THE BOMB
It is difficult to recall any occasion in recent history during which Tanzania has received so much international media attention as it did in the days following the setting off of a powerful bomb near the US embassy in Dar es Salaam at 10.45 am on August 7. Ten people were killed and scores injured. The bomb, whose explosion was heard six kilometres away, destroyed the Eastern side of the embassy and seriously damaged five adjacent buildings. Twenty two cars, three motor cycles and five bicycles were destroyed. It damaged the Nigerian Embassy and the residences of several Ambassadors and High Commissioners. Senior reporter Kajubi Mukajanga wrote in the Dar es Salaam ‘Daily Mail’: ‘The wreckage, the screeching Red Cross ambulances, the stern paramilitary unit, the hordes of reporters and TV crews, the sombre atmosphere, made the vicinity of the embassy like a war zone ….. Dar es Salaam, once called the rumour capital of the world by Mwalimu Nyerere, ….. succeeded in proving him right. Theories were flying all over. It was revenge by the Oklahoma bombers …. a missile had been fired from the Indian Ocean …. .it was the work of Saddam Hussein …… ‘

DEPORTATIONS
The South African BUSINESS DAY quoted on March 23 a report from Dar es Salaam to the effect that Tanzania had deported illegal aliens from several countries including Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan and Saudi Arabia in a move to check increasing Muslim fundamentalism (Thank you David Leishman for sending this item -Editor).

THEFT BLAMED ON MALARIA DRUG
A court case which received wide publicity in the London EVENING STANDARD and other British newspapers in April concerned a geography master at Harrow School who was found guilty of stealing £35,000 paid by parents for a school trip to Tanzania in 1996. The accused said in court that he began to behave oddly after taking the anti-malaria drug Larium. Part of the money had been used by the teacher to get fit before facing a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.

STAR LETTER
The ‘star’ readers letter in the July-September issue of the BBC’S FOCUS ON AFRICA came from a reader in Handeni who complained bitterly that Tanzania was always in the international limelight during the Nyerere years and during his crusade against colonialism but that Focus’s cover of Tanzania nowadays was insignificant. He went on: ‘You may consider Tanzania boring and its people weak-willed and timid. Well, I have news for you. Our nation is engulfed in economic chaos and decline. …. Our health and education sectors are failing. The majority of our people are pathetically poor. And yet ‘Focus on Africa’ still finds nothing of interest to say about us!’

NOT FAR AWAY FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN!
Adam and Eve saw the light of day among the savannahs and the forests of Africa. This announcement from the Vatican, where an international conference on human genoma was held earlier this year, was quoted in the April 30 issue of the Italian daily LA REPUBLICA. The article went on: ‘Father Angelo Serra, a Jesuit at Milan’s Catholic University, explained that the Garden of Eden, where human beings appeared for the first time approximately 100,000 to 200,000 years ago, should be in one of the regions of South or East Africa. Lay scientists already knew this, but hearing it proclaimed by the Vatican makes a definite impression.
Q: “Padre Serra, was Eden really in Africa?”
A: “Yes, between South Africa and Tanzania.”
Q: “How did you come to this conclusion?”
A: “We did so by studying the genetic information contained in the chromosomal nuclei. Scientists have been analysing the sequences of the molecules since 1989. There are 6,000 million of them in a human being; 3,000 million in an ovum or in a spermatozoon. It is like reading backwards through the pages of an enormous volume. Studies made on the DNA of several different populations show that it is possible to trace back beyond mutation, to an ancestor of Homo Sapiens who lived in Africa. From there the descendants of Adam and Eve emigrated to other continents’.
Q: “Any theological problems?”
A: “None”.
(Thank you Ugo Fornari in Rome for sending us this item – Editor)

NEW SPECIES
The OXFORD TIMES (July 31) claimed that a team of Oxford researchers had returned from the Mkomazi Game Reserve after discovering thousands of previously unknown insects and even mammals plus up to 1,500 plants. They were uncovered during a ten-year study by Dr Malcolm Coe on behalf of the Royal Geographic Society (Thank you Brian Costeloe for this item – Editor).

UNEXPLOITED CONTACTS
In an unusually Tanzania-friendly article in its May 30 issue THE ECONOMIST noted that, in the rest of Africa, Tanzania is seen as Mr Nice Guy. In the 1970’s and 1980’s it paid a heavy economic price for backing liberation movements in other African countries. ‘Some of Africa’s most influential leaders spent their formative years in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam’s little hotels are still crowded with Africans from elsewhere. Tanzania has never exploited its continent-wide contacts. But one day these grateful friends may play a part in waking up this somnolent old socialist’. (Thank you Philip Clarke for this item – Editor).

IMPRESSIVE ACHIEVEMENT
‘One by one they entered the conference hall. President Mkapa, his predecessor Ali Hassan Mwinyi and the country’s first president Julius Nyerere. Smiling broadly, the three politicians waved to the applauding crowd …..The scene dramatically illustrated Tanzania’s success in achieving peaceful, democratic transitions of government. Very few other African counties, if any, can boast of having a current president and two former leaders together in the same room. By the measures of the continent, the country’s political stability is an impressive achievement.’ So began an article in the GUARDIAN WEEKLY
recently.

BLEAK FUTURE
A recent article in the ECONOMIST referred to what it described as the bleak future for Zanzibar’s traditional cash crop because Indonesia’s economic collapse ‘will almost certainly curtail demand for the scented Kretek cigarettes that absorb the bulk of the world’s clove crop.. . . But Zanzibar’s tourist industry is booming; the Zanzibar Investment Promotion Agency has approved $260 million-worth of projects in tourism, ten times the total for other industries. Tourist revenue is expected to be $2.5 million this year, twice that of the year before’ (Thank you Debbie Simmons, for these two items – Editor).

£1 OFF DEBT
The TIMES (April 4) gave publicity to a campaign being organised by the charity Christian Aid under which people are invited to attach £1 coins to cards which are then sent to constituency MP’s for forwarding to British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown as a contribution to relief of developing world debt. The first £6,300 raised has been put towards reducing (fractionally) Tanzania’s debt to Britain (Thank you Betty Wells and Christine Lawrence for sending the newspaper cutting -Editor). The TIMES also chose as the picture to illustrate an article on the economic situation in China a photograph of the Guard of Honour in Beijing which had greeted President Mkapa on his arrival for a state visit in early April. The next day it printed a picture of some of the miners who had escaped from the tragedy in Arusha Region mentioned above.

DEBT RELIEF. WHY NOT UNTIL 2002?
On April 14 the TIMES, quoting from Oxfam material, explained why Tanzania is going to have to wait several years before it can benefit from the ‘Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC)’ described in TA No 59. The article explained how Uganda had just become the first country to ‘get its hands on some of the money’. Mozambique had gone through the tortuous qualification process but would still not see any cash until the end of another year-long review. The article went on: ‘For all the colourful photo opportunities afforded by the Clinton’s recent grand tour of Africa, a desperately poor country such as Burkina Faso will not get any relief until at least 2000. Tanzania, where Hillary and Chelsea went on safari, may never be eligible for debt relief even though one in six children die there before the age of five. Tanzania is a particularly perverse example of the IMF’s strict eligibility criteria. Countries have to take part in IMF economic reforms for six years before being eligible. Tanzania has been in IMF programmes since the mid-1980’s but will still not qualify until at least 2002 because it temporarily fell out with the donor community in 1994 over targets for revenue collection. The IMF dates the start of Tanzania’s HIPC track record from November 1996 when it inaugurated a fresh adjustment programme. It gets no credit for past participation in IMF programmes (Thank you Christine Lawrence for bringing this information to our attention -Editor).

HOW TANZANIA MADE A MAN OF HIM!
Ann McFerran didn’t want to embarrass her 19-year son Patrick by turning up at his ‘gap-year’ project. But his letters home persuaded her to have one last adventure’ These were the first words in a full-page article in the DAILY TELEGRAPH on February 14 under a headline (‘How Africa made a man of my son’) which probably did embarrass him! When offered snake for dinner one night the son asked his mother “where else will you eat snake.” He suggested that she should ‘live a little.’ The 51-year old mother admitted to being torn between total revulsion and a renewed thirst for adventure. The son was clearly enjoying himself as his letters from a British charity project near the Tarangire National Park had indicated. “On Sunday morning I got up before dawn to meet a Tanzanian who took me to find gold. . .we walked for four hours” . . . .. “I went to the nearest town for my birthday and found myself staring amazed at a water tap. I wish you could see this place.” The mother concluded her article: ‘On our last day we visited a cultural village in Tarangire’s wildlife conservation area….in a Maasai village we were greeted like visiting royalty, our hands grabbed by women and children.. .as the sun set young men began a rhythmic chant that seemed to explode though their throats as they jumped in the air in perfect unison. We watched mesmerised. Later we sat in silence under the stars -closer and wiser ….I pondered how Africa had changed my son into a thoughtful young man.’ (Thank you Donald Wright for sending us this article -Editor).

COKE IS BEST!
BUSINESS IN AFRICA (December-January) had some difficulty in concealing its surprise, if not indignation, when it published a six-page news article about an inaugural award (the ‘US Corporate Citizenship Africa Award’) by the ‘US Corporate Council for Africa’ to the Coca Cola Company. It asked whether a soft drink made of 99% sugar and water should have been allowed to reach the position where its annual sales surpassed the economies of whole regions of Africa. Defenders of the award had pointed out, however, that the company had invested or committed $600 million in Africa including $50 million in Tanzania. The total investment was about half of US aid to the continent in 1997. Some $30 million had been devoted to charity in recent years and there had been a great deal of sport sponsorship in East Africa. But no mention was made of the profits obtained by Coca Cola in Africa. (Meanwhile, the EAST AFRICAN reports that Bonnie Bottlers of Moshi has received an award from Coca Cola for reaching the ‘international quality standard’ benchmark in the production of Coke – Editor).

TOURISM TN ZANZIBAR
‘Forget the ski slopes. The rich and famous are chilling out in the tropical hotspots of Jamaica and Zanzibar’ wrote Grace Berry in THE TIMES (January 29). ‘They’re just tripping over one another to get to Zanzibar…. Designer Amanda Wakeley gets the inspiration for her collections there’. But Tanzanian authorities are not happy about the thousands of budget tourists or backpackers flocking there according to the South African SUNDAY INDEPENDENT (February l). These foreigners, they say, promote decadence and crime. Zanzibaris call them vishuka (those who wear rags) says Omar Ali, a senior official in the Criminal Investigation Department. According to unofficial figures they spend less than $20 a day and promote drugs and sex through their loose association with beach boys. The article went on to say that crime is low in Zanzibar but on December 27 the DAILY TELEGRAPH reported that a 28-year old German visitor had been shot dead, allegedly by members of the Tanzania Defence Forces at Fumba, 25 kms from Zanzibar town in a restricted area close to a military camp. Officials were reported as saying that the incident happened after the visitor refused to be searched But critics, including tour operators, argue that no sign was posted to warn visitors to stay away. The Tanzania Tourist Board opposes a ban on backpackers saying that it would impair efforts to boost the tourist industry. Although they are usually thrifty, a good word from them back home, always brings other visitors, the Board says. Ali’s remarks were said to reflect only the concerns of the security authorities.

The SUNDAY TIMES (January ll) reported that a British tourist couple were attacked by seven robbers and stabbed while walking at 11 pm near the Serena Inn. Two German women were reported to have been mugged in the same area and another tourist was mugged on a beach at 3pm. The British High Commission was advising people to exert caution on quiet beaches and in urban areas at night. As we go to press it is reported that CCM has expressed shock at an incident in which six thugs armed with knives gang raped a female European volunteer in Zanzibar town. (Thank you David Leishman ,from South Africa and Geoffrey Stoke11 for sending parts of this information Editor).

ILLEGAL INHABITANTS
The January issue of THE MSITU NEWSLETTER is again packed with extracts of news stories about the environment. The main story complains that a government decree of May 1997 under which all illegal inhabitants of the 4,362 ha Kazimzumbwi Forest reserve (Coast Region) should move out within three months, had fallen on deaf ears. Agricultural activities, tree felling for charcoal and construction of houses were continuing.

