The biggest tribe

I took a bus today to the Sukuma museum - a visit well worth it. The Sukuma is the largest tribe in Tanzania. Komanya is a Sukuma as well, and he mentioned the museum in addition to LP (Lonely Planet). The guide went through a lot of explanations and he answered all my questions very well. Even though no official function is associated with it, some clans still have a king.
The picture shows some tools and stuff that the blacksmiths used to make, ahem, other tools. You can see the blowy thing (whatever that is called in English) to get the fire going, which was started with the device in the lower part of the picture. The long and thin dish on the left is for hand washing. In the other one food was served. The rocks in the center served as hammer to shape the tools.

Afterwards went to a restaurant per the guide's recommendation and met Jangu Jangu. That's right, first name equals last name. The food was delicious (fish, of course. With ugali and beans). Of course I again got weird looks for not eating the eyeballs and the rest of the fish head. "It has a lot of nutrients," they tried to tempt me. Sorry, sir - can't do...

I can now articulate myself in Swahili enough that the basics like transport, food and lodging I can handle (as long as they keep the answers simple...). Of course, most people still prefer to talk to me in English and when I continue some weird stuff can come out, like today:

Me: "Kuna Maji Kilimanjaro?" (Do you have water of the Kili brand?)
Dude: "Water?"
Me: "Ndiyo." (Yes)
Dude: Vanishes and comes back with Dassani water. "Seven Hundred."
Me: "Hakuna Maji Kilimanjaro?"
Dude doesn't understand.
Me: "Dassani tu?" (You have only Dassani water?)
Dude: "Ah, two Dassani?"
Me: "Hapana. Hakuna maji Kilimanjaro?" (No. You don't have Kili water?)
Dude: "No."

Grr, so I bought the Dassani water. The other confusion arose when the conductor let me out one stop earlier and apparently told the bike rikscha guys I was gonna get a ride with them. But after I asked how to get to the turn off and it became apparent I was going to walk, he led me back in the bus, under the somewhat angry shouting of the bike dudes. One more stop. I then walked from the turnoff to the museum (about 2km). It's the only exercise I am getting right now, so I can't let that interfere with the need of clients from some biker. Sorry.

This pic shows the altar in the Sukuma church, still decorated for christmas.
I'll not join the New Year's parties today. Frankly, the music here is way to loud for my taste at weddings and other events.

One of the things that is still the same here are the taxi drivers. It's very frustrating with them. When there are ten taxis parked and you passed nine of them and said "Hapana" then the tenth will still say "Teksi?"

I often ignore them completely, sometimes say "Hapana" and when I am in the mood I am doing silly stuff like I did with telemarketers in US. Just random nonsense. "Oh, nice taxi. But yours isn't shiny and white like the others!" (Guy storms to the front and points to his white license plate while mumbling something..." Or I may point to my legs and say "I am not that old yet", which has them smile. Still, I wished they wouldn't underestimate of my ability to read the taxi sign on their cars...

Eight o'clock, tick tock

On Friday I had tried to find an internet cafe where I could post the blog entry that I had already written on my laptop. I was told to try the Midland hotel. The computer and phone expert (John) tried in vain - it never worked. But he accompanied me to another internet cafe. I could plug in and send from there and the connection was actually stunningly fast. That evening I invited John for dinner. We went to a pizza place - it was really good and I felt that after two months of mostly rice, beans, ugali, assorted veggies and peanut butter sandwiches I deserved some Italian cuisine.

Saturday I took the bus to see Komanya, who is currently at home to visit his family. He is the biogas consultant who helped KIDT with the COMPACT project. I was a bit confused as he wrote something about the Kigongo ferry, so I thought I would get a chance to ship over Lake Victoria for a purpose. It ended up I should take the bus that says Kigongo Ferry, but get off a couple of kilometres earlier. He was right there when I got off (very African-like we didn't agree on a time I was going to come). I met his wife and kids and saw his house. Of course I was offered tea and a doughnut-like sweet.

