Tanzania

Tanga

2011-04-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

    This is a story about Tanga, but it starts in Moshi. For those that don't know: Moshi is a city inhabited mainly by Chagga people in northern Tanzania. It's mostly famous for it's proximity to Mount Kilimanjaro. My parents and I were in Moshi planning our trip through the Serengeti. We dropped our bags off at a the Buffalo hotel and bought our tickets to Tanga at a bus station downtown.

    Our bus was supposed to leave at 8:00am. We waited patiently but our bus never came. I showed our tickets to a police officer and he confirmed that our tickets were fake. So there we were, waiting in vain. Eventually it all got sorted out and we hopped on board an "Air Bus" that took us to the coast.

    The road to Tanga started to become familiar when our bus driver drove us through vast sisal plantations. I should mention that I volunteered there with Canada World Youth back in 2003. At the time I never could have imagined that I would be back in 2011.

    Of course things had changed. Some landmarks I was looking for simply weren't there, but for the most part it was how remembered it. It was raining heavily, so we checked in to a hotel called "Ocean Breeze" and sat down at their restaurant to grab a bite to eat. Their one page menu was modest to say the least. I asked for the steak and was given news that there was no steak. Then I asked for the chicken but they didn't have that either.. So I went with their fish & chips. Their fish wasn't battered.. This fish was fresh from the sea. The food there was just how I recalled.

    The following day we tried the breakfast part of their menu. I asked for the sausages. They didn't have them. I asked for a samosa. They didn't have them either.. So I went with plain eggs and coffee. After a brief breakfast we hit the streets and I showed my parents everything I couldn't show them back in 2003.

    Walking around was a bit of a hassle. Rain from the night before had flooded the streets. Luckily for us there were people on bikes we hired to pedal us to the terminal. The bus terminal was always somewhat of a center point of Tanga. When we got there I asked some taxi drivers if they knew how to get to the Shaaban Robert Primary School. The first couple of drivers didn't, but the third one did. We got in his cab and he took my parents to the school I used to teach at.

    From the school I knew just how to get to where I used to live. It was a sandy street that will forever be etched in my mind. When I saw the street I had to rub my eyes. I couldn't believe it. I was back! For the record Tanga is notoriously hot. Not only is it hot, but it's also humid. That explains why my parents and I bought sodas and drank them before passing through the sandy street I never thought I'd see again.

    People were staring at us, just like they used to stare at me back in 2003, when suddenly the gate of my old house appeared before us. I stopped and stared. The people that I used to live with have passed away. I thought that I had reached the end of the road. I started to turn back when my mom said "aren't you going to knock?" So I turned around and knocked.. I explained that I used to live there in 2003 and was wondering if I could take a quick look at the place. To my surprise the 22 year old tenant knew who I was! He remembered me. He invited us in, and that's how I got to show my parents where I used to live.

    We only had one day in Tanga, so we had to make the most of it. After lunch we went to the beach and cooled off in the ocean. Night fell. We went back to Ocean Breeze, and then met my friend Sarah and her husband Ajit for dinner at the Seaview Restaurant. I ordered their Kentucky Chicken.. not quite KFC, but close.

    The next day started with a really short taxi driver named Shorti arriving at Ocean Breeze. He took us to the terminal where we bought our tickets to Arusha. A few moments later we were back on an "Air Bus" relieved that the tickets we bought were real.

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

2011-04-26T22:52:00.000-07:00

    A few buildings stand out in Arusha. Naura Springs Hotel, the municipal building and the AICC. The Arusha International Conference Centre is a venue for many things including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. One morning my parents and I took a daladala to the AICC.

    We turned our passports in to a guard in exchange for a visitor's pass to the trials. I was used to being turned down. I had tried to attend for months leading up to this. All of the barriers that blocked me before had suddenly disappeared. We walked through a metal detector, across a courtyard to an elevator.

    The elevator took us up to the fourth floor. We signed in at the door where another guard greeted us. On the seats were headsets so when we sat down we put them on. There was a glass window infront of us that displayed what was happening in the other room. Theoneste Bagosora was appealing a life imprisonment sentence for crimes related to genocide that happened in April 1994. His lawyers were arguing that there was not enough evidence.

    There was a panel of UN personel sitting at desks infront of a UN flag. On the opposite side of Bagosora were the plaintiff lawyers. It was a lengthly session. He has been in court since April 2, 2002. It didn't look like he was getting out any time soon.