A page was devoted to the news that the government had approved, in spite of strong opposition from environmental groups (worried about the possible impact it will have on the Rufiji Delta) a prawn farming project by the Dar es Salaam-based ‘African Fishing Company’. (Thank you Joy Clancy of the University of Twente in the Netherlands for sending this information on the strength of the opposition to this project. The article you sent indicated that 10,000 ha of mangrove shrubs (of eight specie) would have to he cleared; that the sea and fish could suffer ,from pollution from prawn waste and fertilisers; and, it was doubtful !f there would be enough fish available to feed the prawns -Editor).

THE CHILDREN OF THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS
The JOHANNESBURG STAR reported in mid February that some 340 children fathered by South African freedom fighters during the struggle against apartheid are battling to make a living in Tanzania. Only those whose fathers died during the struggle can apply to the South African High Commission in Dar es Salaam for assistance from a special pension fund set up by the South African government. An ANC spokesman said that party members who were still alive had the responsibility of looking after their children.

THREATENED BIRDS
Tanzania featured prominently in an illustrated 4-page article in the spring 1998 issue of BIRDS. The article, about the ‘Royal Society of Birds International Network’, written by Paul Buckley, Zul Bhatia and Rob Lake, explained that the 19 bird species which are found only in Tanzania are threatened. Since 1993 the RSPB has supported a project in the Uluguru Mountains under Zul Bhatia, where there are 15 birds of special conservation interest. Pride of place goes to the Uluguru bush shrike, a critically threatened species found only in these forests. Few people have seen it and little is known of its ecology; it is believed to live in the lower forests, just those that are under greatest danger through increasing human pressure. An exciting discovery had been finding the globally threatened Usambara eagle owl, previously thought to be found only in two other mountain ranges. The main object of the RSPB’s efforts has been to understand pressures on the forest, the perceptions of local people and ways to involve them in managing the forest to improve the quality of life and ensure its protection (Thank you Donald Wright for sending this item -Editor).

PACKED WITH INTEREST
The September-December issue of the glossy and colourful magazine TANZANIA WLLDLIFE is packed with articles of interest to Tanzanophiles. Subjects covered include ‘A Resource Taken for Granted’ (the coastal mangroves), ‘An NGO’s Crusade’ (fighting dynamite fishing and the destruction of coral reefs), ‘The Triple Disaster at Lake Victoria’ (an endemic species of fish is being wiped out; fish smoking is reducing the forest cover; a fast spreading weed is choking marine life); ‘The Art of Survival’ (the Defassa Waterbuck); ‘Why Does A Crocodile Lie With Its Mouth Open? (nobody seems sure but the best hypothesis is that mouth-gaping allows escape of body heat); ‘Star Gazing in Tanzania’ (the country’s first star gazing station is being established in the Selous Game Reserve); ‘From Wedding Present to Global Heritage Site’ (the story of how Kaiser Wilhelm I gave his wife the biggest wedding anniversary present in the annals of romance); ‘Zanzibar’s Wonder Crab’ (which actually climbs coconut trees!); and, an article on page 19 asks why a coastal bat flies low over the ocean with its abdomen in the water. Is it washing prior to evening prayers?

The equally colourful magazine of the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism, KARIBU ZANZlBAR (Third Quarter 1997) also has a variety of stories – ‘The Secret Ruins’, ‘The Cradle Of Standard Kiswahili’, ‘Organic Spice Tours’, ‘The Next Triathlon and Marathon’, ‘The Mwaka Kogwa Festival. Another article tells the story of Bushiri bin Maulid, a freed slave, who found himself in South Africa in the 1920’s and faced many problems in trying to obtain his Zanzibar nationality certificate.

MARRIAGE OF WOMAN TO WOMAN
The South African SUNDAY INDEPENDENT on November 9 described one of the customs of the Kuria people in North Mara – nyumba ntobu, (a house manned by a woman) under which women are allowed to marry women. This is not a homosexual relationship but is designed to continue the lineage of wealthy families in which there are no males. Normally an older woman marries another after paying a bride price. The woman so married is free to choose a man to procreate with, but the children will belong to the older woman. Health workers say that this tradition contributes to the spread of HIV because men do not like to use condoms. Nyumba ntobu wives have become major contributors to the spread of HIV. Why would a woman many another woman? Because of the liberty such marriages offer, the article says. Such women escape the sexual harassment they would typically endure from a husband.

MARRIAGE OF GIRLS
The recently publicised arranged marriage to an MP of a Form 1 schoolgirl studying at the Jamhuri Secondary School in Dar has infuriated human rights activists, wrote the South African INDEPENDENT on September 28. They were quoted as saying that, even though Islamic law allowed such marriages, the 1978 Education Act did not condone them. The article went on to note how the imposition of school fees was weighing heavily on girls. While there was still some parity in enrolment between girls and boys at primary school, girls represented only 40% at secondary schools, 25% at A level and only 5% at university level. (Thank you David Leishman for this and the other item above Editor).

THE ITALIANS
‘Nobody ever seems to mention the Italians’ wrote Mark Ottaway in a travel feature on Zanzibar in the SUNDAY TIMES recently. Extracts: ‘The Italians are by far the majority of tourists. They send in two jets a week from Milan and have done so for years. Zanzibar might be our far horizon but it has become their backyard. One might wonder what kind of Italian is happy to invest considerable sums in such a precarious investment climate. But, for their customers at least, it is a case of easy come easy go dolce far niente. Because their tour operators haven’t liked to tell them that this is a strict Muslim society in which they are expected to cover up, the Italians waver between making themselves unpopular, or sticking to the beach, and that isn’t much of a contest. This leaves Zanzibar to the rest of us, with the Italians an interesting footnote to our perceptions of place, sunning themselves topless around the pool, or, if it is remote enough, on the beach.. . ..’

“YOU FEEL YOU’VE GOT AFRICA COMING UP THROUGH YOUR FEET”
So said Rita Hamilton quoted in an article in THE TIMES on November 22 when describing a 120-mile sponsored trek in temperatures of up to 120 degrees in Tanzania’s Great Rift Valley. Some £40,000 was raised for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children which supports projects to help the Maasai each year. A donation was made to cover the cost of 800 cataract operations. “It was the hardest walk of my life and the most rewarding week I have ever spent” she said. (‘Thank you John Sankey-for this item – Editor.

The DAILY MAIL WEEKEND MAGAZINE (August 23) devoted four pages to the diary of Sarah Ashworth (25) and Roslyn Poole (24) who have spent two years at the ‘Animal Behaviour Research Unit’ studying yellow baboons and monitoring vegetation in the Mikumi National Park. Extracts: ‘We found our baboons, all 24 of them, peacefully s o h g up the sun. They are given Kiswahili names soon after they are born and it’s quite easy to recognise each one. Our study involves following an individual for 20 minutes at a time; we usually get through eight each day. We also have to collect their droppings which are sent to the U.S. to be analysed for stress hormones, looking for a link with the reproductive fitness of the females …. The only irritations are the incessant biting of the tsetse flies – when their proboscis sinks into your flesh it feels like a hypodermic needle.. . . . .I glanced down and noticed a squirming, red mass of pinhead-size ticks covering my body from navel down; I shrieked. We promptly stripped … I flicked open my Swiss army knife and decided the only way of removing them was to scrape the blade across my stomach.. . .that night, each place where a tick had been embedded in my skin swelled up and itched like crazy. When they had scabbed over I counted the scars – 530! …. There was nothing to eat for breakfast again so I decided to make some bread … I wanted it to be perfect.. . . And it was the most perfect bread I’d ever made. I decided to celebrate with a cup of tea on the roof. A baboon came up the ladder behind me – with a great big piece of my best bread in its mouth. More baboons were by the washing line, their cheeks full of delicious fresh bread! (Thank you Ian Enticott for this item – Editor).

PUBLICISING THE DEVIL
NEW AFRICAN (October) quoted Bishop Zakaria Kakobe of the Full Gospel Church as describing a new Tanzanian stamp as ‘publicising the devil.’ “All morally upright people must reject it”, he said. The stamp depicts a couple holding hands at sundown and advises them to use ‘Salama’ condoms. The Rev. Amos Selen of the Pentecostal Church said that letters bearing the stamp on the envelope should be torn to pieces and burnt without reading the contents. But Health Ministry Principal Secretary Ray Mope pointed out that the stamps warned people to protect themselves against AIDS; thousands had died from it. The postal corporation was reported to have had to bow to the storm and withdraw the stamps from circulation, though a huge stock remained unsold.

GREAT SUCCESS STORY
‘A large inflated beer bottle featuring the ‘Kilimanjaro’ brand’s giraffe logo enlivens the shabby industrial site outside Dar es salaam. At Oyster Bay billboards promote the launch of the new Ndovu (elephant) lager. And throughout the country Tanzanians sport ‘Safari Lager’ T-shirts.’ So began one of the articles in the London GUARDIAN’S supplement on Tanzania on December 9 Extracts: ‘The colourful promotion of Tanzania Breweries’ various brands highlights the turn-round of the company from a loss-making state corporation to a dynamic, privately-owned company that, in a few years, has won back 80% of the market. The sale of the Breweries to the giant South African Breweries is the great success story of the country’s privatisation drive.. . . . . (Thank you Joan Wicken for sending us this supplement – Editor)

ROCKING GREEN CREDENTIALS
‘Green Globe’, the environmental arm of the World Travel and Tourism Council – made up of the world’s top 200 tourism corporations – organised environmental ‘clinics’ at the World Travel Market in London recently to help tourism executives to ‘green up’ their act. But, according to THE INDEPENDENT (November 22) there’s obviously a long way to go. The news item referred to a proposed five-mile, $368 million development in Nungwi, northern Zanzibar, in which Forte Meridien (Forte was a founding member of ‘Green Globe’) was involved – a development likely to rock its green credentials, the paper said. Plans were afoot for a presidential-style hotel, an ocean marina, 200 condominiums, 300 luxury villas, a conference centre, a 27- hole golf course and a country club. Local people on the peninsula were quoted as saying that they had not been consulted and were expecting to be ousted from their homes (Thank you Stella Smethurst for this item – Editor).

AFRIKANERS AND DANES
The writer of one of the many letters from readers published in the December issue of NEW AFRICAN stated that he was against the idea of allowing white South African Afrikaners to purchase farms in Tanzania and that it would be unwise for President Mkapa to allow himself to be pressurised by President Mandela into accepting this idea. Another letter, from a certain Kambarage Nyerere, complained about the way Africans are treated in Denmark. ‘We Africans are treated only as drug dealers and social benefit leaches; we are not offered work and yet we are called lazy.. . .’ he wrote. ‘You may ask why I am saying all this and still living there. Not anymore. I an going back home!’

NO ACCIDENT OF GEOGRAPHY OR GEOLOGY
‘It is no accident of geography or geology that Tanzania has just opened its first and only Australian Consulate in Perth’ – so began an article in the WEST AUSTRALIAN (December 1). It went on to mention six Western Australian companies which now had a presence in Tanzania and how the recent slump in the gold price had not caused any drop-off in investor interest. The potential for discovering high quality deposits with low labour costs had probably made investment in gold in Tanzania relatively more attractive than before (Thank you Mr D Gledhill for sending this item – Editor).

WHERE HAS THE MAGIC GONE?
‘I stood on the banks of the Ngoitokitok Springs in the heart of the famed Ngorongoro Crater gnawing miserably on a cold greasy chicken thigh. It was high noon in one of our planet’s great wildlife areas and ringed around me, as far as my eyes could see, sat four-wheel drive vehicles of every make known to man; I counted 55 of them. Their passengers waddled around, eating the chicken and stale bread from box lunches and taking group photos. Circling yellow-billed lutes provided the thrills, dive bombing to snatch a chicken leg here and a bread roll there. Squeals of surprise. Squeals of delight. Squeals … …. Where … oh where has the magic gone?’ – a writer in the Johannesburg SATURDAY STAR (November 10) – Thank you David Leishmann for this item – Editor).

TELECOMMUNICATIONS – THE FUTURE
Tanzania currently has three telephones per 1,000 people according to Lisa Sykes writing in the VS0 publication ORBIT (Third Quarter 1997). She goes on to propose possible solutions for people in developing country rural areas where phones are very few and far between. Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) systems have orbits much closer to earth than current telecoms stations and simple had-held phones will be able to receive from them. Solar-powered payphones linked to Immarsat, an existing network, are proving successful. Near the Ngorongoro Crater an Immarsat terminal is being installed which will allow fax, voice and data communications; part of the revenue earned will be fed back into local infrastructure.