Then we went off to see a few farmers he knew as I wanted to get something put of the trip for my thesis as well. How to get to the farmer? Well, he had a bike and suggested I should take a pedi-cab. Those aren't the ones you may be used to from SB, S Francisco or any other place in the States or Europe. It was a simple bike with a rack at the back. There was a sort of cushion as a sort of comfy seat on the rack. I liked the idea. Sort of. But asked instead of being ridden around if I could just rent the bicycle. They gave it to me for the price of two trips (TZS 2,000), which were required to the farmers. This was a good deal because in addition to the two trips I would have had to take the bus back from Kigongo Ferry. The bike was way to small for me, but the cheering from all the locals as I left the place let me quickly forget that. I waved at them. The bike actually rolled better than Komanya's, so I had to wait for him a lot.

We stopped by at some relatives of his first. They offered some fresh eggs. Very nice, but of course how I could carry those back to Mwanza or cook them??? The visits with the farmer turned out to be not too valuable, but socially very nice. Then we went to Kigongo Ferry, so I could see Lake Victoria and the ferry's arrival. At this point it was already very late and Komanya's wife had tried to reach twice. I felt really bad, as she had prepared lunch. After another stop by his grandpa's grave we finally stumbled home. I rolled down to the pedi-cab stand and honked the loud horn on the bicycle, which made everybody laugh. Returned the bike to the guy I had rented it from with an 'Ahsante'

Then we could finally eat (16:30). Komanya's wife had prepared fish, absolutely fresh from the lake. It was delicious. To not have to go through the trouble of deciding if I wanted the fish boiled or fried, she prepared it both ways!!! I can't really say if I liked one or the other better - they both tasted really good. I managed to eat the ugali with my hand. I have also seen people eat rice with their hands (Dora's sister for example) so I asked about the right technique. But K. said he uses a spoon also... A brief visit in K's. office preceded the ride home.

On Sunday In wanted to go to the Saa Nane reserve. A little island, just 15 ferry minutes away. Saa nane means eight o' clock. I am not sure if I have already mentioned the Swahili time? It starts counting with the crack of dawn at six o'clock. So 7am is saa moja - one o'clock. It's kin of confusing sometimes when people switch back and forth. In the beginning I also was wondering why Dora's sister would go to work at 2am - until I found out she meant 8.

Anyway, the island was much better than the ferry - how encouraging is it to step into a boat, with the floor already covered in water? I walked around by myself, and enjoyed it tremendously. I came to a pick nick area with a great view. I sat down and watched the birds fly around. Some hawks were gliding in the wind. There were also smaller and very pretty birds. Some all yellow, some with a yellow back and a reddish front. A blue one with a nice contrasting orange snout. Some sea gulls were there as well. One bird looked like a pigeon, but not sure how it would survive outside the city limits??? Later I saw two birds in a tree from very far, so not sure what they were. But from the distance they did look like storks.

Other things to watch were the lizards doing push-ups in the sun and the fishermen in tiny one-person boats row by. I must have sat there for hours (I was slow in getting started, as I took some pix and lost the rest of the group immediately - I saw some come back after only ten minutes; I am not sure what they were doing until the boat was leaving, which happens about every two hours. Eventually I walked to the end of the island, where it was equally nice. Going back to the harbour it was already 5pm! I had spent six hours, most of them sitting and just watching the wild life. In was glad to catch this ferry (leaving at 5:30). Supposedly there was another one at 6:30, but as always I like to be back at the hotel before it gets dark.

When I was on the island somebody came around with a survey. Overall I liked the experience. The one recommendation I made was to get rid off the lion and hyena in the cages. The latter I actually didn't see and maybe it already left. I think the sign is incomplete and instead of "Spotted Hyena" it should probably read "Who spotted the Hyena?" But the lion looked as my travel book described it - dejected. Being a lion in Africa, but encaged, may be even worse than in a zoo in any other continent?

