Tanzania

The day starts at 5am when the loudspeakers on the minaret crackle to life. The mostly Islamic island of Zanzibar is being called to prayer. Myself, in the religious minority, listens for a few minutes to the song on the loudspeaker, and turn over and go back to sleep.

I re-wake at 7am. I push aside the mosquito net and have a cool shower. Already the day is hot, and the sun has barely broken the horizon. I grab a quick breakfast on the roof of the Garden Inn, and head off to check out Stone Town.

I walk down Kaunda road with the sun shining on me, and the sweat starts to roll down my face. Zanzibar was settled in the 10th century by Persians, and was part of the Sultanate of Oman for many years in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Arabs know how to build their towns to beat the heat. I turn off the two-car wide Kaunda Road and into one of the many alleys in Stone Town. The alleys are narrow, often able to only fit two or three people abreast, and the houses are multiple stories. Because of this, the alleys are always in the shade, and much cooler than being out in the sun.

The alleys are not straight, and soon I am helpless lost in Stone Town. But it’s alright to be lost. The place is so different than home. People pass me on foot, bicycles and occasionally motor scooters, but cars can’t fit in these alleys. The streets are lined with small shops, selling everything from Internet service to household goods to tourist souvenirs to furniture, built right on the spot.

I have wandered out into one of the wider streets where cars can drive. They are no straighter than the alleys though, with lots of blind corners, often reducing down to one lane as the corner turns. As cars approach the blind corner, they honk their horn and proceed around the corner. I am not sure what this accomplishes, though, because if two cars approach from different directions, they both honk, ignore the others honk and proceed into the corner. Soon they are stopped headlights to headlights. I am not sure what the protocol for this is, but somehow, after a few moments, one of the cars reverses. I have yet to figure out how they decide who should backup.

I am in Forodhani square, along the waterfront. The harbour is filled with dhows, the traditional sailing vessels still used by the fishermen here. On the nearby beach, children swim in the water among the boats. I am reminded of a Duran Duran video – Save a prayer for the morning after.

The sun is getting high in the sky, and the temperature is rising. I retreat back into the cool alleyways and find my way to the Anglican Church by following the spire when I can see it.

The Anglican Church is built on the site of the old Slave Market. Slaves, marched across Africa from their homelands, spent 3 days in a small basement room, crammed 50 to 70 people in a very small space. They spent time on a raised platform, using a trench down the middle for their human wastes. The only liquid to drink was from the same trench where they urinated and defecated.

After 3 days, those still alive would be pulled out of the room, chained to a tree and whipped while people bid on them. Those that cried would get lower prices. Slaves would be shipped from Zanzibar to locations around the globe, from America to India and the Middle East.

I head into the open air market, but the crowds and the heat are getting to me, so I head back to the hotel for an afternoon nap.

After a couple hours of napping, I wake up and head to Mercury’s for a beer and to watch the sunset. Mercury’s is named after Freddy Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen who was born here in Zanzibar. It appears that the Mercury in the thermometer isn’t the only type of Mercury that was raised here in Zanzibar. Just as the Arab traders of old exploited and profited off the spices and slaves that passed through this port, the tourist traps of today exploit and profit off the name of dead celebrity.

After the sun has set, Forodhani comes alive with street vendors, cooking up seafood on outdoor grills. I order skewers of Tuna, Oysters, Prawns, Lobster and Calamari. It costs me $7, and is much more than I can possibly finish. The next night, I will have to remember to be better about portion control.

I wander back to my hotel. The great thing about the Garden Inn is that it is on one of the few wide, main roads in Stone Town, and thus easy to find in the dark after a few beers. For the narrow alleys that are cool during the day are positively dark black at night. Trying to find my way through those to a hotel in the back alleys at night, and I would probably end up lost forever.

I pull down the mosquito net and slip under the cover. At last the mercury is falling, but it doesn’t fall far. The fan is on full-blast, the windows are open and I am still sweating. But soon I am asleep, dreaming of narrow alleys, white sand beaches and Duran Duran videos.

I had researched before hand and found out that in Tanzania ESPN would be showing the Superbowl. I walked around Stone Town, and saw very few places that would likely to be showing American football, so I decided I would watch the game on the TV in the hotel lobby.

My alarm clock was broken, so I left it up to fate to try and wake up at 3am to catch the game. I did not wake up, though, until the call to prayer at 5am. At least, I figured, I would get to see the second half. I walked downstairs and clicked on ESPN, and BOXING WAS ON!

