Tanzania (Culture)

My vacation to Tanzania

8/1/06

Dear Diary,

It's the first day of august and I'm on my way to Tanzania for my first "safari". I was a little nervous about the plane flight because it was also my first time flying, but to make me feel better the stewardess talked to me a little. I told her about how I was worried that I wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying because I don't speak Swahili, but she reassured me that even though Swahili is their primary language, English is also widely spoken. I was surprised she knew that; she says because she works on planes she can go wherever she wants, and she's already been on three safaris. I was pretty impressed, and a little relieved because I could get a heads up on what to expect. She told me the culture is really cool and much of their traditions involve music and dance, Their oral literature like folklore, myths, and poetry are very meaningful and is expressed in a form of dance and song. She also suggested that I bring home woodcarvings and leather shields as souvenirs for family. The tribes believe in unity, family and loyalty to ones tribe, so many beliefs are shown in their art and crafts. I told her I would definitely remember to do so.

I was sitting in my seat thinking about the lions, leopards, giraffes, and zebras. I was trying my hardest not to think about the plane crashing, so I tried to occupy myself by thinking about the animals I'd see in Tanzania. The stewardess had been gone about ten to fifteen minutes by now, that was just enough time to freak myself out. The window to my right taunted me, begging me to look through down to the ground we flew above. I leaned closer, then turned back quickly A few seconds later I tried it again, slowly creeping closer and closer, as if sneaking up on it I almost got there, almost looked through the window then..." Amanda?" The stewardess scared the life out of me she knew I was scared about being on the plane, because I told her earlier. She took me up to the room where the pilots were and that made me feel a whole lot better, mostly because I was so in awe of it I forgot all about my fear. The pilot shoed me some radar mapping things, the flight destination/path procedures and this other electronic device that showed where we're going as well as what we're going over to get there. The one device showed Tanzania's 3 great lakes: Lake Victoria, Tanganyika, and Nyssa. We ha to cross the Atlantic to get there and through some of Africa. Oh and this other electronic thing showed mount Kilimanjaro, that's Africa's largest mountain. The last thing they showed me was a weather ratio map. It showed every country's average weather and precipitation. Tanzania's average climate is 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit and their yearly rainfall is about forty inches. After that we had to prepare to land, so I took my seat.

After I got off the plane I had to find my hotel, but first I need to figure out how I would get there. I had to take a train because Tanzania has a poor economy, so trains are there number one source of transportation. On the train it quickly hit me how obvious a tourist I was, considering 99% of Tanzanian's were native African and the other 1% was Muslim. It surprised me to find out the religion of some was catholic because 50% of Africa was Animist and the other 50% was made up of Islamic and catholic. Once I got to the hotel I was tired I went to sleep.

8/2/06

Dear Diary,

I hadn't realized how poor Tanzania's economy really as until my train ride this morning. I was on the train headed towards the safari place and I was looking out my window to watch everything go by when it struck me how bad some places here have it. Tanzania has very different looking places: the more city-like places that take care of manufacturing and governmental concerns, the outskirts which are more poor, grasslands with trees, savannas with dry, unfertile ground and tribes, and the reservation lands like Selous game reserve, where I'm going, that protect the animals.

The city-like areas, governed by the republic, contains schools manufacturing, and small businesses. The schools are maintained by the central government and are mostly missionary schools. Tanzania has a high literacy rate of 75%, which is actually the highest I Africa. Although Africa is predominantly an agricultural country, which their main export being corn, rice, cotton, coffee, tobacco, and tea. Most of the country is too dry so much of the farming is done in small plots/areas. Even then the farm and people in general come across a big problem in a tiny package. While reading a pamphlet I came across a small article about a deadly bug, the tsetse fly. This fatal fly has made farms unstable as well as kill many people. I was worried about their poverty level and the amount of people who would suffer under those conditions so I decided I would make a donation, thought I don't have much I hope it will help. Well this my stop, talk to you later.

8/3/06

Dear Diary,

Wow, yesterday was nuts! I finally got to go on the safari, I was so stoked! We drove around in this leopard print jeep and saw the land, tribes, and really cool animals. I found out Tanzania has some manufacturing such as petroleum refining; they make cement, fertilizer, chemicals and farm implements. Now your probably wondering how I would find that out on a safari, right? Well when we got there the tour guide was filming one of the Maasai tribal rituals for his TV show. The Maasai is a tribe in Tanzania and in their culture they have many rituals and traditions they practice as a part of their culture. The tour guide filmed Jake, a young Maasai warrior, was undergoing the boy's initiation to becoming a man. It's a bit brutal to hear, basically he goes through a series of tests and then he's castrated, that's the nicest