'Tanzania has much to offer to both its residents and visitors in the line of great scenery and a huge variety of wildlife'

'Tanzania has much to offer to both its residents and visitors in the line of great scenery and a huge variety of wildlife'

Frank remembers being a tourist in Tanzania.

Frank Gaynor

Trinity College Dublin

1994

This item is protected by original copyright

This content may be downloaded and used (with attribution) for research, teaching or private study. It may not be used for commercial purposes without permission.

Frank Gaynor

Work and Employment

Life Story

Tanzania, Africa

1990's

During our time in Korogwe we had a chance to see quite a lot of the country. Tanzania has much to offer to both its residents and visitors in the line of great scenery and a huge variety of wildlife. During the 1980s tourists were not made to feel welcome in Tanzania. Any foreign currency that was not declared on the way in was confiscated on the way out. The use of cameras was strongly discouraged, mainly due to the fact that Tanzania, along with Angola and Zambia, provided military bases for the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa in their fight against apartheid. South Africa had a policy of attacking guerrilla bases and safe houses of the ANC. During our time in Manzini, Swaziland, a number of safe houses were bombed in the town. During this time underused hotels and restaurants in Tanzania became very run down. The stairs off the foyer in Moshi Hotel had a touch of grandeur about it, suggesting that this was once a top class hotel.When Claire, Fergal and Mags were coming for a holiday we booked a 6 - day safari package with Zara Tours in Moshi. It was a cloudless sunny morning as we drove the 30km from Kilimanjaro National Airport (KIA) to Moshi. On our left Mount Kilimanjaro, with its snow - capped peak, was looking particularly majestic. Fergal decided it was the perfect moment to run - in his new camera, and asked me to stop. As he clicked away at the mountain he was totally unaware of the police training centre in the foreground. Within minutes a police car pulled up beside us. Fergal was bundled onto the back seat and taken to Moshi police station. The following 4 or 5 hours were spent in and out of the police station as the photos were developed and examined. Apart from the waste of time we had nothing to complain about, and Fergal was not mistreated in any way. The following morning Fergal collected his camera from the police, and we went on to Zara, where our Land Rover was ready and waiting. In the company of a driver, a cook, and enough food for 6 days, we set off on a tour that would take us to Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara, and Ngorongoro Crater. It was a great success, and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The animals in Tarangire and Ngorongoro played their part, and came out to be looked at. Lake Manyara, with over 300 migratory birds, is a birdwatcher's paradise. Watching the flamingos there brought back pleasant memories of visits to Lake Nakuru 30 years earlier. No wonder that Hemingway described it as the loveliest lake in Africa. But it is the camp sites at Tarangire and Ngorongoro that I remember best. Why they called them campsites I have no idea. They had no facilities. They were simply bald sandy patches on windswept hills, overlooking lower plains where we could observe animals at sunset, and watch Masai herding their cattle. The cook did an excellent job in managing to keep the sand out of the rice while he cooked it. To get to Ngorongoro Crater we travelled for hours on rough gravel roads. The Crater, which was created by a massive volcano, is 20km in diameter, and has a great concentration of game and bird species. Three or four lions, who looked as though they had got tired on the catwalk, came and lay down beside our Land Rover. We were not allowed out of our Land Rover while in the Crater, and were surprised to see Masaai herding their cattle in the middle of the Crater.When Monica's brother, Brendan, and his wife Mary, came to visit us we went back to Tarangire. When a lioness and three cubs walked across the road in front of us, and then stopped to drink from a pool of water beside the road, Brendan and Mary presumed this was normal game viewing. For us it was a rare viewing in a natural setting. When we travelled with them to Zanzibar it rained heavily for most of the visit. In Stone Town we visited the site of the former Slave Market. Slavery was abolished here in 1873. The Anglican Christ Church was built on top of the old slave market auction area. The centre of the altar is positioned where the whipping post used to be. Slaves were kept for three days, in cramped conditions, and poorly fed. They were then taken out and whipped. Those who were still strong, and did not scream when whipped, sold for more money. As we explored the site, because of the pouring rain, we were at times knee deep in water. We did the spice tour, also in pouring rain. We wrestled with umbrellas as we negotiated our way past low hanging branches. The umbrellas did not keep us dry, but certainly added to our enjoyment of the tour. We returned to the mainland by fast ferry. During the two hour journey the ferry seemed to jump from one wave to the next. This unmusical rhythm generated a sea sickness that lasted for a week.The day before they were due to leave Tanzania Monica's sister, Patricia, died suddenly at home in County Kildare. When Lynda, who was in Dublin, got word of the death, knowing that we would be passing through Moshi on our way to the airport, she sent a fax to Zara Tours in Moshi. When we reached Moshi, with Brendan and Mary, by chance we bumped into Zara on the street. She said she had a message for us in her office, something about someone that had died. Monica managed to get a seat on the same flight as Brendan and Mary, but did not have her passport with her. Pauline faxed the relevant page from the Embassy to Zara's office. When we reached Kilimanjaro airport it was pouring rain and the