The TV signal we were getting was not from mainland Tanzania, but rather from India, and I suppose that ESPN in India was not showing the game. So this year was a bust on seeing the game.

I did find out the next day thanks to CNN International that the Patriots won 24 - 21 over the Philly Eagles. Next year I will have to try and book a place that is more American Football friendly.

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For other experiences viewing "The Big Game", check out the rest of my Superbowls Around the World blog entries

I don't know much Swahili at all. Swahili is the official language of Tanzania, but most everyone you run into speaks English. I would attribute this to the fact that Tanzania used to be a British colony, but it also was a German, Portugal and Arabic colony, and I haven't run into too many people speaking German, so I suppose it is probably just because tourists speak English and spend money.

I have learned some phrases in Swahili, mainly because the locals will drop them into the conversation. I present them here for you now.

Jambo - this means hello. But it is only used by the locals when directed towards tourists. If you are walking down the street and hear "Jambo!" and you are the only mzungu (white person) around, they are talking to you. Jambo will usually be followed by a phrase like "what are you looking for?" with the hopes that you say something that they can provide, whether it be a painting, a coca-cola, safari tour, woman for sex or unrefined uranium. A polite, "no thank you, I have all the unrefined uranium I need," is enough to stop the pestering.

Asante Sana - thank you very much. The odd thing around here is when you thank someone, they tend to say thank you back. A waiter brings me a cup of tea. "Asante sana," I will say. "Asante sana," he will reply. To which I am unsure of how to reply. Should I say "Karibu," which means you're welcome? That doesn't seem right. So I say "Asante sana," again. And he re-replies "Asante sana." It's a never ending cycle. I have figured out that the secret is to just stop after one open of Asante sana and their re-raise back to you with asante sana. There is an akward moment of silence, but then you can both go about your business.

Pole pole - This is Swahili for slowly, slowly. Originally I learned this on the mountain, because that is how you want to walk - slowly slowly to allow yourself to acclimitize. However, Pole pole also seems to be a way of life around here. When the tour guide shows up 1 hour late and takes 50 minutes to pack your bags in the car, any frustration you might show will be met by a smile and the phrase "pole pole." Don't worry, we will eventually get where we are going.

Hakuna matata - All you Disney fans will recongize this one - no problem or no worries. Used in much the same way that the Jamaicans use "no problem, mon." "Joseph, the axle seems to have fallen off the safari vehicle, and we are surrounded by rampaging elephants." "Hakuna matata, my friend," Joseph would reply. Somehow, everything is gonna be alright.

Ninataka Tusker - "I would like a cool, refreshing, top quality Tusker lager, brewed by the Tanzanian Brewing Company under the supervision of the East African Brewing Company, headquartered in Kenya." When things seem really, really bad, I have found this phrase allivates much of the anxiety. "Joseph, the axle seems to have fallen off the safari vehicle, and we are surrounded by rampaging elephants." "Hakuna matata, my friend," Joseph replies. I counter with "Ninataka Tusker." After saying this phrase 3 times, and consuming the 500ml bottles of the sweet amber poison, I am likely to say, "hey, Elephant tusks are white! Boy am I sleepy. Lala salama." (lala salama means sleep peacefully). And somehow, when I wake up, what do you know, every little thing turned out alright.

Kwaheri sasa,
Greg

The final day of safari, Ngorongoro crater. The crater is a 600 meter high crater, and many animals stay in the crater for it’s constant water. It’s a great place to see all the animals except the giraffe, who can’t climb the steep crater walls.

We saw a lot of Impalas. Impalas are like the Maasai, in that they have multiple wives. A buck who asserts his dominance in fighting will get to have multiple does. Losing bucks get no women. Big winners can have many does. We saw one buck who had around 35 does. He was a happy looking buck. I could almost read his mind, “I’ve got does, I’ve got does in every area code!”

Now on day 5, some of the animals I am starting to get sick of. Zebras are everywhere. The first time I saw a Zebra, I thought, “wow, cool a zebra.” Zebras, though, are not really like striped horses, they are more like striped donkeys. By the end of the trip, I wanted no more pictures of zebras. “Damn,” I would say to myself, “that zebra is totally ruining my picture of that stand of grass.”

Buffalos are everywhere too. I’ve realized that buffalos are nothing but cows with Viking helmets on.

I have dubbed, Claus the German “the Sour Kraut.” He is constantly complaining about stuff. “Joseph, can we close the roof, I am cold?” “This campsite is ugly and has no hot water.” “I can’t believe that the facilities here are so bad.”

