Leaving Dar, It's Impressions

The trip to Dar in Nov 2007 is now down memory lane, but it would be impossible to not mention what impression the growing city left me with!

With a little bit more exploration around the city and its surroundings, Dar es Salaam has truly gained momentum in its endeavor to become a major metropolis in East Africa. The major downfall is the city infrastructure, common amongst all cities and towns where the it was not meant to expect such a rapid growth. The roads are small, single lane trails within the city which poses a quagmire of sorts during peak hours. However, it will be no surprise that within a few years from now, the single lane roads that currently have two way directions are likely to become a nightmare as they change to one way, double lanes, in order to accommodate the increased flow of traffic through the bottleneck streets. It could follow the idea of Britain where many small streets have had no alternative but to shift to only a single direction for the same purpose.

I noticed many older buildings have been torn down to rubble in order to accommodate their successors who will occupy the same spot with all their glory, as each one tries to outdo another with their modern, yet tasteless, architecture. Some newer buildings have been fitted with ugly exteriors, but many have tried to live up to the millenniums expectations with a splash of odd colors and strange decors. As you drive along the famous coastline that once housed grassy surfaces alongside threatening cliffs, Oyster Bay presents itself to be lucrative to developers and property hoagers alike. With the exception of one tower that hosts about ten floors, and which was fully furnished with furniture from IKEA until the governments belly exploded with anger by power hungry executives, and which now remains haunted at night with vacant rooms visible from the main road, many houses along Ocean Drive are quaint and more pleasant, facing the crashing waves and endless waters of the Indian Ocean. I can only imagine the breathtaking views of the morning sun as it slowly ascends to start a new day on the Eastern shore. The starlit nights are even more exuberant as they stretch thousands of miles to meet the ocean in the spectrum of the horizon.

If you are interested in entrepreneurship, there seems to be an endless possibility of starting any sort of business in the hopes of succeeding, provided the right mindset is used in order to do so. Computer parts and supplies are rampant and aggressive; cell phones shops and stalls boast the latest technology of yesteryear; phone card stores look empty but contain much of the prized possessions of the refill scratch cards needed to make calls; fast-food restaurants dot the streets for those taking a break from the intense scorching summer heat; elegant dining places are also flourishing with boastful cuisine; auto part shops are a guarantee on almost any street; currency exchange bureaus try and outdo one another with detailed chalk boards bragging their exchange rates outside their main entrances; tourist gift shops are stuffed with goodies that haven’t changed much in time; internet cafes are popular since many do not own personal computers; and open air fruit & vegetable markets are selectively located while their vendors are unsuspectingly competing against each other as their customers haggle to get the cheapest groceries from their own neighbors. Depending on the business and in many cases almost any business, it is a myriad of several opportunities that can establish loyal customers and prove fruitful in many ways.

Overall, it is certainly a charming cityits own right.