Motorcades

We've seen a number of motorcades in the past month.  The first was when we arrived back in Tanzania after our trip to Ghana.  Striding through the airport, we were approached by several taxi drivers.  We told them, "No thank you.  We will go by dala-dala."  One had the effrontery to lie, "Obama is in town.  The dala-dalas aren't running."  Which, of course, was ridiculous.  Obama was not due for 2 more days.

We made our way to the dala-dala stop across the street from the airport.  Three of the minibuses stopped, but they were so packed we did not even attempt to board with our backpacks.  Then, suddenly, there was no more traffic headed into the city.  Peering down the road, we could see cars and trucks stopped at the next intersection.  So we waited.  And waited.  More and more people gathered at the bus stop.

After a few minutes, we heard small cannon--Boom!  Boom!  Boom!--from the direction of the airport.  People around us started to take out their cell phones.  I heard some of them say "Obama".  Eventually, motorcycles sped past, sirens sounding and lights flashing.  Then there were police vehicles, Land Rovers, and a limousine with dark windows.  More police vehicles and a bus full of white men in black suits followed.  (One of them pulled out a small camera and snapped a photo of the people standing at the bus stop. I wonder what he thought when he saw me and Mark with our pale faces in the crowd.)  Last in the motorcade was an ambulance.  Soon, regular traffic was allowed to flow, and we took a dala-dala to our destination.  We found out later that various heads of state and diplomatic ministers were in the city that week, and it was one of them who passed us.  President Obama arrived later in the week.  (And would have had a longer motorcade).

We had a similar experience last weekend.  We were on our way to Arusha for shopping and lunch when our dala-dala was pulled over, not once, but twice for motorcades.  The president of Tanzania was appearing at a local event.  Once it was clear what was happening, most of the people on the dala-dala got out and stood alongside the road to get a better view.  After 10 minutes or so, the motorcade sped past--sirens, motorcycles, police, limo, more police, and, finally, an ambulance.  The passengers, driver, and conductor scrambled to re-board so that our vehicle could be first of the several stopped along the road to pull out and be on our way.

We were stopped once more on our return trip from Arusha.  Watching a motorcade was a fun experience the first time or two, but I'm a little tired of having our travels interrupted.