Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — Activities
Dar es Salaam Culture
The New World Cinema (tel (022) 277 2178) on New Bagamayo Road shows blockbusters and recent films from both Hollywood and Bollywood. There is also a cinema at The Msasani Slipway that shows films at the weekend. Cultural documentary-style films are also shown at the British Council on the corner of Ohio Street and Samora Avenue (tel: (022) 211 8255).
The Little Theater (tel 0748 277 388), off Haile Selassie Road, near Oyster Bay, is Dar es Salaam’s only theater but stages regular monthly productions.
Traditional music and dance displays can be seen at Nyumba Ya Sanaa (Nyerere Cultural Center) on Ohio Street (tel: (022) 213 1727) and at the Village Museum on the corner of New Bagamayo Road and Makaburi Street (tel: (022) 270 0437), which also features traditional drumming displays and dance performances from individual tribes.
Dar es Salaam Tours
Although there aren’t all that many tourist destinations of note in central Dar es Salaam, the city does have a lot of attractive historical buildings and architectural sights, which can easily be explored on a walking tour. Monuments and buildings of note include the bronze Askari Monument at the intersection of Samora Avenue and Azikiwe Street, dedicated to Africans killed during WWI, and the Botanic Gardens on Samora Avenue. Also worth seeing are the defunct Ocean Road Hospital with its Moorish influenced architecture, the small white-domed Ocean Road Cancer Hospital where Robert Koch carried out his ground-breaking research into malaria, the remarkable, red-roofed Azania Front Lutheran Church on the corner of Sokoine Drive and Azikiwe Street and St Joseph’s Cathedral on the corner of Sokoine Drive and Bridge Street, which contains original German inscriptions from the time it was built (1897) as well as various bits of artwork.
Dar es Salaam also has a surprisingly large amount of bird life, particularly outside the immediate center. The Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania on Garden Street (tel: (022) 211 2518) organizes free bird walks every week that last several hours.
Diving and snorkeling excursions along the northern beaches and around the islands off Dar es Salaam, as well as PADI dive certification courses, are run by the Sea Breeze Dive Center at White Sands Hotel, Africana Road (tel: (022) 264 7620; website: www.hotelwhitesands.com).
