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  • Roland Routier

Renault Roaming

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    High Five

    January 4, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    It seems that everyone wants to see the Big 5 animals in Africa. So here they are.
    Some people include leopards and drop either rhinos or hippos, but I went for size.

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Grub

    January 2, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    The staple food is ugali which is some sort of maize flour paste and looks like homemade play-dough. Doesn't taste of anything but doesn't hang around either. At lunch we get with it some green leaf vegetable chopped up fine.
    Dinner maybe beans and maize or plantains and carrots boiled up fine . Often some rice is prepared as well.
    Fruit forms no part of the diet. Fish has been served a couple of times, and recently some parts of chopped up animal have been included in the pot.
    Conventionally we would use our fingers to eat, but enough uncouth volunteers have visited that using a spoon is not frowned upon.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    True Native culture

    January 1, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Most Masai warriors are photographed in the bush wearing a red blanket, holding a staff and pricking liking startled gazelles. So here is the real thing; the man who started the Kyosei Training Centre, Steven Saningo, a Masai man who himself only just managed to complete his education.
    It is his birthday today and the girls had to drag him kicking and screaming outside to have buckets of water thrown over him; for this is the custom. He was so reticent a week ago when it was his sister's turn to get soaked.

    His wife Riziki runs the accommodation side of the project, looking after a varying number of children / young adults who are unable to return home each day. One of the unmentionable things about having a child is that one loses one's identity. In Tanzania this fact is acknowledged by ever after calling the mother by the name of her firstborn. It is considered respectful to call her Mama Lau. Since I am older than all of them I am allowed to call them by their names, so I do.

    And here is their 6 year old daughter Lauree, known as Lau, back from her boarding school for the holidays and livening things up.

    Steven's sister Mary has been lodging here whilst she finished her Secondary Advanced Certificate in November: now she awaits the results before deciding what career to pursue.

    Another resident is Luciy another impoverished student from the countryside hosted by Steven and Riziki. Hers is a sad tale of absconding from an arranged marriage and drifting around until she ran across the Kyosei programme. Since her English was non-existent a year ago, it will be a miracle if she gets a Pass mark in the exam; which closes off most options. Here she is cooking dinner for all of us in her room.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Nostalgia

    December 31, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Here is a trip down memory lane for Mancunian graduates.
    Alas, the staff looked blankly at me when I asked for a pint of Robinsons.

    In this economically disadvantaged part of Arusha - in fact the world - what we once called poor, there is an absence of evening entertainment for the masses, most of whom do not have a TV at home. Many bars have TV rooms though, so what fills the gap, at least for the boys, is the English Football League enlivened by on-line punting (if you soccer loving shin kickers will forgive the rugby term,) on the Tanzanian football pools.

    And the team of choice for many is Manchester United. When United played City a few weeks ago, the noise rivaled that of Manchester itself.

    The girls on the other hand spend hours plaiting and re-plaiting their hair.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Pastoral interlude

    December 30, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    This is the local church. Couldn't help noticing the nice padded thrones for the celebrants / priests compared to the garden furniture for the others.

    We listened to a service here (obviously without taking photos) for a while. There were 3 choirs: one on the left and two on the right, each equipped with their own concert amplification system and excessive bass drivers. In a tin shed, for that was what it was, albeit with textile decorations, the sound was percussive to say the least. Now I know why the congregation sways unsteadily to the beat.

    The choirs each had their own uniform, distinctly African patterned, and sang gospel songs in Swahili. Occasionally, the priests got a look in. Most songs were of the call and response variety and one in particular reminded me of some old Italian harvesting songs. I was waiting for some polychoral antiphony but the choirs sought complete independence.

    It sounded great to us. Maybe we had been traumatised by the blast from the past we were getting every day in the form of Boney M "By the Rivers of Babylon" being broadcast at least 4 times a day, interspersed by their other 1970's hits.

    Luckily one of the ex-students still living with us had a better supply of music, for example Prince Indah "Maria" is a typical example of a modern Tanzanian song. Wouod Fibi another. I also admit to enjoying Rosie Muhando, though judging from the looks on the young folks' faces this would be like saying in the UK that you liked Nana Mouskouri.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Tanzanian wildlife

    December 29, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Everyone knows that Tanzania is famous for its wildlife. The plains of the Serengeti are filled with flocking tourists, herding animals and solitary carnivores posing for their photos. One of the largest group are the toy Otas, usually peaceful but capable of running their prey to the ground with excessive bursts of speed.