    After leaving the AICC we went to Moshi and looked this guy up on Google. This is what we found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9oneste_Bagosora

Ngorongoro Crater

2011-04-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

    I have nothing but fond memories of the class trip to the Arusha National Park in November of last year. I went with a group of students and paid what everyone else paid. Months later a poster appeared at school advertising a class trip to the Ngorongoro Crater. I came up with the thirty thousand shillings it asked for, then the time came.

    My phone rang early in the morning on Saturday, January 29th, 2011. Well before, 6:00am, needless to say it woke me up. "Where are you?" the speaker asked rather urgently. I said I was on my way and as it turned out I would have been the last one on the bus if it wasn't for a tardy student who came later than me.

   My backpack was packed full of snacks, sandwiches and guide books. I also had my camera clipped to the betloop on my pants. I thought I was ready. When we arrived at the gate our bus was pulled over. The gate keeper asked for my passport. Luckily I had brought my passport with me that day. I showed them my residence permit. They didn't seem to care. They demanded an additional seventy thousand shillings from me because I'm foreign. This started an hour long arguement that ended badly. I didn't have seventy thousand shillings on me, so I asked them if there was an ATM. There wasn't. Eventually all the students on the bus pooled together the funds for me under the condition that I pay them back as soon as we found an ATM. So that's how I paid 100 000 Tanzanian Shillings to see the Ngorongoro Crater.

    We passed through the gates and rushed right to the crater. I felt gravity pulling at us as we descended down the cliffside.. Water was already visable. It wasn't until we reached the crater floor that we could see the plethera of wild animals doing their thing. Zebras were rolling around in the water, a hyena took off in one direction, a jackal took off in another. Buffalos and wildebeasts were chewing on grass. Flamingos were searching the water for something to eat. We kept driving passed all of this until we came across a cheetah lying down and we stopped the bus to see. Across from the cheetah was a black rhinocerous grazing in the field.

    Ascending the cliffside was just as scary as going down. The bus stalled at some frightening places. When we got back up we drove straight to the Olduvai Gorge. If you've taken first year anthropology you'll know what I'm talking about. It's the spot where Dr. Louis and Mary Leaky discovered the nutcracker man.. For most of us who aren't anthropologists the site is more of a panorama landscape overlooking the great rift valley. There's a modest museum displaying fossils and newspaper articles. Someone suggested that we should check out the moving sand but someone else, namely someone in charge indicated that we didn't have the time. So our bus driver took us outside of the gates and back to life as usual.

Bagamoyo

2011-02-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

    I left Arusha on December 27th, 2010. I had told my friend Zengo that I wanted to go to Tanga. He convinced me to going to Dar es Salaam with him instead. so the very next day we headed down to Usa River and hopped on a bus heading to Dar. Eleven hours later we arrived in Tanzania's biggest city.

    The sun had already set when we hired a cab to take us to his place. He introduced me to his family and before long he was introducing me to his friends. A couple of days went by before we embarked on an excursion to Bagamoyo. For many people a trip to Bagamoyo would be reserved for sight seeing. There are many sights to see, as this city dates back to the 18th century. My purpose for going to Bagamoyo was somehow different. I was in search of the Bagamoyo Living Arts Centre.. a group of disadvantaged artists that have united under one roof. I wanted to see their facilitiy and their art. Sadly upon arriving in Bagamoyo Zengo and I soon discovered that the Bagamoyo Living Arts Centre was closed.

    So we went sight seeing. We took a tour of a very old catholic church from 1868 known as "Freedom Village". French Missionaries used this church to protect randsomed slaves. We scoped out the museum they had there and the whips, shackles and chains revealed the gruesome reality of the slave trade. In the courtyard there was a very large Boabab tree and Livingstones Tower.. It's called Livingstones tower because Livingstones body was kept there for one day while it was in transit back to England. Shortly after our trip to the church we went to the Kaole Ruins and saw some 13th century mosques and tombs. We headed back to Dar es Salaam where we spent the last few hours of 2010.

