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A Deadly Nightly Hazard

Malaria mosquitoes are active at night. Some people told us that the dangerous time begins at 8pm, others talked about 10pm. We went to bed at sunset around 7pm and woke up around 5am at sunrise. At night, the most common way to protect yourself is to sleep under a mosquito net. The net is hanged from a hook in the ceiling. We had a few times some very well fed mosquitoes inside the net. The first one was hiding under the bed when we lowered the net and the second time happened when there was a dog sleeping in the same room. In the middle of the night, she jumped to our bed opening the net for unwanted visitors. It can become quite hot inside the net as it also hinders air flow and blocks the effect of a fan.

Another option is to use insect poison to kill mosquitoes. There are devices spreading poison all night long. All you have to do is to remember to refill the poison liquid, or change the poison pad, and plug the device. This means that also you will be inhaling the poison. The room has to be relatively air tight and there shouldn't be any screens on the windows. Otherwise the poison will flow out without expected effect.

The last night in Africa we stayed in Jollyboys' Backpackers Hostel in Livingstone, Zambia (see the photo). It was the rainy season meaning also mosquito high season in one of the worst malaria areas in Africa. We were quite surprised to see that in our dormitory of sixteen people we were the only ones having a net, which we had to go and buy by ourselves because the hostel offered none, nor spraying or any other protective measures.

Medication benefits only the drug factories

From what we learned from Africans we met, the malaria has resistance to the drugs taken in advance that medicine factories eagerly promote in Europe. That's why we decided not to take anything. In the best case, we would have gotten a false feeling of security and in the worst some nasty side-effects. Folklore is also suggesting that eating a lot of raw garlic helps to keep mosquitoes away. We did that, too, as we love raw garlic, but the only definitive reaction we received was empty seats around us in buses and aeroplanes.

There is no way to predict the malaria risk. We met many people who had lived decades in Africa without medication and had never had malaria, so there seems to be hope. But on the other hand, we also met people who only stayed in Africa for a couple of weeks and got sick right away. If you want to be on the safe side, it is perhaps best not to travel to malaria areas at all. Trying to avoid mosquitoes is quite stressing and no matter how careful you are, some of them will anyway bite you.

After two months' touring we understood that travelling, working and living in Africa is motivated by three things: it is a way to relieve guilt, an opportunity to gaze at wild animals or to get kudos as a seasoned traveller.

The possible dangers of travelling in Africa were discussed every time when we saw other travellers and locals. Here and there you will be mugged, might get malaria, or meet natives practising cannibalism. When returning from Africa, these same fearsome travellers become heroes in the eyes of others.

You Have Everything—We Have Nothing

One of most vexing things for us in the East and South Africa was the relationship between white and black people, or the rich and the poor. A common presumption is that all whites are wealthy and they come to Africa just to share their money with locals. This mentality applies to all interaction including begging, selling, renting, transportation, and robbing. According to African logic, the rich should have a bad conscience for having materially so much more than the poor. Besides, white people belong to the bad Colonialist race and must pay for their heritage. If you resist, things get complicated, and even if you give something to locals, you mustn't expect any gratitude. You are just doing what you are supposed to do, fulfilling your part of the deal.

We encountered racism towards white people and tourists for the first time in Brazil in the beginning of our trip. Beggars approached us demanding a cigarette or some money on the grounds of our race and status as travellers. We didn't give them anything nor did we do any spontaneous charity or volunteering in Africa. We are not compassionate enough to be thankful for being hassled.

The mentality was ever present and annoying. When getting approached by a gang of bad-smelling and dirty hawkers trying to touch us and staring at us angrily, someone less courageous might have interpreted their marketing effort to be a threatening situation or even a robbery, and given up his or her valuables to avoid further inconvenience. This was a very common situation in the areas where we travelled. People were more aggressive in the touristy places which always attract fortune-seekers. South Africa and the capital of Botswana were a bit different because they are more developed, but on the other hand the price level was even higher than in the neighbouring countries and value lower. In a world-wide scale, Africa is the low-value-leader while Asia is its high-value opposite.

