On saturday morning we had our, or better say my, first trip with the other IAESTE people. We went to Bagamoyo which is a historical place 1 1/2 hours away from Dar es Salaam. When we arrived, there were immediately some problems since we were foreigners. So one of us had to show his working permission and we all paid the tour guide first, and then it was fine. Bagamoyo was the most important harbour town during the slave trading period. From this place, they shipped the slaves to Sansibar and then to different places like South Africa, India or further away. We visited a lot of old places built in the colonial period where you could clearly see the influence of the Arabics and German. So, in one building there were a german and an arabic door next to each other.
Arabic influence
Also in a museum of the catholic church there, they presented many different things from the time of “Deusch-Ost-Afrika”. Too strange, when you speak german by yourself and are able to read what is written on the old currency (Ruben) for example. Apropos currency, interesting is also that they use Tanzanian Shilling here, but it was just invented in the seventies I think. So, there is definitely some connection to our Schilling in Austria.
Slave-trade
In Bagamoyo we also visited a crocodile farm!! In earlier times, they used to sell the meat and skin of the crocodiles, but today they only keep this farm for tourists. We saw little crocodiles in the age of 3 months and huge very old ones. Did you know that crocodiles don’t have a tongue? They really don’t! And they are able to not move for ages… We watched them a long time, no move. Fascinating animals. But we watched them carefully since their area was bounded by a fence in African style.
Crocodile farm
Shortly before, we passed a boy preparing some snails. Angel (a really lovely and funny girl!) and me tried a bite… It wasn’t that bad to eat a snail, but let’s say, it wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
Snail… yummy!
After this big tour with our excellent tour guide and a nice lunch (Chipsi meai = Chips in an egg omelette), we went to the nicest beach ever. It was a private one, owned by a hotel I think, so it was no problem to go around in swimming suit. In this afternoon, we had soooo much fun with a lot of girls talk, talking funny pictures in the sea and playing volleyball etc… Nice day!!!
Bagamoyo beach
The trip back was interesting as well too. It was the first time, I saw Tanzania at night. Firstly, I was wondering about all the fires we passed, until they told me that they are only burning their waste. As they don’t have any recycling system, they have to get rid of the waste in some way. Too bad. They do that at our home as well I think. At least, they are collecting the rubbish behind the house on the floor and at some point it just disappears… Back in Dar es Salaam, we had lunch in a restaurant called “Facebook” 🙂