    The Two-Tier Tanzanian economy is geared to these rich pickings, picking up a significant contribution to the debt repayment plan. For example, just to cross the Ngorogoro park on the way to the Serengeti costs USD73 each way. That is more than I paid for an annual National Parks pass in Australia. Most prices though are carefully calibrated to be the same as in Europe. I found a real, brewed coffee the other day in a Muzungu cafe, (Tanzanians only drink sachet coffee,) which cost me TSH 3000 about 1 Euro 20.

    If you haven't seen a Game Park I suppose it is worth it. Having seen the surrounding countryside and numerous pictures of the Serengeti, I find it rather like an extended Longleat, with stately tents instead of stately houses. The Kruger in South Africa is probably a better bet and my favourite was the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park, though I visited in the last century so who knows what its like now.

    Here anyway are some of the less frequently photographed animals, starting with the compound beasts Tiger and Nala, both desperate for attention and sympathy but uncertain medical condition.

    The Secretary bird was morosely hiding in the centre of town guarding the German boma, (fortified house,) that houses the Natural History Museum.

    I found the flamingo in a puddle outside the art centre. Is this called irony?

     I have no idea what the green creature is. As soon as it realised it was to be in a photo it accelerated away into the wild.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Water drops

    December 28, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    This waterfall in the park was our destination.
    The volunteer team is two Danes and a Bavarian led by John, a Tanzanian teacher at the Kyosei Traing Centre.
    He took us on an interesting route: I wish he had warned us about the kilometre hike up the stream bed though, then we could have brought appropriate shoes. I'm afraid my tender little muzungu feet were very red by the time we could put our shoes on again.
    The waterfall was pleasant enough and refreshing. If it hadn't been raining as well we could have lazed around for a while. Anyway, the party of rather large Kenyans coming up behind us - can just be seen in the photo where we are descending a bamboo ladder - obliged us to leave so they had room to enter the grotto.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Walk on the wild side

    December 28, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    This is Mt Meru which towers over Arusha. We squashed into a dalla-dalla to the Northern outskirts of town and went for a little walk in the rain to visit a waterfall.

    Looking back towards the city - it holds about half a million people and growing - is an amaizing experience. OK, that was a bit corny, but it is what they grow at this altitude.

    Some buildings are still round houses built with wattle and daub. Although eminently suitable for this climate, cheap and ecological, people regard concrete as more advanced and that is what they use nowadays.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Filling the gap years

    December 22, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    In 2017 Tanzania’s population was estimated at 51.5 million, of which almost two thirds (63.8%) were below the age of 25, (mean age 17.6 years.)

    This year nearly 22 million pupils will be enrolled in school - the numbers I have found seem to vary according to the source. One reason is that an unidentified number of children are never registered with the authorities; hence the current introduction of a national identity card without which no SIM card can be obtained.

    In 2016 the average number of students per teacher was 135. During the last 4 years the number has dropped a little: many teachers have been trained which is why the surge in demand has not made the figures worse. But there is still a huge gap so any child that falls behind or drops out is abandoned. Hence Kyosei and its new school.

    The new school is half an hour outside Arusha in a development area on a plot measuring 90m by 80m. I know because I measured it: believe it or neither seller nor purchaser bothered to do so before!

    The road next to the school should be built in 2020, and electricity and water connected around then. In order to start teaching as soon as possible there is a roof fed tank to collect rainwater, and I have spent some time specifying and getting quotes for a small solar power installation, (which is more than they have funds for.)

    I liked the view of Mt Meru.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Totally Loco - motion

    December 21, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    I took a selfie on a piki-piki on the road to the new school.

    Clumps of motor-cycles wait in strategic locations to grab piki-piki fares who jump on the back like this lady - no helmet provided. In this case she has been re-assured by the petrol tank declaration.

    Dalla-dallas are ubiquitous and cheap: the 3km trip to town from our lodgings costs TSh 400. Usually Toyota Hiace vans with seats for 18 people, they can be seen everywhere running their own bus routes into town, crammed with as many as 26 people inside. If you can't fit inside, hang on the outside or get a tow. Same goes for the piki-piki ride - only 3 on this one.

    Slightly up market are the Indian made tuk-tuks who want TSh 1000 even if they manage to get 4 people inside.