If you don't have riches or a guilty conscience, you might feel sick and tired after travelling a while in Africa. The greed and open exploitation was far more prominent in East Africa than in any other country we have visited. But for the sake of fairness, it is important to realize that it is—to some extent—part of the tourist scene everywhere in the world.

Volunteers, Charities And Missionaries

Many people travel to Africa to show off how great and caring they are. They become volunteers or start a charity to help and spread the Western gospel of consumerism to ignorant natives just like missionaries did in the old days. Having a nice car and a mobile phone seem to be strict necessities for Africans even if they live in a house build from cow dung and without running water. Polluting is in today's world a privilege and it defines your value as a human being. The more you buy, the better person you become.

Donating to the poor relieves guilt. It works the same way as giving money to a church. If you sin, you pay, and after the remission you are free to sin again. However, it is far cheaper and less polluting to get rid of your sins by going to a local church or to get an appointment with a psychologist than travelling to Africa.

Volunteering and charities continue the traditions of colonialism and slavery. Westerners think that as we come from the civilised world, we know everything better and must educate ignorant locals. It is also called patronising. In its worst form it makes locals objects and positions them as children who must listen quietly and obey. A curious detail is that the majority of travellers we saw were white women. Is the reason nurturing instinct?

Pestering Animals in Safari

Animal watching is another popular reason for a trip to Africa. Having photos with wild beasts on the background proves that you are not afraid. Travellers are naturally happy to pay safari organizers a lot to make sure that they are not in real danger because in fact they are afraid. Isn't this a strange way to demonstrate courage? We managed to see many wild animals just walking around and travelling by bus. We spotted monkeys, crocodiles, camels, zebras, rhinos, a giraffe and many other animals without chasing them.

If you really want to pester animals, you can do it easier in a local zoo. There the pitiful means of money-making are stuffed into small cells so that tourists can easily take photos. In Africa, you need to hire a driver to pursue the poor animals and corner them for photo shooting. For us, game parks, national parks and reserves are nothing but zoos, and Africans proved to be passionate animal-lovers only when they were making money. We saw many times locals throwing stones at stray dogs just for fun.

No Thanks To The Guilt And Zoo

Our original thought was to stop on the way and rent a flat for finishing our newest manuscript. We tried and failed. After that, we didn't find any suitable place with necessary facilities and at affordable price. For us mzungus, Africa is surprisingly dear, even more expensive than Europe except that we don't get any value for our money. What good is air-conditioning, hot water, fridge and TV if you don't have electricity?

After two months' touring, we were relieved of the puzzle of the fascination of Africa and also the compulsion to stay around any longer. We took a turn to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to ponder our experiences, finish writing the manuscript and enjoy life. We might return to Africa later to explore the West and the North about which we have heard—once again—so many good things.

Tazara Train

The Tazara train station is five kilometres away from the city centre. We went there early in the morning to buy the tickets right after getting the visas. There was already a queue at 7 am. The ticket sales counter opened officially at 7:30 am and in reality at 8:00 am when the salesperson finally arrived.

Unfortunately there were no tickets available as the train was broken—or fully booked as they explained the situation. The next available train would have been 1,5 weeks later. We couldn't wait because of our short Tanzanian transit visas. Moreover, we had already walked around Dar es Salaam so many times that there was nothing more to see.

We rejected the train and shopped around for cheap flights to neighbouring countries. We visited altogether some twenty airline companies and travel agents. The flights to Lusaka, Zambia, were outrageously expensive, almost US 500$ (376€) per person. With that money both of us could have flown to Mumbai.

Bustling Buses

There is obviously not enough competition in flight business in Tanzania to keep prices decent. We decided to visit the bus station and ask their offers, too. That was a hassle. Right after stepping out from Dalladalla, a local minibus, a bunch of hawkers and touts started jumping on us. While we walked past all bus companies, we had a tail of thirty eager bus ticket sellers behind us. Everybody was shouting at the same time: “Where do you want to go?”, “Which company?” We couldn't even hear our own thoughts not to mention that the sellers tried to become too intimate. They were touching us and insisted on shaking hands.

