Dar es Salaam, formerly Mzizima, is the largest city and capital of Tanzania. Established in 1865 or 1886 by Sultan Majid bin Said of Zanzibar, the city fell into decline after his death in 1870. In 1887, the German East Africa Company established a station there. The town grew rapidly, facilitated by its role as the administrative and commercial centre of German East Africa and industrial expansion resulting from the construction of the Central Railway Line in the early 1900s. After WWI, the German East Africa fell under British rules and was referred to as Tanganyka. The city grew a little more but two separate entities at a distance of the German historic centre appeared: Oyster Bay for the Europeans and African such as Ilala and Kariakoo. Independent in 1961 the country has been called Tanzania since the merging between Tanganyka and Zanzibar in 1964 with Dar es Salaam as a capital.
Today Dar is a big city of more than 4 million with its suburbs. It has all the problems such a growth imposes if infrastructures are not well developped. However, it is safer than Nairobi, cheap, and has a lot to offer.

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Shot of Dar's harbor on an early Sunday morning. (more perso shots to be added).

Azania Lutheran church view from New Africa Hotel.

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From Dar to Zanzibar, you can fly one of the many private companies operating the route (Coastal Air, ZanAir; Tropical Air...) or you can take a speedboat. They are plenty from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm. Then, there is also a slow broom boat that leaves Dar at 9pm and arrives in Zanzibar the next morning at 5 am. I chose the speedboat as a way in (90 minutes) and I flew out around 5pm (20 minutes flight).

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Waiting for the speedboat departure.

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On the speedboat, the first class cabin is comfortable and very clean.

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ça change impeu des autres villes africaines, a moins que ça soit qu'un cliché et qu'il y'a une autre face cachée de la capitale tanzanienne.

En fait, je trouve Dar un peu mieux organisee. Les taxis et les bus sont legions et surtout les gens ont garde un cote british: calme, poli et responsable. La ville a aussi ses bidonvilles bien sur, a l'africaine, mais ils paraissent plus propres qu'ailleurs. Et, luxe des luxes en Afrique: il y a des trottoirs. De plus, ca construit partout et c'est bien fait!
PS- Je vais essayer de m'esquiver de mes reunions pendant un moment pour prendre des photos ailleurs que depuis une voiture :)

these are current pics. Are you in Dar?

Yes, I am here for work - not too much time to wonder in the city but flying from meeting to meeting - and I was in Zanzibar Sunday for leisure.

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An interesting building offering 12 loftty duplex (6 on each side) with suspended balconies and plenty wall to wall glass apartments in between. Very nicely done.

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Merci monsieur Afrique, la ville a l'air tres sympa !

C'est plus sympa que Nairobi, les gens y sont plus relax, pauvres mais dignes. Le traffic est par contre un vrai probleme, il n'y a pas de voie express de contournement de la ville et tout converge vers le centre, c'est dommage. Les embouteillages sont incroyables surtout le matin et apres le boulot. Il n'est pas rare de mettre 1 heure et demi pour parcourir 8 kms. Grandes avenues avec intersection sans tremies: l'enfer! Au niveau securite: totale, vous pouvez circuler le soir seul dans la ville sans etre importune. Toutes les races et religions cohabitent en paix a Dar et la loi est la meme pour tous. Pour l'eau, il y a des problemes car la distribution se fait cinq jours sur sept a raison de six heures par jour. Enfin pour le transport les ferries jouent un grand role pour justement retirer des routes des milliers de travailleurs qui convergent vers la ville ou la quitte le soir apres le boulot. Donc le traffic du port de Dar est intense. Les bus de la ville sont bicolors blanc + couleur et chaque couleur correspond a un district de la ville.de Un district peut recevoir entre cinq et dix lignes. Le reseau couvre pratiquement l'ensemble de la ville et de sa banlieue. Les abribus de Dar sont simples mais ont de la gueule et sont equipes de panneaux publiitaires mobiles. Les taxis ont des compteurs mais il y a aussi des fraudeurs avec qui il faut discuter le prix de la course a l'avance et qui ne se genent pas pour allonger le parcours. En gros, c'est une ville assez cool avec plein de restaurants de toutes les cuisines des gens chaleureux et cool.

Very interesting!
Thanks for sharing!

courtesy of AAEORD,
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/272/img2143r.jpg (http://img266.imageshack.us/i/img2143r.jpg/)