Tanzania was a wonderful country in many regards, it's politically stable and has fast growth economy that seems to have shrugged off the global financial crisis without much trouble. Crime rate is reasonably low and probably better than Cape Town. The cost of living there is fairly high, but I feel that it's not much higher than living in a South African urban area. It's pretty place and wonderful beaches, Chinese food there is really good and access to decent seafood once in a while is awesome!
As the reader might have guessed: BUT! Dar es Salaam is the nations de facto capital and economic center and even there you're as likely to get power at a given time than not. The temperature is really hot all year round with average humility at around 80% - something that I don't do well with. Rent there is crazy expensive for a semi-decent apartment and you have to settle your rent on an annual basis!
No, on balance of things (including many things for and against that I have not mentioned above) I would not choose to live in that particular country.
The place reminds of my hometown, with super shoddily erected buildings and use of inferior materials that would be illegal in many developed countries. Government officials seems to be as corrupt as the bunch in Punning, but then again since it's an African country it's probably one of the least corrupt nations around. As someone intending to invest in the country and someone trained in "Western" economic theories I'm constantly astounded by the lack of a benchmark to price anything here. Land is in huge demand due to the huge shortage in housing - yet there are plenty of empty land around and nothing is happening! Everyone has raised the price of property the the extent that buying a plot and developing it is still a HUGE risk even with the huge demand for apartments.
We can see the effects of colonialism everywhere in the city and people here seem to be hold Chinese people in a much higher esteem than other places I've been to. The people here seem genuinely keen to improve themselves, a sense of pride, self-reliance and self-improvement that is absent from the general population here in SA. I suspect (having not looked up the Geni coefficient for Tanzania) that inequality is incredibly high in this African nation - though not as high as SA.
No, this place is definitely heads and shoulder above the rest of its neighbours but one can't help but wonder how much longer will this growth continue without some fundamental shifts in policy.
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