Tanzania

Have just gotten back from a 4 day trip to Tanzania - 2 nights in Dar es Salaam and 2 in Ifakara. All work but had a little time to enjoy the country.

I left on Tuesday morning. Fortunately I left a fair amount of time to get things organised at the airport because after standing for half an hour in ABSA Bureau de Change in the domestic terminal, I was told that they didn't have any US dollars and that I would need to go to their branch in the international terminal.

One has to fly via Johannesburg as there are no direct flights from Cape Town. There used to be a choice of South African airways or Air Tanzania but the latter went bankrupt last year, I was told, so it is now just good old SAA - which is OK with me. Cape Town was engulfed in the most monstrous double cold front, with high winds and torrential rains, when I left. The captain assured us blithely that "turbulence is uncomfortable but not dangerous!" - yeh, right, tell that to your granny! The first half hour was pretty rough and we ended up flying at 39 000 feet, which I don't think I have experienced before. From Colesberg on it got easier and the descent and landing were pretty smooth.

The flight from Johannesburg to Dar takes about 3 and a half hours. We were routed over Mozambique, Malawi and then into Tanzania. There is not a lot to see as it is all pretty flat and in any case mostly cloud covered. We got into Dar after 7 pm by which time it was dark. I have been a number of times before so knew to expect a bit of a circus at the Visa counter. You can buy your visa there for $50 - $100 if it is business - but it is something of a mission. My general impression of Tanzanians is that they are some of the nicest and friendliest people I have met, but that some of their institutions are not the most efficient.

I was booked into the Movenpick Hotel with 3 others, all of whom were there already. Not my choice. I suggested the Swiss Garden Hotel which is about one third of the price, but was outvoted. The Movenpick is fine - large, international, expensive, but fine. I met the others for dinner. I asked the waiter what on the menu was the local specialty - what is a good Tanzanian dish? "French fries!" he replied. I settled for a club sandwich and a large Kilimanjaro beer. At least the beer was local.

We were collected at 9 the next morning. I managed to coax the ATM into regurgitating 20 000 Tanzanian shillings (about US$15) for the trip. The vehicle was a large Nissan 4x4, complete with driver. It was airconned which made a big difference. I have done this trip before, am fairly philosophical about travelling on African roads and so wasn't as phased as the others by the driving code (road markings are advisories, not instructions), speed (120kmph), near misses (pedestrians, cyclists and even motorcyclists have no rights at all - they have to give way even if they have right of way or got there first) and road condition (the last 2 hours were on bad dirt road - we were told this was an "African massage"). Overtaking on a blind rise is quite permissible and in fact overtaking into the path of oncoming traffic is likewise OK - somehow room will be found. The guy driving us had probably driven the route hundreds of times. Who were we to tell him how to drive? Unfortunately, those with me didn't have the same attitude. I kept hearing mutters of "O my Gosh!" or "O shit!" from my left and right, and seeing white knuckles and pale faces.

We stopped at Mikumi game reserve for lunch. There is a camp and waterhole quite close to the Tanzam highway (the road that runs from Dar all the way to Zambia, on which we were driving). It cost us $25 each to get in plus TZSh 10 000 for the vehicle. There were a couple of elephants and some buffalo wallowing. The others had burgers. I had warthog sandwich which was ... interesting. Came to about $10 a head with drinks. We drove around a little after lunch and saw some zebra, giraffe, impala, crocodile and hippo. Very nice interlude.

You turn off the main road at Morogoro, just after Mikumi, and enter Kilombera district. Soon after that the road turns to dirt. One is in a large valley, previously mainly swampland by the looks of it on the map, but now a lot of sugar cane and subsistence farming. Very pretty with the flanking hills, some quite sizeable. The surface got worse and worse. Large dongas left right and centre, fortunately not all three at the same time. Our driver weaved his way in and out, miraculously missing pedestrians, cyclists, chickens and dogs. The sun set and it got darker. Eventually we got to our hotel which was about a kilometre from the hospital and research centre we were visiting. More like a motel really. Nice enough. No hot water but the rooms were clean and the doors lockable. Also, they had airconditioning. We put out bags down, smartened up and headed for the Ikakara Health Research Centre (IHRC), recently renamed the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI). The director was waiting for us and we had an excellent evening meal with him and some of his staff, washed down with more Tanzanian beer.

