Safari yangu ya Tanzania

Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance. A bit cloudy but still amazing.

That's right! This post is dedicated to my safari to Tanzania. This is not going to be about Rotary, but instead my realizations of how Tanzania is such a beautiful country with a very interesting past!  I am now determined to go to the museum in Dar es Salaam when I return in a few weeks. Though Tanzania (TZ) may not have nearly as many resources as Uganda, it does have almost every climate possible. From the beaches of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, the dry deserts of Serengity, to the cold climate of the mountains and of course, Mt. Kilimanjaro. I was amazed at how big Tanzania is as well, so I decided to write a post dedicated to the beauty of Tanzania and also some questions that I have about the country as well.

First, I should tell all of you that the national language is Kiswahili. We usually call it Swahili in the west, but it's proper name is Kiswahili. It's quite an easy language to learn. I've actually picked up on quite a few words (as some of you have noticed if I emailed you or responded to your questions with some random kiswahili thrown in the sentence). I'm actually going to take it upon myself to learn kiswahili for a couple of reasons. One: my research - when some Rotarians referred me to a website that relates to my research, I was thrilled that it was so easy to get information! But then, once on the website, I realized that it was entirely in Kiswahili. This is a hiccup in my research plans but not so much that I'm going to have to alter my research methods. I'm just going to have to learn how to read and speak it. Hakuna Matata! Two: Tanzanians are great at speaking kiswahili, but not so much at speaking english. It's hard for me to be understood and for me to undestand them. Even though english is the official second language, it's clearly not widely used among Tanzanians. So, it would be in my best interest to learn kiswahili for the sake of getting around the country.  The best part about learning kiswahili is that I don't have to change my voice in order to speak it! If you have ever learned a language like French or Spanish, you know that there are some words or phrases that require you to alter the tone of your voice in order to mean  one thing or the other. In kiswahili, the way it's spelled is the way it sounds.

I was also so shocked at how polite the Tanzanians are. After every verbal exhange, a person will say "Asante Sana" which means "Thank you very much". Often times, I felt so weird saying it after every little thing, but that's the way it is in TZ. People are generally more laid back a polite. This made me question the culture of TZ, why was everyone so laid back? And I recalled some of the readings I had come across for my research and even some conversations with some Tanzanian Rotarians about the history of Tanzania. I know not many people like history and all that boring stuff so I'll keep it simple.

Tanganyika ( it was not called Tanzania until Tanganyika and Zanzibar united in 1964) was colonized by the Germans, then practically sold to the British. In 1961, Tanganyika got it's independence from the British much like how Uganda and Kenya did a few years later, by the British setting up their constitution and putting a system in place that would allow the people to continue to function as a country. The first independent government functioned as a socialist government in order to ensure equality to all of it's people. That didn't really work out as great as they had hoped, so the president stepped down and handed over the power to a more democratic government.  Those socialist ways are still in place, so to speak. An example of this is that the TZ government owns all the land and a person just rents the land from the government for about 99 years.  Interesting isn't it? It is to me, mainly because I attributed the laid back mentality of the people to the government's power.  Why should a person stress out about things when the government is going to take care of it all? That question sounds very similar to some debates over government assistance in the U.S. doesn't it?

Statue of a Maasai warrior.

Another interesting thing about TZ is the culture...which has been lumped into one big pot.  I know this seems confusing, so I'm going to compare TZ to Uganda. Uganda has kingdoms and tribes and clans. One can belong to the Buganda kingdom, or be an Acholi or Bokica (pronounced Bo-chi-ka in central Uganda). But, in Tanzania...you're first and foremost a Tanzanian. THEN you're a part of a tribe, but even then, the tribes don't have such a strong hold on a person as it does in Uganda. I was fascinated by this, not just because it directly related to my research, but mainly because for the first 2 months of the scholarship year, I had been in an country where I constantly was asked which tribe I belonged to or asked if I was Bokica or Buganda. The only question  I was asked in TZ about my origins was if I was Kenyan and Rastafarian. I did see plenty of Maasai warriors in the traditional Maasai wardrobes as security guards, but that's about as much historical culture I witnessed in TZ.

All in all, Tanzania is a beautiful country. I realize that I have so much more to write about the country and it's relations to Zanzibar in particular, so I'll save that for another post.  If you're planning on visiting TZ to go to the beach, go on a safari to Serengity or do what almost every mzungu does and climb Kilimanjaro, make sure to learn a little Kiswahili. Even if you mess up with the words, they're so kind that they'll help you learn. With the kindness of the people, the beautiful landscape, and great food, you too will be singing hakuna matata like Timon and Pumba in the Lion King.