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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Stone me

    January 15, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    In Merelani, (Northern Tanzania, underneath Kilimanjaro,) whilst the women fetched water and did other household chores, Masaai warriors played the ancient game of strategy called Enkeshui, more commonly known as Mancala. They filled the cups with rough lumps of rock such as can be seen in the photos.

    Mancala is perhaps the oldest game in existence. A little evidence suggests it was played 5,000 years ago in ancient Sumeria, (modern Iraq); more evidence that it was played 3,600 years ago in ancient Sudan, (upper Nile); compelling evidence that ancient Egyptians played before 1400 BCE. Whatever.

    In 1967 a Masai tribesman showed one Manuel d'Souza, a man with an eye on the main chance. Thinking he had found saphires he quickly registered four mining claims. Well, the bad news from the crystal gazers was that it was only blue zoite: the good news was that it was found nowhere else on earth and polished up nicely.
    If deBeers could create an artificially high price for common diamonds, Tiffany & Co decided to do it with zoite. The first thing they did was rename it Tanzanite. Then they found it sells itself as it is attractive and rare.

    This shy stone does not like to be photographed and hides its particular beauty behind a blue veil. It suffers from pleochroism, a disease usually associated with politicians who show different colours when viewed from different directions. The colours revealed inside the gem as it is rotated are red-violet, deep blue, and yellow green, but heat treatment removes or reduces the yellow green or brownish colour, maximising the blue and violet.
    Gazing into the blue stone flashes of red can be seen like corona discharges or the interior of a well lit fire. I've never seen it before and would have bought it on the spot - except that I did not have half a million USD in my pocket and the nice lady would not take my IOU.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    South by South West

    January 19, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    My internal alarm clock was as reliable as ever, waking me at 4 a.m. to catch a tuk-tuk at 5. I sat for 45 minutes watching the rain and wondering whether the pre-booked driver was reliable and would get me to the bus station on time. He was: to the minute.

    Now Johni and Bahati, my room mates, had both lectured me sternly about the dangers of being out during the dark and the prevalence of thieves and other miscreants infesting the bus station. They insisted that they would get up when I left and give the driver explicit instructions with dire threats about seeing me and my luggage on to the bus itself. They were sleeping peacefully as I crept out.

    In the event we arrived immediately in front of the Arusha Express bus as it reversed into its allotted parking space, so as soon as the door was opened I could leap aboard with my stuff. One or two tried to get my bag - to put it underneath or on the roof or who knows where, but the tuk-tuk driver Mroso Bajaji successfully fended them off.

    My choice of seat was behind the driver, but the bus layout plan had not shown the engine air intake and filter between us. It proved to be the same height as my bag on the floor, so after admiring the steam-punk instrument panel, I settled down comfortably to doze with ample legroom to stretch out. Alas, ample African buttocks had compressed the ancient foam cushion, eventually reminding me of the route my sciatic nerve takes from around my knee to just above my coccyx.

    The driver was obviously experienced and confident, throwing the 60 seater bus, (we cannot call it a coach, for they are reserve for the Dar es Salaam trip, "Royal class",) with verve and aplomb. Inferior motor bikes and tuk-tuks displayed their reverence for the king of the highway by moving onto the verge so that the bus could overtake without slowing down. All this I saw through the swirling rain and road spray, wiped into streaks by the tired wiper blades.

    Along the way we stopped at seemingly random places to collect country folk, people squeezing inside and bags of beans / maize on top, momentum being so grudgingly lost that the bus was away again whilst the conductor was still on the ground. It reminded me of jumping onto the back of one of the pre-occupational health and safety, quintessential, red, London, double-decker buses.

    The free flow of traffic on Tanzanian highways is impeded by two peculiarities: sleeping policemen and sleeping policemen.

    The first type are found buried across the road on the access to built-up areas, like mini town walls, or straddling vulnerable infrastructure like bridges. Initially this meant slowing down to 30 kph or so to negotiate the obstacle and then blowing a substantial diesel smoke trail as the bus commander gunned the engine. After a few hours the strategy changed in order to lose the minimum amount of velocity. This maneuver required driving on the on-coming side of the road and veering diagonally across the bump before flicking the charabanc inline. Particularly useful when passing trucks and cars, but I was glad not to be at the back of the bus.

