Bongo through the eyes of a French student

By Ewen Le Clec’h

Last call for boarding to Dar es Salaam. It is 9h40 pm in Paris, and I am leaving on my way to Tanzania for the first time. I am planning to live there for four months, alone. I don’t really know what to expect of the place.

I saw a few pictures of Dar es Salaam on the internet of buildings close to the sea, and that was it. I am left wondering if I would see giraffes while arriving on the plane. I do feel a mix of excitement and stress. Will I be able to get used to the life there? Would it not be too hard for me?

I come from Saint-Pabu, a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. It is a small village, 30 minutes by bicycle to the nearest town and about 30-40 minutes by car to the nearest city, Brest.

In order to get to Tanzania from France, I have a 13 hour journey with a stop in Qatar. After a short transit, the plane took off in the dead of night.

Thus, I can see perfectly the city lights shining and mapping all the wide avenues.

After a couple of hours, I notice huge white mountains; I am above the white sand deserts of the Middle-East. The sun is just beginning to rise when my plane alights in Doha’s airport.

In the distance, I see the big skyscrapers of the Qatari capital. Two hours later, I am in air again, en route to Dar es Salaam.

From my plane, I see the Tanzanian coast approaching. From above, the city is much more colourful compared to France.

The rooftops are all sorts of colours; red, green, blue, whereas the roads are made of soil or concrete surrounded by a lot of green plants.

The sky is a bit cloudy, not as blue as I pictured because I arrive during the rainy season. After landing and the few formalities, I am outside the airport. The weather is hot and heavy, and the sun is beating down.

In fact, I am a little bit lost, feeling the new context of sensations around me. A guy approaches me, asking if I need a taxi.

It is a bit expensive, but I do not know how to get to my hotel and what the transport prices in Tanzania are. So, even though I know the 40 dollars he charged me was way over the actual price, I decide to let the driver take me to my place of residence.

I am really impressed by the way the traffic works here. The rule of the klaxon seems to prevail. The vehicles slide between each other with a certain fluidity. I see daladalas passing by, completely full, and motorcycles going everywhere.

Finally, the taxi lets me at my hotel. I drop my suitcases off in my room, and go for a walk in the streets around. Besides, it is a special day with a lot of locals in the pubs. The national soccer team is doing an important match.

I can feel that the people seem to be curious about me; a white guy, far from the European tourist areas. They suppose I am lost, and they offer me their services. I am being called out and someone even asks me for a picture with him.

My first mission is to find a supermarket where I can buy water, food, and get a Tanzanian phone number. After a look around, I hear about the Mlimani City shopping mall.

Upon arrival, I notice that the shopping mall is similar to the ones in France. There is a KFC, just like the French ones. It’s quite amazing that even if you go across the planet, the big capitalist brands are everywhere, with a very confusing similarity.

I go to take some money from the bank; it is hard to realize how much a banknote represents as the unit of measure of the currency is really different from the Euro, given that one note could have many zeros on it.

Otherwise, I like the food here as I continue look forward to trying out local cuisines.

In comparison to my home village, I see such vast differences. My village has a population of about 2000 in the winter and this doubles during summer. There is a lot of agriculture in my home town and it is not a very busy place like Dar.

Then my first days of internship at Mwananchi Communications Limited came two days after my arrival.

When I arrive there, I realize that the place is really huge; a big newsroom with around 100 people working on their computers. It is a big open-space.

After introducing myself to the teams, my first task is to try to express my experience of Tanzania so far through an article.

There’s a lot that I find interesting about the place but considering that I have not been here for long, these are some of my experiences in Dar es Salaam:

Transport

I heard about the really colourful daladalas, which are the local busses and most common means of transport here. This is what I use to get to work. You really need to know how it works here in order to be able to take them.

Unlike where I come from, buses in Tanzania are not regulated by the district municipality and are always there. Most of the time, the ride goes smoothly with them.

