Visiting Bagamoyo

This past weekend we went as a group to the town of Bagamoyo, about an hours drive north of Dar by crammed daladala (the minbuses that are the regular public transportation). The town is on the Indian Ocean like Dar and the first day we just sort of enjoyed the beach. The next morning we watched the sunrise and all the fishermen heading out to sea which was pretty fun.



The second day we got a tour of the town. The city used to be one of the biggest in East Africa and was the capital of German East Africa for most of their rule. It was also the main slave port through the 1800s as slaves from the interior dumped their haul of ivory here and then were shipped to Zanzibar to be sold. So we saw some of those old forts and such which was interesting but hard of course. Also toured the old church, including where David Livingstone's body lay before being shipped back to the UK. The area also has a big Arab and Islamic influence over its history and we toured some really cool ruins of an old mosque and Islamic graveyard that was first started in the 1500s. We also went to a fish market where some guy gave me a free fish to try - freshly caught and fried. And you just sort of pop it in your mouth and chew up the bones - actually quite delicious!

All in all a good trip. We are now back to Kiswahili class which I will write about soon and I also start teaching English this week at a local primary school. Will post about that when I can.