Tanzania
Tanzania is a country rich with so much natural beauty and culture that 6 days simply didn’t do it justice. As we were constantly reminded, we didn’t even scratch the surface of all that it has to offer. 99% of tourists visiting Tanzania go on a safari in one or more of the incredible natural parks and/or spend their time on tropical islands like Zanzibar and Pemba. Instead, we spent our entire time in the bustling city of Dar es Salaam. Again and again, people advised us against this plan. “There is nothing to see in Dar”…”you’re wasting your time there”…“it’s just a big city”…”Zanzibar is literally paradise”.
On the streets in Dar we were approached by travel booking agents asking us which safari we were going on or what time we were sailing to Zanzibar tomorrow. The idea of white people coming to Tanzania to stay in Dar was unfathomable. Fellow travelers we met almost seemed disgusted with us. It got tiring explaining why we were choosing to stay in Dar after a while. I even started to doubt myself.
But, as I continue to realize, you should never take advice from people who don’t understand you and your vision. Those who don’t know you are almost always wrong when they insert themselves into your life.
I absolutely loved Dar and don’t regret not laying on a white sandy beach, snorkeling in crystal clear water, or looking at wild giraffes and lions. That stuff just doesn’t appeal to me. Doing those activities would make me feel so disconnected and removed from the realities of everyday people in the city. I can honestly say I wouldn’t enjoy the tourist stuff as much as I would talking to a homeless guy on the street, learning about the public transit system, reading about Tanzania’s communist history, or studying population projections. I’m a weirdo, and I know it. But I think I might be onto something. Long lasting fulfillment comes from personal growth and learning, not from the luxurious experiences you have to pay for. When I look at the best moments of my life, they are times when great struggle occurred and obstacles overcome. None of these moments were expensive in monetary terms, but I treasure them as priceless.
So Hugh and I trusted our guts and stuck to our nontraditional plan for this summer, and it paid off. I found so many things about Dar that fascinated me. I’ll share a few below.
Dar is a really big city. With approximately 5 million people, it is by far the largest and most important city in Tanzania. But it’s about to get a lot larger and more important, which is one of the main reasons I was so excited to see it for myself. According to UN population data projections, it will be the 3rd biggest city in the world in 2100 with over 76 million people. I plan on still being alive then. I’ll be 102, and with the advances in science by that time, I hope to have a good 20–30 years still left in me. So Dar is going to be a very important city for a good portion of my life. In the face of global climate change, threats to Tanzania’s democracy, and the stressors from such rapid population increase, I was interested in studying how it is coping and adapting.
I still can’t imagine a 76 million person city, especially with the amount of energy Dar already has at 5 million. Markets lined every street in the city center selling a wider range of produce than you could find in Whole Foods. The streets were already clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic, except for the lanes devoted to the newly built Dar Rapid Transit System (DART). Having a lane to itself means the DART gets to its destination much more quickly than any other form of transportation (rivaled by “boda-bodas”, or motorcycle taxis, that can zip between cars during bad traffic). A recipient of the 2018 World Sustainable Transport Award, the DART has vastly lightened the traffic burden within the city, but still has a very long ways to go. Shipping 160,000 passengers per day at 650 shilling ($0.28 usd) from the city center to the suburbs, it is too expensive for a majority of the city’s poor who still take mini-busses (called “Dalla Dallas”) for 400 shilling ($0.17 usd). DART also has plenty of room to expand. The African Development Bank will supporting phase 2 of the project, and the World Bank will be funding phases 3 and 4. This recent success has saved commuters 16 days of their life per year that would have been lost in traffic jams, but advancements are needed to keep up with increasing demands. Efforts need to be made to make the DART even more affordable to compete with Dalla Dallas and more far-reaching to compete with cars.
The issue with expanding the DART, and other infrastructure projects in Dar, is a lack of money due to mismanagement by the current administration in power. In the early 2000s, Dar was the darling of foreign investors around the world, attracting large sums of cash for the business opportunities and growth potential. However, when President John Magufuli took the presidency in 2015, things started to change. Mr. Magufuli consolidated his power and steered Tanzania from democracy to dictatorship. He has stifled business with heavy taxes and imposed a heavy hand on free speech. Opposition party leaders and journalists have been shot or gone missing. Bloggers must apply for a permit and pay $900 yearly (oops). We were warned by armed guards to not take photos or videos near anything associated with the government. Pictures of the skyline or a street called “Barack Obama road” apparently aren’t allowed. Our phones were taken by armed guards and these photos deleted.
But Mr. Magufuli‘s threats to democracy have harmed much more than our vlogging content. It is also a threat to Dar being able to adapt with the current demands of a nearly exponentially growing population. Look around the city center and construction projects are everywhere, but little work seems to be happening. Giant high rise apartments sit half finished, waiting for the next phase of funding. Whether this money and political will comes quickly enough may define Dar’s fate throughout the 21st century.
Any analysis of how a city will adapt to future demands cannot overlook climate change and environmental issues. Sitting at 24 meters above sea level, Dar is under constant threat of flooding due to two major symptoms of climate change: rising sea levels and more intense rainfall. Coastlines are eroding daily. Low-income residents are faced with the greatest threat, but the entire city is in danger. As water continues to accumulate in the flat city, it erodes homes and buildings. Informal settlements become breeding grounds for disease. A USAID assessment estimated $5.3 billion in public and private assets are at risk from flooding and sea level rise. 2,400 meters of sea walls have already been built. Drainage systems are being constructed further inland to further manage flooding. The potential for millions of climate refugees is imminent, as in so many cities across the world. The World Bank projects 10 million East Africans will need to flee their homes as early as 2050.
