"Africans and Americans" Book Available in Tanzania

My book, Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, is now available at the Burunge Visitors Center (BVC), in Manyara Region, Tanzania.

The BVC was created for the management of wildlife and natural resources and for promoting education in these matters as well as tourism. As a resource center, BVC seeks to provide education on the historical and cultural heritage of the area for the local communities and visitors.

As an educator and cultural consultant, I am pleased to collaborate with the BVC. The decision by BVC to acquire my books for their shop simplifies matters for people in Tanzania wishing to buy them. They can contact BVC by email: info@burungevisitorscentre.or.tz or imborutours@gmail.com or using the phone numbers listed here:  http://www.burungevisitorscentre.or.tz/.

Matema Beach, Here we Come

Lately, I have been thinking a great deal about Matema Beach, a little village at the northern tip of Lake Nyasa, Tanzania. I have never visited it, but I am planning to, this summer, with students from the Lutheran Colleges Consortium for Tanzania.

I normally don't blog about places I have not yet visited. I write after I have been there. From all accounts, Matema Beach is different, nothing short of bewitching. Intrepid tourists who get to Matema Beach extol its charm. I find myself dreaming of the magic of the Lake, its sparkling clear water and its gorgeous, sand laden beaches, over which the waves break repeatedly with either a hushed or mighty roar I myself witnessed at Mbamba Bay, further south.

I have been reading about Matema Beach and consulting friends. I know, for example, where to stay. There is the Matema Beach Resort and the Lutheran Center.

I look forward to adding Matema Beach to my list of favourite spots on planet earth. It is going to be quite an adventure, as others have described it, and I hope to join the growing group of bloggers who have written about it, in English, German, Swahili, and perhaps other languages. Matema Beach, here we come.

Lushoto: A Tanzanian Town

I wish I could write a fitting tribute to Lushoto, a small town nestled in the Usambara mountains of northeastern Tanzania. Though small, Lushoto is quite well known, in Tanzania and beyond.







I have visited this town several times, mostly to research local folklore about Osale Otanga and Paulo Hamisi, famous outlaws who operated in this area in the 1950s. Still, I like this town so much that I would come for any other reason.














This region attracts tourists from around the world, and there are several programs here dealing with tourism.












Downtown Lushoto is a hub of activity. The market is here, the bus stop, stores, and other businesses.


























There are many places to stay, and new ones keep coming up. This year, I stayed in this hotel, near the District Office.











This church, just across the road from the police station, has become for me a kind of icon.











A walk in downtown Lushoto is refreshing, because of the cool climate and minimal traffic.












Whenever I am here, I seek vantage points from which to enjoy a panoramic view, the rich blend of trees of different kinds, houses, hills, the cloud-laden skies. I enjoy the peace and quiet, and wonder if anyone can ever tire of visiting this place.

My Arusha Readers

Visiting Arusha is always a treat. There are many people to meet, places to visit, and things to do. One of my joys is meeting my readers. There are quite a few: Americans, Europeans, Tanzanians, and others.

This summer, I spent several days in Arusha. I met my friend, Thomas Ratsim. He and J.M. Tours, the company he works for, have been steadfast fans of my Africans and Americans book. Many American travelers with J.M. Tours have heard about this book from Thomas.

The guys in the photo, taken in the Tarangire National Park during my Hemingway course, summer of 2008, were all with J.M. Tours. They had read Africans and Americans, and they regaled me with tales of how it helps them deal with tourists.

I visited the Arusha Times, which once carried an excerpt of my book. I met Linda, an American fan of the Africans and Americans book, whom I have known for some time, and who offers cultural orientation for foreigners in Arusha. Knowledgeable and experienced, she urged me to write a sequel. Thanks to readers like her, I am working on one.

I met Ingrid, a European teacher I did not know before. She works with school children and likes story telling. She was familiar with my Africans and Americans and Matengo Folktales, and she shared some interesting perspectives on both teaching children and cultural differences.

There are other places I would have liked to visit, and other people I would have liked to meet, if I had more time. One is the Peace House School, where I once gave a talk on the issues I raise in the Africans and Americans book. There, Africans and Americans work side by side. The director thought it would be a good idea for them to have on-going book discussions as a way of learning about their cultural differences.

I would have visited the office of the Global Service Corps, an American organization that sends volunteers to Tanzania and recommends Africans and Americans on its website. I have visited their office several times in the past and seen copies of the book there, for volunteers.

I wish to thank all my readers. Their continuing engagement with my work both inspires and sustains me.