Then it was back to the hotel. There was soccer on the TV - the USA were playing Spain in the Confederation Cup semi finals back in South Africa and miraculously beat them. I arranged the mosquito net over the bed, climbed in and drifted off to sleep. Unfortnatutely the net wasn't as well arranged as it might have been and some of the little critters found their way in. I woke several times during the night scratching my foot or hand following recent bites. I had taken my mefloquine before leaving Cape Town, but one never knows. I have lost enough patients from falciparum malaria to have a healthy respect for the disease.

I awoke the next morning to the sounds of screaming. Not sure what was going on - seemed to be coming from the room next to mine. Screaming, crying, wailing ... not sure ... maybe hysterical laughter. One of the others heard it, the other two didn't. Still have no idea what it was, but I saw the occupiers of the next door flat later and they looked fine. Breakfast was basic but adequate. Two pieces of rather pale toasted white bread, a fried egg, and some tea. Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda - these are prime tea and coffee growing areas, so one expects the best. Normally one is not disappointed.

Then it was off for the day's meetings. They started at around 9 and went on till 5, with lunch somewhere along the way. Some were in crowded offices, some were held standing around in laboratories, some were in hospital wards or X-ray units or clinics, one was in a data capture centre, and the last one, as the afternoon started to age, in an open "rondawel", under a thatched roof, sitting around a circular table and sipping bottled water. To end off a good day's work, we were taken down to the river where the main road crosses into the next district, and the ferry operates. The sun was just dipping behind the far hills and there were a few African pied kingfishers hovering. An old man fished in the shallows with a home made rod. There was no sign that he had caught anything lately. We watched the ferry go back and forth once or twice, chatted to some of the locals and then the sun was gone and it started getting colder, so we headed back.

Dinner back at the unit included some local music and dance. There was a youngster who said he was 14 but looked about 10, who was doing the most remarkable acrobatics in time to the singing, clapping and instruments. It was a warm night so after we had finished I changed and had a quick swim in the pool, followed by the obligatory Kilimanjaro beer with the others on the verandah. Life is tough!

We left early the next morning for Dar. We stopped at Morogoro for some lunch. There is a little restaurant just next to the main road where you can sit in this lovely tropical garden in the shade and sip a cool beer. The food is good - chicken or beef, as usual, although I daresay we could have gotten goat or something more exotic if we had asked. Served with ugali, which is like our "stywepap" or stiff maize porridge. I went for the beef - ever since we got a parrot I have been a little squeamish about eating chicken. They served it in a cast iron dish balanced on a thick wooden block - still cooking. It was delicious.

We made Dar before sunset. We had all been furiously drinking bottled water as the truck bounced up and down so the first stop was the loo. We stayed at the Movenpick again. The desk clerk was sure to tell us that that eveing we could watch the Arabian nights show and dinner in the hotel grounds for $35. I said thanks very much and headed for my room and two telecons. In the end we avoided the Arabian nights, which seemed a touch over the top and over priced. A friend had told me that THE place to eat was called Smokeys, "on the rooftop of a house in the Msasani peninsula". The doorman seemed to have heard of it and we found a cab driver who was prepared to take us, wait for us and bring us home again. As it turned out, Smokies was no more, but we found a really nice place called The Irish Pub and Grill (in Tanzania?) which was right next to the water and we could eat on the deck. We sat and savoured the warm African night, the African food and the African beer. Three of the four of us had never been to Tanzania before, one had never been in Africa before. I could see the continent was working its slow and ancient magic.

I had to leave at 5 the next morning for the early flight back to Johannesburg. The clerk who checked me out managed to add an extra "0" to the amount charged to my credit card (in USD) and then couldn't reverse it. I won't go into all the gory details but it took about 2 weeks to get the money back. Not quite what I needed, but these things happen. Then we were up above the clouds, heading south west over Tanzania, then Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and finally into SA airspace and on to Johannesburg and Cape Town. Good to be home but also wanting to go back.