A bit of culture...

5th February, 2010

Somehow it has been nearly a week since I last wrote anything on the Bloggy blog space. Much has happened in the past week, but it was not as expected. Let me start this tale for your enjoyment...

As I may have mentioned in the past couple of blogs, I was supposed to be heading to Dodoma with Kagasheki to see if how Tanzanian parliament operates. This trip did not materialise, I am yet to see and hear the sights and sounds of Dodoma. As it turns out, Kagasheki had a motion rejected, so I think he has run off with his tail between his legs a little bit. It was Sunday, the day I was meant to be leaving, at about 10 in the morning, about 2 hours before I was meant to be leaving, that I got a call from the Professor with this information. Since I have been in Dar, I have not actually heard from my boss. It’s a strange scenario.

The Professor himself had gone off on a jaunt to Nairobi for a couple of days, so I was free to do as I wanted. I took this opportunity to stretch my travellers’ legs a bit. I did some touristy things to pass the time, and this my friends is the tale of my roaming around Dar.

Having consulted the guidebook for advice for things to do, I spent most of the morning highlighting passages, and areas on the maps in the book so I would have an idea of what I’d like to be doing. Most of Monday morning was wasted looking through the book and using my pretty highlighter! In the afternoon I decided I would go to Mwenge Craft Market, and possibly to the Village Museum. They looked like they were located close to each other on the map in the book. As it turns out they aren’t. I was able to find the craft market as I had accidently stumbled upon that the other day, but I carried on past that to see if I could find the museum. It turned out that I couldn’t find it. Nevertheless the Craft Market provided me with lots of entertainment.

The market is a little square of tiny shops that are filled with various craft items, some of which are made onsite, right before your eyes. Most of the crafts are wooden sculptures of different things, ranging from chess sets to elephants, to outlines of the African continent. Some items are quite simplistic; some are carved with intricate details. Much of what is found in one shop is found in another, and it must be the case that prices are so competitive. It doesn’t make sense to have so many people selling the same products. Yet, having been into one shop, you are encouraged by the shop owners to go into another, and what could take a couple of minutes to walk around, eventually makes you spend the best part of an hour (and that is with avoidance of most shops) walking around and talking the shop owners. I snapped a couple of photos of people who were crafting away in the shops, and one of the owners has asked me to send him some of my photos. I didn’t spend any money at the market, mainly because I didn’t have very much with me at the time, but I’ll be going back to visit them again, because there are a few bits and bobs that I really liked the look of. I also would feel bad if I didn’t buy anything...the people are so friendly and welcoming, even if it is just to make a quick buck, it’s still nice! I had to explain to every shop owner that I spoke to that I live in Mwenge, and it’s not far for me to come back and make regular trips!

That evening I had a call from my mother, who told me that she and my father are coming over to see me at the end of March. I have still not told the boss that I will be spending time with them whilst they are here, but he hasn’t exactly made himself available to chat. They are coming over for a couple of weeks, during the Easter holidays, and I was asked to see if I could book them a hotel for a couple of nights. So that was my mission for the next couple of days...book a hotel.

As my explorations on Monday were only partially successful, I decided to set out and see some of the things nearer the city centre, starting with the National Museum. The National Museum takes the visitor on a historic journey of the political history of Tanzania/Tanganyika. Starting with the tribal ruling, the early explorers (e.g. Livingstone, Speke, Burton) then the German colonisation, then the British protectorate after World War One, and then to Independence, about 30-40 years later. The downstairs of the museum is primarily a photographic tour of the ages, and there is a number of cracking photos that go with the text. A couple of items are around, but most of the main artefact collection were either upstairs or in the other building. As you head upstairs there is a large airy room which houses the collection of fossils and stone tools, all relating to prehistoric man. The pinnacle item is the Australopithecus Boisei (or Zinjanthropos), which is a skull of an early human ancestor. It was found up near Arusha in the ‘70s by Mary Leaky (or so is claimed by the museum and most programmes featuring the skull, but in reality, a local Tanzanian found the skull and then told the Leakey’s about it). It is considered to be one of the most significant finds in anthropology related archaeology, and it is the main item in the museum. It would possibly be held comparable to the big-ass dinosaur in the main hall of the London Natural History Museum. A few other fossils of somewhat diminished significance are displayed, as are a small collection of small stone tools that were used over 1.7 million years ago. As you follow the room around there is a series of casts taken from various skull, but there is also a cast of some fossilised footprints. The footprints, which are also found near Arusha, are some 3.6 million years old, and they show the tracks of 3 early ancestors. The footprints have been preserved by a seemingly impossible combination of climatic circumstances and the presence of some freshly expelled volcanic ash. Nowadays the site is covered to preserve the footprints from the elements, but there are a number of casts that have been taken to show people in the worlds of museums. Across the courtyard of the museum there is a second building that houses a cultural and natural history section. The cultural room has a large collection of traditional Tanzanian items, which range from hand axes to spears, from baskets to traditional dresses, and other items such as musical instruments, and an example of a traditional house. The natural history collection has lots of coral and crustacean examples, it also has a large number of photographs of wild animals, all of which were taken by one photographer, and unfortunately I can’t remember his name. There are a series of stuffed animals, namely the ones that I saw running around Serengeti and Ngorongoro, so these seemed a bit tedious having seen their alive cousins. There are skulls of a dolphin and a manatee, and also a whole manatee skeleton, and a large model of one. I think they are pushing the conservation efforts on manatees as they have a tendency to be chopped up by boat propellers. Outside of the second building there is a small path that leads to some cars that were owned by Julius Nyerere (the first Prime Minister of The United Republic of Tanzania). There are a couple of beaten up Mercedes and also a couple of very nice Rolls Royce. The Rolls were far more impressive than the run of the mill Mercs.