All the offers we got were naturally mzungu prices. We had earlier learned from two Indian guys in the Zambian Embassy that the normal bus fare to Lusaka is 22.500 TSH (12€) per person. For us, however, the price was 85.000 TSH (45€) per person. Maybe they had better buses?

We decided to have a look at the vehicles. In photos, and from a distance, they looked acceptable, but a closer inspection revealed that it was only the outer paint jobs that were well done. The interior was rather absent. Motors, tyres and suspension had seen their better days in the previous millennium. The artificial leather seats without any kind of air-con promised a very sweaty ride of over 20 hours in an overcrowded couch. It was not an option for us.

The Solution

We started searching for cheap flights to Johannesburg thinking that we can more easily move upwards from South Africa where roads and buses are in better condition. This proved to be a good strategy. We found a 144€ flight with Zambesi Airlines with a stop in Lusaka. The price was twice cheaper all the way to Johannesburg than to the first stop in Lusaka. No logic at all as is often the case with airline tickets.

Zambesi Airlines served us well. It would have been even possible to exit in Lusaka but the weather was so rainy and chilly that we decided to go all the way—not to mention the second delicious warm meal waiting on the plane.

Dar es Salaam proved us that the old wisdom about remote and undeveloped places is still valid: “You pay or you stay”.

We came from Mombasa, Kenya, by bus. The ride took nine hours with border formalities. The road was partly potholed rodeo and the driver was speeding the tarmac parts. Once he was passing by a truck and hit a cow damaging the bus and killing the poor animal.

The Must-See Sights In Dar Es Salaam

Dar Es Salaam is easy to walk around with a compass and a free photocopied map available at the official tourist office. We didn't try taxis, but the amount and eagerness of drivers predicted a lot of expensive, unnecessary sighseeing.

One of the city's main tourist attractions is a modest Clock Tower in the heart of the city. It works with solar power and shows four different times. All clocks had stopped. It is therefore advisable to choose carefully the time of arrival so that the clock you want to see will be on time.

Zanzibar is the main tourist attraction in the area. It is particularly famous for Arab architecture, which is— according to us—best experienced in Arabia, not in Africa. We skipped the overly expensive ferry trip and touristy hassle.

Not Cheap But Not Expensive

In Dar Es Salaam, you can get a decent hotel room with a fan, TV and breakfast for 25000 TSh (13 €).
We spent the first night in a 14000-Tsh-hotel and had a mini-safari with bedbugs and other exciting nightly man-eaters. In the morning, we upgraded our accomodation and found a nice hotel in a busy local area where we were the only mzungus, white people.

Taxi drivers went crazy when they saw us and started yelling “Mzungu, mzungu!” There was also mzungu prices in some shops, and some hotels even had separate prices for residents and non-residents like in Russia, one number but in rubles for Russians and dollars for foreigners.

Other similarities with Russia—or the former Soviet Union—were local supermarkets. The first time we went to one of the biggest Tanzanian supermarkets called Shoprite, the lights were dimmed and there was no bread available because of electricity shortage. The shelves had some stuff, but the selection was poor. Still there was a lot of people guarding the precious few goods. Prices were much like in Kenya but obviously too dear for locals. They seemed to do their shopping in the market or in small local kiosks.

The Nose-picking Nation

English is spoken but not as widely as in Kenya. Most of the people speak Swahili and can have trouble understanding English words pronounced in a non-African way. We got by with the help of a map and compass as locals could not always direct us to the right place.

Dar es Salaam does not feel like a really African city except in one thing: public nose-picking. We have not seen such a dedication to this sport anywhere else in the world. Even the kitchen maid was practising it while putting our two breakfast bread slices to a plate.

Our journey continues. More news coming soon—stay tuned.