May 15th 2002
Jambo! (Swahili for Hello!)
Back On The Road-Tanzania South to Malawi We were up at 4:30-no breaky (Australian, English, New Zealander and South African for breakfast) or coffee-and were on the road by 5:30. We are troopers. As the light creeps over the horizon we start to see shop signs along the road…Appointment Bar…Eggy Shop.
We spent evenings on the deck of the Mercury Bar watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean full of fishing boats and beautiful lean bodies swimming in the water. The Mercury Bar is named after Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen before he died, was born just up the street. We read in a local English language newspaper that his Bohemian Rhapsody was recently voted the number one all-time most popular song in the UK. Incidentelly, the bar menu has a drink called the Monica Lewinsky-Blue Curacao, triple sec, gin and sprite. Subscript: “Find out what a bubbly body can do in a blue dressing!”
Next morning on the 14th it’s back on the ferry (hi-speed hydrofoil this time) to the truck waiting for us in Dar es Salaam where we camped at the Mikadi Beach Resort in Dar again. We fight off the Malaria “mosies” (mosquitos) in the tent with a towel before falling asleep in a heap.
Picked up a Sunday Observer-local Tanzanian paper in English; lead article: “Reading culture badly lacking” lamented the lack of interest in reading and warning that Tanzania could become isolated and left behind as the world was “changing so fast.” The advent of TVs, the Internet and use of CD-Roms, according to the article, has contributed to the decline of reading.
Subsidiary article extolled President Mkapa’s gesture to include opposition parties in a discussion of issues concerning the country. Big front page news!
A third front page article by correspondent Saum Zidadu reported on a conference on “Reporting Africa” held in Gaborone, Botswana. Ms. Connie Rapoo Garebatho, in her paper “Gender and Human Rights” said that “Negative coverage has created negative images of the African continent which has had a negative effect on the continent’s economic, political and social development, especially hurting women, and makes Africa look hopeless in the eyes of the rest of the world.”
Conference presenters said that most media houses in the developed world report negatively about Africa as not only a poor continent that it is, but also as a continent that has no hope economically, socially or politically. Most of the time Africa only makes headlines, the conferees said, when people are dying of hunger, engaged in civil wars and natural disasters…
Finally, an inside column on literature by Bernard Mapalala titled “Nelson Mandela’s Ageing Principles” gave an unflattering review of the official biography of Mandela written by Anthony Sampson that came out in 1999. Apparently many African leaders did not feel supported by Mandela after his release from prison. Well…?
Zanzibar’s native cuisine brazenly drenches seafood in local aromatic spices. At night, locals gather at Forodhani Gardens, a strip of park on the waterfront right outside the House of Wonders. Before sunset, cooks begin setting up grills and tables along the water and laying out skewers of raw seafood. You can stroll along the stalls and pick different delicacies that are then grilled in front of you by lamplight, and wash it all down with mugs of fresh sugarcane juice.
On the upper deck of the Africa House, converted from a gentleman’s club during the era of British colonial rule and rich in atmosphere, we feasted on grilled pork, calimari, mashed sweet potatoes, cabbage salad, chapatis and fresh mixed fruit smoothies served by a very gracious waiter while we watched the sun go down over the Indian Ocean. We sampled Samaki/Kuku wa kapaka, fish and chicken in coconut curry with it’s sweet, warm and spicy flavor which is common all over East Africa. Biriani is meat or chicken with a deep fried onion-based sauce served on a bed of rice.
Another night we ate at a Chinese restaurant-first Chinese since we left home; we are desperate for vegetables! I ordered crab-three huge claws whose shells were at least 1/8 inch thick. As we were leaving the restaurant, I asked the young Chinese cashier where he was from. I am Zanzibari, he said proudly, as he threw his squared shoulders back! Oh, you were born here? I am third generation he said! Are you from Hong Kong? Yes…where should we go in China…oh, stay on the east coast where they have everything new…and go to the Island of Macaw…just like Las Vegas…it’s where I went to college! What was your mother thinking, I said laughing! He said he only liked places in China that were new and modern-hated buildings and statues and old walls-means nothing to him. His dad, he said, always liked to visit those places that were boring to him. Yes, he was Zanzibari!
