In Africa VI

VI

Bagamoyo

Bagamoyo is an old city, founded at the end of the 18th century it was the original capital of German East Africa and was one of the most important trading ports along the East African coast. Today the town has about 30,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the District of Bagamoyo, recently being considered as a world heritage site. It is not far from Dar es Salaam; 75 kilometers north, about an hour and a half by car over good but heavily traveled road. Ruins date back to the 13th century, but the significance of Bagamoyo lies in its location on the Indian Ocean close to the Island of Zanzibar, making it an important center for the ivory and slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Indian and Arab traders as well as colonial Germans and Christian Missionaries have influenced Bagamoyo. Today it is the center for dhow sailboat building and is a tourist destination. It is popular with artists most of whom follow the Tingatinga style made popular by artist Edward Tingatinga in the late 1960s in the Oyster Bay area of Dar es Salaam and is now seen in all parts of East Africa.

Domestic cattle along the Bagamoyo Road

We drove with friends, Georgie and Stratos. Although of Greek descent, Stratos was born and raised in his youth in Tanzania and speaks Swahili. We stayed at the Bagamoyo Country Club. In the North American sense this would imply some association with the game of golf, however the Bagamoyo Country Club is simply a small hotel fixed into a hillside overlooking the Indian Ocean a few kilometers south of the old part of town.

Guard house at the top of the hill

Halfway down

We parked in the parking area along the dirt road above the hotel, gathered out bags and descended the roughly ninety steps to the hotel reception. The reception also serves as the hotel bar and is located in the lounge and dining area. Basically a large palm frond thatched roof open-air room with tables, chairs and booths. After paying we hiked half way back up the hill to our simple but comfortable room; bed with mosquito netting, wardrobe, night stands, bath with shower, everything necessary for a weekend stay.

 

The Rooms

Hotel Reception/Bar. Note the lending library for guests in a
 bookshelf made from an old dhow hull;
popular furniture here in Tanzania.

Diningroom/Bar room/Lounge

The drive to town was short; maybe five or ten minutes. Motorcycles or “boda bodas” as the locals call them, are a popular form of transportation in Dar es Salaam because they are relatively inexpensive and circumvent the jams by driving between the two lanes of traffic. In Bagamoyo, they are way of life.

Boda Bodas

Passenger with Rasta Hat

Once in town, we stopped at a small bar restaurant that Georgie and Stratos knew called Poa Poa. It was in the simple, original, style of all buildings in the old part of town but uncharacteristically neatly painted. Inside was dark after entering from the bright sunlight, we were greeted buy a waiter with the usual “jambo.” The young blonde woman sitting in a corner seat seemed very much at home but out of place. We found seats around an empty table and placed our order. On later visits we would eat in the courtyard further in the back and out the back door past the bar. The food here is good and reasonably priced.

Typical building. An Arab influence?

Doors. Indian Influence?

Poa Poa

The next morning we toured a bit of the city. We stopped at an artists shop we had seen the evening prior. His paintings in the Tingatinga style were hanging around a ramshackle room that served as his home, and his studio. Some of the paintings were on the back fence, others on the wall of the neighboring building. He greeted us and began to tell us about his work and how he was scheduled to attend a showing at the US Embassy sponsored by USAID, and how he was a teacher of art, and on and on. It wasn’t just his Rastafarian knitted cap with the green, yellow and red colors from the Ethiopian flag, or his constant chatter, or the deposit of paint transferred from his hand to mine as we shook, but also my experience from living in the turbulent 60s which led me to surmise that he was in fact a practicing Rastafarian who used ganja as part of his religious customs. It was pretty clear he was high. Sharon negotiated the purchase of a painting with the common Tingatinga theme of fish swimming in concentric circles; this one predominantly black on blue.

Artist's "shop"

Paintings displayed on the wall

The other artist with whom we visited had a similar shack covered with paintings also used as home, studio and showroom. Like the first, he was a Rastafarian. Lucid during our meeting with him in his shop, he, like the other, apparently practiced his religion devoutly as evidenced by his incessant conversation at the café one evening. Although associated more with Jamaica, the Rastafarian religion has roots in Africa and in fact the former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, plays a major role in the beliefs. We noted several men wearing the Rasta caps during our time in Bagamoyo.

Our Tingatinga fish painting

Rasta hat

Bagamoyo has an historic authenticity about it that easily lends itself to the arts. There was a school for young artists in the town, and promoting artists was a priority among some who lived there. Sharon learned that the young blonde woman in Poa Poa was a Danish student who lived in an apartment above the café. She was in Bagamoyo to attempt to organize the artists, start a gallery and introduce their work to artist in Denmark.

Fishermen in a dugout 

Fishing from a sailing dhow

Among the more genuine and picturesque areas of the city is the local fish market. Being situated on the Indian Ocean and as center for dhow boat building in Tanzania, fishing is naturally a significant part of the local economy. Boats dot the horizon all day and some locals engaged in fishing by wading into the water and dragging large nets back onto the shore. This is a technique we observed in Acapulco, Mexico.

Fishermen pulling in a net in front of our hotel

All of the fishing activity ultimately ends at the fish market where the catch is sold. The Bagamoyo fish market is not as large as the one in Dar es Salaam city center but is larger than the one down our street in Msasani. A major portion of the area occupied by the fish market is devoted to the preparation of fish for eating on the premises. This is an activity that invites participation.  We could not pass the opportunity.

Fish Market

Fish Market looking to the Indian Ocean 

Deep frying prawns

One of the cooks

Stratos negotiated a purchase of some very nice prawns and changu, but there was lobster, calamari, octopus and many other choices available also. On the way to Bagamoyo we had stopped at a local roadside market and purchased some tomatoes, onions and limes for the meal. Georgie prepared a tomato and onion salad while the cooks at the fish market grilled our lunch. It was well worth the effort it took to keep the flies at bay.

Lunch

There are other sites worth seeing in this historic east African town. Among them is the history of the slave trade. North and South American were engaged in the trading of slaves from West Africa. The practice, however, was not limited to those parts of the world. In East Africa slaves were traded during the same periods and even beyond. The destinations were primarily in the Middle East and India. Bagamoyo was a hub for slaves and ivory coming from the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Slaves, transported to final destinations around the world, were taken first to Zanzibar which was a trading center for numerous commodities; famously spices, infamously slaves. The historic sites in Bagamoyo are open to the public but subject to a fee. For Tanzanian residents, like Sharon and I, the cost is a mere 1000 TzS (about 63 cents per person), for non-residents like our companions, the fee is 20,000 TzS (closer to $12.50 per person.) With apologies for the excessive non-resident fee, the amicable guide let us know that the fee once paid would allow access to any of the historic sites elsewhere in town.

Slaves waited here before going to Zanzibar

Slave trading continued on this site until the end of the
19th century

Bagamoyo gave us the opportunity to relax in a beachside setting, in an area close to Dar es Salaam. The city has retained its character over the years and gave us glimpses into the everyday life of people more representative of the larger population of a country full of contrasts.

Until Next Connection,

Dan