I have spent the last two weeks in Dar (home on the weekends) for meetings with Government, NGO counterparts, Donor organizations and even a date with my wife! Dar has a different feel than Nairobi, Arusha, Lusaka and other urban areas where I spend a lot of time. It is a coastal, hot, humid, tropical city. People walk slower. you smell the ocean. you know when it’s low tide vs high tide. Grabbing a lunch or a beer with an ocean view is standard. Below is a view from a taxi at 7am driving into town… sitting in traffic.
Traffic – that is Dar’s problem. it’s complete overpopulated and way too many people have cars. When it rains the city turns into complete gridlock. It took me 2.5 hours to get to the airport last Friday morning. In the middle of the night it would take 20 minutes. All the feeder roads are jammed. All the short cuts are jammed. We have a term for these back dirt roads through neighborhoods – they are called Panya routes – “Panya” means rat. There are people and houses everywhere. If you have any claustrophobia this is not the place for you. You can be stopped dead in traffic for 20 minutes and then all of a sudden it just opens up and you drive 2 kms and sit again for 20 minutes. For those who like to figure out traffic patterns you’d love it here.
What I am completely unable to comprehend is that population of Dar will double in the next 20 years. Where? How? It is mind blowing. It makes me want to run into the hills waving a white flag.
I did manage to get lisa to escape the arusha treadmill and come down with me one night for a film showing about conservation in Tanzania and a nice sushi dinner. Can’t you see the excitement in her eyes for Sushi?
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