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18/6

Dar es salaam was a bit of a surprise looking like a massive shiny clean metropolis as we flew in. Our hotel was in an older part of town that had more character and reminded us all more of the Singapore of old with all the street hawkers.

The hotel itself – Urban Rose apartments – was lovely and the staff even lovelier.

They upgraded us so we had a lovely big comfortable room to sleep in before catching the ferry.

19/6 -20/6

Today we caught the ferry from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar. As the driver got closer to the ferry he was started being chased by tens of porters tapping on the windows. They of course all wanted to help in the hope of a hefty tip.

It took quite a bit of effort to fend them off. A very official looking guy ended up helping me with the ticket at the office despite my protestations that I was okay. Another guy kind of followed him but didn’t really do anything. Then at the end he announces that I can “give him something now; like maybe $20 usd” for them to share! Equivalent of about two days average Tanzanian wage for both of them! I could honestly say I only had 2 usd on me as I was going to go to the atm on the island.

They turned their noses up at it so I said well if that offends you I’ll give nothing and walked away. He then followed me and said “ok five each is enough”. I reiterated that I only had two so suddenly that was okay.

Sailing out of Dar Es Salaam there were some stark contrasts with sailing dhows and bustling riverside markets and fishermen that would not look out of place in the 19th century against a backdrop of very modern high rises.

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The ferry was interesting with some of the passengers being men in traditional Masaai tribal wear. We also went past small hand hewn timber outrigger canoes being used by fishermen out in very open waters.

We were met by the car hire guy who took us down the street to where our car was parked. It was a bit of a bomb but I got in, then was shocked when he told us it was empty of petrol and we’d have to go and get petrol straight away. I’d never heard of such a thing and it was so empty I’m sure they siphon it before handing it over. What a pain too because I’d planned to get some money later and he said the service stations only take cash. Of course it’s a scam because no one can ever risk bringing it back bone dry like it’s given to them. So I drove about five metres and it made an awful sound- he tapped on the window and told me it was the 4wd and that I was not to use it as it wasn’t working- well that’s interesting given I’d hired a 4wd!!

Anyway it did the job for next couple of days as we explored the island. John and I explored the old town on foot after Elsie had to go back early because her knee was giving her grief.

We walked past David Livingstone’s old house ( under renovation so couldn’t go in). This was of particular interest as John had in recent years found out that Livingstone was like a great great uncle of his!

Zanzibar is very touristy so lots of touts but generally a smile and a firm ‘no thanks’ moved them on.

We explored much of the sober history of the island as one of the main ports for the East African slave trade that Livingstone helped abolish.

We saw the church built in the memorial site of the old slave market, and the fascinating museum full of history on the slave trade. We then made our way to the Slave chambers on the coast where slaves were chained and hidden awaiting transportation onto boats.

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We suspect not many people make their own way there without a tour as it was very poorly signed and could have been easily missed but it was well worth going to see even if it was awful to think of those poor souls being treated like that and sold as chattels.

We enjoyed some time at the hotel which was an old 19th century sultans palace still full of original antiques and facing the beautiful blue water with lots of traditional fishing boats bobbing around and sailing dhows cruising past the sunset.

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21/6

After a lovely couple of days we were brought back to reality. Jumped in the hire car at 5 am to go to the airport and it didn’t start!

Thankfully we’d left earlier than we needed to and the hotel reception helped rouse our hire company to come and give us a lift.

Then there was a long wait at the airport to checkin, the flight was delayed and then just to top it off they took us to the wrong airport. I’d booked a hire car to be waiting for us at Arusha airport but instead they took us to the Kilimanjaro airport an hour away. The frustrating thing was that I had been suss and looked at tags they put on our bags and asked very clearly at least three times if we were going to Arusha and not Kilimanjaro and three times they lied to me and said no problem it also went to Arusha.

Turned out two other guys going to the same conference as us had the same thing happen. We concluded that there hadn’t been enough bookings on our flight so they just cancelled it and chucked us on this one. Now would have been no biggie except John was speaking at the conference this morning and we had to get him there on time!

I had to push and push to get the airline to acknowledge their mistake and get us on a bus to Arusha. It was the staff bus that they assured us was about to leave. So we all jumped on and then waited another 40 minutes for some staff to get on.

We then dropped John off at the conference so he could make it to his talk and asked them to take us to the car hire place . It was me and an elderly lady and all our bags which is why I couldn’t believe it when they tried to dump us in a street about 15 mins drive from the car hire place. I put my foot down and they ended up taking us there.

Then just to top off our day I find this hire car also has a bone dry fuel tank! Is this an African thing?? So off to the petrol station to fill up.

Okay- we were nearly there. I contacted our accommodation again and found it strange that they kept not giving me the address.

The address on the booking site was walking distance from our conference and the pictures looked beautiful with a lovely yard to sit in.

The guy gave as an address to meet him in and he’d guide us from there. I started getting nervous as he started directing us down some dirt rocky back streets. We were driving into the back slums. I was relieved when I saw a nice gated compound but was still confused as to the location.

We got out and I asked were the garden was that I’d seen on the pictures – that was when he announced it was a different property. I was too shell shocked to answer and aware that we were trying to get to the conference in time for John’s talk. So I said I’d deal with him when I came back.

On the way out it dawned on me that 1. This was an outright scam where he’d lied about his property and used false pictures and 2. There was no way I could be taking an elderly couple down these rocky dirt lanes into a ‘slum’ every day no matter how nice it was inside. So I ended up telling the guy we were cancelling and gently explained that he can’t do things like that as people will write bad reviews and then no one will ever book with him again. He took it pretty well. I quickly booked another hotel much closer to the conference site and we got settled in. What a day!!

We could finally take a deep breath and relax a bit at the conference. There were some speeches and an inspiring cultural night with some songs and dances from some of the 106 countries represented at the conference! Of course the African performances were the liveliest and many had gone all out dressing up in traditional gear and singing and dancing to African praise songs.

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Apparently Oceania had to do something and with five minutes notice we were told to get up on stage and stand behind some flags whilst we tried to sing amazing grace in Pidgin, Māori; Pitjantjatjara and English languages reading off someone’s phone. It was a pretty pathetic effort.

Although the last verse of English amazing grace where the audience was invited to join in was rather moving- as we all sang together, 106 nations, about being set free to the words of a repentant slave trader who had traded in African slaves who were shipped from these very shores. Brought a tear to my eye.