Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; an Expert Guide to the city

Dar Es Salaam is reinventing itself. This coastal capital is emerging as a city that is cosmopolitan and even enjoyable to explore. It remains at heart a bustling Swahili market town, yet is a centre of trade and commerce attracting ambitious Africans from all of Tanzania and its neighbouring countries, and international communities who come to this port for all manner of business. Here is the hub of communication in Tanzania, a far cry from the lifestyle and experiences of the rural majority. Residents of the metropolis are known as mbongo -person with brains- brains being a requisite for survival amid the populous chaos at the heart of this town. But for city-lovers Dar has plenty of quirks, and a reasonably loping East African pace anywhere beyond its hectic centre. Its Indian Ocean loca- tion offers realms of respite: a wild coastline and sea breeze, easy excursions and seaside accommodation.

The city physically reflects the paradox of Indian Ocean calm and enterprise. High-rise residential buildings and gleaming office blocks have grown up around the city centre and certain suburban areas, and yet the old character of its periodically Arabic, German and British colonial and African past is still much in evidence in the low-rise red-tiled roofs on the main streets and the makuti- thatched suburbs. Laden ocean-going tankers cruise across the horizon, and in their wake Arab dhows skim the waves and dock on shores green with mangroves and palms.

Despite confusion over the role of Dar es Salaam - officially demoted from capital city in 1973, but still awaiting the actual transfer of government to Dodoma it remains the most urbanized centre of Tanzania and its commercial capital, so acts as a good mirror of the countrys economic state. The range of new businesses, cafes, bars, restaurants and products now available reflects the success of the market reforms urgently introduced in 1986.