At 10:30 AM, our driver Kulwa arrived with Tatanca's big bus.
I am so happy to be returning home to my lover and my family! As I write that, I think of what I love here, certainly the people who have become our friends, so new, some longtime. We have been discussing the beauty of Ruaha, its wildlife and luxurious Mwagusi. We have just traversed the hairpins of the river valley. The mountainsides are lush and their is a canopy of acacia trees. Now the Great Ruaha River runs along side and the baobabs have leaves for a few short weeks of the year. Yes, this is really Africa!
The roadside has many fruit and vegetable stands. So far I have seen buckets of green peppers, onions and potatoes stacked in the typical pyramids above the edge of the bucket. Little blue bags hanging from a line hold nuts for sale. Sugar canes in a row are ready for sale. I still have not tried this delicacy. Next year.
We pass many big rigs hauling lumber from the south and west. We meet many tanker trucks hauling oil. These tankers collectively seem newer than other rigs. No surprise, I suppose. We meet and pass the Maasai walking along the road, dressed in the garb that so characteristically identifies them, usually with deep blue or deep burgundy cloth and sometimes plain or patterned, sometimes plaids of the same rich colors. there is often a knife hanging from a belt on one side with a cell phone on the other. There are about 44 million people in Tanzania and 26 million cell phones. Half the population is under the age of 15. Three-quarters are under 25. There's the market! Of course, cell phones have leap frogged the landlines with nearly all people having access and mobility as features of the cell phones. It is a prepay system with many simple phones available for SMS texting and voice. Yes, there are a growing number of smart phones too, of course available to the wealthy.
One of the joys of the trip between Ilula or Iringa and Dar is Mikumi National Park. For newcomers, seeing giraffes, zebras, elephants and even baboons out the window is a real treat. Sometimes the treat extends to other animals, like warthogs today. And it is just as exciting for the repeat visitors.
Many of the vehicles we see have slogans on them. We jut met one that said, "God will make a way." Yes, I believe that, but then I admit to hoping that didn't mean for him in traffic with his eyes closed. Then again I suppose they could all be less subtle and say, "Move over Buster."
Still in Mikumi and another sign says, "Don't feed the baboons." There is less game now and the road is better and we are coming to the unmanned guardhouses. I wonder if the person who put the red Xs on these little government buildings derived some secret joy in doing so?
Once agin the wildlife consists of the teeming masses of humans, walking, in cars and trucks, on bikes and motor bikes trying to get to their destinations. In the little villages, commerce continues at whatever level. By far, the crispest bills are the 10,000 TZS. This is about $6 USD. The most crumpled and dirty bills are the 500 TZS, about 30 cents each. The coins for 200 or 100 TZH are worn to the point where sometimes the denomination is unreadable. It seems to me that most Tanzanians live in one world or the other, the world of the crisp bills or the worn bills. We have such privilege. I learned something from our friend Dan McIntyre this summer about this commerce. I was complaining about an old woman who never failed to come after me to buy her baskets. I said "Hapana" or "No" each time she accosted me. Despite my admiration for the quality of the baskets, I simply did not need one. Dan said, "I know she is aggressive but I always buy something from her. It's her livelihood." Anybody who knows dan didn't need this story to know this man's heart is in the right place.
It is quite easy to see the differences in both classes in rural or urban Tanzania after being here a few times. Better homes are covered with plaster or stucco-like material. This waterproofs the brick used to build it. Most of the homes do not have this feature. Some of these are crumbling from rain and weather and generally smaller. Another feature that sets the wealthier from the very poor is the roof of corrugated galvanized iron sheets instead of thatching. In and near the city the houses may be shanties. In many cases, even poor homes have electricity and satellite dishes! It may seem novel to us but I do not see these modernities as a sign of misplaced priorities which is so tempting for us to do, but rather points to the essential importance of communication and even entertainment, regardless of class or income.
We stopped at Glonency 88 for a bite to eat just outside of Morogoro, about midway to Dar. We have reached the land of mangoes and coconuts, again stacked in neat pyramids rising from their buckets. We had good mangoes in Ilula too! part of Anna's meal plan. Coconuts are a staple and used for flavoring in many dishes like beans.
About 100 km from Dar we are meeting a long convoy of trucks marked simply by a windshield sticker with the block letters "UN." I estimate 50 trailer rigs and a few smallest vehicles. The trailers had white vehicles on the also labeled "UN." There were trailers carrying what I would guess to be generators, like the ones construction crews might use to power their tools and lights. There was a UN ambulance. A couple of the rigs had flashing lights setting them apart from the contract rigs which carry the same incantations and slogans that we see all the time, presumably contract carriers. I wonder where that unit is going to set up the new mini city? I will Google UN mission Tanzania as soon as I can. Did not look military.
Full Dosse [sic], Allah Malik, Mashallah, Jesus is Lord, Power of God, Passion are just a few of the sayings I saw in the last few minutes. I do notice the petroleum trucks, corporate semis with company logos and newer vehicles are less likely to sport the decals. Presumably the independents are the ones who decorate their trucks with so many interesting decals. The population of Tanzania is about equally split, 1/3 Muslim, 1/3 Christian and 1/3 native religion (animist).
There are quite a few speed traps manned by Polisi with guns. Well, radar guns anyway. I don't recall seeing armed Polisi, but they do carry nightsticks. However there are are often soldiers stationed with the Polisi. They are armed. Motorists warn each other of the traps by flashing their lights and motioning with their hand in a downward direction. Here are other police stops also, checking insurance tags on the vehicles for infractions like expirations. Trucks are checked for weight at a weigh stations. This can cause globs and traffic jams. These trucks are typically heavily loaded, so it is probably a good thing they are checked, assuming bribes do not intervene defeating the purpose of checking.
Another weigh station near Dar and traffic has picked up. We did see our first recent crash, not including the burned out semi not far out of Ilula. It was a big lumber truck that ran off the edge of the road in a village. (Texting?) At the weigh station, trucks jockey for position to get through, but we were finished in no time. There is a line of trucks coming toward us that must be 30 or 40 trucks long. Glad we are on this side!
After a long drive, it is near dusk and we are only on the outskirts of the city. We have some mean traffic ahead. I am thinking of the answer I will give if Kulwa, our driver asks me to drive. NO. Wow, that did't take long.
Well, I need to pay attention now. He may need help with the side friction or maybe I will just need two hands to hold on....
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