In Arusha, when one needs to shorten one's journey the most common thing to do is catch a ride in a daladala. These 15 passenger vans can take you just about anywhere in or around the city. After a brief walking tour, we needed to catch a ride back to the main office for our afternoon training, so we waited for a daladala to pick us up. Now, each daladala has a colored stripe that identifies where it takes you (a code known only to the locals) and, as I mentioned, each daladala holds about 15 people, including the driver. When the correctly striped daladala came by, the sixteen in our group clamored inside, joining the seven locals already on board. Once we were squeezed in, the door slid shut and off we went! Winding through the streets the driver dodged pot holes, people, motorbikes, and other vehicles, often abruptly stopping to accommodate the traffic or to drop off other passengers which allowed us to quickly readjust to make our ride more comfortable, or at least breathable. I was shifted to a window seat where I had a better view of the chaos that surrounded as four lanes of traffic advanced in a narrow two-lane street lined with food stands, store fronts, and people on either side. I imagine blinkers are just a joke here. Upon turning a corner, reggae music added to the noise of people talking, vehicles honking, motorbikes zooming by, and the occasional bang along the side of our metal van when a passenger was ready to get off. After turning one corner, we entered a street packed only with other daladalas and hopped off to get on a one with a different color to take us the rest of the way. As we stood waiting, I observed the mayhem that surrounded us: people scurrying, daladala drivers asking if we need a ride, (what color are we looking for again?), vehicles braking within inches of each other... how are these vehicles actually going anywhere?! Our staff leaders confidently took us to our next ride, where two locals on board quickly jumped out when they saw the size of our group ready to rush in. As we waited for a break in traffic, the reggae music resumed, and I looked to my right to see a man at a corner stand chewed on a piece of sugarcane watching another typical day go by. A break in the traffic came and we jolted forward onto a larger road where traffic moved more swiftly and our driver magically took us safely to our destination.
How is this for a whole new twist on rush hour traffic?
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