Yesterday was a sea day as we returned from the island of Madagascar to
the Africa mainland. It was an
uneventful passage other than the ship moving around a bit.
We arrived in Dar Es Salaam on
schedule, but had to stand offshore due to other shipping traffic in the
narrow canal. At 10:15, a coastal pilot came
aboard. We were docked less than an hour later.
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| Channel into Dar Es Salaam |
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| fish market |
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| inner harbor // tour buses waiting |
Soon we were off the ship and on a bus.
The tour got off to a fast start and I mean that in the truest sense of the term. As our four 19-passenger buses formed in a line, a police motorcycle with lights flashing and siren blaring took point and off we roared. Bobbing and weaving through traffic, and sometimes crossing the median into oncoming traffic, the trip to Bayamoyo took about 80 minutes.
Today’s tour was a long one and we will be
touring all day the next two days. I anticipate falling behind in my efforts to keep this blog reasonable current. To mitigate the slippage, I am resorting to the tour description to
help with the text part of this post. I have embedded some links in that description to further expedite crafting this post.
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The coastal village of Bagamoyo holds a rich history and culture. Geographically located as the closest point by sea from Zanzibar, many of the early explorers such as Livingstone and Stanley, Burton and Speke travelled from Zanzibar to Bagamoyo to outfit their adventures. It was also the last glimpse of then Tanganyika that many had before being bundled off to Zanzibar to be sold on the slave markets.
From the pier, you will set-off on a scenic 90-minute drive along the coastline on your way to Bagamoyo where your first stop will be Travelers Lodge for a buffet lunch, followed by traditional dances performed by locals from Bagamoyo. Following a relaxing lunch, you will be afforded approximately one hour to enjoy the sandy beaches of Bagamoyo.
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| entertainment upon arrival and at lunch, complete with large snake |
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| Travelers Lodge beach w/ handcrafted fishing boats |
We will then go to the Kaole Ruins. The ruins date back to the 13th century and consist of two mosques and 30 tombs. The older of the two mosques is thought to date to the 3rd or 4th century, making it the oldest mosque on the mainland of East Africa. The mosque also provides evidence indicating early contact between Africa and the Islamic world. The tombs at Kaole were built from coral stones with stone pillars. Traditions claim that some of the tombs are the graves of local rulers who were known as diwanis. It is alleged that the diwanis were the descendants of Sheikh Ali Muhamad al-Hatim al-Barawi, the most well-known Sheikh along the coast.
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| mosque |
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| graveyard |
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| women cooking snails caught in mangrove swamp // 500 year-old Baobab tree |
There will be at stop at the Old Fort and a visit the German Church's Holy Ghost Mission - a clear sign of the German influence on the area - before it's time to re-join your coach for the return drive back to the pier in Dar es Salaam.
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| Old Fort, including ornate door carving - the more ornate, the more prominent and prosperous the owner. |
I will never know what she was thinking, but for the return trip Pam asked if she could sit in the front seat of the bus. The driver said "yes", she did and when we got back to the ship it took her at least an hour to lose a deer-in-the-headlights look. Not only was the return trip the same Mr. Toad's Wild Ride we had on the way up, it was faster. I thought she might actually kneel down and kiss the pavement when she got off the bus.
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A few additional pictures on Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo
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| ferry in Dar es Salaam harbor // cargo boat in Dar es Salaam harbor // narrow street in Bagamoyo (note construction of building) // dancers with snake |
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| fishing boat ribs made of tree branches // unknown plant // cabin at Travelers Lodge // instrument at German Church museum |
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| Kaole Mosque // outbound |
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