    The second type are found comfortably waiting under trees on camp chairs with picnic items around them. They are to road users what fishermen are to fish, although in this case there is no alternative but to take the bait. It was sufficient to collect an autograph on the bus log and I guess the driver with the most signatures at the end of the month got a prize.

    Another delay though less frequent, (only 4 or 5 in 1000 km,) was caused by driving over single axle weigh bridges. 7,200 kgs front and 9,800 kgs rear if you are interested.

    Vehicles of character and a certain age frequently vociferate and this one had two squawks signifying disapproval. A loud banshee wail fading to an asthmatic wheeze as a speaker collapsed was caused I presume by an 80 kph bus speed limit. I wondered at first whether it was some sort of dead-man warning but since it provoked no reaction, I assumed that it wasn't. Or maybe it was and he was.

    Once on the undulating road in the hills South of Arusha, a second cry of protest could be heard on the descent when the engine braking system was electronically activated. It might have been the sound of a thousand horses blowing foam after a good gallop, or it might have been the engine breaking apart, but the driver kept it going until the very bottom of the trough whereupon he needed to grind down a gear to negotiate the upward slope. Who needs inertia?

     The schedule was so tight that rest stops were infrequent. We stopped once in a bus station where hawkers plied their wares through the windows of the bus; mainly peanuts, bananas and lolly water. I did notice the occasional fried something wrapped in the Guardian (Tanzanian version) but was not tempted. I brought some things with me to eat but never felt hungry.

    Once we stopped in the middle of nowhere for the passengers to relieve themselves in the bushes. The driver nipped out quick and was back almost before the people had alighted: I wasted no time and returned to the sound of the engine being revved up. Oh what fun to see folk flushed out of the foliage like pheasants frightened by a gun dog.

    The road down into Mbeya narrowed and the edges became ragged but we were due to arrive at 2300 hours and by golly we would. And we did.

    By this time I was happy to get out and even happier to be met by Brother Michael, from the Benedictine monastery which will be my next workaway. He did not waste any time but whisked me away to a diocesan hostel where I could spend the night for about 10 euros, including 3 meals.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Mbeya

    January 20, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Next morning after a decent breakfast of eggs, bread and honey I was escorted by the Brothers to the bus station for another short ride to my destination, Sumbawanga. This is the home of the Benedictine Monastery and where I would be catching up to Bro Gasper Toke, my host.

    I caught the 10 o'clock local bus which cruised along gently at 50 kph whilst I was soothed by some traditional style, modern Tanzanian songs played on a pretty decent sound system. I could not figure out the duration of the trip beforehand, but made sure I was running on empty just in case. Fortunately, as this turned out to be 8 hours travelling with only one "comfort" stop in the bush.

    Once more I was rescued from the ever helpful touts at the bus stop by another member of OSB, Bro Clements who drove me to another diocesan hostel for the night. 8 euros + 2.20 for chicken and rice and banana + 1.80 for a couple of Serengeti beers. Best of all, there was hot water and a shower that worked all by itself. So for the first time since leaving Europe I went to bed feeling pampered and clean, so much so that I repeated the experience the following morning.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Mvimba monastery school

    January 21, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Well, after my relaxing morning I discovered that Bro Gasper was not there, but another bus ride away in Kipili. I also found that Bro Clement was in fact the headmaster of a school of 700, including a hundred orphans who boarded. Before catching the bus at 11:30 he gave me a tour of his school.
    I didn't ask about the Chinese writing on the wall adjacent to the playing fields, except to discover it was the translation of the Latin beside it, but I am intrigued and will investigate.
    The government is trying hard to encourage people to switch from cooking fuels, from charcoal to gas. These three bean cookers caught my eye as the gas conversion (look at the window) reminded me of the bunsen burners in school biology labs.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Kipili at last

    January 21, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Then on to the very local bus with a couple of young chicks for the hour long journey to Kipili. Well thats how long the first guy said it would take. The second said 2 hours and Bro Gasper texted me to say 3. It took 4 and didn't go to Kipili but stopped 8 km short as the road up to town was a spur off the highway. Luckily I had WhatsApp access so could let Bro Gasper know. He came down in their LandCruiser and carted me and 2 other muzungus who were visiting the opposition (Lutheran missionaries,) back to the village.
    And here I am beside the waters of Lake Tanganyika .. .. ..    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Speaking in tongues?

    January 24, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Here is the rotund Brother Gasper Toke, who, surprisingly in view of his name, does not carry a nominal Government Health Warning, (Surgeon General advises ...) He is hosting me in his camp at Kipili.

