Under African Skies
Travails in Tanzania
by Gareth Morgan
Although Tanzania has avoided the rivalry and bloodshed of its neighbours, life there is still a struggle.
Julius Nyerere has done for Tanzania what Kenneth Kaunda did for Zambia – left an indelible stamp on the politics of his country. Through his particular blend of socialism and idealism, he sought to reduce income disparities and to forge intertribal communalism. His legacy is improved standards of literacy, as well as Tanzania’s freedom – so far – from the tribal rivalry that has crippled some of its neighbours.
Unfortunately, these days only five percent of students make it through secondary school so, by and large, Tanzania’s 35 million inhabitants remain trapped in lives of low-income, subsistence agriculture.
As we entered the south of Tanzania from Malawi, we thought we might see living standards improve.
The fertility of the soil increased as we climbed about 1500 metres from Lake Malawi. The countryside looked highly productive; banana, sugar and tea plantations were abundant.
Alas, it didn’t last. As we swung east on the long haul across to Dar es Salaam the landscape changed to poor-quality, scruffy savannah and desert – from which you could only scrape the barest living. And so it remained until the coast, where, just seven degrees south of the Equator, the climate is hot, sticky and wet.
We encountered our first Masai tribesmen, who were mightily interested in the motorcycles. These must be the thinnest people I’ve ever met – no McDonald’s here – but they had some trappings of the modern lifestyle: cellphones and iPods were not uncommon accoutrements to the jewellery they love to display. Unlike the Amish we encountered during last year’s ride, the Masai men at least are proud to be different and, in their own particular way, chic. They are thoroughly modern goat-herds, and a class act.
We kept going once we hit the coast, escaping some 70km offshore to Zanzibar, in search of light relief after the endless miles of poor subsistence farming that has been Africa so far, north of the Orange River at least.
Think of the outer Fiji islands without their predictable military coups and you get close to Zanzibar. If paradise comprises beaches, tropical climes, great scuba diving and an historic town to explore during the evenings, then Stone Town – the old part of Zanzibar City – comes pretty close.
An eclectic mix of African and Arab, Stone Town still evokes images of the old slave market it used to be. During the mid-1800s more than 40,000 slaves from central Africa were traded here each year. Little remains of the buildings that housed this activity, although the one in which the body of anti-slavery campaigner David Livingstone was stored until shipment back to Britain is now a foreshore pub – with great views of the sunsets, I might add.
The white, flowing Muslim garb of the men in the narrow streets and the not insignificant number of women who have retreated behind veils denote the conservatism of this Muslim community. Observing a teacher in the madrassa (religious school) repeatedly cane his students for errors in the recital of the Koran, we are reminded that barbarity remains a popular means to an end, at least when it comes to practising it on children. Sue Bradford’s anti-smacking bill would not get much traction here!
Tourist numbers through Zanzibar are phenomenal and certainly more concentrated than anything we’ve encountered on the mainland. Indeed, it looks to be the No 1 business, which leaves most of the archipelago’s one million residents practising subsistence agriculture. We’ve found the villages outside the main town very poor indeed and the roads, especially to the north, diabolical.
So that African theme remains, even out here. Most folk are trapped in their subsistence existences, waiting perhaps, for the kind of economic breakthrough that has helped China and much of the rest of Asia – although there is little sign of that yet.
Gareth & Jo Morgan’s global motorcycle trek is online at www.worldbybike.com