    Dalla-dallas like to flaunt the rules of the road. Here we have one trying to drive up a one-way street.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Roads Scholar

    December 20, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Tanzania is located between 1 and 12 degrees South of the equator.
    The country is renowned for what people dig up. Even before Dr. Leaky uncovered Lucy and evidence of numerous pre-Homo Sapiens peoples, foreigners have come here to take the 885,800 sq. km. of land away. (The 61,500 sq. km. of water doesnt seem so attractive at present but I'm sure that will change.)
    For example, it is the 4th largest gold producer in Africa, and thanks to Tanzania China International Mineral Resources Ltd (TCIMRL), the third largest African producer of iron ore. Coal, soda ash, gypsum, salt, phosphate, and lately graphite, (very large fields have been recently discovered, across the country,) are also extracted in large volumes. Enormous quantities of uranium are being exported with the help of Russia’s Uranium One Inc.
    They have pretty stones as well: diamonds, amethyst, aquamarine, garnet, ruby, sapphire, tanzanite and tourmaline. "Tanzanite" is actually the mineral "blue zoisite". The Tiffany and Company marketing team thought this was too boring and trade marked the name "Tanzanite" for it, referencing the fact that it has been found nowhere other than Tanzania. Nice blue colour.
    Its no wonder the Germans marched in and took over, followed by the British. Both of whom inhibited the creation of manufacturing industries that might compete with their own, limited the education of the people and excluded them from the civil service.
    Despite the best efforts of Julius Nyere, who led the country into independence and whose vision of African family based socialism outlined in the famous Arusha Declaration, (famous here at any rate,) managed to annoy the capitalists, the socialists and the communists, the wealth of the country still today does not flow back to the 50 million inhabitants, most of whom rely of subsistance agriculture for their survival. 2017 figures show a labour force of 24.89 million, of which 66.9% was in agriculture, 26.6% in services / tourism and a paltry 6.4% in industry earning themselves a mean income of 2805 USD per annum. The UNDP Human Development index ranks them 159 out of 189 countries.
    Julius can be lauded for many things, like improving the ratio of highest to lowest salaries from 50:1 in 1961 when the British left to 9:1 in 1976, but in my mind one thing stands out: he united the country without the bloodshed other African countries experienced. This is the most genetically and tribally diverse parts of Africa, reflecting the long time that people have been here. Starting 3.6 million years ago, our earliest known ancestors Australopithicine, wandered around Laetoli, closely followed by Homo Habilis in the Olduvai Gorge and they have been here ever since. . In modern Tanzania there are numerous tribes, covering all 4 main African language groups: Khoisan, (who arrived > 6000 years ago,) Cushitic, (who came from Ethipia 3-5000 years ago,) Bantu, (arriving 2000 years ago from the Niger delta,) and Nilotic speakers from the Sudan who came in the 15th - 18th C. One way he achieved this aim was by making Swahili, the lingua franca of the Omani run East Coast trading route, the offical language.
    They managed to stay out of the clutches of the World Bank and the IMF until 1986, when the Western powers imposed "structural adjustment", driven by large aid donors who directed the Tanzanians into grand but unsuccessful development projects.
    The financial sector in Tanzania has expanded in recent years and foreign-owned banks account for about 48% of the banking industry's total assets.
    As an example - one which has been repeated all round the world - this road to Nairobi has been built with infrastructure development funds. As you can see from the massive traffic loads, it should be a dual carriageway and that is what has now been ordered. Unfortunately, most of the country has no feeder roads for they highway.
    My motorbike is on the 10m access ramp and the standard road system can be seen. Graded, hardpacked road surfaces would not be a problem. These mud roads are simply scraped onto the bush and become unusable as soon as someone spits on them.
    The drain on the side of the road in town is an example of the size required to keep the road surface relatively free from flooding or washouts.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Back at school

    December 19, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    In 2015, with the motto “start small, start now”, Steven Saning'o founded the Kyosei Training Centre Foundation and began teaching English and computer skills to 10 underprivileged students.

    Having dropped out of the Tanzanian educational system himself at a young age, Steven understood the difficulties children without school certificates face . He was lucky to have family able to support him and cover the cost of restarting his education; but he couldn't help noticing that many of his friends and peers were in the same predicament without the support of a family network to help them. High school fees, failed classes, poverty, unawareness of the power of education, family challenges and cultural issues, combined with a “one-shot only” policy in Tanzania that does not allow students a second chance in education, threw up enormous challenges to the youngsters trying to improve themselves.