Ticket to Ride

My travel guide said the train to Dar goes three times/week. I checked the calendar and figured that Dec 30 would be good for me. I went to the train station today to buy the ticket. The sign was not encouraging: Trains sold out for first, second and third class until Jan 20th, 2008! Second class (sitting) was available for purchase the day of travel. Those are not recommended (for those who can afford to get the sleeper category) as it is very crowded. I asked anyway. The next train going is Jan 1st, 2008 (so I guess the Dec 30 got cancelled or the schedule changed). Despite the sign they still had a spot in second class available - phew. So I'll be in Mwanza a couple of days longer than planned, but otherwise will continue as planned by train to Dar.
The pix shows Mt. Meru in the sun rise, taken from little Meru (3800m)

Now that I am Lake Victoria, I desperately wanted to eat what everybody had recommended - samaki (fish). Fresh from the Lake. But I have tried since three days and none of the restaurants had fish!!! Some didn't have meat either, except for chicken. I have so far stayed away from the meat anyway. I don't like meat that much to begin with and mostly prefer vegetarian food. But Africa is definitely a meat country. I also tried to get a chapati pancake in vain. Seems like more of a morning dish. But today I went to the LonelyPlanet-mentioned Food square and they had it all! It was very delicious.

When I left the restaurant there were two kids that asked me for food. So we walked a bit - I wanted to find one of those women who sell the bananas right of their head. It didn't take long and we found one, selling the small bananas. I am not sure about the real price of the small ones yet - the "regular" size ones are about 50 shillings per piece. I think the small ones may be the same for I know they are more expensive. Anyway, I had to argue my way through again. She initially wanted 1,000 for a handful. Then she offered about 8-10 for 500, which was more reasonable (ahem). One of the little kids grabbed them (he spoke English very well, btw). I paid and s we were parting I asked if I could have one, too (I felt like having a dessert). He said "No, you get two." He even wanted to give me a third one, but I stopped him. After all they were the hungrier ones. But it was moving (although I am not sure if that meant they weren't really that hungry...

I will switch hotels tomorrow. Christmas is over, so the Christmas Tree Hotel is not appropriate anymore. I also want to save some money. I don't need my own bathroom and a TV (first time I saw the news in a while), if I can spend four Euros instead of eleven per night...

The bumpiest bus ride ever

The next item on the agenda was buying the ticket to Shinyanga. I went to one of the bus "offices" (a table on the street with a sign) and inquired. "47,000." Aha. I knew that it was 27,000, so I told them. They were laughing their heads off. I left and went to the other "office" Now of course four or five guys were running after me and yelling "No, wait. Friend. We'll give it to you for 27,000". Well, too late buddy. It's really tough as you always have to be well informed beforehand what stuff costs. No need in trying to find out from someone else.

I had asked the guy in the hotel to wake me at five and also inquired if it'd be safe to walk the less than ten minutes to the bus stop. He said "Yes". When I left in the morning, two taxis were waiting. They said it would be 2000. I was only willing to part with 1000 to avoid the short walk in then dark. Neither driver was willing to accept and I walked away. Meaning that 2000 apparently the going rate for a taxi in Arusha. There were already other people walking to the bus stop so it was safe anyway.

I then took a bus that Lonely Planet described as "the gruelling southwestern route". The first four hours over unpaved roads were tough, but OK. But the last two hours to Singida were a bit hard, as I was trying not to get bus sick. After that though the route was paved - newly done this year and something I will have to inform Lonely Planet about. Because I think that version, despite the bumpy six hours between Arusha and Singida (hey, we only had two flat tyres!), is much better and cheaper than the alternative, going via Nairobi. That will take around 25 hours, you will need a Kenyan transit visa ($20) and will likely have to argue your way b back in on your one-time entry Tanza visa. I was in no mood to have to pay another $50 - besides the fact that I don't have that many dollars left anyway. There is also a way to go via Serengeti. I am not sure how long it takes, but also requires the park entrance fee of $50.

Stairway to Heaven

Hey folks,

if your Christmas was just half as good as mine then I know you had a great holiday! Going up Mt. Meru was an awesome experience. I had planned to do it in two days, to save some money. But they won't let you do it the guide later told me that they used to allow it, but stopped offering it). While the price diff is substantial (210 vs. 140) don't regret having taken three days. Otherwise I would have missed a spectacular sun rise on Little Meru (3800m), watching the awakening of Kilimanjaro for the day.

