Dalla-Dalla

Dalla-dallas are Tanzanias public transport. They are mini-vans with as many extra seats as possible crammed into them. Often they have pictures of Bob Marley on the outside or large words such as 'Lord Jesus will Save Us' printed accross them. Maybe this is to get your attention and persuade you to choose that particular dalla-dalla. I'm not sure, i never worked that out.

I think it only took us 2 weeks or less for the novelty of the dalla-dlalla riding experience to wear off. This was probably around the time our dalla-dalla on the way home from work was delayed because a sheep had escaped from the boot and we had to wait for a couple of men to chase it down the road and re-capture it and stuff it back into the dalla-dalla. I know how the sheep felt.

Another thing about catching dalla-dallas is that just because all the seats are filled it doesn't mean that the dalla-dalla is. People stand, crouch, lean, push and somwhow you end up with a good 25 people jammed in on top of each other. There is no such thing as personal space in Africa. Sometimes you step off one feeling battered and bruised and somewhat obligated to marry the man who you've been pressed up against for the last half hour becoming intimate with his armpit.

When a dalla-dalla pulls up you can be confronted with a wall of people and you think you will never fit on, but the dalla-dalla 'conductors' somehow shove you in. There was one particular ride home from Arusha i recall where the door wouldn't even shut and my bum was left handing out the side, blowing in the breeze.

One of the major differences i noticed catching public transport in Tanzania compared with home is how everyone helps each other. Babies are passed along so that the mother with a basket on her head can get on and find a seat. Kids will sit on anyones lap unconcerned about strangers and no one minds. You find yourself holding peoples bags and buckets filled with vegatables that they have bought at the market. Chickens under your feet also became the norm for us as we rode to and from work.

The dalla-dallas in zanzibar are a bit different. They are like trucks that you sit in the back of under a very low roof. people pile their bikes and what looks like half a house on the roof. On our way to the east coast from Stone Town we had some small school kids jump on on their way home. the little boy sat next to his sister and leaned on the man next to him. Then the little boy started to sing in a very loud voice, a song he had obviously learnt fom school. The repetative song was acted out with big actions in a big voice from a very small boy. He was completly oblivious of the crowd of people crammed in around him and kept this up for a good 20 minutes. We couldnt hold the laughter in, the little boy was so funny and soon the entire dalla-dalla of people were joining in laughing with us. The little boy, still oblivious, sang on and we all looked at him and each other and smiled. Moments like this make catching a dall-dalla worth while.