    In 2009, having successfully completed school and subsequent vocational training and armed with a passion to provide a proper educational foundation for children to support his community, Steven set out to teach the power of education, provide support and create long-lasting change. Initially he worked in the private sector gaining experience, but within a few years was inspired to launch his own free programmes in his own school.

    The Kyosei Training Centre is located in rented premises whilst the new school is built. They have some nursery school pupils, and some who have gained a post-school vocational qualification. The majority of their students are trying to improve their exam scores at different levels in order to complete their schooling with a Secondary Advanced (High School) certificate.
    John is one of the ex-students who is now teaching at the school. We share a room in the dormitory compound.
    The 2 x 20 year old girls are Danish volunteers with better English skills than many Brits.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Around Arusha

    December 16, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Arusha is a growing town that serves as the starting point for many safaris to the West - mainly the Serengeti and Ngorogoro parks - but is itself by a national park, (Arusha NP of course.) It lies at 1300m altitude on the side of the second largest mountain in Tanzania (Africa?) the 4566m Mt Meru.
    The main streets of town are lined with individuals selling handfulls of veggies or fruit from recycled junk turned into stalls, or straight off the pavement.
    I hoped to try some fresh Tanzanian coffee that I thought was being brewed Turkish style in a market cafe. Sad to relate, the kettles just had water and the coffee was instant. At 200 TSh though one doesn't want to complain too much.
    If the main mosque didn't have Arabic writing along the freize it would look just like all the other churches I passed. Most of them seem to be Lutheran or some sort of Pentacostal. I listened to one where there were two choirs taking turns to woo the audience who were all swaying and clapping in time. It certainly seemed a joyous occasion to them. Just as well since I am told that they can easily go on for 4 hours.
    The clock tower is one of the main landmarks as it is the only building on a roundabout. Its claim to fame is that it lies half way between Cape Town and Cairo.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Tribal trinkets

    December 15, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    I walked passed the Mt Meru Market, now named the Masai market as part of the Great Masaii Brand Naming convention, and paused there a while to check out the gewgaws in a large tin shed with 110 stalls lined with identical tourist paraphernalia. Unlike Australian tourist knick-knacks which are made in China, these momentous are locally made. (Its cheaper!)
    Some of the paintings are quite distinctive, copies of those in the cultural museum. Printing copies from a photograph is far too expensive in Tanzania, so the copies have to be made by hand, using oil paints. Fools a lot of Americans!
    I noticed some good quality cloth bags which could have come from anywhere and many rhinos and elephants carved from ebony. Ebony is light on the outside and black on the inside which allows the skilled artisan to make some amazing two tone pieces. Big wooden spoons or salad fork / spoons are nearly as common as giraffes and rhinos and of course brightly coloured Tanzanian shirts which Tanzanians eschew in favour of Man United T shirts.
    Many beads. Many many beads. It was Beadlam in there.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Upright pig?

    December 12, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Being mugged on the streets or catching malaria are the least of one's worries..

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Compound factions

    December 11, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    Down a mud road, just off the end of the tarmac, Stephen and Ritziki have rented a compound from the local butcher. Family, some students and the volunteers all stay here whilst helping at the school that is 10 mins walk away, also in hired premises for now .
    The compound, reached through a narrow gap between buildings which serves as the spout for water collected in the yard, is a series of square, concrete, single story rooms interconnected only by the exterior. They all have a window at the rear and a steel door at the front. Beds are all doubles: two for the family, three for the girls, and two for the boys. Luckily, I have one to myself.
    The tree is laden with mangoes. What a shame they are nowhere near ripe.
    One of the rooms has a camping gas stove and is used to store pans and crockery - as well as another double bed. So this is the kitchen, and home to the motorbike at night.
    We eat in the living room, sitting on sofas around a coffee table.
    The local butcher owns the shop at the end. He chops meat up with an axe, starting at six every morning and selling everything by 2 or 3 p.m. Just as well since there is no fridge.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Health check

    December 10, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Investment in health has diminished in Tanzania as overseas debt repayments take priority following IMF restructuring.

    The ingenious local National Health Service is pioneering techniques, following the lead of Dick Turpin, to restore the budget.

