Former president John Magufuli oversaw the shift of government offices from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma.
The city is served by several budget hotels and guesthouses at varying quality and prices.
Unknown to many is its wine culture from several functioning vineyards outside the city and open for wine tasting and sales
Dodoma, “new” capital city of Tanzania, is currently undergoing development to match its status. It is “new” because despite being made the capital city way back in 1974, it is only a couple of years ago that the government of former president John Magufuli oversaw the shift of government offices from Dar es Salaam, now the business and commercial capital.
It is a 480km trip from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma over eight hours by public bus through pristine farmland and urban centres. There is a stop-over at Morogoro, the biggest town between the two capitals, for a mid-afternoon lunch.
Arriving in Dodoma mid-evening, I was met by my host and I got to see and enjoy the quiet and slow but expensive nightlife, compared with Dar es Salaam and other towns on prices of food, drinks and accommodation.
Lion Rock offers a great northside view of the city. PHOTO | APOLINARI TAIRO | NMG
A bottle of beer sells at Tsh2,500 ($1.08) from Tsh1,500 ($0.60) or Tsh2,000 ($0.80) in Dar. Soda pop retails at Tsh800 from Tsh500 ($0.20) in other towns.
But my host put it down to lack of a competitive business culture, with few establishments. The expected influx of business people here has been slow. The city is served by several budget hotels and guesthouses at varying quality and prices.
There are not many classified hotels, restaurants and pubs for a vibrant social and leisure life like other cities its size in the region. Accommodation in most guesthouses and budget hotels range from Tsh15,000 ($6.50) to Tsh50,000 ($21.60). The government has set aside areas to serve as investment parks, and is wooing investors to grab opportunities here. Nevertheless, Dodoma is an expansive metropolitan at the Tanzania heartland, well connected with all-weather roads to southern or eastern Africa. The 10,000km pan-African Great North Road passes through the city, snaking its way from Cape Town to Cairo in Egypt.
The road links Dodoma with the cities of Arusha and Kenya’s capital Nairobi to its north, Morogoro and Dar es Salaam to the east; Iringa and Mbeya, and southern African states to the South and Singida to Mwanza on Lake Victoria and Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika in the West.
Dodoma, unlike other latter day African “sister cities” Abuja (Nigeria) and Lilongwe (Malawi), failed to take off, and today Lilongwe and Abuja are fully developed capitals.
According to my host, the city derived its name from the local Gogo language word “Idodomya”, which means “It has sunk,” after an elephant reportedly sank in the mud of a marsh while drinking water.
Despite its slow and quiet aura, the city is beautiful with several attractive natural and man-made sites. There is the natural wonder of the “Lion Rock” on a hill outside the city easily accessed by city bus or taxi.
The rock is shaped like a gigantic lion, silently sleeping. It offers spectacular views of the city centre from the north side. It is among the most visited tourist attraction here and open to visitors throughout the day.
Lacking in botanical gardens and walkable forests, Nyerere Square, with a statue of the founding president dominates the central business district.