Claus is also very German. If anything is 2 minutes late, you can see him start to get very upset. “We should be setting up the camp right now before it gets too dark.” “We should stop drinking this beer and eat dinner before it starts to rain.” Dude, relax.

Overall, my favorite animal was the cheetah. Lions, which most people get excited about, don’t do anything. They lie around and sleep. They are really just really large house cats. I am sure if a door was around somewhere, they would stand in the middle of the door not sure to go in or stay out. Cheetahs don’t do much more than lions, but they look quick.

A final picture of me snapped at our last stop in the Ngorongoro crater. I had to re-take this 5 times. Zebras kept walking in front of the camera and blocking the shot.

3 days in the Serengeti! This trip is filled with great names: Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Zanzibar.

We started by stopping at a Maasai boma. The Maasai are a tribe that is still mostly living their traditional lifestyle living off the land and raising cattle. Cattle are the measure of wealth in Maasai culture, and the richest Maasai own up to 10,000 head of cattle.

We were shown around the Maasai village by the chief’s son, Michael. Michael took us into the boma. The boma is a circular village surrounded by a wall of thorny branches to provide protection from lions and other wild beasties.

First we saw a traditional dance, which involved the women and men standing in separate groups. The women sway up and down and chant in a low, throaty voice. The men stand around in a horseshoe shape. Occasionally one will step into the middle of the horseshoe and start jumping up and down. They let me try, and let me say that white men can jump, just not as high as Maasai warriors.

For a Maasai male, the more cows they have, that means they get to have more wives. Maasai are polygamists. Marriages, however, are arranged by the parents. Michael said that it was permissible to have a girlfriend, as long as the wives don’t know about it. I said that was the same in my country.

We next went into a Maasai house. Each wife will have their own house (built with her own hands), and the husband will spend each night in a different wives house. The houses are made of mud and branches, and a very dark inside. There are 3 beds, one of the wife, one of the kids (up to 10 in the bed) and one for the husband. I can’t figure out how they have 10 kids if the husband and wife sleep in different beds.

Up next was a trip to the Olduvai gorge. Richard and Mary Leakey found a bunch of really old bones from early human ancestors there. 1.3 million years ago, someone was standing on the same spot I was standing and thinking about what to eat for lunch. I stood there, and thought about what to eat for lunch. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Entering the park, we past through the wildebeest migration. The wildebeests were moving from Kenya in the north to the western corridor of Tanzania in search of better grass to eat. Over 3 million wildebeests were migrating, along with a number of zebras and impalas. They all eat different types of grass, so they get along together well. Also, the zebras have good eyesight, and the wildebeests have a good sense of smell. Thus they are great a seeing potential predators.

Joseph said that the zebras pull a little trick on the wildebeests at watering holes. The zebras let the wildebeests go first. If the wildebeests don’t get eaten by crocodiles, then the zebras say, “hey, what’s that off in the distance?” The wildebeests get scared, run away, and the zebras have the watering hole to themselves.

Serengeti means endless plain in Maasai, and it certainly is.

At camp that night, Joseph told us that the campsite didn’t belong to us. “It belongs to the wild animals. Don’t get out at night.” I always made sure to pee before going to bed!

We did a morning game drive one day, and I found out that Magic is a “perfect shot” kind of guy. Whenever we stopped, Magic would stand up, put his camera to his eye and not take it off until we started up again. Magic and Beata wanted to get the “Africa shot,” the sun rising behind the Umbrella Acacia tree. We found a good place and waited for the sun to rise. The sun rose, I took my shot (see the pictures) and sat down. A half an hour later, Magic was still taking his picture.

At first I felt a smug superiority over Magic and all those who stood there with cameras glued to their faces. I would take a few quick shots, and then put my camera away and watch the animals’ behaviour in intricate detail, catching all the subtleties and nuances of the true beastly nature.

The problem is animals don’t actually do much. The carnivores just sit there and sleep all the time, occasionally standing up, stretching, shifting positions and sitting back down. Herbivores just stand around eating grass, occasionally moving two feet to their left to munch on a new stand of grass. Once in a while, one of the herbivores will look over at the car disinterestedly. Otherwise, they didn’t do much. There really aren’t too many subtleties and nuances of animal behaviour to catch.

Birds are probably the most active of the animals. They fly around and land on things. But I’ve never been a big bird person, really. I just can’t get excited about something that eats seeds. One of the raptors, like an eagle or a falcon is okay, because they eat mice and stuff. But seed eaters? Yawn.

But I still think my shot is pretty perfect.