Why Tanzania?

TANZANIA - remarkable!

     If you travelled to the plains of Africa in the 1870s, there were basically 4 regions from which to select entry:

     From the North, you likely tried southwards along the Nile River, for it penetrated far south.

     From the West, there were many rivers flowing out westwards to the Atlantic, although none were as long as the Nile.  You could take your pick, but beyond lay desert.

     From the South, you would travel by ox and cart travelling northward from Cape Town.  This was how David Livingstone first entered into the continent.  Read about it in Dr. Dillon's book!

     From the East, you would disembark from a sailing vessel at Zanzibar, and there was a clear route westwards into the Interior.  This route became David Livingstone's preferred approach.

     Dr. Dillon and Verney Cameron had been commissioned to find Livingstone, so they, too, used this route from Zanzibar.  Today this country is Tanzania, highlighted below:

African continent, highlighting Tanzania

     The white areas around the perimeter on the map of Tanzania, are lakes:  

to the north - Lake Victoria 

to the west - Lake Tanganyika

to the south - Lake Nyassa

DID YOU KNOW?

     The United Republic of Tanzania used to be two separate countries: Tanganyika and Zanzibar.  In 1964, these two countries merged, and the TAN from Tanganyika and the ZAN from Zanzibar, were combined to give the name Tanzania.

     There are two official languages in Tanzania:  Swahili and English.  Many people are bilingual.

     The population today must be about 45,000,000, and almost 50% of the inhabitants are 15 or under.

     There is a very rich culture throughout the country, music, writings and artworks are distinctive.  There are fascinating places to visit, historical sites and modern places, there are large cities, the biggest being Dar es Salaam across the water from Zanzibar, on the mainland, with close to 4,500,000 people.

Perhaps you now understand why travellers have always loved to visit Tanzania?

     In the 1870s there were no population numbers, no statistics.  And there was a greedy slave trade operating in Tanzania, funnelling thousands from the countryside towards the Indian Ocean to sail north to Arabia for sale in slave markets.  It would give you nightmares to think of it.

     But there are other thoughts of Tanzania in the 1870s, which would give pleasure, and those are of the magnificent animals, still as they were back then, although sadly greatly depleted in numbers.

     The giraffe must be one of the most elegant and graceful of animals, and is the national animal of Tanzania.  Wildebeests and flamingos abound, and all types of birds nest in trees - in fact, each bird species has its own distinctive nest which hangs on tree branches, clearly visible..  

     But the most impressive, the most dignified, the most imperious of all, is the elephant.  Is it the slow almost plodding movement, methodical in its way, swinging slightly from side to side, but so steady and determined? 

     I took the following photos on our tour, all on the same day.  Notice how, in the second and third photo, the elephants appear to be slightly agitated: some of them are running.  We didn't know why:

 Then, a few went to cross the road in front of our vehicle, including this Mother and youngster:

 

Somehow, the mother went across faster than her young one, who turned back to the other side:

     We were moving forward, suddenly a threat to the mother, about to go between her and her offspring.  She charged.  Our driver was alert, and we  speedily veered off.  All I remember was a scream. 

"That was you screaming!" I was told afterwards.  

No photo of the screaming traveller, but

 Alls well that ends well!

     Thank you for joining in these letters.  You may like to know readers have perused this blog in Canada, U.S., U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea.