Five minutes until the power goes out

In the coastal region of Tanzania it is now the begining of the 'Long rains' which last about two and a half months. The rains are a mixed blessing for a start it creates a high cloud cover helps to bring the temperature down a degree or two and the daily rain makes the humidity bearable. The down side is Tanzania's electrical grid which is prehistoric it is in desperate need of maitenance and a upgrade. I swear the majority of transformers here were built around the same time that Thomas Eddison invented the light bulb, because whenever the heavens open up(which is every couple of hours until June) it only takes five minutes of rain before the electricity blacks out. Believe me it takes a little longer than five minutes for the electricity to be restored! Another interesting fact about the marvelous city of Dar es Salaam('Bongo' to the locals) is that after excessive downpours the city can resemble something just short of a natural disaster zone. The cities drainage system can not cope with the volume of water causing whole inner city blocks to flood knee deep and in some instances waist deep. I have seen days last wet season with drowned cars littering whole streets. It can increase the rush hour drive home from work from a tolerable one hour up to an insane three hours, and this due to flooding which is of course is excepted as the normal during rains.




Events that would cause mayhem and uproar back home are the everyday here. In the last six months I have seen the aftermath of a whole Apartment building that collapsed it bearly got a mention in the newspapers. One other occasion I was driving to the airport and in a area called Kariakoo I saw a six storey apartment building engulfed in a complete inferno, hardley anybody battered an eyelid. To top it off my partner and I live in a apartment......just sleeping at night could possibly be more dangerous than the whole bush flying gig.

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