Next up: Tanzania

So I'm going to Tanzania in two weeks.

Sixteen months ago I'd never been to any African country.  The count now stands at five: Burundi, Senegal, Uganda, Congo, and now Tanzania.

It would of course be totally banal and stupid to marvel at how different from each other these countries are, how much diversity there is in this huge continent.  Fortunately, I seem to lack the gene that codes for "care if I look stupid".  Frickin' Africa, man.  Senegal was nothing like Uganda, which in no way resembles the Congo, while Burundi was its own little slab of strange.

I'm tempted to do a general Africa post, but I think I'd like to wait until I'm back from Tanzania.  So, sometime in February.

Meanwhile, I just got back from the dentist.  Because I do have the Crappy Teeth Gene.  My dad had bad teeth, and so does almost everyone on that side of the family.  You don't want me to go into detail, but let's just say the local dentist here in Fladungen -- there is just one, and he's Claudia's first cousin -- is already accustomed to us calling him and saying, "Doug has to go to Africa in two weeks, and he just cracked a tooth."

Anyway.  If any of you have spent any time in Dar Es Salaam or Dodoma, I'll be interested.

Comments

[Black Mage]

I can't wait for this. Tanzania strikes me as very interesting, on a superficial political level at least. It does seem like every African country has had a distinct political experience since independence, mixing and matching different forms of dictatorship with different economic policies with different ethnic mixes, with most sadly leading nowhere good.

Tanzania seems to represent something of a darker route for Senegal -- Senegal without an Abdou Diouf. It's never had a coup, which sets it apart, and while Nyerere was never exactly a democrat he was certainly preferable to most African rulers. But disastrous economic policies and high levels of corruption (although, to his credit, Nyerere was never himself tainted) seem to have resulted in a nation which, although peaceful, isn't nearly as wealthy as perhaps it should be.

And then there's Zanzibar, which is another kettle of fish entirely, and which HAS seen brutal repressive dictatorships and massive electoral fraud and which has a history more connected to the Indian Ocean than Africa. It's bound to be fascinating. I envy you.

[Christine]

My father, a civil engineer, spent quite a bit of time in Tanzania in the late 70s through the 80s. His first project, as I understood it, was to estimate how much electricity they would need for the next 25(?) years and the various options to meet that need. Subsequent visits were to investigate possible dam and hydro-electric sites. I'll point him to your blog entries in case he has any comments to add.