    The first thing he wanted me to do was to drive with him down to one of the local towns, Namanyere, where his buddy the parish priest was organising a workshop for young parishioners. I was to tell them about my travels and experiences, no doubt as an antidote to a day of earnest solemnising. So I told them to stop believing in Father Xmas and that people would help them if they helped themselves.

    Then Toke, as he is known by the multitudes, translated into Kiswahili. He spoke for 3 times as long as I had and managed to get them laughing and joining in every 3 minutes. I still have no real idea what he wanted me to say; or if he translated what he wanted me to say rather than what I did say; or even what the whole workshop was about. But they seemed to have fun.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Low point of my trip

    February 3, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    From being under the high point of Africa, Mt Kilimanjaro, I am now at Kipili beside the low point. The Great Rift Valley here is submerged by Lake Tanganyika, (named from Tanganika, "the great lake spreading out like a plain",) whose bottom in this southern basin lies 642 meters below sea level; a depth of 1470 m. About 18% of the world’s unfrozen surface freshwater is held in it.

    The area first came to the attention of Europeans when the famous Welsh actor, Richard Burton stumbled upon it with his fellow thespian, Richard Speke, whilst making "Mountains of the Moon". More recently, you might have seen a Monty Python version called "Pole to Pole" where a slightly stunned Michael Palin sails the length of the lake on the ferry, MV Liemba. Rumour has it that David Livingstone was also on location here, but I can find no mention of any film of that in IMDb.

    The scenery is as pleasant as you would expect; but doesn't reveal it's uniqueness, so here are some "fun facts" for the next Trivial Pursuits game in your local pub.
    ⦁ It is the longest fresh water lake in the world and the second deepest after lake Baikal in Russia.
    [depth = 1433 m / 4700 ft; length = 677 km / 420 miles; width = 50 km/ 31 miles]
    ⦁ its somewhere between 9 to 12 million years old, though some claim the bottom waters may be over 20 million
    ⦁ the Rift Valley here has formed three basins without any drainage: the contents either evaporates or overflows
    ⦁ the lake surface may have fluctuated up to 300 meters lower at than it is today: with the high evaporation rate it rarely overflowed into the 320 km Lukuga tributary of the Congo River and the sea. On average water remains in the lake for 440 years.
    ⦁ Tanzania’s second largest river, the 475 km Malagarasi River, is older than the lake. It used to flow directly into the Congo River from the East but now is captured by the lake.
    ⦁ Life has not yet been found in the bottom 1200 meters of the lake as it is too high in hydrogen sulphide or too low in oxygen. But I'm haven't found anybody who has looked.
    ⦁ Unusually, the water in the lower depths is only 3° C colder than the 25° C surface temperature. Nobody knows why.
    ⦁ Winds can stir things up a bit, even causing 6m waves during storms; which helps stop bilharzia snails spreading but doesn't mix the layers of water up very much.
    ⦁ The nutrient carried into the lake is negligible; fish rely on algae fed by nutrients rising from the bottom.
    ⦁ There are over 350 species of fish, 95 % endemic, (4 predatory and 2 types of sardine,) as well as indigenous snails, shrimps and crabs. The lake's incredible diversity makes it an important resource for the study of speciation in evolution.
    ⦁ The locals say that the crocodiles - freshies not salties luckily - and hippos generally don't cause a problem except perhaps at dawn and dusk.
    ⦁ All the usual invasive plants, such as lantana, duckweed and the toon tree, can be found choking the shoreline. Surely some, like the coffee senna, the castor oil plant and my favourite, the Nile Cabbage could be harvested?    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Food for thought

    February 4, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    A 2016 study reported in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" discovered that fish stocks are inversely proportional to water temperature. So as the water in the lake has been getting warmer, fish levels have been decreasing. We no longer know why things are heating up - scientists had a pretty good theory but ScoMo and other politicians have set them right about that.

    Anglers going after Goliath tigerfish and Nile perch don't appear to have much effect on stocks; and nor do the traditional hook & line or gill net fishermen in their leaky canoes.

    Clearly commercial fishing, which in the 1950's started using the infamous artisanal lift nets and industrial purse seines, has had a pretty big impact. There are about 800 fishery sites and around 100,000 people involved. But the industry collapsed in the 80's so I am not sure how many fishermen are actually making a living, especially as there are an increasing number of juvenile fish being caught. The catch in 1995 was around 196,570 tons. This fisherman has hooked a piece of Tanganyika rock, or maybe its a stonefish.