And, according to MAF NEWS (November) a former systems analyst for the World Trade Centre in London, Simon James-Morse, has installed a new modem which connects the computer to a telephone line and smooths out the wrinkles in the telephone service caused by poor quality lines in Dodoma. The report was headed ‘Harnessing the benefits of computer technology to help advance God’s Kingdom (Thank you Christine Lawrence for these items – Editor).

CHARITY SHOULD ALWAYS BEGIN AT HOME
Extracts from a letter to the editor of the London Evening Standard (November 4): ‘Two articles in your newspaper provide an ironic contrast on how this country deals nowadays with people in need.. .one describes the plight of 80- year old Joshua Reynolds, discharged from hospital after a hip replacement and left without any help of any sort. .. ..the other writes about a family, political refugees from some unproven danger in Tanzania, who are given first-class treatment with a modern house on a private estate and additional benefit payments … ..yet if you suggest that men and women like Joshua Reynolds should be given priority over immigrants ….. one runs the danger of facing unwarranted accusations of racism by numerous well-organised lobbies.’

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CORRUPTION IN AID?
Under this title, in the June issue of Transparency International’s Newsletter, Brim Cooksey blamed foreign aid for much of the corruption found in developing countries. He wrote that one of the main reasons for the disappointing performance of structural adjustment programmes was systematic corruption. An extreme example had been Tanzania’s import substitution programme which had allowed local manufacturers to import raw materials and finished goods. Some companies stopped paying counterpart funds. Import duty and sales taxes were not paid on some imports. Neither the Treasury nor the commercial banks had the administrative capacity or the integrity to handle large volumes of free foreign exchange and the donors ignored the problem.. . . ‘in December 1996 the IMF started disbursing a US$240 million structural adjustment loan but to date not one private or parastatal company has been put in receivership for the hundreds of millions of donor dollars which went astray ….pressure to spend (donor money) has led to unbelievable over funding.. . .well known examples are NGO’s, many of which are created with the sole objective of embezzling donor money’.

The writer went on to say that the picture emerging from the recent Warioba Report on corruption was that of an oppressed people largely at the mercy of an incompetent and corrupt state apparatus. Unfortunately, the report had not mentioned corruption in aid and this matter should be explored (Thank you Ron Fennel1 for this item – Editor).

ELEPHANTS
AFRICA (July-August) reported that singing of Ishe Konzberera (God Bless Africa) greeted the 74-21 vote at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Harare to relax the protection of the African elephant in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe and allow regulated sales of ivory in 1999.

SPARTAN SPLENDOUR
Dr. Adbayo Williams, wrote in AFRICA TODAY (July/August) about what he described as the ‘new generation of visionary African leaders’ now emerging on the continent. It contrasted former President Mobuto of Zaire who ‘will spend his last days in lonely exile’ on the one hand with Nelson Mandela ‘who will be granted his last wish to die with a smiling face’, Leopold Senghor of Senegal who was spending his last days in ‘refined retirement’ and Julius Nyerere who, ‘in spartan splendour, still continues to function as the father of his nation’.

HELL ON EARTH
Tanzanians figured prominently in a two-page article in the July/August issue of NEW AFRICAN under the heading ‘Turkey: Hell on Earth for African Immigrants’. Istanbul was said to have less than 1,000 African immigrants but half of them were currently in detention, rotting away on trumped up charges. The trouble had started, the article said, when a Tanzanian was caught with heroin stuffed in his back-pack in June 1996. ‘This gave the Turkish police the excuse to raid the apartments of other Africans in the city…. Later, 43 Africans (mostly Tanzanians) were caught crossing illegally into Turkey from Greece. The immigration police promptly put them in detention. A week later the narcotics police arrested a Tanzanian with 500 grammes of heroin. The police then went straight to the African hostel, took out 13 other Africans, and planted heroin on them. A year later they are still in detention….another group was found in the apartment of a Tanzanian who had a postcard photo of a famous Turkish model singer, Hulya Avsar. The police mistook the postcard for a real photograph and thought the Tanzanian (“a monkey from the African jungle”) had had the cheek to take the beautiful model as a girl friend. The police gave the Tanzanian a good beating before realising that it was merely a postcard….’

‘JENGA’
This is the name of the second-best-selling game (after Monopoly) in the world and is, of course, the Swahili word ‘to build’. The object of Jenga, is to take wooden bricks from the bottom of a tower and put them on top without making it fall over. Last year 3 million people bought it. The SUNDAY TIMES (July 6) explained how the inventor of the game, Leslie Scott, who now lives in Denmark, spent the first years of her life in Africa and her first language was Swahili (Thank you Randal Sadleir for this item – Editor).

THE CURATE’S EGG
‘Tourism. The definitive curate’s egg, the pre-eminent mixed blessing’ – so began a recent article in THE SCOTSMAN by Julie Davidson. She went on to say ‘This week I thought of Nasser K. Awadh … whose gene pool is Zanzibar’s history, who draws his pedigree from the Yemen, from Indonesia and also from sub-Saharan Africa … and who recently slapped an Italian visitor. Crowning tourists, rather than hotels, is not one of the traditions of Zanzibar hospitality, but Nasser was defending his island’s dignity. “I asked him several times to stop throwing sweets at the children and then photographing the ensuing scrum of human monkeys but he went on doing it. So I smacked him’. Later we were standing outside the Persian Baths at Kidichi, a relic of the Omani Sultanate, when we saw the same disagreeable device practised by two German men. This time Nasser controlled his itchy palm. He scolded the children instead while I scowled and muttered at the Germans…. The curate’s egg. Nasser knows the merits of its good parts. He is much in demand for his guide’s eloquence and authority, the valued employee of Abercrombie and Kent, the only British tour operator which maintains an office in Zanzibar. But A & K’s exclusive foothold will soon be challenged by Britain’s largest tour operator, Thomson, who will be the first mass market holiday company to go into Zanzibar…..’ (Thank you Fiona Scott for this item – Editor).

INDUSTRIES REVIEW
The INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE (June 11) contained a ‘sponsored page’ written by Richard Synge, who is based in Cambridge, Extracts: ‘Practically every sector of the economy is being transformed. The new Government policies are attracting investor interest from all over the world……analysts say that the first results of foreign direct investments made in the past five years will show over the coming months in the form of a rapid rise in gold exports and a sharp revival in the production of goods and services for the domestic market….evidence of the benefits of reform can be seen clearly in Dar es Salaam where a construction boom is under way. Mwanza is also developing rapidly with banks and other services moving in…. over the next three to five years Tanzania will begin to score some successes that will be noticed internationally…..if Uganda has done it, then Tanzania can do it……’ (Many thanks Ronald Neath for sending this item – Editor).

‘WHAT THE WITCHDOCTOR ORDERED’
This was the heading of a serious article in the DAILY TLEGRAPH (July 2) about how rich Tanzania is in medicinal plants and in people who say they can use them in medicine. With panic in the West that the African repository of potential future drugs will disappear as agriculture spreads across the continent, Tanzania is launching a pioneer project (through the Missouri Botanical Garden) which will try to document this plant world before it is too late and through training of local people, attempt to quell the fears of local scientists about the drug company scientists who, they say, fly in, whip some exciting looking plants from the bush, and then jet home again without benefiting the host country. The author of the article had visited the corner of the market in Dar es Salaam where the healers sell their exotic wares and went on to describe the work of the Tanzanian Institute of Traditional Medicine and of botanists at the university. Mention was made of a pile of gnarled ebony roots in the market used to relieve pain; elephant dung – ‘its smoke treats children’s fits’; and, lion oil ‘which relieves an inflamed leg’ (Thank you Liz Fennel1 for this item – Editor).

CORPORATE AMERICA
‘Kiswahili has found its way into the highest level of corporate America, sort of’. So began a note in the Spring 1997 issue of Mbegu za Urafiki (the Newsletter of (American) Friends of Tanzania) which is based in Maryland and has many former Peace Corps volunteers among its membership. The note continued: ‘The Miami-based Burger King Corporation has appointed Tanga born Dennis Malamatinas (41), the son of Greek sisal farmers as its Chief Executive…. although he left Tanzania at the age of six he still speaks a few words of Kiswahili and is believed to be the highest ranking American business executive who is from Tanzania (thank you Trevor Jaggar for this item – Editor).

BEAUTY CONTESTS
The September issue of NEW AFRICAN contained an article under the heading ‘Tanzania Bans Beauty Contests’ in which it wrote about what it described as the ever growing controversy over beauty contests. Organisers of a MSS Eastern Africa contest in April were warned that they were not to allow competitors to compete in swimsuits. Arguing that all beauty contests in the world allowed swimsuits, the non-Tanzanian entrants threatened to boycott the contest and the organisers backed down. But the government was said to have been furious. Arts and Languages Director Elinkunda Matteru said “We cannot allow our culture to be spoilt. We cannot allow the aping of shameful things with Africans walking in halls”. But former culture minister Philemon Sarungi was said to have defended the wearing of swimsuits as they are worn universally. The debate seems likely to continue.

‘FROM SOCIALIST SHEEP TO CAPITALIST LION’?
In a 7-page cover story in its February issue AFRICAN BUSINESS Maja Wallengren wrote that ‘decades of socialism have so enervated the enterprise spirit in Tanzania that it acquired the unwelcome reputation of being a sheep in a region of predators. All this is about to change and the country is clearing its throat to roar like a lion’. The Director General of the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) was quoted as saying that it was his hope that in the 21st century not only Asian tigers but also some African lions will be roaring in the international economic arena and Tanzania could be one of them.

QUALITY YES; QUANTITY NO.
AFRICAN BUSINESS (March) described the state of Tanzania’s struggling coffee industry as ‘quality not quantity’ following reports that the production in the year 1996/67 would be only 42,000 tonnes, a drop of 20% from the previous year. Traders were quoted as saying that massive replanting schemes were needed to replace the many trees which are 50 to 100 years old and thus increase the average yields from the 250kg per hectare in Tanzania to the Kenya figure of 500 kgs. However, quality was said to be improving and the country was now again earning a world class reputation for its mild Arabica. Production of Robusta coffee in Bukoba remained steady at 12-14,000 tonnes but here the problem was price. Vietnam’s coffee production had increased from 20,000 tonnes in the mid-1980’s to almost 250,000 tonnes for 1996/97 which was depressing world prices (A massive new replanting programme is about to start under a $14 million EC aid grant – Editor).

“SOOO POOR”
Zoe Heller, the columnist in the SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE explained (on March 9) how she had thrown over her boyfriend and, in order to distance herself from him, moved from Los Angeles to New York. But she doesn’t seem very happy with her new friends: ‘I have been out to a dinner party at a fancy house on the Upper East Side’ she wrote. ‘There was a revolting deb type there banging on about her recent jaunt up Kilimanjaro. “God, Africa, I mean, it’s sooo poor”! she kept on bellowing. “But so real, you know”. She told me about how fetchingly hard her thighs got during her ascent. ” ….. my porter was sooo sweet – when it got really cold and my nose was running, he’d take a handkerchief and wipe my nose for me”. “Ah, yes” I murmured “those marvellous Tanzanians, they do make remarkably good bearers, don’t they ……. ”

THE ‘MAGIC WAND’
NEW AFRICA (February) recounted how Mwalimu Julius Nyerere recently sold his famous cane or ‘magic wand’ as he calls it to raise funds for his sponsorship of the education of bright but poor children. Dozens of wealthy Tanzanians wanted to buy it. Former UN Adviser Gertrude Mongella was said to have offered Shs 3 million but it was local business tycoon and soccer financier Ahmed Bora who eventually got it for Shs 4.5 million. Nyerere was said to have been shocked by this revelation of the wealth of Tanzania’s new capitalist class. One of his relatives said that Mwalimu had lots of sticks and he had probably sold one of the powerless ones, not the magic one. Midst much public criticism Mr Bora decided to give the stick back to Mwalimu. No one knew whether he got his money back. Some were said to believe that the wand just refused to stay in Bora’s hands.

‘WHERE TO BE MUGGED’
Under this heading the INDEPENDENT published a guide to mugging (based on information from the British Foreign Office Travel Advice Unit) in its issue of March 1. Countries featured in this particular issue included Indonesia, Iran, Sierra Leone and Swaziland. On Tanzania it wrote: ‘Incidents of mugging and theft are common especially on public transport and beaches. Food should not be accepted from strangers as it may be drugged. Armed car thefts, particularly of four-wheel drive vehicles occur fairly frequently and may be accompanied by personal violence (Thank you Jane Carroll for this item- Editor).

