I came to TZ with a visitor’s visa and a 90 day stamp, but all along intending to stay until January. I tried to get the visa changed while we were in Dar es Salaam, but was thwarted by a bureaucratic machine beyond comparison. The only way around this roadblock is to periodically exit the country and get a new stamp upon reentry. It’s stupid since you technically just have to walk across the border, turn around and come back through. But hell, at least I can get a visa stamp! I left last week, and it took me about 5 days to get there, accomplish the stamp mission and get back. I thought about hanging out in Malawi for a few days but I missed my sweetheart! (see how cute she is in photo below-from our hike two days ago to the outer edge of the Magombera forest where vines have taken over and ripped down most of the large trees) Plus there was honestly not much to see in the northern town of Karonga. It was similar to many of the small towns I’ve seen in TZ.
Check out Ruth’s blog: http://udzungwa.blogspot.com
Everywhere that you go in TZ you encounter kind people who want you to love their country. You can stop and ask anyone for directions or assistance and they’ll usually go out of their way to make sure that you get what you need. It’s a friendly and safe place to travel in and going from city to city by bus is easy, but that’s really not where you want to spend your time. The best way would be to get out into the country traveling by truck and camping, stopping occasionally at small villages, visiting the natural wonders. I met a few people who were making their way across Africa doing this. The Land Rover or Toyota Land Cruiser seems to be the preferred vehicle with gas and water cans strapped to the top and maybe even a pop top tent. I saw one couple with what looked like a garbage truck to motor home conversion. A beastly unstoppable machine covered with bare steel plates made for traveling in style through a post apocalyptic landscape, being road tested in Africa. There was even a washing machine/dryer inside in case you just can’t get the zombie blood off. Camping is much better. The cities are all really similar- centered about a bus station, a few businesses, maybe a hotel, and open markets for produce and other consumables, and always a bike repair/rental stand or two. It’s just a place for trade. It’s where you bargain for food or transportation and a place to sleep. That’s its main reason for existence. So the assumption is that everyone is there for that purpose in some way or another. Between your bus and inn you enter the commercial sharkpond. This is where the wazungu is wary at all times. We materialize as if straight out of a rarely seen television, looking to the locals like a western pop icon, greeted by hoots and hellos and karibu’s and the yell of ‘Wazungu!’. If we’re fresh off the boat we’re walking slowly, smiling and nodding and saying ‘thank you (Ashante)’ to everyone and generally sticking out like a sore thumb. Plus, we just pay more. We aren’t as smart because we don’t know the system and we don’t speak the language well. True, to be fleeced here usually only means the loss of a few bucks, but after a few times it begins to grate and the GAME infects you. The game is not unfriendly, but you’re either in the game or you’re not. So far, I’d been totally out of the game. In fact, I have no game. I’m a pushover and I like to just give money and shit away. On the bus from Malawi I passed a 500 shilling note (40 cents) out the window to a farmer girl hoping to buy a couple of the bright green oranges she was selling while we were stopped at one of the numerous police checkpoints- but her eyes lit up and she poured about 15 oranges into my lap as the bus was pulling away! I guess I overspent! So I passed free oranges around to people on the bus. What else was I going to do with this windfall? If I hand 40 cents to a hard working African farmer for a couple bananas and don’t get change back that’s been OK with me, but that’s totally not a sustainable position. It attracts way too much attention and suddenly you’re surrounded by vendors who want a piece of the wazungu action. You just continue to stick out, never part of the system in any city because the system, the reason for existence of any of the cities, is commerce. If you don’t play the game, then what are you there for? It’s just an awkward place to be. Go back to the forest. To boil it all down I would say that I turned a corner on this trip somehow, maybe became a little shrewder. Not more miserly, just more savvy. I hope that’s a good thing.
