| 5 mins read
Ruchira Kumar
When you go to a place for business, you don’t have the many tales from a vacation spent in hectic excitement of new experiences or stories of time spent with old friends. Your focus starts and ends with a singular focus on your work without any over enthusiasm about leisure. It forces you to stop and find pleasure in the mundane. And that puts a different spin to travel, which begins when you tick ‘business’ as the purpose of your visit on the immigration entry form!
My trip to Tanzania is one such case. While I imagine tourists in Tanzania do not really spend time in Dar E Salaam, apart from using it a launch pad to the country’s more exciting parts, I have had the pleasure of spending weeks there, running to and fro on the same streets between meetings, returning to the hotel night after night, ticking off every vegetarian item off their menu! And when you are not in pursuit of a vacation itinerary, the city reveals itself as you sit stuck in traffic in a taxi.
The first thing that strikes you is the myriad colors of the buildings and houses juxtaposed together - pink, peach, turquoise, cream, lilac and green; and so many more tones for which I have no names. The architecture is beautifully quaint from the times that the city was first set up as a trading post along with Zanzibar, which fell at a fortuitous point of the spice route. That cluster of buildings where it must have begun sits a small part of the central business district - I’ve seen that before in Western India along the Ghats. You see in these buildings the same dilapidation that you see in many old parts of cities around the world - a charm clamoring to survive amongst the towering skyscrapers and more predictable structures. This Indian influence comes from those who first came as traders in the 19th century and continue to hold an influence in the economy. But there are other smells and sights which reflect the other traders from Northern Africa who must have tread these paths. As you walk around these buildings, you can’t help but wonder what it must be like to sail for foreign parts and make a new life amidst so many other others.
And when you are out meeting firms, you truly understand this extent of Indian influence. Having worked in several countries and finding it natural to deal with clients of that nationality, it is disconcerting to walk into Tanzanian enterprises rich in Indian influences. Indian deities bless the office premises, and one can overhear smatters of Gujarati and Hindi in the background, while you are whisked to the office of the CEO who is either Indian or of Indian descent. While these families are Tanzanians by all accounts, networks by communities run strong and deep. My local colleague, who took charge as my Dar es Salaam tour guide informed me that you also find them in clubs by ethnicities- for instance, the Upanga club, which is where a lot of the Indians subscribe to. These clubs are local variants of the Gymkhana, with lovely Indian food at dirt cheap prices. While frequented by members, some of them are also open for a fee to outsiders.
Another striking thing about Dar in specific is the flourishing trade and entrepreneurship on the roads. Almost anything needed for one’s daily chores- kitchenware, food items, electronics, shoes, clothes, books; everything is sold on the streets. You don’t ever need to go the shops; just roll the window of the car down and bargain.
And of course, when on business, the only entertainment is food, when you are not too tired to order room service and be done with it! While Tanzania is basically a meat eating country, which restricts many a vegetarians’ ability to try local fare, it does not disappoint. Tanzania has some of the most flavorful fruits and vegetables, thanks to their climatic conditions. And their cashews are world class! When I was done with every vegetarian dish at the oriental restaurant at my hotel, (which offered very good sushi and Thai by the way!), I ventured out, only to discover some really nice restaurants about the city. Most of these are tucked away in non-commercial areas. Thai at Thai Kani, the Grill at Highland Villas, avocado wraps at Makuti, the Gujarati thali at Chappan Bhog, and to top it all, the cappuccino shake and the sticky toffee pudding at the new Ramada Encore in the center of the city. That pudding drove me crazy and if I lived in Dar, I can see myself returning every evening to that moistiest nibble of cake ever! I actually had some packed to take back for the kids. I am happy to say they shared my enthusiasm!
Now that Dar and I have developed an acquaintance, I hope next time we can deepen our friendship with some more well kept secrets being revealed about this wonderfully laid back and beautiful city along the shore of the deep turquoise blue waters of the Indian Ocean.
Ruchira is a full time professional based out of Washington DC. She travels frequently for her work, and provides an insight into how even a business trip can be an enriching experience.
Image Details and Licenses: https://flic.kr/p/mYYHJr (Roberto Maldeno, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), https://flic.kr/p/dm3nuW (Development Planning Un, CC BY 2.0), https://flic.kr/p/hyN3y (Laura, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), https://flic.kr/p/p8BsZ (Alexander Johmann, CC BY-SA 2.0), https://flic.kr/p/bcv99a (Martijn.Munneke, CC BY 2.0), https://flic.kr/p/5LEAkU (nickfraser, CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/5QxJwe (Stefano C. ManservisiCC BY-NC-ND 2.0)