Tazara train

On the 20th of September we set off to Dar es Salaam at 6:00 a.m. with the Tazara train (Tanzania and Zambia Railways). Our plan was to spend a night in Dar and travel the next day with the ferry to Zanzibar. There we would attend Swahili classes during two weeks. Most of the people working at the IHI have attended this course and say it is very helpful to start understanding the structure of the language. Although Swahili is not difficult it is very different from any western language we know. It is a mixture of traditional African Bantu language, Arabic and other influences like even German, English, Hindu or Portuguese.

Back to our train trip:
Despite us being only two adults, we booked a whole first class cabin which corresponds to 4 adult tickets. The ticket prices are ridiculously cheap and it is simply better than sitting next to a complete stranger for 12 hours in a closed room. As we were about to leave the campus and drive to the station we met a student I am supervising who was also leaving to Dar es Salaam but on a bus. The buses here are a nightmare and because he speaks fluently Swahili and English we decided to invite him to come along. He proved later to be very useful. The Tazara arrived in Ifakara train station 2 hours late which is actually quite on time for African standards! Here the concept of time is very ELAAAA------STIC. The first class section of the train is on its very end, and the station platform only serves a third of the train, passengers traveling in the beginning or end of the train have to climb up to the door which is almost two meters above ground. It was not easy. It is amazing to see how women carrying babies, luggage, firewood and bundles on their heads manage it so swiftly.


The train compartment was very comfortable with four beds and a small table. Breakfast was brought to us, as well as water, toilet paper and soap. The trip through the African landscapes is an amazing experience. Even though the trip is very long it is never boring to look out the window. The Tazara line runs through Selous Game Reserve, Africa’s largest reservation (45000 km2) which is larger than Switzerland. During hours we crossed this park and saw all types of wildlife, giraffes, elephants, zebras, warthogs, impalas, antilopes, strange birds and also many, many huge bones. It was lovely. Twelve hours later we arrived in Dar es Salaam, by coincidence the student was staying at the same hotel. This was fantastic because we booked a hotel which was recommended to us but we had no idea where it was and how to get there, and much less how to explain this in Swahili to a taxi driver! Traffic in Dar was terrible and it took us almost an hour from the station to the hotel, there we ordered some chicken and chips and went to bed completely exhausted. The next day we were going to Zanzibar!