Erik had slept the night in the car on the lodge parking lot. His allowance includes accommodation and food so in this way he saves some money. He was nicely in time and we had a very pleasant trip back to Dar es Salaam. It was Saturday so the number of police stops was less (1x) and that was a government police officer only checking the driver licence. Not like on the way down where we were stopped by the traffic police (white uniform) who checked via the mobile if there was any outstanding fine. Yes there was one from the Dodoma to Dar. drive. So we got a fine on top of the fine. I did not realise Erik had not paid the fine yesterday. This time I paid it, including the extra’s and he promised to give me the money back. I understand that the fines are for the companies account and not his, so I had no problem when he gave me the money back a couple of days later.

We took a different route into Dar es Salaam hoping to avoid the bus lane construction. We were not alone so the road was still jam-packed, but this time more organised. Except at one point where there was a 2-lane bridge and everybody had to fight to get over it.

The last 3 nights I am staying again at Trinity Guesthouse. The plane leaves at 23:55 so I will probably hang out here as long as possible. My car rental company offered to drive me, free of charge, to the airport tomorrow. I hope it happens. This morning and afternoon I found a willing ear to listen to all my words of wisdom. Lena is a Swedish dancing teacher, who is also visiting her family roots from the 1970’s. So this we have in common. In-between our talks I took a motorbike to a clinic for the PCR test. It is a similar scandalous business as in Holland ie very expensive. There is a government charge of $50 and a clinic charge of $26. Similar to Holland. I hope I do get the results in time tomorrow.

The next item on the agenda was finding a used Bao game (Bao = board in Swahili). It is a game with 4×8 pits in a wooden board of which 2 ends are square (the house). Each pit starts off with 2 nuts (seeds from some plant). Each player has 2 rows on one side of the board (i.e. 2 left and 2 right) so 32 seeds in total. One player starts by “sowing” his seeds and taking the seeds of his opponent under certain conditions. The game ends when one player has emptied the inner row of his opponent. One game can last up to 40 min. There are championships between the Swahili speaking countries.

Eddie, the manager of the guesthouse, phone around and was able to find a friend who wanted to part with his family Bao. He also sent somebody on a bike out to buy the right seeds. It will be a great memory of Tanzania.

My Bao board