Bahari Beach Hotel
Yesterday was moving day. The Fisheries Atlas Workshop was concluded on Saturday at lunchtime and so we had to vacate our hotel rooms on Sunday morning and move to an area on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, called Kunduchi. We are here for a series of three back to back meetings. The first is the end-of-project meeting for the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP), the second is a special sitting of the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC) and the final meeting, at which many of us are presenting the outputs of our projects, is a Donor's Meeting which is held to show the funding agencies what their money produced.
The hotel that we are now residing in is located right on the beach and the views are really stunning. The hotel itself is newly renovated and we are its guinea pigs i.e. its first guests after re-opening. They are still sorting out some logistic facilities but overall it is very nice. The food is really good and, besides spending the entire day in the conference hall, I think I will have a good stay here.
Almost the very first thing I managed to do after being let into my room was to almost wreck part of it. I wanted to plug a lamp in but the wall socket was behind the little dresser so I pulled the dresser out a little to get to the socket. What I had not realised was that the great big (and very heavy) mirror was only balanced on the dresser instead of being attached to the wall or to the dresser. As I pulled the dresser out so the mirror fell down behind the dresser. Somehow, and I have no idea how, I managed to stop the fall by pinning the mirror against the wall and in the process knocked the beer bottles that were on the dresser over, one of which landed in the dustbin. It sounded like the bottle had broken but that was the least of my concerns. I had to get the mirror out from behind the dresser without dropping it. It was, as I have said, really heavy and the angle I was holding it at did not help in the process. Fortunately I did get it out and also without knocking anything else off the dresser. Once the mirror was safely on the bed I could investigate what exactly had happened and how I would rectify the situation. I thought that the mirror had been attached to the wall and there are bolts on the wall and holders on the back of the mirror but neither were used. It was then that I realised it had just been balancing there and sorting out the situation would be easy. Since I had the dresser out, I plugged in the lamp, pushed the dresser back and re-balanced the mirror. Fortunately the beer bottle had not broken so there was no need to mop up (with a straw) any beer lying around. After that I was a little more cautious exploring the rest of what the room had to offer.
After that heart-stopping moment I went off to find some lunch and had a really enjoyable afternoon chatting to some of the other participants. I also discovered that my good friend, Kizzie, is here to be the rapporteur for the meetings so it means I have some good company and lots of laughs for the week.
The hotel that we are now residing in is located right on the beach and the views are really stunning. The hotel itself is newly renovated and we are its guinea pigs i.e. its first guests after re-opening. They are still sorting out some logistic facilities but overall it is very nice. The food is really good and, besides spending the entire day in the conference hall, I think I will have a good stay here.
The entertainment area
The beds - my only complaint really is that I have to sleep in a single bed!
The bar area as seen from my balcony
My view!
The pool!
Almost the very first thing I managed to do after being let into my room was to almost wreck part of it. I wanted to plug a lamp in but the wall socket was behind the little dresser so I pulled the dresser out a little to get to the socket. What I had not realised was that the great big (and very heavy) mirror was only balanced on the dresser instead of being attached to the wall or to the dresser. As I pulled the dresser out so the mirror fell down behind the dresser. Somehow, and I have no idea how, I managed to stop the fall by pinning the mirror against the wall and in the process knocked the beer bottles that were on the dresser over, one of which landed in the dustbin. It sounded like the bottle had broken but that was the least of my concerns. I had to get the mirror out from behind the dresser without dropping it. It was, as I have said, really heavy and the angle I was holding it at did not help in the process. Fortunately I did get it out and also without knocking anything else off the dresser. Once the mirror was safely on the bed I could investigate what exactly had happened and how I would rectify the situation. I thought that the mirror had been attached to the wall and there are bolts on the wall and holders on the back of the mirror but neither were used. It was then that I realised it had just been balancing there and sorting out the situation would be easy. Since I had the dresser out, I plugged in the lamp, pushed the dresser back and re-balanced the mirror. Fortunately the beer bottle had not broken so there was no need to mop up (with a straw) any beer lying around. After that I was a little more cautious exploring the rest of what the room had to offer.
After that heart-stopping moment I went off to find some lunch and had a really enjoyable afternoon chatting to some of the other participants. I also discovered that my good friend, Kizzie, is here to be the rapporteur for the meetings so it means I have some good company and lots of laughs for the week.
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