We've arrived!

Arriving in Dar Es Salaam was an instant flash back to 3 years ago when we traveled Kenya and Uganda. The people lining up at the airport exit, the men following you to offer their taxi services, the heat, all hits you at once. Except this time - I knew what to expect. I didn't find it overwhelming in the least bit, I thought it was a welcoming! Funny how for some reason, men think that after offering the same service for a tenth time, we'll finally realise that you know what, maybe I do need a taxi!
Instead of having to negociate, and not having mastered the currency or prices of anything yet, we opted to Uber. Yes, Tanzania has Uber. We used the airport WiFi and 2 minutes later we were sitting comfortably in a car, without having to argue about pricing, heading to the hotel we booked on our layover in Addis Ababa. The people walking the streets, men carrying large loads, women with baskets on their head, fruit vendors everywhere, car and tire repair shops lining the streets... we were definitely back in Eastern Africa.

Having been flying for two and a half days now, and starved from scarce plane feeds, this afternoon / evening was a relatively simply one. We napped, of course. And our alarm 1.5 hours later turned into a 2.5 hour nap... We then walked around town, mostly looking for food yet unknowingly hitting almost every tourist stop along the way. We saw the main ferry ticketing office to Zanzibar, the waterfront (which was mostly used by fish merchants, so not your typical nice beach), walked by a massive parlement building which was all blocked off from view, and passed a few really pretty mosques. We even crossed the National Museum without knowing it, which had great art and trincklet vendors outside their doors.

Our basic trick to finding good and cheap food is spotting the gathering of colourful plastic chairs and locals eating... I guess it's not so much a trick as common sense, but when you want to avoid pricey restaurants, this is how you do it! We proceeded to open random pots, and point to what we wanted. 7,000TZS (4$CAD) for fish, coconut rice, fried plantain, 2 meat skewers and a Coca cola.

Total spendings of the day - including our room at Safarri Inn, Uber and meal - 40$CAD.

FYI - Safarri Inn was actually mentioned in Lonely Planet, which we only found out after booking it on booking.com for being the cheapest, yet central option. Basic rooms, granted - moldy doors and cold water showers, but private room and washroom for 23$USD, I'd recommend. Jack's impression - according to East African standard - it's perfect, clean, well located and private washroom. But if you're coming from Zanzibar where I suspect the accommodation is cool looking hostels, then you might consider this rougher.Read more