However, there are occasions where I have ended up at the wrong destination, even after asking to the bus conductor if the bus is going to stop where I am going.

The conductor is a very interesting person; at every bus stop, he gets off the bus and calls loudly for customers to enter the bus.

They hang out of the bus while it is still moving, get off or jump on after it has started moving. It is not safe but no one seems bothered by it.

I also have seen, at some bus stops, tables full of coins and did not understand what they were for because and I did not see anyone near them. I assumed it was linked to the buses for people who did not have money but it did not make sense to me.

It turns out that there is a simple explanation to this. The coins are there for someone who needs change.

Furthermore, I have also used the bodaboda, through transport apps or by the side of the road. I need to be careful about the costs, because even here, people will impose higher prices because of my skin colour.

Power and money

I have noticed that electricity can be very fluctuating here. Power cuts are quite regular.

It is difficult if we want to keep cold a fridge with food inside. Also it is not easy without lights and air-conditioning during night.

Furthermore, it seems that a lot of people do not have washing machines, so I have no choice but to hand-wash my clothes.

At first I walked around with cash because I experienced difficulty when trying to use my credit card. I therefore was afraid of losing my money.

However, I learnt of electronic wallets through my mobile service provider. I still have to learn how to use this service because I understand it will be much safer than walking around with wads of cash.

Food and entertainment

I went to watch a football match alone in a local pub. In fact, people seemed to be intrigued to see me arriving there. Nevertheless, at the same time, they welcomed me to watch the match with them.

I did not know the local teams, but it went really fast: at half-time, one of the teams was leading with a score of 5 – 0. By the end, the final outcome was 7 – 0, a score hard to imagine possible for me before.

I had the chance to discover more about Tanzanian dishes. I tried beef liver for the first time in my life, fried chicken, rice, boiled eggs, fried banana called ndizi kaanga and maandazi. I also tried the famous Kilimanjaro beer and I think it was good. I also had ugali with meat and vegetables and I found it to be a very filling dish. The chips yai proved a very unique way to have fries and I really enjoyed it.

Work and social life

Through my internship, I have the chance to attend different events. The first event I went to was a press conference at the central police office of Tanzania. It was an official greetings discourse with a gift from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the gender desk.

I then went to a press conference at the French Embassy following President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to France and her meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.

I then went for an interesting visit at an art exhibition about love and life at The Drum café in Masaki. A nice place for culture in Dar es Salaam.

On Sunday, I was woken up really early by noise outside. In fact, after asking around, I came to learn that it was a regular time for prayer.

This is really different from France, where people do not shout at all in religious areas.

With my different experiences of the city, I have begun to visualize and understand the different areas of Dar es Salaam.

I remember being super impressed by the train, when it came out of nowhere to cross the road.

Secondly, I was lucky to have been invited to discover the North of the city for a drink at Mama Africa restaurant and to see the beautiful beaches. It was my first time seeing the Indian Ocean.

Finally, at the North-East, there is the Msasani Peninsula, where they are touristic and trendy quarters. I went to have a drink there, at the Slipway Hotel with some French girls working at the embassy.

The place is really nice, with a breath-taking panoramic view of Dar es Salaam under the sunset. In the sea, I saw fish that I have never seen before: small ones jumping out of the water as groups.

House hunting

Even though I arrived and am currently staying in a hotel, it is important that I find more affordable accommodation.

As a student in a foreign land, the costs of living might get too overwhelming if I have to buy food every single day.

I have had the chance to look around at houses in the Tabata suburbs that are quite different from what one would find in my region.

I also considered using the Airbnb service that seems a lot more convenient and affordable.

Taking it in my stride

For the moment, I am enjoying my experience in Tanzania. It is culturally different from France and I need quite some time in order to adapt to the life here.

I am also beginning to look at activities that I want to do here: go in natural parks to see lions, giraffes and elephants, see the Kilimanjaro, diving in Zanzibar, meet Masai people, etc…

This experience seems promising and I can’t wait to learn Kiswahili.