After I signed off yesterday afternoon, Wabes and I jumped in a safari van and left Tanzania's cities for the safari side of the trip. But before getting into that, I should finish explaining our urban experience.
My first few days in Tanzania were spent in cities. Most people who come to Tanzania seem to head straight to the national parks for safaris. But Wabes and I both like cities and I wanted to see where Wabes had been spending the past few weeks.
Hence the first day in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania's largest city and a port on the Indian Ocean. After wandering its neighborhoods with Wabes as a guide (see previous post), I met two of her friends at dinner: Bea, a grad student studying history in the Midwest (and currently doing research in Dar) and her boyfriend, Reger, a native of Zanzibar. Reger spoke limited English, but with Bea and Wabes assistance I could communicate with him about everything from music to football. He supports a Dar team named Simba (lion in swahili), that tends to affiliate with opposition politics (in contrast, our waiter supported the pro-government team, Yanga). Jet lag began to catch up with me over our Indian/Tanzanian fusion meal, but I wanted to stay out a little later after Reger promised us some live music. So rarely can one find a random thing in a guide (in this case a mention of the Kariakoo Social Hall in the Rough Guide to Tanzania) and have it work this well - I mentioned the music hall, Reger called a friend, and when he got of the phone he told us that there was a taarab concert that very evening...
Taarab is a music genre unique to East Africa. The show was great, though it was odd to be the only white people in a very large room. Entry came with a free apple-flavored beer, though I was too tired to enjoy it. I made it through the intro jam and first two performances before Wabes said I should really get to bed. (I was fading in and out at a rather loud concert...) And there ended my first day in East Africa.