This time it’s Africa….

As I looked out of the window  of the Air Tanzania Boeing 787, all I could see was greenery interspersed with small buildings having sloping, tiled roofs. My eyes lit up with excitement as did the landscape under the morning sun. Shakira was on my lips ( I mean her song):

                                         Tsamina mina eh eh
                                             Waka waka eh eh

                                     Tsamina mina zangalewa
                                           This time for Africa

Soon we were on the tarmac at the relatively small Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Airport, Terminal 2. Only two aircraft on the ground. My first impression about the place as I set foot in Africa was that the city has been rightly named — The Abode of peace i.e. Dar Es Salaam. No hustle-bustle.No Immigration counters but a row of 3-4 tables.My passport and Yellow fever vaccination certificate passed from one table to another, some entries made in the system and a bored lady at the next table handed over an invoice/bill/payment advice to me for my Visa on Arrival. I moved to a closed counter ( yes, this one one was a counter), handed over the paper & my passport along with USD 50 for the visa. The man peered at the dollar bill to make sure it was not printed prior to 2006. Some strange reason, old dollar notes are not accepted in East Africa. He stamped the receipt and handed over the lot to a lady sitting beside him at the counter. As I waited there, the lady waved me along to stand aside and wait. Wait, I did impatiently for nearly half-an-hour. Keeping me company were a large group of Indian tourists, two honeymooning couples and some more foreigners. 

Meanwhile I had two calls from my local friend and host asking me what the hell I was doing. His driver was waiting outside for me from the last one hour. I explained the situation and soon enough a burly officer on duty pronounced or announced my name in a manner no one but me could have understood. I leapt forward……. he looked at the photo in the passport, then at me and figured out that it was the same person. Handing over the passport with the visa, he waved me towards the Customs, which was a breeze.

As I stepped out, there was Steve, my friend’s driver with a placard and a broad grin on his face. ‘Karibu, karibu’, he beamed meaning ‘Welcome, welcome’ and insisted on clicking my picture and sending it to his boss on Whatsapp before starting.

Soon we were on our way with Steve chatting nineteen to the dozen in decent English. The road was good, not too much traffic….. reminded me of a small Indian town. Now we were in that part of the city where there were some monstrosities in concrete. Surprisingly, many of these buildings happen to be commercial-cum-residential ones. Viva Towers- our destination– A building with a mall ( now closed) on the lower floors, various offices next, followed by parking lots and above these the residential apartments. We went through  a maze of security and up the winding ramp to Level 8 where we parked the car, before boarding the elevator to Level 18 after another password-driven door.

Great to meet my friend and former colleague Shan who had made it big in Tanzania. The pressing need was food and I was in for a pleasant surprise. The maid Emmy, a Tanzanian had churned out fluffy soft idlis, crisp dosas with 3 types of chutneys, sambar and filter coffee. Awesome breakfast in Africa! Shan indeed had been a very good mentor to her. We now sat in the balcony overlooking the Indian Ocean  and exchanged notes on India, Tanzania, people, companies, insurance industry……… in short we it lasted till lunch. Again a delicious south Indian lunch — sambar, rasam, two curries, curd, pickle and appalam.  Time for a snooze for sure.

Evening. Another friend Amit joined in and we decided to visit Temple Street. Swaminarayan Temple, Main Hindu Temple and others…. a street full of Indian culture and shops. In the Blaji Temple, we had the pleasure of hearing Sanskrit sloka recitals and got a handful of prasad too. Delicious puliyodarai!

Back home, a couple of drinks, a light dinner and the excitement was mounting —- the main purpose of this trip, the African Safari was to begin the next day. My flight to Kilimanjaro was at 5 AM. Steve stayed back  so as to drop me off at the airport before dawn. I could hardly sleep and when I slept I dreamt of lions, elephants and hippos. Tomorrow will be another day, another post.