runway looked flooded. As the plane gathered speed on the runway, throwing sheets of water into the air, for a moment I doubted that it would succeed in taking off.Mkomazi Game Reserve was relatively easy to reach from Korogwe, but a night there was not a pampering experience. There were no facilities in this Reserve. To get there we turned right off the Korogwe/Moshi road and drove along a rough dirt road until we came close to the Kenyan border. Mkomazi is not far from Tsavo National Park in Kenya and some animals make their way from one to the other. The official at the entrance gate explained that the X on the small map of the Reserve indicated where there was a small hill that was used as a campsite. When the lions wandered around during the night they stayed on the lower ground. We would be safe camping on the hill. With these reassuring words we proceeded to point X and put up our tent. It took a lot of hammering to get the tent pins into the hard dry soil. About 70m from our tent was a long - drop style latrine behind a small bush. There was a tendency to look over both shoulders while paying a visit to this bush before retiring for the night. It didn't help to recall that two of the ancestors of some of these lions made headlines in 1898 as man - eating lions when the Kenya/Uganda railway line was being built. We seldom saw much game in this reserve. One day when we had two visitors from Ireland with us we came on a youngish bull elephant. As I drove towards him, to give my friends a better photo opportunity, his ears went up and he charged towards us. I managed to get into reverse, do a quick U - turn, and speed away as he came thundering after us.We also had some excellent short breaks away from Korogwe in Lushoto, Tanga and Pangani. Lushoto, in the Usambara Mountains, was favoured in colonial times, by both the Germans and the English, for its pleasant mountain climate. As we drove along the narrow mountain roads we saw maize crops clinging to the faces of some very steep hills. One wet evening our vehicle slid off the road. With a steep incline beside the road there was a danger of sliding another bit and possibly tumbling into the valley below. We did not have to wait long before we had a group of locals offering to help. We were soon on the road again. We rewarded them for their efforts and drove off only to slide off the muddy road a short distance farther on. Again they helped, and again we rewarded them. I can only imagine their shared disappointment when we finally managed to stay on the road as we drove on out of sight.On one overnight visit to the mountains around Lushoto we shared accommodation with a group of researchers. Nearby was an area of indigenous forest that was once part of the great rain forest that stretched across Africa from east to west. Before sunrise the researchers were off with their small nets to capture insects. Their main focus was on spiders. They were exploring the fact that some of the spiders in this forest had distant cousins in Madagascar.Pangani is a coastal town, at the mouth of the Pangani River, 100km south of Tanga. It was difficult to get there, but the beach and the setting made the journey worthwhile. The tourist literature described Pangani as a tropical and unspoiled paradise. It was once a major trading port for ivory and slaves. We saw some Arab and Colonial style buildings in the town that were desperately in need of repair. To get across the Pangani River we had to put our vehicle on a very flimsy ferry. There were many half - sunken boats in the river. People were friendly and unrushed. Everything moved at a very slow pace.On our first visit we stayed in a small hostel. The term 'run - down' does not adequately describe just how run - down it was. The bedroom was adequate, but there were no supplies in the kitchen. Before the cook could come up with a cup of tea or coffee we had to go shopping locally, where the choice was very limited. What had been a common - room or lounge for guests was now being used as a henhouse, with feathers and droppings all over the place. Once we reached the nearby beach we forgot about the limitations of the hostel. We returned to this lovely beach a number of times. A year after our first visit a hotel chain decided to build a top class hotel on the cliff overlooking Pangani. The construction company took over the hostel, upgraded it, and used it as a training centre while the hotel was being built. The hotel failed to attract the necessary number of tourists and now stands empty as a white elephant with a magnificent view of the Indian Ocean.Tanga was an easy drive from Korogwe _�_ 100km on a good tarmac road. We went there regularly. Tanga was a quite coastal city of around 200 000 people where the pace of life moved very slowly. Because the coastline at Tanga is dominated by mangroves there is no good sandy beach there. The most dominant feature of the Tanga area that I recall is the coconut trees. These tall branchless trees have a crown of leaves 20m to 30m above the ground. Clusters of 10 to 15 coconuts hang at the base of the leaves. The leaves, shaped like feathers, are 3m to 5m long. It is as good as a night at the circus, watching the local boys and young men climbing the trees in their bare feet to harvest the coconuts. I remember seeing a small book in Swahili that outlined the many uses of the coconut trees. The leaves are used to thatch roofs, and to make hats, baskets and fans. The trunk of the tree is used for canoes, posts, rafters and fences. The ribs of the leaf are used for spears, arrows and torches. The coconut provides milk, oil, juice, alcohol, vinegar, and coconut meat. The coconut shell is used to make cups. It is not surprising that the older people say that with coconut trees they are self - sufficient. There was a caf�� in Tanga where, on Saturday mornings, we regularly met up with young volunteers who were working in the area. Some were working for an NGO, while others had come to do research as part of a Master's Degree.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)