Dar es Salaam General Activities

General Activities

If you happen to be staying at the Holiday Hotel, do be sure to check out their roof deck around 7 p.m. Here you will get a great view of the city while watching the sun set and listening to the numerous calls to prayer from nearby Mosques. For a great day trip, head out to Bangoyo island. Bongoyo is a small, uninhabited island just off the coast. The boat to Bongoyo leaves from Slipway, the upscale set of shops and markets just north of Dar es Salaam. The boat leaves a few times in the morning if there are enough people, and you can get basic food on the island (chips, fish and chips, egg and chips, etc.). You can relax without having to worry about anyone stealing your things. Take a hike around the island, or just relax under a banda on the beach. When you come back, you can get an extremely expensive ice cream or meal at Slipway and watch the sun set. You can also check out the Tinga Tinga paintings at the market. There are quite a number of night clubs in Dar es Salaam. Probably the most popular is Bilicanas, which is lively and sometimes not quite as full of prostitutes as the other clubs. It is popular with locals and ex-pats alike. Music is varies, depending on the night, from local to congolese to dance to hip-hop. (The only time I've ever heard hip-hop played right before Aqua's "Barbie Girl"; the place goes nuts when they play the cheesy songs). California Dreamers is another club, but it is too full of prostitutes to recommend. There are numerous other smaller clubs that can be fun, but harder to get to.