Dar es Salaam

Introduction

Azania Front Lutheran Church

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Dar es Salaam is located along the Indian Ocean coastline of Tanzania and is the largest city in the country with around 2.5 million inhabitants. It is a major port city and is the economical and financial heart of the country.

Unlike most African cities, book prices here are generally simply the cover price converted into TSh (rather than a lot more), so it's a good place to stock up on reading matter.

Events and Festivals

• Charity Goat Races - Every September, thousands of people attend the charity Goat Races at The Green in Dar es Salaam. The goats race around a specially designed track, and the races raise around 50 million shillings a year for local schools and charities.
• Mzalendo Halisi Music Festival - More than 100 traditional Tanzanian music and dance performers participate in this event that takes place at the Posta Grounds in Kijitonyama, Dar es Salaam. During the day, visitors can shop at a culturally-inspired market and view art exhibitions.
• Fashion Week - Every November, top regional designers come together at Dar Es Salaam's National Museum for Swahili Fashion Week. The event showcases local talent, colorful African styling, and it offers networking opportunities for the East African fashion industry.
• Contemporary Dance Festival - Choreographers from Tanzania and beyond gather for week-long showcase of contemporary dance sponsored by Visa 2 Dance Company. Audiences can see performances by both established and emerging performing artists. This event facilitates an important forum where international choreographers can showcase their work to a new audience. Event takes place every October.
• Diwali - Diwali, a Hindu holiday, is celebrated around the world during the months of October or November. Dar es Salaam has a large Indian population, and as a result, Diwali is an important celebration in this city. During the festival, lamps are symbolically lit, and firework demonstrations ignite the sky to symbolize the triumph of good over evil. Downtown Dar becomes consumed by the Diwali festival, with the city center becoming a constant party zone.

Weather

Dar es Salaam has a tropical climate with hot and humid weather year round. Temperatures during the day are around 30 °C, while nights drop to between 19 °C (July to September) and 25 °C (January and February). Rain falls quite evenly throughout the year, but March to May is much wetter, April averaging around 300 mm of rain.

Getting There

By Plane

Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) is the largest airport in the country and located just outside Dar es Salaam. It offers flights to/from Blantyre, Lilongwe, Arusha, Kigoma, Moroni, Mwanza, Tabora, Zanzibar, Entebbe, Juba, Nairobi, Harare, London, Johannesburg, Kilimanjaro International Airport, Addis Ababa, Anjouan, Cairo, Lusaka, Dubai, Amsterdam, Maputo, Pemba, Muscat, Musoma, Shinyanga, Doha, Kigali, Zürich and Istanbul.

By Train

Centrally located in Zambia, north of the capital Lusaka, Kapiri Mposhi is the starting point of a two nights trainride to Dar es Salaam. From here you can travel further by boat or plane to the tropical island of spices, Zanzibar. This so called TAZARA Railway (Tanzania-Zambia Railway) operates scheduled services twice a week, leaving in both ends of the line on Tuesdays and Fridays around 4:00pm, arriving on Thursdays and Sundays at 9:30am in Zambia, but after noon in the other direction in Dar es Salaam.

By Bus

Coaches from Arusha cost about TSh28,000 (July 2009) and take about 10 hours.

Getting Around

By Car

There is an "official" taxi rate board just outside of the airport arrivals terminal that displays prices roughly twice the "real" prices. If you indicate that you are going to walk the short distance to the main road to hail a taxi from there, then you should be able to secure a more realistic price.

Eat

There is an excellent Chinese, Tai Huo San Zhuang, on Jamhuri St between Morogoro Road and Zanaki Street in the Muslim enclave. It attracts plenty of Chinese customers, which is always a good sign from the point of view of authenticity. It's one of the few places in the area to serve beer. Note that the aircon is cold so take a jumper.
Jambo Inn, on Libya Street in the Muslim enclave, has a good selection of vegetarian dishes. It's extremely popular with foreign backpackers.

Sleep

Budget

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet is available for about TSh1,000 per hour (July 2009).

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

Tanzania Posts Corporation is the national postal services of Tanzania. There are post officies in most major cities and towns throughout the country, which are generally open Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm and Saturday from 9:00am to noon. Services are generally quite reliable though not very fast. Prices for international airmal services start at around 500-600 TSHS to other countries in East Africa and 700-900 TSHS to Europe and North America for postcards and letters up to 20 grams. Small packages start at around 2,000-3,000 TSHS, but it's generally better to do business with international parcel services like TNT, UPS, DHL or FedEx.