The plan was to visit the Botanical Gardens whilst I was in the area, however, due to the fact that I am a fool, I completely forgot to bring my other memory card for the camera, and I had used up the one I had with me at the museum. This annoyed me greatly, but it also means that I have something that I can go and see one day when I have nothing to do. On the return journey in a taxi, the driver was talking about the Village Museum. We drove by the museum, which happened to be on the way back to the apartment, and I had a good idea of what I would be doing the following day.

So as Tuesday predictably turned to Wednesday, I ventured out in the afternoon, following a very lazy morning. I jumped in a Bajaj and gave directions to the driver on how to get to the Village Museum. My experience at the National Museum the day before had left me a bit cagey about visiting more museums. Whilst the content of the National Museum is good, I found it quite depressing to see how little investment has been used for the facility. I went to the Village Museum with the notion of not getting my hopes up. When I got to the Museum I was eventually admitted by a friendly clerk, and I chatted to an American guy who is a World Bank consultant with a Nigerian wife. There is a split path as you enter the museum grounds. The term grounds needs to be used as the museum is and outdoors museum. It holds 14 or so different traditional huts that are found in various regions of Tanzania. Each hut is accessible by the public, and you can go in and around the buildings. Some are made from clay that has baked hard, others from bamboo, and others from wood with thatched roofs. There is a couple of notice boards that explain a bit about the people who live in the particular hut, what they do to survive, how they build the hut, and other information that is relevant. It was fantastic to see the traditional huts, and it was brilliant noting how people from the particular region came down to Dar to have their region represented by museum. Some of the huts themselves had different rooms, and you could enter into a fairly light room, and find yourself feeling along the walls of the next room which is pitch black. In the background as you go around the Museum there is a drum being beaten by a local musician. I had just got to one of the last huts before a woman came up to me and asked me for some money to dance. In normal circumstances I would have found this a bit odd, but the guidebook had prepared me by saying something about traditional dances that are performed for a small fee. I sat down on the benches and five women came dancing out from behind a tree, whilst four people played a variety of drums and they all sang. It was brilliant to see and hear, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go to the museum again. It all seems very authentic and it’s an experience that you are unlikely to come across! There was a guy sitting at the Swahili house, who was crafting some clay sculptures. These things had incredible detail, and the guy was so talented. He wouldn’t let me take a photo of his work, but I will go back there with the parents and I will have to buy something, just because it is so amazing! Another guy was selling some paintings that he had done, and some of them were postcard sized so I ended up getting a couple of nice things which I’ll stick into a frame when I get back to England.

As Wednesday dipped its toe into Thursday, I wasted the morning thinking that I would see the Professor at some point. I had seen him the evening beforehand where he had told me about his jaunt to Nairobi. He told me that he’ll try getting the car from Kagasheki so I can start learning how to drive, and he gave me a couple of mangos and a pineapple. I was given a bit more work to do on the BDA, which is a relief because I am getting a bit worried about sitting around and having a long holiday in Tanzania and then having nothing to show on my CV at the end of it. As it happened, the Professor wasn’t around during Thursday day time, so I went to Picolo Beach for a swim and to book my parents into the hotel. Bakari, Ezra and Seif were all there to say hello to me, and I must say that I get treated very well by these people! There was nothing too exciting about Thursday, well except for the electricity tripping during the night.

This morning there was a power cut for a few hours so I went up to UDSM to use the internet and to do some research for the work that I am doing. Then I had a quick trip to the shop before heading back to the Uni which is where you find me now. I am not sure what the weekend has in store for me, but I am hoping that it’s going to involve something. I may even try to do some work on Saturday, mainly because I have wasted a while today writing this thing for the blog. I hope you appreciate it!

Toodles for the time being.

Oh yes, today I was in a dalla-dalla which had another 24 people in...two people had to stand. I think that has to be record breaking!