Tanzania
Walking around Poli Poli means “slowly, slowly” in Swahili. That is how we are learning to do everything like the others here in this hot humid equatorial country. We stop to buy a sugar cane juice drink with lime and ginger from a young fellow running long stalks of sugar cane through his little press on his little table. I don’t want ice, I say…Many of the cultural centers and their activities were closed because it was the off-season. If they don’t know the answer they will just say anything to save face…not a good thing if you are asking for directions…
You hear American Rap playing all over Africa. There is a definite feeling of solidarity with African-American youth…our own guys have let the cat out of the bag…a lot of the younger women wear plaited hair. A lot of adolescents have little tiny dreadlocks-girls and boys.
No one wants their photos taken here unless they are paid. Bob asked to take a picture of an artist who was working on some of the famous Ting Ting paintings in a local cooperative compound. Artist said “sure!” Then he said that it would cost $2.
May 11-15 2002 City of Stone Town Island of Zanzibar
The tropical island of Zanzibar has a more cosmopolitan and warm and open ambiance than other African countries we have been in-more like the islands off Thailand. Zanzibar is an island partner in the United Republic of Tanzania. It is made up of Pemba and the Unguja Islands, also known as the Spice Islands, along with about 50 small islands. The official languages are Swahili and English and the population including the Island of Pemba is just under 100,000. The religions are Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Traditional Beliefs. Per Capita yearly income is U.S. $190.
Stone Town, the capital, is often the first stop for travelers. After getting off the three-hour ferry from Dar es Salaam, Bob and I chose the Baghani House Hotel, with a nice quiet room with a real air conditioner and full breakfast owned by a friendly local family. That evening we were so tired we missed a big party at the African House Bar and Restaurant commemorating the death of Bob Marley who is revered in Tanzania for his peacemaking role between Tanzania and other African countries (and other) efforts. The next day the other truck riders went on a Spice Tour and continued to the northern beaches to work on their tans and do some fishing while Bob and I stayed in exotic Stone Town to cool our heels and rest after enduring the noise and charcoal cooking smoke of Dar.
The tropical island of Zanzibar has a more cosmopolitan and warm and open ambiance than other African towns we have been in-more like the islands off Thailand. The official languages are Swahili and English and the population including the Island of Pemba is just under 100,000. Zanzibar is an island
partner in the United Republic of Tanzania. It is made up of Pemba and the Unguja Islands, also known as the Spice Islands, along with about 50 small islands. The religions are Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Traditional Beliefs. Per Capita yearly income is U.S. $190.
Stone Town retains the atmospheric trappings of urban life in Muslim cities but hews to a much looser interpretation of Islam than many places in the Middle East. So while calls to prayer regularly resound through the streets, bars and restaurants serve alcohol with little restraint. Leaving the hotel we instantly found ourselves swept into the decaying opulence of the city. From the narrow passageways we ducked into the inner courtyards of old manors, pastel paint peeling from the walls.
What lends Stone Town its charm are the remnants of empire, all piled atop one another and inflected by the native Swahili culture. The Persians were among the first foreigners to settle here alongside the indigenous people. The island was colonized by the Portuguese starting in 1503, and brought under the control of Oman in 1698. The sultan of Oman eventually moved the seat of his kingdom to Zanzibar, which resulted in an artistic renaissance in Stone Town, with Arabic influence becoming much more overt in the designs of manors and palaces. In the late 19th century, the British Empire annexed the island, only to have it gain independence decades later, before coming under the rule of the government of mainland Tanzania.
The shadow of the Arabian peninsula, just across the Indian Ocean, falls everywhere in Stone Town. We made our way through the twisting streets, marveling at the thick wooden double doors with their arabesque carved lintels and large brass studs. One narrow alleyway led to another, with branches veering off in all directions and plenty of dead ends. There were groups of men in white robes and skullcaps playing pool in small cafes, and cramped shops selling everything from spices to television sets to long rolls of multihued cloth. It had the same feel as Cairo – the urban design of Zanzibar is the same as the one imprinted all over the Islamic world.
