R WE MAD?: Who says Africa is only for toughies?

After the ordeal of getting to Sunrise Beach, one of the south beaches of Dar, our first swim in the Indian Ocean quickly soaked away the stress. However as the sun started to set the music started and was not to let up until Sunday afternoon, we had forgotten that it was the weekend. Fortunately we were so tired, we could have slept through an air raid, Uli & Anka battled.
We awoke to a beautiful sunrise each morning, spending the majority of the 2 days relaxing in the shade of the swaying palm trees in this tropical paradise. We even got used to the music.
Konstantine needs to visit Toyota as the turbo manifold gasket has blown, so Uli & Anka remain in Dar and we head north to Bagamoyo. Crossing from the south by ferry took 2 hours, its unbelievable how many people, bicycles & cars can cram onto one vessel. I must say the Tanzanians go about their lives peacefully paying little attention to us. The traffic through town makes Johannesburg’s pale into insignificance, we managed to buy and eat our lunch of bananas, naartjies & corn on the cob, braaied over wood charcoal, while on the road. The fruit & veg in Tanzania is good and available all along the road, actually the first 45km out of Dar is one long market selling everything imaginable.

The muezzin’s call to prayer awakes us long before it starts to get light. We have noticed how the influence of Islam has increased as we have journeyed north, with mosques replacing the Jehovah Witness Kingdom Halls & Seventh Day Adventists churches of the south. Bagamoyo is of historic interest, as it was an important gateway for the slave trade. Of the approximately 1.5 million slaves that arrived here more than 50% remained in the Zanzibar, Pemba and Kilwa area, about 30% were shipped to Arabia and the balance to the Americas. This transport route via Zanzibar had been established much earlier for trade in ivory, Copal gum etc. The Sultan of Zanzibar finally abolished the trade in humans in 1873.

The buildings that remain from the Germans first headquarters in East Africa have fallen into disrepair, with only small sections of the Boma, Custom house, Block house & slipway to dhow harbour remaining. There are few beautifully carved ornate ‘Zanzibar doors’ still to be seen along India road, which runs along the coast to what remains of the slave market. It is ironic that the body of Livingstone spent a night in Bagamoyo having been carried 1600km by two of his faithful servants all the way from N Zambia, before being returned to England via Zanzibar. The doors to the Anglican Church bear a sign stating ‘Through this door Dr David Livingstone did pass’.