kearneyjourney

On our last day in Tanzania, we agreed to meet Ray at 09:00 and drive into Arusha for some sightseeing. Arusha is a town of about 1.3M inhabitants, but does not appear that large upon first sight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arusha).

The center is not imposing or impressive and consists primarily of hotels, restaurants, a few government buildings and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Meru from the center, but there were too many clouds to the north when we arrived.

Ray decided to park the car at the Arusha Hotel and led us on foot through the city. Arusha has a pleasant year-round climate, because the 1400 meter elevation keeps temperatures at a bearable level and ensures that there is not too much humidity. Moshi, 90 km to the east, is already quite a bit more hot and humid. Ray first took us to a bookstore, but it was so crowded that all of us waited outside while Gertrude browsed the tight aisles. Next to the bookstore, I spotted a business center and went in to see what kind of printers they were using. The good news: HP printers with original HP supplies.

From there, we walked up to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and went to the gate for a short visit; but we learned that most of the personnel were still on holiday, and thus no visitors could enter. Ray then took us to his church, the main Catholic Church in Arusha.

We walked there through a picturesque gully lined with flowering bougainvillea.

At the site, he told us that the congregation was overflowing the capacity of the church and that a new, larger church was being constructed, incorporating the existing structure. Indeed, faith is very much alive in Tanzania; and there are many churches and mosques across the country. I was also struck with some contrasts: a nativity scene in the church depicted a black (i.e., African) holy family; but the pictures of Jesus in the Stations of the Cross depictions surrounding the church walls were all of a white and Arian quality. This has sometimes been seen as a tough psychological barrier for Africans, as their faith often issues from their former colonial overlords and does not really have African culture and images at its heart.

After this, we stopped at a small restaurant for something to drink. I never drink very much Coke; but in Tanzania, I often resorted to this drink as a relatively safe and predictable thirst-quencher. Prices in local restaurants were very reasonable; and the total for six drinks was less than $5. We walked from there to the main market, but did not stay long. Gertrude tried to take a picture and was immediately remonstrated by a boy who waved at her and said something in Swahili about how she was not allowed to take pictures. Ray quickly picked this up and shot back at the boy, explaining that he had no business objecting to what Gertrude was doing. This did not make for a very nice opening to our visit, so we skirted the main part of the market and headed up a side road to the main roundabout in the city. Along the way, we attracted a beggar who followed us every step of the way until Ray gave him 200 Tanzanian Schillings to leave us alone. Finally, we went to the tourist market in another part of Arusha.

Not a fan of such places, I waited outside with Kate and Nick, while Gertrude and Chris explored the inner reaches. Chris was actually looking for souvenirs and entered into some haggling with the sales people; and although he felt successful after his haul of three bracelets and four wooden animals, he later discovered that he could have bought the same items for much less at the airport in Dar es Salaam.

We concluded the outing with a very pleasant lunch on the terrace of the Arusha Hotel: $20 per person for a nice buffet with drinks and coffee.

Here, we also met Stella from Access2Tanzania and thanked her for having planned such an excellent trip for us. We invited both Ray and Stella to join us for lunch, but Ray said he needed to drive Stella back to their office in Arusha; and he did not return until we were finished with our lunch. Somehow, I think he just didn’t want us to pay for his lunch.

We returned to the Arumeru Lodge for some final swimming and relaxation before our long trip back to Austria. The highlight of this afternoon was the birth of a baby Dikdik on the lodge grounds: you almost never see these babies in the wild, because they are so well-hidden by their parents. But this one was born right in the middle of the grounds and lay there for all to see. Within twenty minutes, it was up and running about and took refuge behind a sisal plant. We got some good pictures of it as it lay in the grass struggling to get up on its feet.

Ray met us at 17:00 and drove us to the airport. We all said goodbye and gave Ray a well-deserved farewell hug. The flight to Dar es Salaam went smoothly and punctually; and once there, we had to retrieve our luggage and check-in for the long-haul to Amsterdam and on to Vienna. Dar es Salaam is on the coast of the Indian Ocean and is accordingly much warmer and more humid than Arusha; and the air-conditioning in parts of the airport was not working. I started sweating profusely as we dragged the luggage to the international check-in area and did not stop until we had finally accessed an area where the air-conditioning was working again. We had a long layover in Dar es Salaam and discovered that there was only one restaurant in the whole international concourse. We parked ourselves at a large table and stayed there until they opened the gate for our flight to Amsterdam.

While waiting, I went to the bookstore and purchased Wangari Maathai’s book entitled “The Challenge for Africa”, which has been an excellent introduction into the major issues facing sub-Saharan Africa. After our time in Tanzania, I was left wondering what it would take to transform the country into a prosperous society while simultaneously retaining its rich natural resources, traditions and culture. The weather is excellent, there are no recurring natural disasters impacting the country, the people are peaceful and friendly and clever, the country is fertile, at least in places, and there are significant natural resources (gas, minerals, coal, tanzanite). I was left very optimistic about the future of the country, even though it currently ranks only 148th on the UN’s Human Development Index. Investments in infrastructure, health and education will be the key to unlocking the potential of the country. Also, a visionary government will have to fight corruption and move investments where they are needed and do the greatest good. Wangari Maathai’s book should be read by every member of government in Tanzania; indeed, Tanzania actually gets pretty good press in the Nobel Laureate’s work. Most importantly, the citizens of Tanzania are not fighting amongst themselves, despite the 120 micro-nations in the country. Julius Nyerere’s tenure as President may not have been economically successful, but it did manage to stitch the social fabric together and create a country in which all the separate peoples are “Proudly Tanzanian”, as the sticker proclaimed on the back of our second safari vehicle.

Unfortunately, we had a night flight to Amsterdam, departing at 00:40; and since we were in economy seats, there wasn’t much hope of any restful sleep. Surprisingly, however, we all slept reasonably well and arrived in an almost snowless Amsterdam on time at 08:20 local time. And even though there was a flight departing to Vienna at 09:45, we were booked on a much later flight (13:30) and had to hang out in the food court for five hours. When we finally arrived, it felt good to be home; but we missed Tanzania and Ray and the warm temperatures and the great times of the past ten days. A wonderful trip full of great memories. And we have all vowed to return someday.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.