Virtually no cars on the road; only trucks and buses and a few vans. The people seem like they don’t see many overlanders; some-mostly women and little children wave-sometimes with thumbs up; occasionally an adolescent will give us the finger; many children hold out their hands and come running-obviously having gotten handouts in the past.
No one wants their picture taken. Most will turn their backs or rub the thumb and forefinger together indicating they want money if they see you with a camera. Most feel that it is a violation to have their picture taken and they will all want to be paid at least a couple dollars. One roadside young man threatened to throw a bag or oranges at Bob when he was trying to take a picture while we were riding along in the truck.
The kids are playing a Bobby Marley tape “Get up, stand up, for your rights…” Marley’s anniversary of his death was this week and there was a huge party at the Africa House in Zanzibar-lots of Rastifarians (or wannabes) here.
Bring T Shirts or any other cool clothes that young people in the States wear for trading with the local guys-you could come away with virtually any arts and crafts pieces you ever wanted. There is no money to buy anything Francis says. Even the locals go to a seller and offer 50 cents for a dollar item, he says. So if they can swap what they have with you that is how they get their clothes. Saw a Cliff Richards T-shirt while we were stopped at a roadside gas station. Cliff Richards! Cliff Richards! I yelled at the guy…I know him…in Tempe Arizona! He just laughed.
Sign seen over a business by the side of the road: Camp David Resort
Fields along here are not the small one acre parcels tilled by each family. These are full of rice and sisal-part of a large corporation. Huge fields of corn are all hand tilled.
I love to see the children so proud of themselves in their school uniforms running along side the road after school.
Truck Camp in Dar
As we drove into Dar at sundown, we almost choked on diesel fumes and charcoal smoke rising up from all the dinner fires. Worse than Bangkok where people at least wear surgical face masks. The truck drove to the car ferry for the ride across the bay to the uphemistically named truck camp-Mikadi Beach Resort it is called-for our first view of the Indian Ocean. Then, hot and sweaty, we dove for the wonderful outdoor showers enclosed in tile and green plants-the cold water feeling glorious. Our meal is cooked tonight by the Mikadi Camp Restaurant-wonderful white fish roasted in foil, salads and the ubiquitous french fries. We had to pay the bartender $1 to plug in our electronics.
The next day, while waiting fot the ferry back across the bay to Dar I could look down at the little Abdallah shop selling an odd collection of hair products, Fanta, water, rope, twine, a bicycle tire, empty plastic jugs and eggs. A few feet away a young kid was selling live chickens from a basket tied to the back of his bicycle. Another fellow is pushing along a bike with huge yellow water jugs tied to the top and sides; Another bike has a huge basket of coconuts. A black Malcolm X T shirt worn by a young guy in dreads.
I see what I think is resentment in the eyes of many who look up at us-the healthy, well-fed, big, well-dressed, well-endowed, well-educated…rich..,.on the ferry three Muslim men are looking at the truck-an older one talking animatedly to a younger one….the more he talks the more distressed his friend looks..wish I could be a little bird…It occurs to me that they have to bad-talk the west so they won’t lost their young ones to it…Bob would say I am just making an assumption based on paranoia…but the Muslim is not an authority on the West, I think to myself. I want to speak for myself. I don’t want him interpreting my life to anyone and yet we in the West do that all the time to “the Others.”
I’ll be darned if I can remember anything, except breakfast, that George has cooked for us so far on this overland trip!
The next morning, on the road back to the Snake Park there are small villages and shops; give me pen; give me something; what do you have to give me…the kids yell out to us as we drive past them. The little ones will fight over an empty plastic water bottle.
We are half way to camp when we come upon a huge bog half a mile long and 50 yards wide with several stuck vehicles. Everyone in the village is standing watching the goings on. We have to double back to find another road through some corn fields when we hit another huge bog with 3 feet of water and mud. We are well into the bog when a Land Cruiser, towing a mini-bus, comes into view. There is much yelling back and forth and then Francis realizes it is up to us to back out of the bog to let the Land Cruiser through. I am absolutely astounded at the ability of these vehicles to maneuver through the red slippery clay. Like I said, Hillary really missed some good 4- wheeling!
