My trip to Tanzania was my first trip to East Africa. Being a South African means that I do not need a visa to enter Tanzania which was great although doing research it was recommended that I get a Yellow Fever vaccination as well as take Malaria prophylaxis whilst on my trip and on return. These were fairly simple to arrange prior to leaving. For my trip I traveled on RwandAir. They offered the most cost effective solution although my trip up to Dar es Salaam was a rather lengthy one. The Flight which I thought was Cape Town – Kigali – Dar es Salaam was actually Cape Town – Harare – Kigali – Kilimanjaro – Dar es Salaam. We left Cape Town in the Afternoon and landed in Dar es Salaam at 5am.
The trip was rather interesting. The flight to Kigali was really comfortable and the meals were great. I arranged veg meals and they were all great. We did not get off the plane in Harare and even though we were delayed out of Cape Town I was in time for the flight from Kigali. There was some important person on our plane flying from Kigali and we were told when we boarded the bus to the plane that it was free seating which did result in a bit of a rush to the 70 seater prop plane. There were guys with UN folders walking up and down and a few people were asked to switch seats. When we landed at Kilimanjaro there seemed to be negotiations going on about whether the people would get off the plane or not. We waited on the tarmac about 30min and then took off for Dar.
The customs at 5am at Julius Nyerere International was rather simple. I willed in the arrivals card showed my South African Passport and was shown directly to the customs booths. The entry procedure was very simple, they took my pic and fingerprints and I was in. It was less than 10 minutes but I do think the fact that not many planes were landing and the fact that I did not require a visa were factors. My bag was waiting, I picked it up and asked the security if the Vodacom shop was open. The guy told me that I should go to Vodacom in town. I therefore used the Airport Wifi to order an Uber. As I left the baggage claim area I lost wifi signal but did notice that the Vodacom shop was open. I went to ask about a sim card and the lady told me that they only take cash and that it would be Tsh 60 000 for a 20Gig data bundle (I cannot believe how affordable this was. Less than R20/Gig, in South Africa it is around R50/Gig on special). I had no way of cancelling my Uber so I went to the ATM to draw money and bought a sim. It was activated immediately and weirdly enough my Uber said 3min away. So I went and found him and headed into Dar es Salaam.
I had some breakfast and met a local who showed me the beach at Kigamboni. We took the Kigamboni Ferry to get there, it was very simple (no photos are allowed). I got my feet wet in the ocean but the beach was not that great. I then went to a local Tea Room for some Masala Tea and local eats and made my way to my AirBnB which was in Masaki. My AirBnB was a room on the roof of a French Families house. The room was very simple but served its purpose well. I had a shower and got to some work before the meeting Rotem and Rui for dinner.
I was in Dar es Salaam for the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BUSINESS AND
MANAGEMENT IN EMERGING MARKETS (ICBMEM) which took place on the 12th and 13th of September at Mzumbe University.
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