Bad Drivers

Bags packed and ready to leave.  But there is a problem.  Paolo has driven 200 miles this morning from Dar Es Salaam to pick us up and take us back there.  Now we are set to leave his car won’t start.   He doesn’t seemed bothered and like most Tanzanians the smile is still there and phone calls are made, which we assume is to solve the problem or find another taxi.  We have a flight to catch in 9 hours but the road to Dar is notoriously busy and long.  It seems it is all sorted but Sam who runs the place checks and finds out that the taxi belongs to Paolo’s friend who has to travel 2 hours to get to us.  He doesn’t think this is a problem but genuinely thinks he has been helpful.  We politely thank him but decline his suggestion.  We also feel sorry that he has a very expensive situation with his car even though he doesn’t seem to mind.  She tells me that this is typical in Tanzania, that it is sometimes hard to know when something is sorted or not as Tanzanians hate to disappoint and therefore don’t always tell the truth – not in a devious, malicious way but trying make things better.  They also don’t seem to show the stress when there is a problem.  It was the same with Henry when he smashed the car into a ditch yesterday.  In the UK we would all be cursing our stupidity or bad luck but here they take it in their stride as just another oart of their day.  “it’s fine.’

Charles the local guy is called to the rescue and we are then nervous about getting his friend Henry, the dangerous ditch driver.  We are relieved to see that another guy appears.  However…. he is even worse.  For 5 hrs I was gripping the seat in the back of the car as he overtook without looking again, again and again while other cars passed taking corners blind and never looking out for possible oncoming traffic.  Bikes and other road vehicles also don’t get a look in as if they don’t exist.  Our car pulls out in front of tuk tuks or bikes as if they aren’t there. We saw two motorcycles crash in front of us.  Kelty attempted to slow him down but he just smiled and immediately drove up the backside of a lorry preparing for another overtake.   The background to all of this was a continuous loop of religious music videos showing groups of very overweight swaying (and smiling) soulful singers.  After tenth time round of hearing, my fingers gripped the seat even tighter.

As Sam said ‘just close your eyes and you’ll get there’.  I wish I had followed her advice but amazingly we did live to see the airport but it felt sad to be leaving such a wonderful country.  We had loved nearly everything about it.  The people,  their enthusiasm, their positivity, their beautiful surroundings, the animals, the way of appreciating living day to day with very little. Bye Bye Tanzania.   And hello shiny glossy Dubai.  Looking forward to seeing Mum and Dad who fly in tonight.