BUREAUCRATIC HURDLES
The JOHANNESBURG STAR’s BUSINESS REPORT in its issue dated January 23 was highly critical of Tanzania’s six-year old investment act and wrote that the country was now rewriting its investment code. ‘The Investor Road Map of Tanzania’ sponsored by USAID had ranked it among countries with the worst investment hurdles. The article went on: ‘The report said that it took between 545 and 1,095 days to lodge an application for business …. there were delays in finding land, high taxes, poor infrastructure and far too many forms to fill in. In all, a firm in Dar es Salaam could expect to submit at least 89 separate filings per year ….. and financial institutions had to submit up to 235 returns every year. …. While it takes only one or two days to clear imports into Mauritius, Namibia or South Africa, in Tanzania it takes up to three months’. The article went on to describe the changes likely under the new code with its one-stop centre and a ‘facilitation office’ which was expected to make a considerable improvement in the investment climate.

ONE MAN COMPENDIUM
In an article on a recent African music festival at the Barbican in London NEW AFRICAN (February) reported as follows: ‘Tanzania’s much travelled master musician Hukwe Zawose, who is almost a one-man compendium of his nation’s cultural heritage, performed a spellbinding demonstration of song and dance with myriad traditional instruments’. It reminded readers that Hukwe’ s current album Chibeto had been chosen as African Life’s ‘Album of the Year’. The VSO publication ORBIT (fourth quarter 1996) listing the same album in its ‘Top 10 Sounds of 1966’ described Zawose as ‘one of Tanzania’s national treasures and a magical character of mythical proportions’ .

‘MALARIA FEAR FOR AFRICA TRIP MAYOR’
Under this heading the DAILY TELEGRAPH (21/3/97) wrote that a Labour mayor who spent £1,500 of council money on a week-long ‘fact finding’ trip to Musoma, Tanzania has returned with suspected malaria. Dawn Neal’s visit had been criticised at a time of financial cuts on Calderdale Council, West Yorkshire. She was accompanied by her boyfriend Danny McIntire, a fellow councillor and Margaret Berry, the council’s senior environmental health officer. They left Halifax to see the Serengeti Game reserve and advise the locals on tourism and also handed over a piece of medical equipment that can help to clear swallowed fishbones from throats. “This was not a holiday” she said. “It was a fact-finding mission to Calderdale’s twin town and we intend to begin fund-raising to pay for medical supplies for the people of Musoma” but a former mayor, Liberal Democrat Stephen Pearson, said “I don’t believe glad-handing people is going to make a fundamental difference to their quality of life”.

SCHOOL FEES
“When our children do well in primary school we get really worried” said a farmer in the western Usambara mountains. He was peaking to Charles Worth who wrote in CHRISTIAN AID NEWS (February/March) that since the government had imposed fees, secondary education had become a luxury which this family could scarcely afford. Only one family out of 300 in the village were able to send their children to secondary school. … many Tanzanians felt enslaved today because of Tanzania’s massive debt burden – the World Bank and IMF had imposed a structural adjustment programme which had drastically cut government spending on health and education …. ‘ Mr Worth went on: ‘Victorian campaigners had the vision and persistence to help bring an end to the evil of slavery. Can the British churches today catch their spirit, change the rules and end the slavery of debt in Tanzania?’ (Thank you Betty Wells for this item – Ed).

ONE HUNDRED CONSULTANTS
‘That is the staffing level of a London hospital with 300-400 beds and a district population of 200,000 – the same as Muheza district in Tanga Region. In London there are many more junior doctors and a network of GP’s. Muheza has three doctors. If each saw only inpatients for 10 hours a day, seven days a week, that would be 3xlOx7 = 210 hours, half an hour for each inpatient. Yet many are very sick and need more intensive treatment or operations done by the same three doctors. Then there are long hours to be spent seeking outpatients, supervising the laboratory and X-ray, and administration, teaching and trips to the ministry in Dar es Salaam to be fitted in …… ‘ extracts from a recent issue of the NEWSLETTER of ‘MEDICINES FOR MUHEZA’ (Thank you Trevor Jaggar for this item- Editor).

LAUNDERING
The New York WALL STREET JOURNAL has published an article by Robert Greenberger under the heading’ Some Hotels May Do More Laundering of Cash Than Towels’ which has attracted a lot of attention. It stated that there were indications that Zanzibar banking and hotel businesses were being used by foreign investors to launder international drug money. It was alleged that huge sums were being deposited in banks by hotels which had few guests. The IMF has been quoted as saying that shady financial flows were flourishing in Zanzibar but the Government of Zanzibar and the Bank of Tanzania have denied the allegations.

‘ALMOST LIKE HOME’
‘Tanzania may not resemble the famous gold producing regions of Western Australia on the surface, but Australian explorers active in the east African nation reckon that underground it is almost like home. ‘Tanganyika Gold’ has 28 exploration tenements in two main areas – the Lake Victoria Goldfield and the Lupa Goldfield. “it is exciting to be in an area that is very unexplored by Western standards and clearly has a lot of gold” says Managing Director Ian Middlemas. “It has similar geology to W Australia”….. Two tenements have been drilled so far – at Buhemba in the north of the Lake region and Busolwa to the South. The latter included intersects of 32m at 2.48 grams per tonne – a lot of the holes end in mineralisation Mr Middlemas said – THE WEST AUSTRALIAN (December 23) – (Thank you Mr D Gledhill for this item and for the mention of your gold prospecting uncles who were on the Lupa in the 1930 ‘s – Ed).

‘BARRED FROM ANIMAL KINGDOM’
Under this heading, at the end of a speaking tour of Britain by three Maasai spokespeople complaining about the action of the Tanzanian government in driving them from their lands in the interests of game and tourism, the London OBSERVER (April 6) published a half page article. It concentrated on the situation at the Mkomazi Game Reserve in the Same district and contrasted what it described as ‘the glass-fronted house with a satellite dish, verandah and spectacular views’ of manager Tony Fitzjohn (said to be nicknamed ‘boy Tarzan’ by the Maasai) and ‘the fly-infested, stinking animal carcasses, children with distended bodies standing in glum groups … near the boundaries of the 1,400-square mile reserve’. Mkomazi is run by a non-profit trust-making trust set up by the late George Adamson – husband of ‘Born Free’ author Joy Adamson – and Mr Fitzjohn and supported by the wealthy, including Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and the film stars Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood and Ali MacGraw; the Duke of Kent is a patron. When the trust arrived in 1989 the Maasai thought they would be able to negotiate but they claim that his has not happened and that they were driven out of the land at gunpoint. Sixty three of them are challenging the government in court. The trust, on the other hand, claims that it has succeeded in its conservation task and that the elephant count has gone up from two in ] 968 to 1,000 in 1993; the East African black rhino population had previously been hunted from 65,000 to near extinction; the area was badly overgrazed and there had been serious erosion when the Maasai were there.

SUDECO
AFRICAN BUSINESS (January) had a cover story and seven pages of text on Tanzania’s impressive political and economic progress. One of the articles was about the sad state of the sugar industry due to a severing of government subsidies to the Sugar Development Corporation (SUDECO) and the associated lack of capital for rehabilitation of factories now running at an average of only 50% capacity. It was assumed that SUDECO would be privatised some time this year.

THE MAASAI AND THE MINERS
The BBC WORLD SERVICE in its FARMING TODA Y programme on February 26 reported on the effect of mining for minerals on Maasai cattle keeping around the settlement of Simajiro. Cattle fall into the pits left after the miners of Rhodolite (a pale violet or red garnet) move on to other sites and as the miners encroach upon the surrounds of the village itself. A Maasai spokesman in a taped interview complained also of the water supply problem and a woman reporter spoke of the careful control of overgrazing of the poor land by the Maasai. (Thank you Mr P H C Clarke for this item – Editor).

ARROGANT ANIMALS
“At one time attacks by wild animals constituted 25% of all evacuations” said Juliette Heza, the longest serving flight nurse in the Flying Doctor Service quoted in AMREF NEWS (Spring 1997). “Nowadays”, she said, “most of the patients are from traffic accidents, malaria, cardiac emergencies and exhaustion amongst tourists”. She went on “I’ve treated dozens of hyena bites and snake bites. We still get buffalo attacks – they’re very arrogant animals. They can be very frightening”. The Flying Doctor Service teams aim to leave their base within five minutes of receiving a call for help.

THE BIGGEST RATS
‘They nibble at sleeping people. They gnaw at parcels in the post office. They take free rides in cars and trains …. .rats are on the rampage in Tanzania’ according to NEW AFRICAN (April). Minister of Transport and Communications William Kusila was quoted as claiming that the biggest rats of all were found on Tanzanian trains. “They grow fat on the food brought on board by travellers” he said. The article concluded ‘Foreign funded projects to eliminate crop destroying rodents ceased when donors cut their aid three years ago. Now the whole nation is being overwhelmed by a plague of rats and very little is being done about it’ .

REFUGEE STUDIES
A new Centre for Refugee Studies has been established at the University of Dar es Salaam reports the BRITISH COUNCIL’S AFRICA NEWSLETTER (January 1997). A British Council managed link has been arranged between the Centre and the Refugee Studies Programme at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University (Thank you Trevor Jaggar for this item – Editor).

FROM TOTTENHAM TO TANZANIA
‘A friend of mine, a surgeon, volunteered to work overseas and was swiftly transferred from Tottenham to Tanzania and a post in a city hospital… the wards were adequately equipped and the work was most satisfying … But she found that there was little she could do to affect a series of curious occurrences in one intensive care bed … patients had been passing away with far greater frequency in bed No 13 than occupants of other beds. Some staff thought that the bed was jinxed …. And then our surgeon discovered that the victims of bed 13 all died on the same day – a Wednesday, early in the morning. She decided to stake out the ward. All was quiet until the appearance of the cleaner, mechanically cleaning the floors as usual. Then suddenly, above the grinding din, she could just hear the high-pitched life-support machine alarm bleeping desperately. Springing to the rescue, the surgeon rushed over to see that the intensive care apparatus appeared to be switched off. To her horror she then noticed that the cleaner had been plugging his floor-polisher into the most convenient socket.. … ‘ from ‘Urban Myths’ in THE GUARDIAN (November 11).

(In our last issue there was a story about the difficulties ‘Mission Aviation Overseas’ was facing in obtaining licenses for airstrips in Maasai country. Christine Lawrence tells us that eighteen licences have now been granted – Editor).

(In order to make this part of the Bulletin as interesting and representative as possible we welcome contributions from readers. If you see a mention of Tanzania in the journal, magazine or newspaper you read, especially if you live or travel outside the UK, please cut out the relevant bit, indicate the name and date of the journal, and send it to the address on the back page. If you do not wish your name to be mentioned please say so. We cannot guarantee to publish everything we receive but if your item gives a new or original view about Tanzania we certainly will – Editor)

MWALIMU AT HOME
The NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL devoted a full page in its September 1 issue to ’74-year old African elder statesman Julius Nyerere’ who was visited at his house in Butiama (Musoma); several of his 24 grandchildren were around. Nowadays he spends many of his mornings working in his maize fields and returns to the house at 2pm to have lunch with his wife of 43 years. Most afternoons he spends time in his library reading history, writing essays and later he often plays ‘bao’ with the best players in the village. He always wins! Every evening he attends Mass at the Roman Catholic church. (Thank you Elsbeth Court for this item – Editor).

THE BACK SEAT
A report by the organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has noted that Swedish aid to Tanzania since independence had totalled $3 billion but that the aid had ‘deterred rather than enhanced development and had led to aid dependency’. It should be reduced and then ended. Head of the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA) Bo Goransson said he was extremely surprised by the report. “We do not think it is OECD’s task to make suggestions as to what an individual donor does with its aid. He said that the Tanzanian leadership must share the blame for the ‘failed vision’ of self-reliance but he admitted that in dealing with Tanzania “we did take more responsibility than was necessary. The effect was that Tanzanians were moved from the driver’s seat to the back seat in development planning …… We have now started a new process of co-sharing in decision making to ensure that projects are owned by recipient countries” he said – EAST AFRICAN, October 21.

