Closing Dinner at Twiga Hotel

We had our closing dinner at the nearby Twiga Hotel - with an ocean view - on Thursday evening. We celebrated our workshop with jokes and reminiscences of our three weeks together, at Kunduchi and on the road. We thanked our partner institution, UDSM Gender Centre, and our sponsor, the APSA, and praised one another for the earnest participation from all sides. We agreed that we would like to stay in touch all around in the future given our common interests and opportunities for collaboration.

Bagamoyo

We had our last excursion today to Bagamoyo which is about 75 km north of Dar along the coast. It was once an Arab dominated slaving port and then a capital for the Germans during their years here. More recently it seems to be an off the beaten path tourist destination and arts center with a theater school, among other things, that attracts students from around the world. We went in order to meet with members of a network of rural women's organizations. We had an informative meeting with them in the morning followed by a nice lunch at one of the local hotels. Then we did some sightseeing, passing by what was once the FRELIMO camp in Dar and then the 13th century Kaole Ruins. From there we visited the 19th century Fort, which served variously as residence, office, prison and slave camp. We saw some of the old German colonial buildings and then passed through town on the way back to Kunduchi.

Fishing in Tanzania

Every morning when I get up around 6 and wander out to the grand, open hotel lobby that looks directly out onto the sea I see boatloads of people coming ashore nearby. I have been wondering the whole time what exactly is going on with these boats. Then this evening as Mave and Kuno were taking a late swim I saw boatloads of between 15 and 30 men per boat going out to sea and could not imagine what they were doing or where they were going as the sun was setting. Well, we informed ourselves and it turns out that the local fishers spend their nights at sea - fishing! They will be much more likely to find fish during the night than during the day. Indeed they use lights over night to attract the fish; we were told that by midnight the shoreline would be dotted with lights. We have seen the large blue fishing nets spread out for repairs on the grounds of nearby houses as we return from our excursions. It turns out that some of the men are divers and will dive quite far down into the sea to fasten the nets. I am not exactly sure what fishes they are catching, but this is clearly their sustenance.

Stone Town

The heart of the island of Zanzibar is the historic district of Stone Town, known for its narrow alleys, beautifully carved doors, aromatic spices, and now filled with small shops geared to the many visiting tourists. We stayed at a nice place near to the harbor called the Abuso Inn. After our busy afternoon and evening on Friday, we followed a nice breakfast on Saturday morning by walking all through Stone Town. We were told that it would be impossible to get lost in the narrow alleyways, because eventually one always finds one’s way to the sea on one side, or Creek Road on the other. Kuno, Mave, Shireen and I spent hours being tourists, snapping pictures and moving from one small shop to another.

Coconuts

We learned so much about coconuts on our trip to Zanzibar, primarily in Brejuu. As noted, it seemed we drove through forests of towering coconut palms. We wondered, of course, how one gets the coconuts down, only to have that demonstrated while at the Palm Beach Inn. Then we learned of all the things that are done with coconuts. The husks can be used to make rope for thatching roofs, after a coconut has been softened by being buried in the sea for a month. The huge fronds can be used to make fences. The delicious meat of the coconut can be ground and used for sauces in cooking and used to make a coconut oil that can be used for many things. The coconut shells can be used to make necklaces and other jewelry. And there is another piece that can be used as a broom! Kuno has enjoyed picking up fallen coconuts at Kunduchi and trying to open them.

East Coast of Zanzibar

After getting off the ferry in Zanzibar we boarded a bus to take us to the Palm Beach Inn in Brejuu, on the opposite side of the island, the East Coast. We had a very knowledgeable guide, who spoke a charming English, from the organization Sahiba Sisters whom we met with in the evening. Our reason for traveling to Brejuu was to meet with the owner of the Palm Beach Inn, a woman who has been involved in Zanzibari politics for decades. For the last 20 years she has run this inn geared toward coverseas guests, but also very pointedly employing local women and men. We saw women harvesting seaweed from the ocean, producing a variety of goods from coconuts, weaving baskets, painting henna ‘tatoos’ and more. The drive to Brejuu was on a narrow but lovely road that had little traffic save for the occasional heavily laden small truck. We drove through the Jozoni and Paje forests where the red colobus monkey, found only in Zanzibar, lives. We saw forests of coconut palms and banana trees.