Overfishing is another serious environmental concern that threatens Dar es Salaam’s future. Dar would not be what it is without its fishing industry. At dusk, hundreds of boats in the harbor that separates the city center from the Kigamboni municipal district depart for night. By sunrise, they have returned with boatloads of fish, squid, octopus, crab, lobster, and any other type of seafood imaginable. The fish is immediately sold fresh at an enormous market right on the coasts to hungry consumers. The salesmen are as aggressive as the potent seafood smell of the market, hoping to maximize their daily profits. Take one look at the isles of fish and it would be simple to convince yourself that the ocean is a bottomless pit of wealth for the city. But while the Indian Ocean is currently teeming with life, at this rate, it won’t last forever.
Finally, climate change is heightening the rate of rural to urban migration. With droughts becoming more common, the traditional ways of life of many indigenous tribes are being threatened. With no other options, many have abandoned their culture and moved to the city. We spent our last day in Dar with a young man named Leepa who we happened to meet as we aimlessly wandered the streets. Leepa is from the Maasai tribe, the largest and most well-known of the region, which reside in northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. The Maasai do not plant crops, but instead exclusively rely on raising livestock for survival. However, recent droughts have cut livestock numbers by over 75%, according to Leepa. As climate change gets worse, even more young men and women like Leepa will be forced to Dar to search for a better life for their families. Dar offers them something the countryside cannot: a captive market of consumers. As for Leepa, he taught himself English by investing all of his money in English books and found work at a safari company. Now that his English is getting better, he decided to take away the middle-man and start his own company where he provides the exact same services as a large safari booking company, but at about 25% of the price. He makes much more money this way and one day hopes to have people working for him. Leepa is a rare case though, as most who search for work in Dar don’t have his unique ambition and focus. Most find work as street vendors, which has driven down the cost of food to a price lower than I have ever experienced traveling.
Walking through the streets of Dar was like walking through Costco on free sample Sunday. Sure, the food isn’t actually free, but I could buy avocados for $0.09 usd, fried fritters for $0.04 usd, and a plantain and meat dish with chili sauce for $0.43 usd. And the food was sooooo much better than Costco. I cannot resist cheap food, and it was being offered to me from every direction. Hugh and I loaded up from day 1, and although I made it out without incident, Hugh payed a cost later (1 day in bed with diarrhea, fever, and body chills). Still, for all of that food, I’d stay it’s still a pretty good deal. I would take the risk again. Hugh can speak for himself.
All of this urban growth and activity is particularly ironic given Tanzania’s past. It’s first president, Julius Nyerere, began the newly independent country on a socialist path with The Arusha Declaration of 1967. Nyerere was very skeptical of the type of city Dar has become and tried to prevent cities in general by creating communal living villages that were centered around ujamaa (“familyhood” in Swahili). The goal was to avoid exploitation by focusing on human and rural development. Traditional values and responsibilities were promoted at the expense of foreign investment and aid. The human person was to be prioritized over wealth creation. Though honorable in its approach, Mr. Nyerere’s unique initiative ultimately failed. Advancements in health, education, and gender equality notably resulted, but poverty increased and collective farming and eliminating land rights proved unattractive to many. As we have witnessed throughout history, pure socialism is not sustainable on such a large scale (nor is completely unchecked capitalism). In hindsight though, some lessons can certainly be learned. Tanzania’s past, contrasted with where it is currently heading, casts a shadow of bitter irony on the nation.
A final topic I was interested in exploring throughout my time in Dar was the influence of the Swahili culture that dominates the coastal cities of East Africa. This unique cultural blend began as early as the 13th century. The rich wealth of natural resources in the center of the African continent supplied the coastal societies with materials to trade across the Indian Ocean. When the currents were right, East Africans would sail to the Middle East and Persia (Iran) and stay there for part of the year. Then, when the currents shifted, they would sail back along with the Middle Eastern and Persian traders who would bring their goods to East Africa and stay there for a while. After years of migration, a new language and culture emerged that was part Arabic and part African: Swahili.
The streets of Dar were as diverse as any large American inner-city. The faces we saw reflected 800 years of trading history with neighbors across the Indian Ocean. The Indian, Arab, and Irani influence was undeniable but Chinese and Southeast Asian cultures were also represented. All were unified around a common Swahili language.
For the first time in our journey, English didn’t work for day-to-day communication. I started studying Swahili on the 68-hour train to Dar and learned enough to get me by. There was no better feeling than smoothly buying a water on the street, bargaining for a bus price, or giving basic directions. I made a deal with our new friend Leepa that I would continue practicing English with him if he started teaching me basic Swahili once I get back to the US. Hopefully this mutually benefits both of us one day.
Swahili culture and the diversity that comes with it was my favorite part of Dar. Particularly…diversity of flavors. Sampling cuisine from Dar es Salaam is the single greatest argument for the benefits of diversity. Every culture has a few things figured out and are screwing up a few more pretty badly. By combing forces with people different than you, you can maximize the best of both worlds while simultaneously understanding how stupid some of the things you do are.
The buffet I went to on the day Hugh was sick was a living testament to the above belief. It was called “Sino Thai Restaurant” and might be the best place on Earth. The food took the best parts of Indian, Chinese, Thai, and African food and combined them into some of the most mouth-watering dishes my taste buds have ever been blessed with. Oh, and American music was playing in the background. We might be weak in the food department, but we do some things well.
Overall, Dar es Salaam was the single best “food city” I’ve ever been to and a fascinating case-study for urban development going forward. It is indeed a destination, and not a city meant for flying in tourists who leave for beaches and safaris the next day. But, if you’re anything like the other travelers we’ve met, you’ll probably disagree with me.