TANZANIA’S IMAGE NOT DAMAGED
During a recent long interview in the French magazine ‘PARIS MATCH’ Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye was asked whether he thought that Tanzania’s image might have been affected in French-speaking countries (where Tanzania was described as having been previously I qui te unknown’) due to the travails of Burundi and Rwanda. He replied “I don’t think it has damaged our image …. Tanzania has been praised by the international community for what it has done for refugees …. when you have a district like Ngara with 200,000 inhabitants and then, within one month, you get 500,000 people coming in you can imagine the pressures …. schools had to be used to accommodate the refugees, forests were destroyed …. if refugees passed though your farm they would cut your bananas or take your maize …. many had terrible wounds and our dispensaries were greatly affected …… ”

UNRELENTING MEDIATION EFFORTS
To coincide with its East African seminar in London the FINANCIAL TIMES (November 5) published a six-page supplement. It said that if East African co-operation reached fruition no one would be able to claim more credit than President Benjamin Mkapa. The recent rapprochement between the Kenya and Uganda presidents, who had been barely on speaking terms, had been largely due to his unrelenting mediation efforts. However, such commitment verged on the chivalrous because, while landlocked Uganda’s interest in sweeping away the barricades blocking its access to international trade seemed clear, Tanzania’s was far less obvious. Its lumbering bureaucracy remained a brake on development and the country was running trade deficits with both Uganda and Kenya.

However, the article went on: ‘Yet Mr Mkapa’s behaviour is not so foolhardy as it may seem. While the short term might be risky, the long-term benefits could be enormous’. Tanzania had huge tracts of unsurveyed and unexploited land; there was gold and minerals and the country was just beginning to recognise its failure to market its extraordinary tourist attractions; it would soon be exporting power to Kenya.

‘A SHARED SOFTNESS’
Two Ugandans and four Tanzanians put on an art exhibition in Kampala in August: Elaine Eliah writing in the EAST AFRICAN (August 26) contrasted their art. The Ugandan prints were ‘explosions of colour’ but there was a ‘softness about the Tanzanians’ styles’ probably due to their greater maturity: the Tanzanians were all significantly older. George Lilanga, from Newala ranked as one of Tanzania’s ‘master artists’ and was proficient in sculpting, pen and ink and batik painting as well as being an expert printmaker. Robino Ntila from Mdanda in Mtwara Region was described as pre-eminent in etching techniques and Francis Inmanjama’s work (he comes from Zanzibar) was said to show detailed realism in its depictions of wildlife and humans; his soft pastels ‘resembled illustrations in old books’.

BAD NEWS ON MALARIA
In what its editorial described as ‘bad news’ the LANCET (September 14) said that the very promising malaria vaccine known as SP166 which was tested in Tanzania last year had been found to offer no protection following a three year study in Thailand. ‘Any notion of actually eliminating the disease I , the Lancet wrote, has long since been abandoned; the operative term is still ‘control’.

A SYSTEM WITHOUT PARALLEL
Under the heading ‘Tanzania: a second garden of Eden’ PEOPLE AND THE PLANET (Vol. 5 No. 1) featured the ‘tree gardens’ of the Chagga people of Mount Kilimanjaro. It described them as an inspiring model of how tropical rainforest could be sustainably managed. Chagga farmers cultivated up to 60 different species of trees on areas of land typically the size of a soccer field. Known locally as vihamba the farms comprised multi-story tree gardens. They originated on patches of forest land where useful species remained standing while other parts were gradually replaced by what was now the main cash crop – coffee. Coffee had arrived at the Kilema mission from the island of Reunion in 1885. Long before the colonial period the Chagga tapped water in steep, remote gorges, digging canals and hollowing out tree trunks to conduct it as irrigation water to settlements on mountain ridges.

‘A DIFFICULT MARKET FOR OUR ADVERTISERS’
An article in the EAST AFRICAN (September 30) compared attitudes to TV advertising in Kenya and Tanzania. In Kenya advertising was throwing off its previously staid image and now testing viewer’s tolerance in hitherto taboo areas such as sex and politics. A very successful Barclays Bank advert had featured a robot dancing to a Zairean-style kwasa kwasa beat; the dancing cash machine was a great hit but some people hated it because the robot danced in a physically suggestive manner. Despite protests, this and other similar advertisements had remained on the air in Kenya.

But in Tanzania things could have been different. A range of factors including a long period of socialism was said to have rooted in the people a deep multi-cultural sensitivity. with its rural and conservative nature, Tanzania was difficult to handle for a globally inclined industry like advertising. A Mr. Sam Madoka was quoted as saying that Tanzania’s resistance to some commercials from Kenya was a commendable insistence on the country’s own identity and protection against the dumping of western concepts. Another advertiser said that “lack of a tangible knowledge of our cultures by expatriates results in the misrepresentation one sees on commercial TV in Kenya”. Others disagreed. Africa could not live in isolation from the rest of the world they said.

MILES AHEAD IN POLITICAL CULTURE
Kenyan journalist John Githongo has been writing in the EAST AFRICAN (October 21) about his long love affair with Tanzania. Extracts: ‘Nyerereism has made Tanzania an extremely refreshing place to visit ….. it is miles ahead of Kenya in political culture; notably absent from the recent by-election was the fierce abuse and threats that are typical of Kenya … then there is the refreshing way the media covered the Dar poll; the ITV went out and interviewed supporters of all parties …… both of Tanzania’s presidential transitions had been carried out peacefully and President Mkapa’s predecessors have not been aggressively marginalised in any way …… but there are two sides to the coin; Kenyans complain that everything takes too long in Dar especially financial transactions … the hunt for profit just isn’t taken seriously …. there is a subsistence mentality …. but I’m an optimist about Tanzania’s future and we in Kenya have a lot to learn from the country’.

REAL MEN
The London TIMES ran a series of articles on feminism and masculinism in mid-October and Lotte Hughes, who said that she had had a long romance with one of them, wrote about the ‘real men’ the Maasai. ‘Warriors dance, sing, cry (I’ve seen warriors weep and shake when their mothers shave off their locks at the Eunoto ceremony), show tenderness, laugh, fight a little, talk a lot to their sweethearts, take care of their families ….. they may look tough but they are true gentlemen with perfect manners ….. sex is guilt-free for both men and women and though Maasai society is patriarchal and polygamous I found that women have a fair amount of power …. these men are attractive because they are “centred”, self-assured without arrogance …. unlike British men who hang back when the going gets tough, these warriors defend their territory and their girlfriends …. to my surprise I rather liked it!’

UMOJA
The first issue of a quarterly newsletter entitled UMOJA has been published by the Tanzania Association in London. The members of the association, which elected a new Executive committee in 1995 (the chairman is Dr. G Mutahaba) are Tanzanians resident in Britain and Ireland. The newsletter contained an article on the increasing numbers of Tanzanians applying for political asylum in Britain. It said that in 1955 about 1,500 people from Zanzibar, including 43 unaccompanied children, had claimed that they were political refugees. Some 800 Tanzanians had been turned away by the immigration authorities. It was this influx that had prompted the British government to impose tighter visa restrictions. The article quoted Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete as telling the Britain Tanzania Society earlier that there was no political crisis in Tanzania to justify people fleeing the country.

‘A SYMBOLIC FORUM’
In an article critical of the arrangements being made for the trial of Rwandans on charges of genocide, Michela Wrong wrote in the FINANCIAL TIMES (September 25) that the choice of Arusha as a venue had proved a bone of contention. ‘A sleepy base for tourists climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the town is a five-hour drive from the nearest capital Nairobi and communications range from patchy to nonexistent’. Cells and bullet proof partition walls reinforced to withstand terrorist attack had to be built from scratch ….. only 21 people had been indicted and Judge Richard Goldstone, chief prosecutor for both the Yugoslav and Rwandan tribunals, had admitted that the total might never exceed 40. That would turn Arusha into a symbolic forum rather than a realistic attempt to mete out justice to the thousands who had tried to eliminate a troublesome minority. But for those trying to rebuild Rwanda, such symbolism still had its value.’

The TIMES reported on November 19 that documents left behind by the fleeing Hutu extremists in Zaire had revealed plans to attack the Arusha centre to free three of the accused; they were said to be staying in conditions which resembled a four-star hotel. Tanzanian soldiers guarding the centre were said to have shown an ability to be corrupted and a Maasai spiritualist, who had access to the prisoners, might have been prepared to help (Thank you Andrew Gaisford for the first item – Editor).

LIONS AND AIRSTRIPS FOR FLYING DOCTORS
BBC WILDLIFE (December 1996) reported that mass vaccination of some 10,000 dogs living on the western borders of the Serengeti National park (around Musoma and Mwanza) would commence shortly. It would prevent a repeat of the 1994 distemper epidemic that had wiped out a third of the 3,000 lions.

A story about three human lives saved in Tanzania’s north Masailand recently was related in the November’96-January ’97 issue of MISSION AVIATION NEWS which described the apparently very difficult problem of obtaining a licence for an airstrip in Tanzania. It was said that it could take years. Forms have to be filled in by villagers who have cleared the strips and these then have to be approved by the village authorities, the District Commissioner – up to 50 miles away, the Regional Commissioner in Arusha and then, finally they have to go to Oar es Salaam. In January 1995 an airstrip at Buga had been opened which had been first identified four years earlier; 50 women had initiated the action which had led to the opening of the airstrip. Instead of a journey of six hours by road, serious medical conditions could now be reached within minutes.

Pilot John Clifford had identified 135 Tanzanian airstrips which could have a claim to exemption from the long licensing process as they were not used for tourism but only for medical and charitable work. Three new airstrips were recently licensed but seven were closed at the same time because licenses are for only two years. (Thank you Christine Lawrence for these two items – Ed.)

‘HIGH FLYING, DAPPER, GREGARIOUS BUSINESS TYCOON’
Under the heading ‘The rise and rise of Reginald Mengi’ NEW AFRICAN recently featured Reginald Abraham Mengi, the Tanzanian ‘media mogul’ who had risen from an impoverished childhood and who now owned a chain of other businesses in manufacturing (soap, chinaware, cold drinks and paper). ‘Two years ago he launched new radio and TV stations to add to his two national daily papers and three weeklies …. though his cri tics say he is expanding too fast and spending too much, his media is booming …. his success has made him many enemies and he has received hate letters …. though he says he has no political ambition ….. few doubt that deep down he has presidential ambitions’.

LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
Under this heading OASIS, the journal of water Aid, recounted in its Autumn/Winter 1996 issue the story of Chololo village in Dodoma region. water Aid’s programme in Dodoma was said to have enabled 622,000 people to improve the quality of their lives through the provision of improved water supply coupled with sanitation and hygiene education. In Chololo the people began work on their new water supply with great enthusiasm; they established a water fund, formed committees and took part in the initial survey but later, concerns over aspects of management of the supply caused them to lose confidence in the project. It took a visit to Ng’omai village, which had successfully completed its project 18 months earlier, for the villagers of Chololo to be convinced through discussions with their peers on the issues about which they were concerned. (Thank you Roy Galbraith for this item Editor).

‘ONE OF NATURE’S SILENT WORKERS‘
This is how the INDEPENDENT on a recent obituary page described Brother Adam (Dom Adam Kehrle): monk, bee breeder and beekeeper; born Germany 1898; died Buckfast Abbey, Devon September 1 1996. The obituary, by Lesley Bill, said that he was known in all beekeeping circles from the small market trader selling his honey on a stall in a French provincial town to the big commercial apiary owners in America and he was also well-known in academic circles in every continent. His aim had always been to create a cross-breed of bees with resistance to disease; bees that were gentle to handle, that swarmed rarely and were abundant honey producers. He had travelled 82,000 miles by road and 7,800 miles by sea plus many further miles by air in his search for appropriate bee characteristics. His travels culminated in a trip to Mount Kilimanjaro in search of the black honey bee (Apis Mellifera Monticola) when he was 89. The result of all this work had been the distinctive tan-coloured ‘Buckfast Bee’ which was still produced commercially on both sides of the Atlantic.

DANGEROUS PASSAGE
The story of a group of British tourists trying to snorkel off the coast of Zanzibar was given prominence in THE TIMES in its October 14 issue. Mrs Joan Garratt from Derbyshire described how she, three other Britons and two Africans, came into heavy weather; as they turned for shore the skipper got a line snagged round the outrigger and the small boat capsized. “The skipper gathered up the floating snorkel masks and started swimming for a distant sail and we assumed he was going for help” Mrs Garratt said. “But after he had reached it and climbed in, it set sail for the shore and we never saw him again. I think he was scared he was in trouble …. It was getting colder and colder in the water … and we expected to die. It was only when a fellow tourist began waving his brightly coloured shirt that we were spotted from the coast by a fisherman …. he had a dinghy and came out to rescue us. It seemed as though his boat would capsize too. I have never been so grateful to be on dry land”. After they returned they saw a map of the area with the words ‘white sharks’ written across it!

