Showing posts with label markets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label markets. Show all posts

Saturday, June 12, 2010

A boat for six million shillings

Nungwi is one of those unfortunate villages that happens to be squashed between two beach resorts (oddly enough, these resorts seem to cater to mainly Italian tourists. As is often the case, the village has remained poor and largely segregated from the beach areas - very few locals are hired to work in the hotels and they make their living from traditional trades.

We were lucky enough to get a tour of the village from one of the locals – he was our guide to Nungwi's turtle aquarium even showed us his own home and family (his wife was busy applying henna to her hands and feet for decoration). 

The villagers were a friendly and happy bunch, though they were obviously quite poor; there are no tarred roads, just muddy tracks, and the houses are small, simple affairs made of coral bricks or breeze blocks with corrugated iron roofs. Plenty of chickens shuffle around in the garbage behind the houses and there are lots of flies.

They have electricity but not running water – water comes through standpipes in the street, but the supply is erratic. When the water is on, women carrying multiple buckets line up to get as much as they can. It’s amazing they look so good – all the women (this is a Muslim village) wear bright, vivid dresses and headscarves from puberty, and only the (very cute) younger kids run around in basic gear. 

The village keeps busy: Nungwi is known for its shipbuilders, who hammer and carve wood around the clock making dhows (traditional fishing boats). They cost 6 million shillings (US$5000) and take 40 days to build! 

Fishermen sell their catch at the fish market, often just a simple gathering under a tree where piles of sardines, trumpet fish and dorado are auctioned off to the highest bidders. 

The only other stalls we saw sold greenish oranges (very sweet!), cassava and roast corn on the cob, as well as small amounts of tamarind, wild garlic and ginger.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Bits and pieces of Dar Es Salaam


If you need a haircut...


If you need some chemistry textbooks...


If you have strong neck muscles...

And if you need to get your knives sharpened!


(Instructions: Climb on to bike, put on safety goggles, hold your blade flat against the whetstone, peddle like crazy!)

Dar Es Salaam markets



The Kisutu Market is one of Dar Es Salaam’s smallest markets, a cramped melee of stalls and spices piling into the street. There were plenty of vegetables and lots of roots; cassava and mantioc but also carrots, which was a bit surprising.

Of the fruits mangoes, coconuts and papaya were definitely the most popular, but we also found a small ‘atis’ (Mum's favorite fruit) section! 

Further back, the meat section was basically rows of wooden cages stuffed with live chickens looking very miserable – bit grim.
 

The Kivukoni Fish Market lines the harbor and is much bigger and more chaotic than Kisutu. The floor is thick with slops and fish guts, and the air saturated with that salty fish smell – it’s not as bad as it sounds!



By the time we arrived most of the big fish had gone, and though there were a few tunas, it was mostly heaps of sardines, some already crushed in plastic bags. 



A couple of long tables served as auction areas, where fish and shrimp were being sold to what looked like a panel of stern but beautifully dressed women.




Wooden fishing boats and dhows docked right next to the market in what seemed like a fairly chaotic mess.




Behind the market, the fish was being fried in huge vats of bubbling oil, fed by wood-fires. 

Cooks ladle the fish into these massive iron pots – a bit like woks – fry the fish to a crisp and sold at the stalls nearby. 

That’s a tough job. The fish looked tasty, but health food, it ain’t. 




Beyond, a dried mud field served as drying platform for thousands of small fish.


Sunday, June 6, 2010

36 hours in Dubai

Here are some pictures from our brief stopover in Dubai.