Tanzania - Dar es Salaam

No photos for Dar es Salaam. Thought you might like to see this one again!
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East Africa is a panoply of different peoples with different origins. The indigenous population of Tanzania itself has representations from all three of the major ethno-linguistic groups that make up this region, and in fact Africa. The Maasai, for example, are Nilotic peoples who can trace their origins back to southern Sudan, whilst the Chagga are of Bantu origin, having come from West Africa. Then you have Cushitic groups such as the Iraqw, who came from the north.

Over recent years the traditional way of life of these people has been eroded and walking along the streets of modern Tanzania one can not easily identify who comes from which background. Conversely, it is the more recent additions to this cultural melting pot which have become most obvious, especially in coastal areas. And by this I mean the Persian empire, who started to make inroads here from the 12th century onwards.

Vindaloooo, vindalooooo, vindaloo, vindaloo, naa naaaa(n)

So the upshot of this brief history, and what it means on the ground now, is that when you step into the back streets of Dar es Salaam it almost feels like you've been transported to another continent. Or maybe more accurately to North Africa, which was also significantly affected by Persian and Muslim expansion.

After passing through so many largely indistinguishable and unattractive modern towns in East Africa the new sights and smells of Dar es Salaam are like a breath of fresh air. There are minarets aplenty, booming out their poorly taped prayers, and even the smell of spices seems to hail from Asia rather than Africa. Many of the men sport Fez hats (not ala Tommy Cooper, a flatter, more embroidered type) and wear long white robes. And whilst there is a strong Muslim population throughout Tanzania, Dar es Salaam was the first place where we had seen women veiled and in black, and some in full burqa.

The city has a large Indian population (which meant curry, hoorah), as the good old Brits forceably extracted many of their subjects from India and brought them to East Africa to help build the railways. The Indians didn't suffer the same discrimination here as Ugandan Indians under Idi Amin so the culture here is strong and vibrant.

However there is not much love lost between the Indian and black Tanzanians, and the former are said to be quite racist towards black Tanzanians. I find it ironic that the former, having been colonised themselves, can act almost like colonists themselves, believing the way the African population's way of doing things is inferior or wrong simply because it is not the way they would do it back home.

And here endeth my cultural observations.