TANZANIA’S TRAIL OF TEARS – THE SLAVE ROUTES
The October-December 1996 issue of the Tanzania Tourist Board’s publication TANTRAVEL is so filled (in its 72 pages) with interest that it is impossible to do it justice in the limited space available in this section of TA. It is a very fine production filled with beautiful illustrations, enticing advertisements and engrossing short articles. The main subject in this issue is slavery. The early history of slavery is recorded followed by Livingtone’s eyewitness account of a slave massacre, an article on Tippu Tip (the King of the slavers), on Zanzibar, the hub of the whole trade and on Bagamoyo, the slave port. Other articles feature a family’s journey from Abu Dhabi to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and the ‘best fishing in the world’ at Mafia Island.

THE ANGLICAN CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL
The CHURCH TIMES of October 17 stated that the Rt. Revd Simon Chiwanga, Bishop of Mpwapwa has been elected Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) one of the Anglican Church’s instruments of unity, which meets every three years. At its most recent meeting in Panama in October 1996 it discussed the next Lambeth Conference scheduled for 1998 and the future role of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Thank you Mr E G Pike for this item).

WHAT A FANTASTIC PLACE!
In its regular feature ‘My Hols’ in the SUNDAY TIMES (July 7) the well-known Channel 4 newscaster Jon Snow wrote as follows: ‘… when I was with VS0 in Uganda I hitch-hiked on a wonderful holiday all round East Africa. Round Uganda, down Lake Victoria, round Tanzania, down to the coast and on to Zanzibar. What a fantastic place! Empty beaches, white Arab houses, graceful dhows, the smell of nutmeg …’

LAND LAW LEGISLATION AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT
The British Council’s ACTION IN AFRICA newsletter (June 1996) reported that two eminent land lawyers, Charles Harpum, a member of the Law Commission of England and Wales and Malcolm Grant, Professor of Land Economy at Cambridge University, were in Tanzania recently. They contributed to a workshop organised by the Ministry of Lands for lawyers scrutinising the draft land law legislation for consistency with the published National Land Policy before its presentation to Parliament later this year.

The same newsletter reported that the Council had hosted a presentation of the film ‘Towards Good Government: Records Management and Public Sector Reform in Tanzania’ to an invited audience of Principal Secretaries in the Civil Service and members of the Cabinet Secretariat. The film was made by the International Records Management Trust as one of the outputs of a workshop to restore order to the Tanzania National Archives which took place last year. The Ministry of Education has invited archives personnel to appraise records and reorganise its congested registry.

‘A VIBRANT REBIRTH’
This is how Mark Besire in the EAST AFRICAN (May 6-12) described a cultural renaissance now happening amongst the Sukuma. The centre of this rebirth was the Sukuma Museum, a ‘living museum’, at Kisesa 24 kms north of Mwanza which was being assisted by several donors including the Dartington Trust in Britain. New chiefs were being installed and others reinstalled. Many were collecting and researching shitogeljo – objects that played a significant role in traditional ceremonies. Some chiefdoms were returning to matrilineal succession as practised before the colonial period. The institution of chiefs was abolished at independence. But many chiefs were now taking active roles in their communities, more people were turning to traditional healers and there was great zest for traditional dance competitions.

THREAT OF EXTINCTION
A note of alarm was signalled in an article about a well-known Tanzanian tree in BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE in August 1996. It stated that, unless action is taken, harvestable stocks of the African Blackwood or ‘Mpingo’ tree which is used to make clarinets and oboes, the chinrests of violins and the wooden part of bagpipes – plus Makonde wood carvings, could run out within 30 years. An expedition from Cambridge University has gone to Tanzania this summer to get data to help the Flora preservation Society draw up a conservation plan for Mpingo. (Thank you Jane Carroll for finding this item. More on this subject in Readers Letters below – Editor).

PEMBA LIBRARY
The Bellagio Network Newsletter No 16 (Spring 1996) contained an article about the Pemba Public Library by Margaret Ling, Director of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, Although the need for a library had been established 40 years earlier this one finally opened in 1994. Its initial stocking was helped by the British ODA and Council and there are now some 1,500 regular users of the 13,000 titles. Of these only 2% are from African publishers and Pemba, like 85 of the 104 districts in Tanzania, does not yet have a bookshop. (Thank you Pru Watts-Russel for this item – Editor).

TANZANIAN CD-ROM
GUARDIAN EDUCATION (March 12) revealed that the Leeds Development Education Centre (Tel: 0113 278 4030) has designed an interactive CD-Rom and accompanying teacher’s pack and video about a Tanzanian woman and her family for key stages 1 to 3 in schools. The cost is £49.

BIG ZOOLOGICAL FIND
According to the March/April issue of AFRICA – ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE, a small chameleon spotted in the Mkomazi Game Reserve late in 1994 by entomologist Tony Russell-Smith has turned out to be a big zoological find. This was the first African pygmy chameleon seen by Dr. Malcolm Coe, leader of the Mkomazi Ecological Research Programme, in 40 years of studying savanna ecology. But Rhampholian kerstenti is a familiar sight in the coastal forests and in the Usambara and Pare mountains. The hills of Mkomazi are relatively undisturbed, offering what may in the future be a critical refuge for these eight centimetre-long reptiles.

PERHAPS THE GREATEST MUSICIAN TANZANIA HAS EVER PRODUCED
This is how the EAST AFRICAN described Mbaraka Mwinshehe Mwaruka on what would have been his 52nd birthday. He died in 1979 aged 35. ‘He was a singer, guitarist, performer and composer – East Africa’s most prolific all-round pop musician’, the article said. ‘Although he said that he only wanted to sing and dance he was an amalgamation of different things to different people – a poet to some; to his family a cutting satirist; to the country’s politicians a lavish praise singer; to the nation, a musical ambassador (he was with the famous Morogoro Jazz Band at the Expo ’70 Exhibition in Japan and later formed his own band, Orchestra Super Volcano); he was a witty social commentator in the East African oral tradition’. A commemoration was held at the newly opened FM Club in Kinondoni on January 12 this year.

ENGLISH VERSUS SWAHILI
Herald Tagama of Gemini News writing in the Uganda MONITOR (May 6-7) featured the revived debate in Tanzania about the language to be used in schools. The Chairman of the National Swahili Council, Prof. Herman Mwansoko, was quoted as having started the debate by leading a delegation to President Mkapa to press for a ban on English in all subjects in schools from primary level to university. President Mkapa deflected the proposal but said it was worth debating. And a debate began. Particularly vociferous were those parents who send their children to Kenya and Malawi to avoid declining standards in Tanzanian schools. Tony Ngaiza, the editor of Majira attacked this ‘fanciful’ proposal and accused the Kiswahili Council of frivolity when the quality of education was nose-diving. Mwansoko returned to the fray, calling the objectors ‘colonial minded’. Others noted that European countries had no difficulty in continuing to use their local languages in schools and also learning English. Eventually Mwalimu Nyerere, who had made Swahili the medium of instruction in primary schools so that he could put his message across to ALL the people, said that “What we have done for Swahili is enough. Now we have to give English its vim. It is the ‘Kiswahili’ of the world”.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE LAST WEEK”
This, according to British TV personality Jeremy Paxman is what you always hear when you go on a fishing holiday. But, according to the WEEKEND GUARDIAN (January 27) when he went fishing at the Pemba Channel Fishing Club on the Kenya/Tanzania border he was greeted with the unprecedented words “You are going to catch fish. We’re having the best season for years”. Marlin fishing, Paxman wrote, is the macho end of angling – it is to fly fishing what arm wrestling is to chess. ‘The longer the search went on the more I began to dread what would happen if and when we found one. Then suddenly complete commotion… when the fight began it was every bit as exhausting as I’d feared. The fish tore off 400 yards of line and then leapt from the water… within five minutes I was soaked in perspiration and had lost most of the skin from my index finger. In 10 minutes my left arm was aching as if it couldn’t move any more. It took about 15 minutes. “Do you want to kill him?” the boatman asked. I couldn’t see the point and so we tagged him in the hope that the next time his aggression led him to attack a bait, the boatman might think it worth $5 to send back the tag and we’d learn a bit about how these beautiful fish migrate around the world’.

SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION OF NGO’s
The EAST AFRICAN (June 17-23) reported that the government had suspended the registration of new NGO’s (non-government organisations) until September pending amendment of the 1953 Association Ordinance that governs the operations of such bodies. Each of the 850 NGO’s registered in Tanzania since 1953 would be examined amid rising suspicions that many were not following the law.

CLEANING UP LAKE VICTORIA
WORLD BANK NEWS (August 1) announced that $77.6 million $35 million from IDA is being invested in a project designed to conserve the lake’s biodiverity and genetic resources, control the water hyacinth, generate food and provide jobs and safe water in a disease-free environment.

NO SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS
VSO’s quarterly magazine ORBIT (No. 61) reported what it described as an unwelcome jolt. Volunteer Jennifer Semahimbo, who had married a Tanzanian while in the country, was refused social security benefits on her return to pending ‘reestablishment of her habitual residence’ even though she had kept her home in Birmingham and VS0 had paid her national insurance contributions. The Department of Social Security claimed that a Tanzanian tax clearance certificate in her passport indicated residence there.

TEA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TANZANIA
The EAST AFRICAN (August 19-25) reported that Tanzania has inaugurated its own Tea Research Institute in an effort to reverse the decline in the country’s tea production. Malawi was said to have the same acreage under tea as Tanzania but produced twice as much tea.

Geographical Magazine excerpt

The Times article on Tanzanian Tourism

A bold new five-year tourism programme involving investment of over $150 million was launched in Britain, at the Royal Geographic Society, on April 17 by Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr. Juma Ngasongwa. The meeting coincided with the publication in the Geographic Magazine (May 1996) of an attractively illustrated 16-page Supplement (Cover photograph by Gary J Strand of ‘Wildlife Explorer’) about Tanzania’s tourist attractions. The next day the London Times publicised the event in an article under the heading ‘Halting the Hordes’ – see above.

RATIONING THE NUMBER OF VISITORS
Tourist numbers, which, ten years ago, totalled only 50,000 and have now reached almost 300,000 are to be increased further up to half a million by the year 2000. However, after the year 2,000, a break will be put on further increase in numbers in a bid to create a ‘quality product’ and avoid overcrowding of parks and reserves and hence damage to the fragile ecosystem.

SCOPE AND FUNDING
Funds for the programme are to come from international donors (following completion of a recent ‘World Bank Tourism Infrastructure Plan’ and a ‘European Union Tourism Master Plant plus private sector investments and Government funds. Features of the plan include new roads, upgrading of seven airstrips, the development of a new ‘Southern Circuit’ (Selous – the largest wildlife reserve in the world – Mikumi, Ruaha, Udzungwa, Katavi and Gombe Stream) by construction of tented camps and small lodges rather than big hotels, special interest holidays such as game fishing in the Pemba Channel and Mafia Island, bird watching in the Usambaras, historical tourism (including extension of the Livingstone Museum in Bagamoyo, a new School of Tribal Art there and greater accessibility to the caves with prehistoric paintings and the gorge where early human remains were found.

But critics at the meeting questioned whether it would be possible to control the numbers, One speaker pointed out that Ngorongoro was already catering for 50 vehicles a day and yet a new Sopa Lodge and new Serena Hotel were being built. In Zanzibar hotel construction had “gone berserk”. At a Britain- Tanzania Society tourism seminar held on March 23 one speaker attacked the whole idea of Third World tourism – it led to neo-colonialism, local people did not benefit enough, it destroyed the natural environment, led to prostitution etc. Dr. Ngasongwa, at the Royal Geographic Society, admitted that, as a result of inviting the private sector to develop tourism, there had been overdevelopment but stated that the government was now introducing a moratorium on the development of hotels and lodges serving the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro crater and that all future developments would be subject to environmental impact surveys. Tanzania had learnt by its mistakes. Tanzania Tourist Board Chairman Natim Karimjee added that the main problem he faced was ‘control’. The article went on to say that autonomy would enhance positive management and eliminate the need to depend on governments for subventions.