    So here is the dilemma. Fish stocks declining as temperature rising. The only option is to reduce commercial fishing.
    But these fish provide 60% of the animal protein consumed in the region. And children are turning up at school malnourished even now.

    Go figure.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    What Stanley really said.

    February 6, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    The press are quick to spot a good line and render it more immediately resonant to local audiences. So it is with Henry Morton Stanley's famous quote of which Dr. Livingstone was the recipient.

    In fact he said, "Father Schynse, I presume” when his Emin Pasha Relief Expedition stopped in the neighbourhood of Bukumbi Mission in September 1889 to pick up linen, shoes and donkeys from the priests. Lacks impact though, since nobody has any idea of who Fr. Auguste Schynse was, hence the alteration.

    Bukumbi belonged to the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa of Algeria better known as the "Pères Blancs" or "White Fathers", founded to feed and indoctrinate the many Arab orphans left after the Algerian famine of 1867. Unusually their vows insisted that they dressed like locals and ate the local cuisine.

    In 1878 ten missionaries left Algiers to convert the Arabs and negroes of Central Africa. A couple of previous attempts had ended in the guides massacring the caravans, but this time they got through, establishing posts at Lakes Victoria Nyanza and here by Lake Tanganyika. Unlike other missionaries who did everything they could to stop the valuable slave trade across Lake T and soon got forced out, the White Fathers bought as many as they could; and released them. Whether manumission was conditional on submission to the Pope I leave for you to decide.
    This ruin by Kipili was one of their centres as far as I can tell. It was closed over 50 years ago and abandoned. The local Bishop who owns the land wants to make it a tourist attraction but I think it is too far gone as nobody has even weeded the place since the priests left.

    More trivia to amuse and divert you.
    · the Pere Blancs are not a religious order according to Vatican rules. Individuals can own their own property; but they may use or dispose of it only at the direction of the superiors.
    · in their Rule, each house must contain not less than three members, which means you need many brothers to set up strings of missions across Africa.
    · they never changed from wearing Algerian Arab clothing: white gandoura, (cassock,) and burnous, (mantle).
    · rosary and cross are worn around the neck in imitation of the mesbaha of the marabouts.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Kipili

    February 8, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    The village of Kipili didn't exist 100 years ago when Tsetse fly and slavers were flitting about.
    It hardly exists now.

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Dormitory block

    February 12, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    The buildings on this site of St Bernard's House, for it is not yet an Abbey or Priory, were erected by donation in the late 80s and have been decaying since then. The mattress, for example, crackles as the foam disintegrates and conforms to ones body shape - provide that shape is a concave U. At the back of the room a small, tiled corridor serves as one's private bathroom: the old plastic WC with a shattered plastic seat at one end and in the middle a shower rose, faded, from which dribbles muddy water pumped up from the lake. Underneath it a leaking tap fills a 25 litre bucket daily providing ambient music throughout the night.

    Yesterday evening I was summoned in the dark to help Bro James start the small 2 stroke Honda which moves the lake up to a tank above the dormitories. Since he had been trying to start it for 1/2 hour it was well flooded so the first task was to remove and clean the spark plug. Only there was no spanner: a boy was sent to rouse a nearby farmer who had one. Whilst we waited for him I removed the air cleaner and tipped the sponge filter onto the ground, not wanting to handle the black saturated grunge that served to clean the air. Bro James had no such qualms and picked it up to squeeze the oil and water out, but alas it completely fell apart and could not be reused. Eventually we removed and cleaned the plug and it started. Like the buildings, it had never been maintained.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Kitchen garden

    February 14, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    The smoke blackened room used as a kitchen is so uninviting that food is prepared on open fires outside.
    Susanna is seen here boiling beans whilst Anastasia is butchering some fish on the old bed springs serving as a kitchen table.
    In Africa, all sorts of hangers-on gravitate to the kitchens when food is available and this mother with her two offspring are enjoying their victuals provided by the monks meagre food allowance. Apparently our host Bro Gasper keeps some of the allocation to fuel his 4WD so that he can visit his mates in Sumbawanga. This has caused tensions with the German architects from supertecture who are actually doing the building work and feel that the addition of vegetables would give them a better balance diet and who believe that occasional fruits would not be a luxury: especially since their contract with Mvimba Monastery stipulates that they should be fed.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Building site