I left Mangula last Tuesday night on the train headed west to get my new stamp at the Malawi/TZ border. The Tazara train line runs across TZ all the way into Zambia and also into the northern part of the country, built by the Chinese at least a decade or two ago I would guess based on the condition of the stations and the cars. I purchased a first class sleeper compartment ticket to Mbeya (‘near’ the Malawi border) for $17. There were hundreds of people waiting in our small town for the train when it showed up at 11pm. I was really lucky to make it to my car at the back end of the train because it was dark and as there were so many people getting on and off the train and the track was lined on either side by a drainage ditch that there was basically a human traffic jam blocking the way. There was a lady unloading big sacks of rice or something from the car and blocking anybody from getting past or on the train at that point. The only way past was to push through into the ditch, so that’s where I went and I jumped onto the train in the nick of time. The sleeper cars were the best way to go as it turns out. Mbeya’s not that far but it took 16 hours to get there! The train was pretty beat up and it seemed to be clanking and ratting and screeching more than it should have. It’s apparently not the most reliable form of transportation in TZ because it breaks down a lot and there are some labor strikes and whatnot but many people use it. I could get a little sleep when the train was traveling over flat land but as soon as we headed downhill, and the train had to brake, the cars would slam together and nearly toss me out of the bunk. Still, it was pleasant compared to the bus.
The bus ride from Mbeya to Mangula (which I took on the return trip) actually costs more and it’s a killer of a journey- 9 hours crammed in a seat the first leg back and standing room only squeezed to the point of literally bursting the doors and humans hanging off the sides onto the dala dala for the last 2 hours over rough dirt roads. People in the back were getting on and off by crawling out the windows. I didn’t hear any complaints though, instead most were laughing and joking about the poor guys hanging off the side and we were all pulling and pushing and carrying babies, mommas and old people into more comfortable spots. Once the bus got stuck in a rut at the side of the road and seemed to be about to tip over which caused the driver to yell “everybody out!”- at least that’s what I think he said. Seemed like good advice and the whole bus emptied, many using it as an opportunity pee in the bushes. What was funny was that we got back onto the bus in exactly the reverse order and I ended up in exactly the same contorted position in the aisle squeezed between and old man holding a chicken behind and a woman in front. The woman had gotten on before me but thanks to many helping hands, for some reason, we were repositioned exactly as before just like everybody else.
To get from Mbeya to Malawi and back I also used the buses which ply the road throughout the day. It’s easy to catch these from any of the towns. However the bus stopped about 1 kilometer short of the border. Some people walk the rest of the way to the border and across the bridge into Malawi, but I got a ride on this one dude’s bike for 80cents! His business was riding folks back and forth across on his rack and buddy pegs! Sweet! He had grabbed my bag out of the window, put it on and pulled up next to the door on his ride before the bus even stopped- first class service. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos in this area, because cameras were ‘banned’. I can’t remember now where I learned that, maybe it was on a sign or in the guide book, but I kept the camera in the bag. In fact there are no pictures from the whole damn trip. I wouldn’t make a very good reporter I’m afraid.
So let’s end this tale- here’s an mdudu from the HOUSE. This little guy was behaving so strangely that it caught my attention. It was walking along, stopping every few inches and waving its little sensor pads around in a circular motion, trying to pick up a signal. “Wax on…wax off”, just like the karate kid. Hmmm…what is this huge metal contraption in my way, blocking reception?
Bonus Material- Photos from the Magombera forest edge.
Check out this action photo of the vines destroying a young tree. Sure, the battle lasted decades but you can almost see the struggle between the vines and the tree to gain height and sunlight. In the end, the wind blew them both down.
The long promised photo of the small river running through the edge of the forest. It’s much slower and swampy back near where we watch the monkeys. I’m still working on a picture of the fish which live in this water. Aloyse and I are going to go fishing one of these days. This is Alan, Ruth’s second assistant showing us how strong the rotten old logs of the bridge spanning the water are.
Last minute update:
Have you seen the story about the two 'Japanese' men apprehended at the Italy/Swiss border attempting to smuggle $134 BILLION worth of US treasury bonds? Probably not, if you live in the US. They're either fake, in which case the counterfeit market is more lucrative than anyone has ever imagined (and WHO would buy them?). Or they're real, in which case this is the biggest economic story of the year and large Nations have lost faith in the US govt ability to pay debts. Perhaps Japan is trying to unload it's bond son the down low. Alternatives abound and boggle the mind. Is there a huge conspiracy? I hope we find out. In any case, it's a big story. I first heard about it here : http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/