THE OBSERVERS IN TANZANIA
Joanna Lewis writing in AFRICA ANALYSIS (January 29) about the UN observers in Tanzania’s recent elections analysed what she described as ‘this under-funded and poorly-managed UN operation …. Could 200 observers seriously be expected to break the historical links between the ruling party and the state?’. There could be no greater symbol of the contradictions and confusions surrounding the continuous donor policy of democratisation of Africa, she wrote, than the international community’s involvement in the Tanzanian elections. They had left in their wake a ‘trail of tension and cynicism1. The UN monitoring had been a ‘charade8. The writer felt that donors might now be about to cool their passion for multi-partyism and quoted a joke made by Mwalimu Nyerere to a British Conservative MP who was an observer on election day – that there was more than one way to maintain a one-party state. The writer said that Mwalimu now had another – to make sure that you had UN observers at your multi-party elections!

NOT ON THE SYLLABUS
‘This sort of activity is not exactly on the syllabus at the Sokoine University of Agriculture’s Veterinary Faculty’ wrote Margaret Cooper in the September 1995 issue of VETERINARY PRACTICE but, she reported, not long ago four intrepid Tanzanian veterinary students and an English medical student risked all to rescue some tortoises and terrapins from a very hungry crocodile and then helped to translocate the crocodile to the Mikumi National Park. The rescue arose from a request by the Ministry of Natural Resources to deal with a collection of reptiles at an ~frican National Congress (ANC) camp which was to close imminently. Several visits were made to the camp to assess the collection which comprised a dozen tortoises, two leopard tortoises (Testudo pardalis) and ten Bell’s hingeback tortoises (Kinixys belliana) plus about ten terrapins and a Nile crocodile. …. some tortoises had been mutilated by the crocodile and the shells were repaired with car body filler or with putty …..

PRAISE FOR PRESIDENT MKAPA
‘Mkapa is on the right track’ according to a recent editorial in Ugandars NEW VISION at the time when the President was bringing together the quarrelling leaders of Kenya and Uganda at the beginning of the year. The editorial went on: ‘Everyone in East Africa has very high hopes of President Mkapa because of his idealistic and untarnished image. He is right to lay such emphasis on regional cooperation because it is undoubtedly the key to the survival and growth of the African continent. We wish President Mkapa every success in his endeavours’ (Thank you Margaret Snyder for sending this news item from Uganda – Editor).

HALVING HIV TRANSMISSION
HIV transmission could be almost halved if other sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) were treated effectively according to research conducted by British and Tanzanian researchers in Mwanza and reported in the December 1995 issue of NEW AFRICAN. More than 12,000 people were recruited for the study which used high doses of cheaper drugs like Septin to treat the STD’s, two-day courses of which cost only $0.79 each. Professor David Mabey of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that they calculated the total cost of treating every STD patient could be brought down to as little as $2 million using these new methods

MANDRAX TABLETS
The TIMES OF SWAZILAND (December 19) reported that a Tanzanian national had been arrested at the Swaziland – Mozambique border post at Lomahasha carrying 169 Mandrax tablets worth hundreds of thousands of Emalangeni (Swazi currency). This was the only border post where there were sniffer dogs trained to detect drugs.

DIVERSIFICATION
Forty-five years ago The Tanganyika Wattle Company (TANWAT) established a sustainable forestry business near Njombe for the extraction of tannin from the bark of the wattle tree (Acacia mearnsis) which is used for tanning leather. But, as the December 1995 issue of CDC MAGAZINE reported, the demand for tannin has gradually dropped. Activities were therefore diversified first into arable cropping, then into irrigated tea and in 1995 into a new 2,500 kW power station to use up half of TANWAT’s waste wood. By May 1995 TANWAT was able to begin exporting electricity to Njombe and its environs.

CONTRASTS
Some striking contrasts between Britain and Tanzania are revealed in the 1996 WORLD BANK ATLAS:

STREET CHILDREN IN MWANZA
‘There are two groups of street children; the ones on the street who usually keep family ties and the children of the street who often get involved in anti-social activities’ – so wrote Sister Teresa, a Malawian Missionary Sister of our Lady of Africa in the April-May 1996 issue of WHITE FATHERS – WHITE SISTERS. She went on to explain how she got to know them. ‘When I found them playing cards outside Mwanza Hotel or in the market I joined them; I sat down with the bigger boys while they were smoking ‘bhang’ (marijuana) or drinking ‘gongo’ (alcohol); I have been in bars at night and found some of the young girls getting drunk.. . . .some of the boys come to our house for knotting, card making, watching videos….some of them go to sleep, because for once they can lie down without being harassed by the police or the ‘Sungusungu’ (traditional defence groups). Building relationships with the street girls is not that easy …. they want a quick way of getting money.. . .The streets of Mwanza are for me like pages of Scripture from the living context of life. It is like a sacred ground where I meet Christ in different forms. He calls me to live more closely with him and with his favourite ones, the poor, the street children and to know him more intimately through real live relationships with them’.

SNIFFER DOGS
The JOHANNESBURG STAR (January 6) reported that proposals have been made for a group of Tanzanian and other police officers to be trained in South Africa and then return home with Labrador and German sniffer dogs to assist in the fight against drug smuggling.

ANOTHER AWARD FOR NYERERE
The TIMES OF SWAZILAND (December 29, 1995) was one of many papers to publish the news that Mwalimu Nyerere had been awarded the first International à and hi Peace Prize for ‘bringing about social, economic and political transformation through non-violence1. The award, which carries a citation and a $300,000 prize, was created in 1994 to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of the Indian independence hero
Mahatma Gandhi.

NEW VISA RESTRICTIONS
THE AFRICAN (Edition 3, March 1996) which describes itself
as ‘Europe’s Most Informed Black Magazine’ and addresses itself particularly to the refugee and exile African community, has reported that, in order to stem the increasing number of bogus Tanzanian asylum seekers arriving in Britain, the British Home Office now requires all Tanzanian nationals travelling to Britain to have a visa. The number of asylum seekers, excluding dependants, from Tanzania has risen from 107 in 1994 to 1,250 in 1995. (British people travelling to Tanzania also need a visa. The high cost (f 38) corresponds to the very high cost of the visa needed by Tanzanians coming to the UK- Editor).

WEEVILS ON THE ATTACK
The governments of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya have agreed plans to launch large numbers of weevils later this year to attack the Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) which is clogging up Lake Victoria. The weevils eat the leaves while the larvae chew into stems and crowns. But, according to the NEW SCIENTIST (April 6), experience with the weevils in Papua- New Guinea, indicates that they can take up to ten years to make a significant impact.
TA has also been informed by Mr John Mole of TANNOL HOLDINGS, which is running an international research project on the relationship between Bilharzia-carrying snails and the water hyacinth, of a proposal being made for the hyacinth to be used as cattle fodder at a site 30 minutes from Mwanza.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
BRITISH OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT has been reporting on the views of a group of Tanzanian students who visited Britain under the link arrangement between Shambalai School in Lushoto and St. Bedes School in Redhill, Surrey: – ‘Families are very different. In Tanzania the women and the girls do the cooking. Here, even the fathers cook for their children. But people here are so busy they don’t even have time to talk to each other8 – Daniel Herman. – ‘Pluses include the beautiful houses and the food (chips, chicken and beef)’ – Sylvia Denis. – ‘The visit to the car factory was best. Other likes included the air conditioning, the food, TV and British family life. But some of the skirts are too short’ – Hyasinta Lucas.

FIRST MARINE PARK
Recalling the setting up by parliament in April 1995 of Tanzania’s first Marine Park in Mafia island, an article in AFRICA – ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE (November -December 1995) explained that Mafia was one of the most biodiverse spots on the East African coast. With its spectacular coral reefs, seagrass beds, intertidal flats and nearby islets, the park included major breeding and nursery grounds for many marine species. Islanders would continue to live in the park but most of the area would be a ‘regulated use zone’. The coming year would see the design of World Wildlife community development initiatives and an ecological monitoring system.

THE NEW ARUSHA
From a dusty outpost for early white hunters, Arusha has developed into an international centre demanding appropriate facilities for a population growing in sophistication. It already hosts the Eastern and Southern African Management Centre (ESAMI), the Centre for Integrated Rural Development in Africa (CIRDAFRICA), the Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU) and the Commonwealth Health Secretariat for East Africa. Now it is acquiring the United Nations International Rwanda Tribunal with hundreds of new spenders in the form of lawyers, journalists and investigators and the revived East African Cooperation Secretariat.

Already also the town has three modern casinos, three new entertainment and night spots, more than ten tourist class hotels. New developments expected or just recently opened include the 500-capacity ‘Hotel 77 Maua Nyama Garden’, the multi-million shilling “Mike’s Jointr which straddles the Themi River, the ‘Soweto Garden’, ‘Johnson’s Corner’ which is under construction along Nairobi Road, and the futuristic ‘African Cultural and Heritage Centre’ along Dodoma Road. Arusha has also launched its own FM radio station and a tabloid newspaper – the EAST AFRICAN.

THE LONGEST SURVIVING COOP
This is how the Tabora Beekeepers Cooperative was described in the Spring 1996 issue of QUARTERLY RETURN, the Newsletter of Shared Interest Society Limited, The coop was said to have been started by a Roman Catholic priest in the 19609 and now has 2,500 members. In the rainy season the beekeepers hoist their hives up in the trees. Harvesting can be hazardous but it has been made easier by plastic buckets provided by Traidcraft which buys the honey. The coop has helped in establishing a number of primary schools, a clinic, a bus service and even a social centre where honey wine is sold to make more money.

LITTLE DID THEY KNOW?
AFRICA TODAY (March/April 1966) reported that immigration officers barred 27-year-old Tanzanian Abdul-kader Shareef from Britain, apparently because they found a letter on him asking a friend in London to help him get a job. Twenty nine years later, Dr. Shareef was given VIP treatment on his return to take up his appointment to the Court of St. James as his country’s new High Commissioner in the UK.

SHOWING THE THIGH
A GEMINI feature published in an number of newspapers including the Barbados SUNDAY ADVOCATE described the controversy which had arisen following the recent Miss Tanzania contest. The winner who had worn a swimsuit at the contest had subsequently been expelled from her secondary school following protests from traditionalists to the effect that it was immoral for a father to see the thighs of his daughter, that White people were bringing an obscene culture into Tanzania, that the body was ‘God’s house’ and that it was sinful to turn it into a commodity. Others countered by saying that many traditional dances were performed with bare breasts, that no one complained about the wearing of swimming costumes for swimming, that boys exposed their thighs in boxing and why shouldn’t girls be treated the same. The Headmaster of the girl’s school said that the girl had been expelled because she had played truant in order to take part in the contest. Taking up the story NEW AFRICAN (February) reported that the lady in question, 19-year old Emily Adolf Kailio, went on to take part in the Miss World Competition in Sun City (some call it Sin City) in South Africa but did not get into the finals.

MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF MERCURY IN GOLD MINING
About 40% of the gold mined in Tanzania is recovered through a process using highly poisonous mercury. Small scale miners have been evaporating into air tons of mercury. The Tanzanian environmental magazine AGENDA in a recent issue reported that Dr. G Njau of the National Industrial Research Development Organisation (TIRDO) assisted by Mr A Itika, Mr L Rweyemamu and Prof. C Migiro of the Institute of Production Innovation (IPI) have designed, fabricated and tested a retort to recover mercury. It has air-cooled condensers, weighs only 2.4 kgs and is capable of recovering 99.6% of the mercury used during amalgamation with gold. These scientists, who were joint recipients of the 1995 ‘Tanzania Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement’ (TASTA), are looking for an entrepreneur to produce the retorts on a commercial basis.

USING LOCAL MATERIALS
‘I got through about 800 trees, 50kg of nails and a crate of beer a week.. .We used local materials – bamboo andeucalyptus trees and I salvaged cast-iron pipes from a disused tin mine as culverts … with these very simple materials we built food distribution and registration centres and emergency shelter’. This was the way in which Ms Jo da Silva of RedR (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief) vividly described in the December 23/24 1995 issue of THE STRUCTURAL ENGINEER how she had arrived in Tanzania at ten days notice to help tens of thousands of refugees from Rwanda who had themselves arrived suddenly in Tanzania in April 1994. Warehouses had been imported from Norway – they required ‘creative thinking’ when some parts were found to be missing.. . (Thank you Roy Galbraith for sending this item – Editor).

