egonwegh's new Dar es Salaam Page
On our flight to Dar es Salaam we had a splendid view of Mt. Kilimanjaro with its deep crevasses and summit covered with snow. A spectacular sight! My brother-in-law met us at the airport and we drank some coffee in a bar above the arrival hall. The airport building is very interesting from an architectonic point of view. It has a high roof on concrete pillars. From Dar we departed for a long journey to the new capital Dodoma, located in the geographical centre of Tanzania ; along the road we noticed several specialized markets (e.g. a special wood market), some butcher's shops and hotels with fanciful English names.
We returned to Dar about a week later by bus, arriving at one of the town's central bus stations, and took a taxi, which cost us about 1500 T.Sh, to the Skyway Hotel, where we had a double room with shower and airconditioning. The hotel itself did not have a very pleasant atmosphere, with simple wooden tables and torn net curtains, but the service made up for that ...
The morning after our arrival, we booked seats on the ferry to Zanzibar, and went for a walk along the harbour. We passed the State House and visited the National Museum with a collection on anthropology and some Arabic and Chinese finds.
In the evening we went to the Kilimanjaro Hotel for dinner. We passed the harbour front when it was already getting dark. Suddenly two robbers appeared, whom I suspected of carrying knives as well, who wanted to take our bag! We were very lucky to be able to run away from them onto the streets and into the lights of some buildings.
In the Kilimanjaro Hotel we had a good meal, there's an excellent view from the restaurant, called The Summit Restaurant, where you can enjoy the harbour lights.