Drove past the Tanzania Military Defence Association. Reminds me that there has been very little police presence in Kenya or Tanzania. The compound has the only uniform wooden houses we have seen-apparently it is a military installation. all the other houses we have seen so far in Africa are made of sticks and mud.
Meserani Snake Park-Again
East African parks are great; toilets, and showers-some with hot water. Although on this night the water was cold. Found out in the bar later that the meter reader had offered to fix the meter so it would run half as fast if the owners of the park would kick back a monthly fee to him.
While our electronics recharged again I talked with the Brit still at the park who was motorcycling overland. His wife was in their tent recovering from the removal of a molar tooth that day in Arusha. They had lived in Guyana for two years (remember Jonestown?) with the British Volunteer Service and said it had an interesting mix of people and had a waterfall that has the longest free fall in the world but gets no publicity. He had been married 10 years with apparently no children. They rented their house out in London. Said if he could keep his expenses down to 600 pounds a month he could travel indefinitely. ($900) His father was a Cambridge graduate, he said, who still climbs mountains in Nepal. I think we are finding the one percent of the world’s population who have figured out how not to work.
The Ngorongora Crater is a conservation area and National Heritage Site. After breaking camp in the Sarangeti, we drive another two hours up to the Crater rim where we set up camp so we can be ready for the drive down into the Crater the next morning. The crater is 16-17 km across; the difference between a park and a conservation area is that people can live in a park; so many Maasai life in the Sarangeti but none in the crater. The crater sides are covered in a dense rain forest; Black Rhino only here; no giraffes here because it is too steep for them to walk down; no Topi or Impala here; the alkalai lake is filled with pink Flamingos; Corey Bastards are mating; hyenas with their lowered backsides slither along…
The Land Rover dodges huge elephant poop on the roads meandering along the crater bed.
Maasai and Samali Ostriches: incubation 48 days; female watches the eggs during the day and the male at night. Biggest enemies are man and lions; Red Billed Duck; Black Winged Stilt; Black Headed Heron; White Heron; Sacred Ibis; Crowned Crane; Wida Bird; European Stock: coming from Europe with no passport and flies back in December-he is not ours, Francis says.
Common and Golden Jackal; Flamingos by the million who eat algae and salt that makes them pink; Spotted Hyenalives 35 years; noctural;4- 5 months gestation; he was walking the whole night that is why he is sleeping. No one else eats the Hyena except other Hyenas when they die. Lions may kill them but they don’t eat them. Male Lion eats first-big boss-then the mother and the cubs; 40 lions in the crater; sometimes you see no lion because they don’t know you are coming to see them and they just lie anywhere in the tall grass where you can’t see them, Francis says.
Wart Hog; monkey sitting on top of an Acacia Tree-the king of the world. A mini bus drives up. Ladies in nice clean white blouses sit in the back with their suitcases with wheels on them; probably staying at the expnsive Ngorongoro wildlife Lodge on the rim. “My god they are not even camping; not getting the full-on experience!” the kids yell out to each other laughing hysterically. By the way, at a potty stop, one of the kids spotted a tourist all dressed up like Safari Guy just stepping out of Magellan Catalogue. All the crew and kids laughed themselves silly.
Francis says that the animals in the crater are very polite because they haven’t been in the hunting block outside the crater where they learn to be scared of the human.
Black Headed Heron eating baby Black Mama snake; male elephant with biggest penus ever…swinging between his legs as he walks. Weighs 3 kg, Francis says. How does he know, Bob retorts.
We stop at Tak Tak spring for a rest and watch a school of Hippos.
When the zebras walk or run away from the car, their heads bob up and down telling the lions “I have seen you, I have seen you, I have seen you,” Francis says.
We drive around a bend to find five Forest Elephants all in a row. They are waiting for pictures, Francis says smiling. Then we drive up and out of the crater and head back to camp.
I love the remnants of the Swahili cadence in Victor’s English.
Giraffe: “It is raining and he is very happy there-he is getting a shower.”
Bob watching elephants: “This makes you feel badly there are zoos.
Topi: lives up to 20 years, gestation 7 months, smell and sight are bad so they stand on termite mounds to see the lions-so no Topi in the crater because there are no termite mounds in the crater.