Ecotourism: Hope Or Illusion

Ecotourism: Hope Or Illusion

Cultural Tourism Model: Mto wa Mbu

The Mto wa Mbu Cultural Tourism Program is alive and well, as I noted in an earlier blog post. Now comes the news that the Program has been selected as a model for other such programs in Tanzania. I offer my congratulations, as a friend of the Program.

Here is the report, in the Arusha Times:

By Arusha Times Correspondent

A cultural tourism project at Mto wa Mbu in Arusha region has been picked to serve as a model for others initiated in various parts of the country.

The project has been attracting an increased number of visitors and revenues over the past seven year, generating some Sh63.6 million in 2007 when it hosted 4,094 tourists.

Mto wa Mbu, a fast growing township at the foot of the Great Rift Valley escarpment, is a gateway to the most famous tourist sites in northernTanzania.

The site is among 27 projects being implemented under the Cultural Tourism Programme (CTP) which aims to tap the potential of cultural relics in the country for tourism.

The programme was launched in 1997 with the support of a Netherlands organisation (SNV) which managed it until 2002 when it was taken over by the Government through the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB).

Mary Lwoga, the programme coordinator said the Mto wa Mbu cultural tourism enterprises would be propelled to become a leading site because of its prime location and cultural diversity of the area.

She told reporters that the area has been attracting more tourists whose number has more than tripled from 1,116 in 2002 to 4,094 in 2007.

She said the Government was keen to give a bigger push to cultural tourism because it has a big potential to boost the broader tourism industry, now the leading sector in foreign exchange earnings.

"Cultural tourism is much broader than historical sites and curio shops. In this case, visitors have to be exposed the typical lifestyles of the local communities; their traditional food, dressing, dances and so on and so forth" she said.

She added that Tanzania is endowed with the rich cultural heritage of more than 120 ethnic groups and that since its launching, the programme is already attracting about 30,000 foreign tourists a year to its 27 sites.

"CTP provides visitors with authentic cultural experiences that combine nature, scenery, folklore, ceremonies, dances, rituals, tales, art, handicrafts and hospitality and give a unique insight into their way of life," she pointed out.

Many of the projects which have taken off so far are in the northern tourist circuit extending from Lushoto in Tanga region, through Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions to Babati and Hanang in Manyara.

Outside the northern circuit similar cultural tourism projects are at Mbeya and Rungwe in the southern highlands and Pangani on the coast.

Mto wa Mbu was one of the early cultural heritage projects to be established under the programme, now based at the Natural History Museum premises in Arusha. ends

Revenue from the tourist visits is mainly used to empower women in the villages, promote education and protect the environment.

Tourists and Folklore in Tanzania

Tanzania is one of the places where humans evolved. They did so through making and using tools, as well as creating and using language. From the earliest days, these were the defining characteristics of human beings.

Making and using tools enabled these humans to wrest a living from their environment, providing food, shelter and other necessities, including the skins, bark cloths and other materials they used to cover their bodies against the elements. Language enabled these early humans to name everything around them, thus codifying and storing vital knowledge for themselves and for posterity. Naming is a fundamental form of storytelling.

As they traversed the landscape, dealing with the environment and with one another, humans enhanced their awareness and curiosity about nature and society, which they expressed through myths, legends and folktales.

There are stories about why the two peaks of Kilimanjaro are the way they are, how the hyena got his spots, and why the bat flies at night. There are stories about human behaviour, relationships and the human condition. Through incantations, prayers and ceremonies, humans sought to influence phenomena in this world and beyond.

All these creations, tangible and intangible, passed on informally from person to person, generation to generation, together make up folklore. Folklore embodies and promotes entertainment, education, imagination and critical thinking, even in stories using what appear to be animal characters.

Such is the heritage that today we call Tanzanian folklore. Flowing to us like a current from the past, it gathers new material and acquires new dimensions, expressing the experiences, consciousness, anxieties, joys, and aspirations of contemporary Tanzanians.

As we travel around the world, meeting people and seeing places, we seek stories. Visiting Tanzania, tourists crisscross the vast Serengeti Plain, the Ngorongoro Crater, villages and towns, armed with cameras, notebooks and laptops--to construct stories about landscapes, animals, experiences and people, through photographs, journals, blogs and videos. The locals, in turn, tell their own stories about the tourists. Through the ages, humans remain what they have always been: storytellers.

(Note: At the request of Thomson Safaris, I wrote this article for the Thomson Safaris Safari Journal, 2007. It appears on this blog revised)