    February 15, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    The first buildings to go up will be an accommodation block for the supertecture group. The young architects have designed a group of old containers to sit on a prime location by the lakeside. In contrast, an adjacent building created in a more traditional African vernacular sits abandoned except for the occasional pig.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Sisters

    February 16, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    About a kilometre away from the monks, three jolly Benedictine sisters have created a self-contained but still decrepit House and warmly welcome visitors.
    The big attraction at the moment is the huddle of 1 week old puppies with whom the cat has fraternal feelings. They keep pigs, chickens and a bowl of pigeons for nourishment and to sell the eggs. Behind the birds a mosquito net has been hung over the dog basket.
    One of the visitors is a German lady who has been trying to establish a micro-bank in a nearby town. She has returned because the capital her church had collected mysteriously disappeared. The ladies who received the funds used them as intended and paid back the loans, but the manager of the funds cannot explain where the money has gone. Africa!    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Big House

    February 20, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Since my host has spent the last 4 weeks away from the site I have not progressed far in helping sort out the project management, so I hitched a ride with the Abbot back to the main monastery so make a report.
    As one might expect, the monastery is populated with monk eys. There are only a few priests and many Brothers all of whom are generous in their welcome and hospitality.
    This place is a model of how the Kipili site should be, with agriculture, animal husbandry, workshops and vocational training facilities as well as monastic buildings. Why it isn't has been revealed to me, obliquely.
    It seems that Bro Gasper used to be the Procurator, (the equivalent of an Operations Manager,) here until a year ago. Then his inability to handle money in a transparent way provoked the Abbot into sending him to Kipili. Since he has no talent for management and feels he has been demoted, he avoids the place as much as possible. The Germans have noticed as well as me! Now they are stuck because they do not know what to do with him, and the African culture in a Benedictine environment does not allow anyone to make suggestions to the Abbot who is assumed to know everything about everything.
    My documents about improving processes has therefore been referred back to Bro Gasper for action, which nobody expects to eventuate.
    Since the handling of the money entrusted to him has been used in a way that I can only describe as dishonest, in Australia it would be illegal and the Charities Trust would investigate, I would have thought the Abbot would attend to the spiritual side - the immoral behaviour - without delay. But this is Africa; and the Catholic Church has survived for this long with a practical attitude to peccadilloes. And maybe the Abbot is doing something in a round-a-bout way, who knows?
    Benedictine communities belong to Congregations, which start with one Abbey grow by spawning off-shoots. This one belongs to a German Congregation, the Missionary Benedictines of St Ottilien, founded in 1884 which has spread into 55 Houses around the world . The procurator from HQ, one Fr Anastasius, has just been to audit the activities here and left rolling his eyes. For example, an African is responsible for looking after his family, and if he has money in his hand is expected to share some of it. The idea that the money is not his is beyond anyones's comprehension: I see the cash, its in your hand, therefore you have money, therefore you share it. Just because you joined another group does not relieve you of your duty so be sanguine. Some Brothers with less intellectually developed notions even question why they can't have a young girl to look after them.
    It all sounds as if stories of the Medieval Church had come to life and I anticipate a large meal with choice wines at the home of a Tanzanian Prince Bishop. Well, maybe I'm just having funny dreams after an unrestricted diet of beans, ugali and rice.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Head office

    February 20, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The grounds cover an area of rich agricultural land about 3 by 4 km square. About 60% I would guess lies fallow for lack of manpower - and equipment.
    They have all the usual farm animals and also a crumbly cat. One Brother has started a salami factory leisurely extruding some tasty beef. They use pre-mixed German sausage spices so could do with a bit of spicing up! (Garlic, pepper etc)
    The new church is the Abbot's pride and joy. Just love the scaffolding.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Centre for advancing backwards

    February 22, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Look up from the Monastery towards the hill in the distance: then gaze down in silent contemplation of the buildings from the site of a future meditation centre.
    The Man himself: Pambo Abbot of Mvimba glows brightly as he poses with an insouciant yet debon air on top of his rock on which he too wishes to build a church.
    The landscape up here is a primary pebble-dash, though the pebbles are quite large. In fact, with a little application it could be turned into an African mega-zen garden - eminently suitable for a retreat centre.
    Of course, there is no money for a project like this and the reason the Abbot is with us is to butter-up the German representative of supertecture who has been visiting and who is to be cajoled into finding donations. The monks descriptions of their ideas end up sounding like an advert for a French Village de Vacances, where impoverished street kids can bask in the healthy air, absorbing the peacefulness of the unspoilt countryside. I keep my mouth shut about the cost of getting to the place which would eliminate 99% of poor Tanzanian children since I know this is benevolence on display and really, they just want a church to brag about.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    1

    Roadside halt to be.