Bob: “My everlasting memory of Africa will be the Acacia Tree.”
Sarengeti means endless in Swahili…endless horizons, endless silence, endless pleasure for us.
Grand Gazelle: male has long horns and female has short ones; Lilac Breasted Brawler: Black Jackal-scavenger-only kills rats or grasshoppers; Impala has one mate-the male has to fight to get the female.
Best 4-wheeling ever! Hillary really missed a good time when she took the helicopter in!
The park’s vultures: White Headed Vulture; Hyena; Jackal
This is pleasure-we are finally out of the chaos of the city. Writing helps assimilate our experiences so we can move on…
Glossy Starling: Marshall Eagle; Dove; Bee Eater; Francis: I have to study and put it all in my mind. Guinnie Fowl; “Monkeys are not afraid of you they just like to be by their friends.” Velvet Monkey; Water Buck: males have horns, stay close to the water and need green grass. His enemy is the lion.
The Hippos are grazing all night and in the morning they come back and are sleeping in the day, Francis says. They are mating in the water, delivering babies in the water. They kill many people because they know man is not a good animal. They stay in the water 10 minutes without his breathing. Gestation is 8 months and life span is 40 years. Many Hippos together is called a school: Just like children-they must be together. Now is midnight for them. They roam 5 km at night and return to the pond in the morning. The Park has to arrange for keeping the ponds filled with water because otherwise we can get a problem and Hippos have to die when their skin dries out.
Then Bob says to Francis: “There are humans that eat 25kg a day, the gestation is 9 months they eat animals and leave a big mess.” Francis is delighted “very good, very good” he says. Bob and Francis are friends.
Black Smith; Embrella Acacia-big old one; Maasai Giraffe: gestation 15 months; lives 35 years. When they are walking or when they are ambling their legs are together and when they are running their legs are asymetrical. It is illegal to kill this animal, Francis says. Leopard: a loner-if you see two leopards together either they are mating or it is a mother with her cub. After the baby is born the male is takes off. They are afraid of the dew, like a housecat, so they stay in the tree. At night they are coming down and hunting for their food. When they are killing they put the food in the tree and they are there eating for three days. For hunting they have to use their cunning because they run so slow-they have to hide somewhere and wait-like the lion. Cheetah runs 110 km per hour and is fastest land animal. He cannot climb-just walks. Don’t know if we’ll see him today because of the tall grass…
Much sighing-becoming more and more relaxed…like the animals….
Many Ostriches; Francis says the best animal viewing is July-Sept when the grass is brown and everything is dry and animals are gathered around the water holes. However, Bob saw more animals this trip than he did six years ago in August.
Saw part of a pride of male lions out in a field. Francis spotted a lioness on a rock sleeping-she is waiting for the sun; completely relaxed with one foreleg wrapped down around her rock. There are only 3000 lions in the park. Lives 16-20 years; gestation 5 months. Sometimes their teeth break and they can’t eat food and they have to die. They eat 40 kg of meat-can go one week without eating; nocturanl-very active at night. Later we drive up to a vehicle and two lionesses are lying in the shade against the back wheel. Several vehicles arrive and park in a semi-circle around the lions so we can all take pictures.
We are triumphant! We have seen the “Big Five,” Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Rhino.
Sarangeti Spoof: a person says they have spotted an animal and everyone tries to see it. It is not funny.
We stop at a Maasai Village on the way out of the Sarangeti. “They are people-not monkeys,” I say, and refuse to get out of the car. Most everyone else goes inside the village, made of sticks and bushes, to watch the males do their jumping dance and make the Wilderbeast sound while the females try to sell their necklaces. It costs $5 to go into the village-this is not a cultural exchange or an I-Thou experience either one.
Egyptian Geese; The elephants kill and they pile branches on top and wait for three days to make sure he isn’t going anywhere; Toni Eagle; Wilderbeast: they are very stupid, Francis says, if one crosses the river they all have to cross…like sheep. If they have been in the hunting block, when you stop the car they are not sure of their life. They remember those bad people there. If they have always lived outside the hunting block you can go right up to them and they are not afraid of you.
Laughingnomad 