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East Africa Archive 2004

Orientation | August 12 | Sept. 16 | Oct.1 | Nov. 3 | Zanzibar Pictures | Coursework | Leaders | Program

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August 12, 2004

In the last month and a half, we have moved by bus, ferry, taxi, Range Rover and dhow to see and make arrangements in all of the program locations. We'll try to give a bit of an overview without giving too much away.

We started out in Arusha, a larger town in the northern part of Tanzania. Arusha is the center of organization for the Northern Safari Circuit and is a very busy place. Tour operators, tourists, Maasai in traditional clothes, street vendors, Indian businessmen and UN Rwanda Tribunal employees (to mention only a few) can be seen going about their business in Arusha.

After a few days of paperwork and business in town, we moved to Usa River, a small village between Arusha and Moshi. We will spend some time there learning Kiswahili. The facilities here are really good, and the Kiswahili instruction is even better.

Following our two weeks of Swahili coursework, we traveled to Lake Natron, the Serengeti, and several National Parks. The program will visit several parks and will spend time living with the Maasai, watching the wildlife and learning about interactions between wildlife and human inhabitants. Natron is a beautiful area, and the Serengeti ecosystem is amazing. We were lucky to have good help from our guides for meetings with the Maasai village leaders and explanations of wildlife behavior and local customs.

After we washed the dust out of our clothes and had hot showers back in Arusha, we headed out on a 13 hour bus trip to south central Tanzania. The program will do a long homestay there and will write ethnography papers on different aspects of the culture. The climate is much cooler in this area than other places - making it a very nice place to spend some time.

Next we moved to Morogoro, where there are beautiful views of the Uluguru Mountains. We will spend some time up in the mountains staying with and learning about the Luguru people who are one of the only matrilineal societies in the country. The villages here are on steep slopes with terraced farming and natural forest between.

Bus and ferry took us via Dar es Salaam to some of Zanzibar's small east coast villages. There the program will learn about coastal life and have some time to relax and practice their Swahili. Next we moved to the west coast of the island for some time in the narrow and ancient feeling streets of Stonetown. Of all the places to eat in Tanzania, the wharf in Stonetown may be the best (and the cheapest): you can get all types of fresh seafood, meat, "Zanzibar pizzas", potato and fish cakes, and vegetables grilled to your liking over charcoal.

Dar es Salaam seems big and bustling after our other stops on the way, but the art galleries, infinite types of restaurants (Tanzania's first Croatian restaurant just opened), good local live music and large markets will prove to be worth the time spent stuck in traffic or negotiating the crowded sidewalks.

It's going to be a great program - we're excited to start!

Damon and Megan Hearne
Tanzania Program Leaders