Dar-Es-Salaam was never in my list of wishes to be even visited in a dream. I anyways had to go to the place for an product implementation and to my surprise it was quite a good experience.
I had been to the place during Jan - Feb ’05 and must say that it was quite hot despite the hotter days yet to come in. There was some showers on a few days during my stay. My stay was at the New Africa Hotel in Samora Avenue facing the beach. The hotel was very good and the room was awesome, an executive room on the 7th floor with the sea all for me.
The office was quite close to the hotel and so I walked everyday, morning and evening and found absolutely no threat walking in an African country as my impression on african countries was not so good. After hearing a lot of mugging stories from my friends and colleagues who had been to a few other african countries I was quite jittery when I landed for the first time. The people here are quite friendly and the best part is that it is absolutely safe to walk alone even at 9 in the evening. Though 9 may not seem too late, staying away from the roads in Nairobi after 6 in the evening should highlight the safety of the place.
The best part of the stay was the dominance of Indians and Indian food! Many businesses were run by Indians who had settled in Dar decades ago. The adjacent area to the Samora avenue (I do not get the name) is predominantly dominated by Indians. The supermarkets here have Indian rice and pulses. The temple street here is aptly named with about 4-5 temples including the famous swami narayan temple, an Hindu School for the expat Indians and a lot of eating options like the Delight for South Indian food and Maharani for North Indian stuff and many others.
There are’nt too many tourism options sittin in Dar though the northern part of Tanzania has the most famous snow peaked Kilimanjaro peak. Lake victoria is another hot destination here but is a 6-8 hour drive away from Dar. The beaches in Dar are not too clean or fantastic, I’ve always found the beaches in Accra, Ghana more beautiful than the one’s here.
Visiting TZ in Oct-Nov is supposed to be good as the weather is plesant here compared to other months.
Happy Touring!