Ferry to Zanzibar

Our trip to Zanzibar (Unguja in Kiswahili) began at 6:30 Friday morning when our bus arrived to pick us up for the two hour (rush hour traffic) drive to the city center to get our Azam ferry to Zanzibar. We arrived a little early and so had time to run to the nearest bank/ATM and stock up on Tanzania Shillings. There was some free food and drink in the waiting area but we passed; instead we bought more roasted cashews. The trip took about two hours and the boat moves at quite a clip making for the bumpy ride, especially on the way back we are told. Inside we were greeted with a version of MTV and then a movie. We had nice views of Dar on the way out and then mostly only ocean. Things became more interesting once we came in view of land again – the island of Zanzibar.

There were a couple hundred people traveling with us and of course lots of baggage, if not boxes of goods - no doubt for sale. Our fellow travelers were a combination of Tanzanians and tourists, though these days many tourists fly straight to Zanzibar from other high end Tanzanian sites and skip Dar altogether. Sitting right across the aisle from me was a family of five Maasai in their purple, red and blue shukas, arm and leg bangles, elaborate earrings and white plastic or tire sandals. I so wanted to take a picture, but couldn’t without asking and was too embarrassed to ask. Most of the Maasai we see are tall and skinny and stand very straight. The boys and men carry sticks and often have knives – and cell phones - dangling from belts around their waists. One of them today had a Michael Jackson belt and a Liverpool wristband. As we disembarked, in the throng of many, I did manage to surreptitiously snap a picture.

Tanzania Gender Networking Programme

Today we left the hotel again to go to the Mabibo neighborhood to visit the offices of the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme. This group, that has now spawned a Gender Training Institute, has been at the forefront of the women's movement in Tanzania for more than a decade. They have 25 employees and sponsor a biannual Women's Festival, publish many documents, including a voter's manifesto, have a library and internet cafe, do advocacy on a number of issues, work with government agencies etc. We were informed of all of the activities of the TGNP by the Executive Director; afterwards we joined in progress a regular Wednesday afternoon session outside. This one was about schoolgirl pregnancy. It was well attended and members of the audience had lots to contribute to the discussion.

Swimming in the Indian Ocean

The weather here is very consistent at the moment; the high is around 81-85 every day and the low about 67-70 every night. It might be a little cloudier, sunnier, windier or more or less humid on a given day, but that is the extent of the variation. The last two days have been a bit cloudy and quite windy by the end of the day. It has also been very high tide by the end of the day and so when we finally break from the workshop at 5, Mave and Kuno are eager to hit the beach, which is our backyard. Last week they were walking out to sand bars and this week they are riding the waves. Indeed, the waves are so strong that they would be pulled down the shore and have to run back and recenter themselves. Aili's son Max (and her husband) are away the first few days of this week so Mave and Kuno have had to entertain themselves all day, mostly hanging out in the lobby or the room with their electronics.

Mwenge and Kariakoo Markets

Today was a day off and some of us decided to hit a couple of markets. First we to Mwenge Market which is not so far away; it is a craft market and has many things that people would like to take home as gifts. We bought some sandals, cloth bags and artwork. Then we went into the City Centre to the Kariakoo Market. This is a market that sprawls through market buildings, shops and city streets. It is where ordinary Tanzanians in the city center would do their shopping. It is not so much that we thought we would find things to buy there as it was it an opportunity to see the city center and look around. Mave and Kuno were a little overwhelmed; they worried, among other things, that we might get lost in the market.

Machingas

Another ever presence are the mostly young men who venture into traffic to sell their wares at car windows. We learned that they are called ‘machingas’ which is the Swahili version of ‘marching guys.’ We were also informed that with them and most of the roadside sellers one must reduce the stated price by half, perhaps even more if one is a Mzungu. On our bus to Mikumi people bought air time in this way, roasted cashews and peanuts, cassava or potato chips, soft drinks, newspapers, baskets and fruit. We also found many sellers with stands on the side of the road, especially nearer to Mikumi, with many different baskets, with an eye to the tourists going to the national park. Also sugar cane and coconuts, of course.

Mikumi National Park

Well, we had two quite amazing game drives – in our own vehicles but with a guide – at Mikumi National Park, one on Friday evening and the other early Saturday morning. On Friday evening we had the surprise of our lives as we came within feet of two pairs of lions. Remarkably, they did not seem too bothered by us. We were all quite enthralled as we watched them from the open windows of our bus. They were definitely the highlight of the Friday evening drive, though we also spotted a leopard languishing in a tree. On Saturday we enjoyed a four hour game drive and saw a large number of animals: two different kinds of small antelope, many giraffe, small herds of elephant, larger herds of buffalo and wildebeest, baboons, and a couple of hippos enjoying a bath. We saw many, many different birds large and small. Mikumi is Tanzania’s fourth largest national park and it was well worth the trip. Many of our participants had never been to a game park so it was especially fun for them.