Getting to the start was more difficult than the climb itself. There is no public transit. The only options are going to a Safari operator (Lonely Planet said it'd be $100), take a cab (I was also told this is around $100) or take a bus to the village at the turn off and hope for a ride (Lonely Planet called them sporadic...). I didn't want to take my chances, so when I took a taxi to the wedding in Arusha on Saturday, I inquired about the fare to Momela Gate. "40,000". Wow - a lot less than expected! I told him to pick me up at 7:30 and off we went. We came to the first Gate and I paid all the fees. Then the taxi driver refused to continue. He thought I meant that gate. Fortunately he did acknowledge that I said Momela Gate, and the guards talked to him for five minutes before he surrendered. I was in no mood to walk 15km before hiking up the mountain...

I will keep the report blog-friendly and post a longer report later.
I was paired with a couple from Austria, glad to have some company. Our guide Manuel was nice. We were one of the few people to take up the longer route on the first day. And I was one of the even fewer to not make use of a porter and carry all my stuff. To save on weight my diet for the three days consisted of 2.5 loafs of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a few cereal bars and a bag of peanuts. I also meant to bring seven liters of water, but due to an oversight or maybe poor maths skills I bought seven 1.5l bottles and I had one liter of mango juice. The first day my bag was kinda heavy (maybe 23 or 24kgs - the porters carried 20 kgs...)

After a very nice walk through the woods, seeing very pretty butterflies and some monkeys, we made it to the first hut. We were all in agreement to strive off from the usual program and the next day went to the second hut, took a quick break and continued on to the summit at 4500m. Doing it this way would get us down earlier on the last day. It was a tough six-hour day but well worth it. Going from the first to second hut was very scenic, strolling through nice wooded areas. Just three years ago they built some stairs, for two reasons. One, because the climb was very steep. So forget about that one. I will only talk about the second reason, to prevent soil erosion. That fits in with my sporty mind and my thesis subject...

The climb from Saddle Hut (the second hut) to the top was not easy at times, climbing over some rock fields where I was just hoping I wouldn't slip down and end up a few kilometres later at the wrong side of the mountain (e.g. not where the huts or the gate are...). But we didn't make a dent in the stats, all reaching the summit (the guide said in the five years he has worked there, all Austrians, Germans and Spaniards have reached the summit. He also said most Americans make it, but mentioned that "Japanese, Chinese and people from India are lazy"... We reached the summit on Christmas Eve, so I gave a Christmas present to everyone - in form of a Corny cereal bar (that were individually wrapped so I didn't need to use my standard gift wrap, which is newspaper...) There were five of us - the two Austrians, the guide and one porter.

I am glad we did it in daylight and not in the darkness, like some other groups.

The third day we got up early and went up little Meru (about 40min) to see the sun rise. It was extremely beautiful. We also saw the sun rise the day before from the first hut. Equally stunning. Going down, especially from the first hut on, was less fun. Somehow going downhill is more annoying, and also the shorter route is, with a few exceptions, less scenic than the longer one. But we did see one giraffe on the way.

After receiving my certificate for climbing Meru prenAeen8at the gate I tried the "sporadic" pickup thingie. Same as the guide. We finally could hitch a ride. I sat in the back of the pickup truck, while Manuel had climbed to the front. I got a few "thumbs up" on the way. I guess Mzungus aren't seen in the back of the trucks too often, and many use the Landrovers from the Safari operators for a more convenient ride. But I enjoyed it tremendously. Manuel had told me that I should expect to pay about 10,000 (much m ore than my travel guide said), but when I climbed off the guy left before I could even say thank you. And Manuel just paid the 500 shillings for the Dala-Dala, so my return ride was actually free!

The long walk home

Lots of walking today. First with the backpack to the bus stop in Moshi. Then in Arusha to get all myy stuff together. Now off into the mountains for three days.

Hopefully the shower will work after 7pm as promiosed - I am invited to a wedding at 8...

I will have to carry all my foood and water, as I opted for no p[ortyer. My biggesdty worrry is how to get to thge gate (public tyransit may be spotty and a cab would cost 100 USD). And of course the weather. I ndidn't bnring all that much winter clothjing, after all...

Hopefully I ccan keep my stuff miostly dry.

Happy holidays and see y'all in Mwanza!