    February 23, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    On the way back to the airport at Mbeya I Stopped at Sumbawanga, where Mvimba have a house and the secondary school, (see photos from 20th Jan). This time in true cargo cult style, the brothers offered a good meal, wine and free lodging as I was travelling with the German moneybags who had to placated with rich offerings so that he would keep returning.

    One of the projects dear to the heart of the Bro Superior - Nicholas, the bloke in charge - is the construction of a truck stop / service area on the main road heading East. We spent an hour and a half getting there, subjected most of the journey to an excited expose of his concept. In summary, he wants to build a super-loo, (sic), surrounded by a restaurant, motel, rest area, car wash, market and a secondary school for girls with babies. The multi-story loo, though a little potty for some, will be a wind powered, content rich and flush-full of various stimulating and attractive designs to tickle the imagination (at least); thereby drawing visitors to the edifice like flies to its contents.

    Attached to the complex is a large agricultural expanse. Capitalising on the output of the former to feed the crops, the range and variety of plants will extend beyond the existing sunflowers and maize to include school dinners and a tree plantation - and raw materials for the superloo.

    It all seems so obvious when explained like that; cause, effect and solution all in one facility. Hopefully it will be equally compelling to the 2 buses and 3 cars per hour that use the road currently.

    We had fun in the group flying the German's drone around to measure the perimeter so that the architects could mull over Design focussed on Award Winning Colonic Vacation. Someone parked their wheelbarrow out along the road but I could not see any Irishmen so I left it. It was full of holes anyway.

    After flight above ground we decided to walk through the ground as the morning rain had loosened the surface nicely and we favoured enhancing by tactile stimulation the architects Vision. Perhaps studying the output of a Great Artist like Twoloos Lautrac might have been more productive, but instead we walked barefoot a couple of km, squidging warm, soggy mud and something else through our toes, down to the shallow lake where we lunched and had a siesta on an artificial hill above the primal ooze.
    Work on site has commenced but not very advanced yet, so instead of a visual of the above, be amazed at the at the guards' houses and marvel at the cattle. (Ah! Thats where the 'something else' came from.)

    Now don't poo-poo the concept too quickly. This is a country where only 30.2 % of households have, (to use the Governments words,) "improved toilet facilities", ie running water. It may be a novelty but it also fulfils a necessary utility. Remember the words of the sage: "If you can do do do."    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Every day is Xmas Day.

    February 26, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    This explains all.
    A Summer camp to teach Tanzanians about the muzungu Father Xmass! No wonder they don't feel the need to exert themselves to make money to get the things they desire.