    Other NHS agencies take note.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Arusha

    December 3, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Arriving in Dar es Salaam at 2 a.m. local time I was processed through immigration and customs with scarcely a pause, and strolled across to the grubbier domestic terminal for my trip to Arusha at 10. Once again I found a comfortable bench just behind the security scanners where I could grab a few winks without excessive worry about my bags.
    This little turbo prop took me to Arusha, the nearest big town to Mt Kilimanjaro. I was told that I would be collected from the terminal and sure enough there was a guy there with my name on a piece of cardboard. But it is Africa so I was expected to pay for the tuk-tuk we took to town, which involved going to 3 or 4 ATMs before finding one that worked and only charged me an extra 8000 T shillings to deliver some shillings - the same as the price of the tuk tuk. Its hard though to worry about these surprises when you realise that 8000 Ts is about 3.15 Euros!
    We arrived just in time for lunch and a warm welcome from everyone. In the afternoon I got a Tanzanian SIM and have re-directed WhatsApp to it so comms should work.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    No, not quite the end.

    December 2, 2019 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    I was going to start another trip in FindPenguins but it was too difficult, so I will just keep going.
    Which is what its all about really.
    After "The End" it took a couple of months to sell the Renault van and get visas, tickets, vaccinations etc as I planned a roundabout route back to Oz . Fortune had smiled on me for, 2 days after I had sold the van, the new owner sent me an SMS informing me that the clutch had broken.
    I set off on 30 Nov after having been pampered and fed by my big sister and b.i.l whilst I enjoyed the rain in Sussex and visiting nephews and nieces. Foolishly I had booked to leave Gatwick on Sunday morning, totally forgetting the interminable problems with Souther Rail. No trains early on Sunday morning, and the last train on Saturday turned out to be 2 trains and an intermediate bus journey. Good fortune stayed with me for everything was on-time, I found in the marbled caverns of Gatwick South a small piece of carpet on which to have a kip, the 2 Turkish Airlines flights taking me to Dar es Salaam via Istanbul kept to the chedule and I arrived at 2 in the morning of Mon.
    Istanbul airport is very long and the only way of knowing you are not in Dubai or Singapore is that Duty Free prices are posted in Euros, (though unfortunately coffee is in TLira.)
    Everybody knows that airlines lease aircraft from fleet management companies and there is very little difference in quality between them. Dynamic seat pricing and allocation was one of the first centralised facilities, followed quickly by food supplied local caterers to an international standard of flavour. Savvy airlines have gone one step further and now lease their waitresses and waiters (specially trained to comfort you if the plane falls from 30,000 ft altitude after an accident,) from a central pool, ensuring uniformity of quality and presentation (smile, illustrations of lifejacket assembly, advanced trolley management etc) Thus each airline can focus on the important things, like what to wear, brand management, advertising strategies and free flights for employees.
    This is Any Airline and probably a member of the Star Alliance. So in choosing your flights, worry not about the safety and track record of the carrier but ask, "Is it Any Airline rebranded "? You will not go far wrong.
    And yes, Turkish is Any Airline and the stewards oufits are distinguished by melted, fire engine red berets and modernised janissary costumes.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Fantastic

    September 28, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    For the first time,the chateau de Dieppe is holding a festival "Mer et monde fantastique", a playful mix of medievil,Game of Thrones and Lord of the Ring themes. Everyone is inviteed and the gendarary have given specific instructions on permissable weapons and how to carry them in the streets.
    Some have even come out, and are no longer in the closet.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Final frontier - for now

    September 28, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Last stop in France is the port of Dieppe, an insignificant little fishing village until promoted by King William I for their contribution to his successful campaign tn 1066.
    For some reason they seem more keen to remember the disasterous Canadian campaign on the 19th of August 1942 when they failed to take the beaches.
    What I noticed was the incredible variety of restaurants that have sprouted in town: Moroccan, Antillian, Turkish, Vietnamese, Indian and 'local'.
    The shop fronts too are interesting though not always clear as to their relevance. Hats?    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Cowspiracy?

    September 27, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    The trend nowadays is to vegetarianism and an up-to-date town council doesn't declare itself to be a 'Nuclear Free Zone' but a 'Beef Free Zone'.
    Or maybe its just that this has been and continues to be a major sheep farming area.

    Churches everywhere in Normandy. St Leonards (built 1520-1540) at La Pyle is one such example. Note to campers: there is a tap in the yard which actually works so you can fill your water bottles.    Read more

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