Don’t bank on it

8 ATMs side by side at a petrol station in Dar Es Salaam, after a short, heavy rainstorm. Today I am not in the workshop that has been focusing on transboundary landscape planning, but am remaining in Tanzania for an extra day because I need to be online for some deadlines and calls. So I’ve shifted to a hotel towards the city centre, to experience more of this place, which is one of the continent’s biggest agglomerations. I’m delighted to discover that iced coffee and spicy samosas are staples here.

A friend I first met in Kenya now lives in Dar Es Salaam. My deadlines were done and he invited me to join a house party. After a long period of work I felt I needed to let my hair down, and I had a good time. It turned out to be a ‘block party’ with all apartments over three storeys consenting (one may wonder how willingly) to a loud house party, with a mix of interesting characters. It was quite ‘ex-patty’ but thankfully with a Tanzanian contingent. At times I was in the type of conversation that I’ve had the misfortune of being trapped in before. Some social circles use rhetoric that assumes everyone else present is a habitual user of MDMA or ‘pills’. It’s quite tiresome when you’re anti-drug, but I suppose the norm for some. Aside from that it was fun to have a bit of gin and dance to Nickelback (they’d hired in a DJ who played any random request that was delivered to him).