SOAP OPERAS
Although the first Tanzanian soap opera began only in April last year Tanzanians are lapping up the increasing numbers of soap operas with the same enthusiasm as everywhere else according to NEW AFRICAN (February). The man who is doing everything from editing the scripts to shooting the film is Sayed Mehboob or MEB as he is better known – the editing supervisor of Dar es Salaam TV. And one of the main reasons for the success of the programmes is that they are in Swahili. Most people have difficulty in following imported soaps. Kipigo cha Mke (Wife beating) is about an old Casanova who picks up beautiful young girls; Mtoto wa kufika (The stepchild) is about an overworked and frequently reprimanded stepchild called Siyawezi; Husada Mbaya (Jealousy is bad) features a student about to leave for Europe.

‘THE GREENEST AND COOLEST SPOT IN DAR ES SALAAM’
This is how TANTRAVEL – Tanzania’s Travel and Leisure Magazine – described recently the Dar es Salaam Botanical Gardens and National Museum. The gardens were established as experimental gardens by the German colonial administration in 1893 and originally stretched from the present built-over plots around the fifth hole of the Gymkhana Club Golf Course through the Ocean Road Hospital grounds and the area surrounding the present State House. In July 1914 a mammoth Trade Fair and Agricultural Show was held in the gardens but during the First World War some 140 species of plants and shrubs were destroyed to facilitate the digging of trenches. In 1941 a museum was opened as a memorial to King George V who had died in 1936.

RAILWAYS IN TROUBLE
In an article headed ‘Southern African Railways in Trouble’ NEW AFRICAN (February) paints a sombre picture of inefficiency and increasing losses of business to road hauliers. ‘At the beginning of 1995’ the report says ‘TAZARA announced far reaching measures aimed at commercialising operations in order to compete in the changed market. But, because it is owned by three countries – Tanzania, Zambia and China – it is refusing attempts to sell it as an independent railway company to foreign investors. (Continued on page 24)

THE CHANGED REMMY ONGALA
The popular Zairean singer Dr. Remmy or Sauti ya Mnyonga (Voice of the poor) who has made his home in Tanzania, has changed, according to the January issue of NEW AFRICAN. He used to sing about government corruption and inefficiency and praised opposition leader Augustine Mrema. Then, after a spell in Britain, where he performed with a bare torso wrapped in nothing but an animal skin, he returned to Tanzania and started playing his music at CCM election rallies wearing three-piece suits. He backed Benjamin Mkapa in the presidential race. ‘The hippy turned square; the maverick became respectable’. Some people were said to believe that the change was linked to his fear of being deported as he had overstayed his residence permit in Tanzania.

THE ELECTIONS

Tanzania’s elections did not have a good press internationally. ‘Tanzania Polls in Chaos’ trumpeted the London TIMES (October 31). ‘An organised botch’, ‘a complete farce’ were amongst the words used by AFRICA ANALYSIS (November 3) which stated that the UN observers suffered from an impossible mandate. They had been told by the UN in New York that ‘no statements should be made by any staff in the name of the United Nations’.

The German newspaper ZEIT (November 3) described the Zanzibar election as a bizarre prelude to the mainland elections …. Mrema did not have a chance against criminal manipulations …’ Africa had looked with high expectations towards Tanzania …. everyone hoped for a victory for democracy (but) those in power knew how to prevent this. Once again’. Under the heading ‘Chaos Spreads in Tanzania’s First Election’ the FINANCIAL TIMES (October 31) wrote ‘Tanzania’s first attempt at multi-party democracy teetered on the verge of collapse yesterday undermined by administrative incompetence and the logistics of organising a poll in East Africa’s largest country ….. the latest confusion has added to a growing mood of cynicism in Dar es Salaam’. The DAILY TELEGRAPH headline read ‘Tanzania Poll Ends in Chaos Amid Rigging Claims’.

The WASHINGTON POST (November 4) wrote that ‘Disorganisation and confusion appeared to taint Sunday’s election early on as polling stations around the country opened several hours late. Professor Ibrahim Lipumba was quoted as saying that the elections were a a national shame. WEST AFRICA (November 3-19) under the heading ‘Democratic Stalemate’ quoted observers as wondering whether Tanzania would go the same way as other states in Africa and be a case of endless political instability.

In a more detailed analysis The FINANCIAL TIMES quoted Professor Mukandala, head of a local monitoring group as saying that “in a close contest the CCM will not relinquish power. … I don’t think there is anybody out there who believes these elections were free and fairw. The article went on ‘If CCM was ready to bend the rules, international observers … did little to thwart it. They prematurely ruled the Zanzibar stage free and fair and failed adequately to monitor the count….most observers overran their budget and had to leave, work unfinished. And as what many diplomats privately called a debacle emerged, the UN first kept silent and then issued a bland statement recommending the authorities to correct anomalies’.

AN IRONY OF HISTORY
On a related matter AFRICAN BUSINESS (October) pointed out an extraordinary irony of history. The veteran politician and writer Abdulrahman Babu was originally chosen by Augustine Mrema as his Vice-Presidential running mate in the recent elections but resigned when his candidature was questioned by the National Electoral Commission (NEC). His replacement was Sultan Ahmed Sultan whose grandfather, Sultan Ahmed al Mugheiry, was stabbed to death in the 1950’s for collaborating with the British colonial administration. His assassin, Mohammed Humud, was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released immediately after the Zanzibar revolution on January 12 1964. But later that year he was detained without trial and executed by the then Zanzibar President Karume. On April 7, 1972 Karume was assassinated by Lt. Humud Mohammed Humud, a son of Mohammed Humud. Although it was obviously a case of revenge, the authorities said that it was part of a plot, led by Babu, to oust Karume’s government. Babu was subsequently detained on the mainland in solitary confinement for six years and was also tried in Zanzibar, in absentia, for treason. It was this that led the NEC to say that he was not qualified to run for high office! (Thank you Oliver Stegen, Andrew Gaisford, Paul Marchant, Jim Read and others for the above items – Editor).

IN DEFENCE OF THE WATER HYACINTH
Anne Outwater defended the much-maligned Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) which is spreading alarmingly in Lake Victoria in an article in the EAST AFRICAN (November 13). ‘Who is cleaning the outflow from Lake cities such as Mwanza and Bukoba she asked. Who removed the stench after all those bodies floated down from the Kagera River last year after the Rwanda genocide? Water hyacinths are very good at sucking up nutrients from water. They are strongest when the water has been dirtied with organic waste. After the hyacinths have done their work water runs clear and clean. It would be difficult to find a cheaper way of cleaning up the sewage going into the Lake……

0 J SIMPSON
NEW AFRICAN (December) asked people around the world for their comments on the 0 J Simpson murder trial verdict. From Tanzania, Finnegan Sibeye was quoted as saying that it was a ‘white planned legal trap’. Faranji Dumila said that White Americans are resentful about the rise of blacks.. .it is all about economic disparities ….Gregory Macha said ‘There is a growing tendency to criminalise the blacks especially those who excel in arts, sports or music ….’

BEIJING
Tanzania’s former High Commissioner in India, Gertrude Mongella, who was the Secretary-General of the 12-day UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, has received praise for her efficient management of the conference in many organs of the press. The TIMES (September 5) quoted her as declaring, amidst wild applause and ululation that women were no longer “guests on this planet. This planet belongs to them too. A revolution has begun – there is no going back’.

FLYING FOR LIFE
Under this heading the November issue of MAF (MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP NEWS) described how 735 kgs of bibles, enough to fill three Landrovers, were flown recently by the only aircraft available to take the load (after removal of seats) – their Cessna 402 from Dodoma to Tabora for refuelling and then to Mpanda. From there the bibles were taken to be distributed by bible society workers to Burundi and Rwanda refugees in camps in the area. The bibles are expected to make life more tolerable for many refugees who had fled and lost their bibles in the dash for freedom. (Thank you Christine Lawrence for these two items of news – Editor).

GARDEN OF EDEN
Describing Tanzania as a Garden of Eden Father Peter Smith in the August-September issue of WHITE FATHERS – WHITE SISTERS wrote about Julius Nyerere as follows: ‘For inspiration he drew on the fellowship of the Acts of the Apostles, the brotherhood of the Qur’anic umma as well as the kibbutz of Israel and the communes of China. He provided a vision for Tanzanians and Africans rooted in their culture (so that they could) hold their heads as high as anyone in the family of mankind’.

He recalled that The Holy Ghost fathers came to the coast in 1868 and the White Fathers came ten years later. 99% of the White Fathers have passed through the 130-year old Atinan House (named after a Malian Doctor-Catechist), one of the first six permanent buildings in Dar es Salaam and, in the beginning, the mainland ‘seraglio’ of the Sultan of Zanzibar. One of a number of tables accompanying the article gives the religious adherence of Tanzanians:
Catholics 3,959,000
Total Christians 7,943,000
Muslims 5,866,900
Other faiths 4,178,000

ZANZIBAR BOOM
Michela Wrong writing in the FINANCIAL TIMES (October 20) said that after decades of grinding poverty, prosperity once again beckons for the legendary spice islands … that prospect, as much as the resentment generated by years of suppressed national identity, threatens to sabotage the 31-year Union. Undermining the debate is the islands’ extraordinary transformation since Tanzania turned its back on Julius Nyerere’s disastrous economic policies. … Encouraged by tax incentives, Italian, South African and other investors have poured into the tourism sector, which has now replaced the clove industry as the main source of foreign exchange. Decaying Arab palaces are being turned into five-star lodgings to steal trade from the dreary Soviet-style government hotels. Chic galleries selling designer wear now compete with T-shirt shops for backpackers. Tourist numbers, hardly 30,000 five years ago should touch 100,000 this year. In 1990 economic growth was minus 3%. now it is 4.5%…..

MIGRATION FROM TANZANIA
The corncrake, Britain’s only globally-endangered bird species, is being rescued by a Scottish bird preservation society. A spokesman for the society told the BBC’s RADIO 4 that the corncrake was once fairly common throughout Britain but in recent decades has existed only in declining numbers in Scotland. The bird migrates annually from Tanzania. The society is spending £300,000 annually to persuade Scottish farmers to adapt their methods of silage production so as to encourage the corncrake’s breeding habits (Thank you David Somers for this item – Editor)

83-YEAR OLD CLIMBS KILIMANJARO
“Something happened to me on Kilimanjaro. Something great, something sublime. Something different to anything I had experienced on other high mountains. I stopped 1,000m before the peak, 5,500m above sea level. Should I have tried to press on? The hardships can be overcome. But there are many: altitude sickness, fatigue, nausea, severe headache, diarrhoea, breathlessness, palpitations, vomiting, loss of appetite, severe cold, frostbite and even hallucinations …… (On the mountain) I was quite exhilarated; it seemed as though there were no problems for the old man.. .many others in the group had given up and descended.. .and then, near the top I began to feel uncomfortable; it was far too hot…and then it dawned on me what was wrong. I had too little water. The person who had kindly offered to carry the rest of my supply had gone far ahead. I dared not proceed. I was not going to be carried off the mountain. Never. But still I was overpowered. I experienced that wonderful rare feeling of joy.. “ -Schalk Theron writing in the JOHANNESBURG STAR INTERNATIONAL (August 24-30).

CROWD CONTROL
Tanzania is to limit the number of visitors to its national parks for the first time to reduce pressure on the animals and their ecosystems. According to the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (October 21) officials are worried that the country’s 12 parks and other conservation areas could become as crowded as those in Kenya.

So far three parks have declared new limits on the number of tourist beds and vehicles allowed. Serengeti will not exceed the 1,200 beds it has now and will allow in only two vehicles for each pride of lions in the park. The smaller Tarangire National Park has a maximum of 287 ‘fixed’’ beds and one vehicle per two kilometres of road. In the Ngorongoro Conservation area the limit has been set at five lodges offering 422 beds.

Prices are rising too. Foreigners are now charged £12.50 to enter any of the national parks and £12.50 per 24 hours thereafter. Vehicles are charged £6.25 a day. Campers pay £12- £25 a night and rooms in lodges cost £30-£90 (Thank you Donald Wright for this item – Editor).

THE CHARGE
‘We had met the beast before. An old bull elephant, the rims of his ears ragged and torn; his left tusk broken off. He trotted towards us, stopped and glared and then charged. It was a massive piece of body language. But, still some distance away, he came to a halt and trumpeted defiantly. He decided that he had made his point. So began an article by Sean Hignett in the WEEKEND TELEGRAPH (August 19) describing a visit to the Serengeti National Park.