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Last stop in Tanzania

    February 29, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Alas, Saint Nicholas made a unilateral decision to go to the airport by bus, so I didn't get an easy trip to Mbeya where I was to stay a night with the Bros before flying out the next day.
    Last time at the bus station it was dark and raining, this time it was light and raining. As I sat on my bags sheltering against a wall with my brolly covering as much as possible - an exercise in futility when the rain drops bounce half a metre back off the ground - I vainly tried to contact Bro Michael who wasn't on WhatsApp for some reason. In the end I managed to contact the Procurator in Mvimba who organised a lift to the House for me. There are only 3 monks resident but all were happy to see me at supper that night.
    Next morning Bro Michael took me to see their farm, which is right behind the main house. The pasture feeds the cows who appear to enjoy his company, (might be different if he was a friar though,) and they keep chickens, ducks, rabbits and turkeys.
    Bro Guido, the Brother Superior, wasn't going to show me his workshop but I barged in all the same. As soon as I admired the traditional wood-working bench which I not seen in use in Tanzania we became good mates. Turns out he built the thing himself. Since 1970 he has been turning out these little marquetry boxes for use as tabernacles. They are precisely made and I congratulated him on being the only cabinet maker in the country as most workmen seemed to be happy using their legs as a vice and living with the slipshod results. He was chuffed was Guido and so he should be.
    Well Michael the ex-mechanico, (as he claims,) says is happy to take me to the airport in his sports car for a mere 30,000 TSh and I am happy to give him his outing as I can't be bothered with another bus. He charged me another 20,000 for accommodation which took me by surprise because I was just getting used to being treated as a guest of the Monastery! But they too have very little money to keep the place going so I wasn't too worried, especially as its about Euros 7.
    A rather subdued performance from a mechanico I thought but then it was raining again as we drove to the airport. Corona fever had reached even this far and staff were being made to wear those rather ineffective and uncomfortable paper face masks. The security man even checked every mouth entering the terminal with a digital thermometer. My main concern was trying to get into the place without a ticket: I was told that all I needed to check-in was my passport and indeed this was the case until now. The door guard was having nothing of this and summoned an airline rep to come outside and print me something, which she duly did.
    At check-in we discovered that the flight to Zanzibar was Zahn Air not Air Tanzania, even though both appeared on the billing as Hahn Air. As far as I eventually worked out, Hahn is a booking company. This meant that I couldn't check my bag through to Zanzibar and I had 30 minutes to change terminals. Air Tanzania gave me a phone number to call and Mr Reuben said he would arrange for the plane to wait.
    Well I arrived 5 minutes before take-off - I could see the small plane on the tarmac - but the lady refused to get me on it. It seems that she has a problem with Mr.Reuben who it turns out works for another company, Coastal, and presumably made some unwelcome advances to the young Zahn Air lady. My famous charm turned her round and she booked me on a later flight with yet another carrier - for another USD50. In the end I arrived at the Malinda Hotel an hour later than predicted.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    1

    Stone Town

    March 1, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Even though Tanganyika merged with the Zanzibar Archipelago in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar still considers itself almost independent, or at least the leader.
    One claim to fame is that it held the shortest war in history. The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 lasted less than an hour, between 38 and 45 minutes.
    It was the usual story of gun-boat diplomacy and closely followed the Imperial rules of engagement:
    1. Sultan appoints a successor without consulting the British
    2. Miffed British Consul demands appointment of a more tractable puppet, Hamud bin Muhammed
    3. Sultan disdains option
    4. Royal Navy has some target practice on the Sultan's Palace; 4,100 machine gun rounds; 1,000 rifle rounds; and 500 shells were launched.
    5. Hamud found to be a worthy successor.
    6. War ends
    Now the town is invaded by hordes of unsuitably or partially dressed tourists flouting local sensibilities in the humid 34 degree heat.
    ------------
    One building, now the home of the Baraza La Manispaa Mjini or Municipal Council, is noteworthy for being "generally considered one of J.H. Sinclair's less-significant works"; perhaps not surprising for a man who after finishing his apprenticeship in 1891 joined the prestigious architectural office of John L. Pearson in London but "showed no great promise as an architect".
    Since he couldn't be an architect John Houston Sinclair became something in a new financial audit department of the Foreign Office in December 1893. They quickly shunted him off to East Africa to become the the local auditor for the East African Protectorate in Kenya, beginning a career in East Africa that would span 29 years.
    After three years in Mombassa he was posted to Zanzibar in April 1899 where, not learning from experience he built a number of structures in Stone Town, in a style described as "Saracenic," a mish-mash of Arabic, Portugese, Italian, Greek, Indian and Gothic vernaculars.
    The building was commissioned by a rich rich Indian merchant, Mohamedbhai Sheikh Hoosenbhai, who belonged to a Bohora family. Begun in 1922 and completed in 1923 it was originally a tenement block for clients of varying status, located in the Malindi Quarter of Stone Town on the edge of the creek that divided Stone Town from Ng'ambo. Thus, it is all facade and the rear is virtually undecorated.
    This is evident from the rent records that the owner's family occasionally occupied the building when tenants were scarce. In an effort to secure higher rent, the building was leased to the Senior British members of the Zanzibar protectorate probably around 1925, after JHS concluded his his time in Africa having reached the pinnacle of his career in the position of Resident from 1922-1924.
    Stone Town is now on the World Heritage list, with access to international funding to restore significant buildings. The canny Town Council now describe Bharmal Building as a beautiful, historic edifice exemplifying the rich Zanzibar fusion of Oriental and Romanesque architecture and plans are afoot for its restoration.    Read more

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