woke to discover a lovely garden and a delicious breakfast, which reassured us all that we had actually booked into a very pleasant place! In all, we spent 3 nights at this Swiss Guest House and it was a lovely place to stay. There was no more frog-song or seaweedy-stench, as these only occur on evenings when there has been rain- so despite our first impressions, it turned out to be a great base for us in Dar es Salaam!

We also spent 2 wonderful nights at a different location, with 2 nights at a beach resort on an island just off the coast of Dar es Salaam. What a beautiful place to have some time together with family.

 We all enjoyed the unspoilt, white, sandy beaches, the rock pools, swimming in the crystal clear sea and our "banda" accommodation right on the beach. The sound of gently lapping waves, the call of sea-birds and the animated chatter of monkeys were the only sounds to interrupt our excited children, busy discovering the beach with Nana:

 And there were some interesting discoveries to be made, such as this amazing sea-creature washed up on the beach:

 or this unfortunate crab, who fell into the deepest part of the swimming pool, where he sadly ended his days...

 After our Island Get-a-Way, it was back to busier Dar es Salaam and to our Guest House there. The children had lots of fun discovering creatures of a different kind in the large garden of the Guest House- thankfully, these animals were only models, but I think we forgot to explain that to a rather nervous Joel!

 Ben liked the cheetah best of all...

 ...but I was terrified of this VERY real spider living in one of the trees- this photo does not even do him justice, as I'm convinced that he was bigger than my hand- but I was not about to put my hand any closer to verify that theory!

 On our final day in Dar es Salaam, Ben and Esther had a great time with Nana and Grandad at the Guest House, swimming in the pool there and walking around the small fishing harbour nearby.
Meanwhile, Andrew and I took Joel to a private clinic where it is possible to get innoculations in line with the UK programme of baby vaccinations. Joel was booked in at 9am to have his MMR jab- an innoculation which is just not available in Dodoma. We then planned to go shopping at one of Dar's big shopping centres to stock up on supplies we can't find in Dodoma.
Unfortunately, our day did not go quite as planned...First of all, Joel seemed a little out of sorts and when we got to the clinic, he was running a high fever. The Dutch doctor there was very helpful and diagnosed an ear infection. I was grateful that Joel was in trusted, professional hands and that we were able to get a correct, clear diagnosis and the correct medicine. However, the fever meant that Joel could not have his MMR vaccination. The doctor asked us when we could bring Joel back to get this important vaccination? Andrew and I looked at each other- with a day's drive separating us from this clinic, we could not answer when we will be able to bring Joel back for his MMR. So he is not yet innoculated and we are not sure when we will next have the opportunity to take him.
On leaving the clinic, we were dismayed to find that thieves had got to our car before us:

This back window had been smashed and, annoyingly, the glass had shattered all over Joel's car seat inside. The door had been opened and we realised that 2 items had been stolen. The thieves got less than they bargained for, though, as the 2 stolen items consisted of Joel's nappy-changing bag (full of spare nappies, baby-wipes, cotton wool and a few items of spare clothes) and the folded picnic blanket (featured in the 1st blog photo above!). The picnic blanket, when folded, ressembled a laptop bag, so maybe they broke in thinking that they had scooped a prize booty of a computer-  but would later discover a blanket!! Still, it was frustrating losing things that are so useful to us- but we are thankful that we did not lose more.
The most frustrating aspect of the break-in was the hassle that ensued. I had to wait a long 4 hours at the clinic, with a feverish Joel, while Andrew had to navigate his way through a morning of discussions with an apologetic clinic staff, calls to MAF to find out about insurance for fixing the window and even a visit to the local police station to fill in a report. Andrew also had to deal with the security firm whose guard was supposed to be carefully watching all of the vehicles outside the clinic. The guard who had been on duty during our car break-in definitely had some explaining to do to his superiors! It has to be said that we were quite taken aback when members from the security firm turned up in force to investigate the matter: to me, it looked like they had come to investigate a bomb blast, rather than a minor car break-in!

 We felt exhausted and very hungry when we finally manoevered our way through the infamous Dar traffic jams (they have to be seen to be believed!!) to get to the shopping centre, buy some lunch and get the goods we needed. It was a bit of a miserable afternoon for little Joel, who was hot and restless and whose dirty nappy could not be changed until we arrived at the shops to buy new nappies and sundries for him.
It was 6pm before we got back to the Guest House for our final Tanzanian evening with Mum and Dad. At least they had had a nice day with Esther and Ben! :-) We all retired early, after a lovely dinner together, ready get up at 5am in order to take Mum and Dad to the airport for their flight to England.

Shortly after sunrise, we dropped Mum and Dad off at Dar es Salaam International airport:

We said our farewells and then climbed back into our car for the long drive to our home in Dodoma, while Mum and Dad winged their way back over Africa and Europe and back to their home in England...