Safari

2010-12-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

    The University of Arusha is located just a few minutes outside of the Arusha National Park. Ever since I arrived on campus at the beginning of November I had been plotting a way into the park. The entrance fee for foreigners however managed to keep me out. After paying an entrance fee and hiring a manditory guide the cost of the trip would have exceeded $55 USD, that was until I found out about a class trip that was going there. The fee was a mere 6000 Tz Shillings ($4). I have lived in Tanzania for six months all together and I have never been on a safari. This was to be my first one. Safari is also the name of a beer here.

    I woke up at 5:00am on Saturday morning. By 6:00am I was on campus with my friend Musa waiting for the bus. Two buses came. Names were called from a list of people who had signed up. Eventually Musa and I heard our names which meant it was our turn to board the bus. Not far from the gate was where we saw our first animal. Maasai giraffes were all around our bus, staring back at us as we drove by. A little further was where we saw Burchell's Zebras grazing. Beside the zebras were warthogs.

    The bus driver parked the bus in a small parking lot and we got off. From there we started a four hour hike to the Tululuisia Waterfalls. Along the way we saw African Buffaloes lying down, relaxing next to some more giraffes. We climbed a steep slope and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the savannah. We descended and made our way back to the bus. I thought it was all over but I was pleasantly surprised when I was informed it was just the beginning!

    Our bus driver took us to small momela lake. It was alkaline which means it was full of salt water. The scenery surrounding the lake and the lake itself all came together in a seemingly picturesque fashion. It was beyond picturesque though because pictures couldn't capture the beauty of the place.

    Next we went to big momela lake. Upon arrival we saw swarms of pink flamingos sifting though the water. There were also some zebras and waterbucks nearby. Watching the flamingos take flight was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Their wings had streaks of black and hot pink with the rest of their bodies emitting a light pink colour.

    When we got back on the bus and headed towards the Ngurdoto Crater we saw a family of baboons. Just after that we some some black & white colobus monkeys in the Ngurdoto Forest. There was a museum nearby the crater showcasing some of the animals found in the park. I was surprised to see that lovebirds are found there. I had only ever seen lovebirds in cages back in North America. Our bus driver drove us up the Ngurdoto Crater and the view was phenominal.

    As we wrapped up our trip we drove past more zebras, warthogs and buffaloes. We reached the gate and the last animal we saw were maasai giraffes that were all around our bus, staring back at us as we drove by.

Uhuru

2010-12-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

    Today is Independence Day here in Tanzania. The Swahili word for Independence is Uhuru. There is also a beer here with that name. There were no classes as it was a public holiday. Instead of class I went to Arusha town. I met a man named Michael Gasper on the street and he took me to his shop in the Mount Meru Curios & Crafts Market. There were so many venders selling so much art. They made commission sellers at Future Shop seem shy. One man even tried to trade me for the shoes on my feet!

    An hour flew by before I received a phone call from my friend Alex. He told me to meet him at the clock tower. By the time I got there it was pouring rain. We took refuge under an awning. He commented on how the rain came down from Mount Meru and how it was to commemorate Tanzania's independence.

    When the rain stopped we started walking. Alex helped me find a regulator for my gas cylinder so I could hook it up to my cooker. He then lead me to Arusha's largest market where I found a vegetable peeler. There was a lot of commotion at the market as a thief was caught stealing and was beaten for it.

    After our trip to the market we went to an internet cafe. Just outside of the cafe we bought some samosas. They were delicious and they threw me back to my stay in Tanga seven years ago. They are more of a coastal food here in Tanzania and so we were lucky to have found them in Arusha.

    Just before leaving Arusha town we came across a man selling sugar cane to a group of Masaai men. We got in on the action. We ordered two sticks of sugar cane and chewed them while walking around the city. They were delicious and they threw me back to my stay in Zanzibar seven years ago, but in Zanzibar they have machines that turn the sugar cane into sugar cane juice!

    While waiting for a van (also known as a daladala) I decided to scope out a supermarket nearby in search of cheese. I had been missing cheese for quite some time. I found it and then hopped on a daladala to Usa River. From there I got on another daladala to the University of Arusha. The second daladala was uncomfortable. I was so squished, to the point where I was on my knees with another man's knee digging into my groin.  I was more than relieved when we arrived at the school. From there I walked to my house, attached the regulator to my gas cylinder and cooked my first meal at my new home. I invited my friend Musa over to share the bounty. I put on a Weakerthans DVD on my laptop. I told him I was going to make some Canadian food. I turned on my cooker, buttered some bread and made four grilled cheese sandwiches.