Oh Tannenbaum, oh Tannenbaum

Well, I said a while back I am positive that either phone or shower will work before Christmas. Ring! I would have preferred the shower, to be honest. But since I will start traveling soon, I hope I will get a hotel that has a shower occasionally...

The trees in the picture are called Christmas trees - simply because they bloom at Christmas. Actually, the blossoms are starting to fall off, so it's about time there is some Christmas.

I made my arrangements for Mt. Meru. While a lot cheaper than Kili, I tried to cut costs even further by doing it in two days. But they won't let you. The problem is that (an armed) guide is required for the trip. And I guess they don't like rushing things. African way of life. The rifle is required b/c there are apparently occasional Buffalo attacks. The travel guide says not to run away from your guide too far. Alrighty then...Which reminds me - no showers at all on Meru, I guess...

Yesterday I had a fun experience. On my my way home I decided to go a little farther and hang out in the stadium for a bit. It's a really nice, quiet, tranquil place that I enjoy after the dusty and busy downtown area. When I got there a soccer place was taking place and there were quite a few spectators. I didn't know the score or how far into the game they were. But the atmosphere was exciting. The white team was pressing hard and looked in control of the game. But they didn't come too close to the goal. Then the referee whistled the game off (I had only been there for a few minutes, but since there were no flood lights obviously, I knew the game wouldn't last too much longer). What happened next I have only seen on TV so far. A wild cheer erupted. The blue team was cheering and going crazy. Jumping for joy and running around the field like madmen. The players from the white team fell to the ground, deeply disappointed. Some were crying.

A blue player did a somersault to celebrate. The winners were singing. There was a brief brawl when someone stole someone else's banner, but reason quickly settled back in and the cheering continued. I watched the whole thing, glad that I could experience it. As some of the spectators and players left, I, too, headed for the exit.

The send-off I went to was interesting, but couldn't really tell much of a difference to a wedding. There were the prayers, the loud music, the chanting, the goat (although less festively presented as at the wedding-but I do like the "Bon Appetit" part...), the presents that people danced to the front and the food. The only thing that was different was that only the bride sat up front (with bridesmaid Dora). I didn't realize that the groom was actually in attendance until he finally got to walk up to the stage.

Later all the kids had a lot of fun, asking me to photograph them. They then got a real kick out of seeing the picture on the display.

Just when we got to the place it had rained really hard (and I mean really hard!). Fortunately it was dry for the rest of the day, but of course it's all just wet dirt by now and I had a layer of 1/2 inch on my shoes. But nobody cared and asked me to walk through the house with the shoes (so did the others). Even climbed into the car like that - I just couldn't get them clean quick enough.

The ride home was interesting, too. It was crowded and the potholes shook us up a lot. Then we stopped in Himo and Dora and her brother left. Only her brother came back. Strange - Dora didn't even say good-bye or anything. We were still squeezed in the back, but at least Baraka, the three year-old, had now the front passenger seat to himself! If you are worried that a three year-old may strangle himself with the seat belt, don't worry nomore. If a car is lucky enough to even have seat belts, everybody takes great care in prolonging the seat-belts' life by not using them!

Yesterday (Wednesday) I couldn't get my planned interviews done as Mfinanga had to go to Arusha on a short notice. Tomorrow (Friday), I will have to take care of a lot of things, but I am still hoping that M. and I can go towards Rau, which is where I rode my bike last Sunday. Speaking of the bike, it had a slow leak and pumping it up worked fine, except now my 2-dollar pump broke (just a few days after my 2$ lock broke...) It really is tough to try to be a bicyclist around here...And when it rains it pours. Friday morning: Amazingly, it rained all night and now it still rains! This was a good reminder that for Mt. Meru, I need to waterproof everything. Something that after six weeks of sun and dust I really didn't pay much attention to. Who'll stop the rain?


Some more pix: When I got my food there was no more silverware and a little kid showed me how to eat it. But I opted to head to the kitchen and they washed spoon for me...




















And here is the food served (besides the goat). From front to back: Banana (ndizi) with meat, rice (pilau, spiced), rice (plain - wali), cabbage (hidden pot) and cucumber.


















Groom and Bride: