Friday afternoon in Dar. I thought I'd fire off a post before I leave for my webless weekend.
A bunch of us went out last night to a cool event called Dar Alive, a weekly live-music series that takes place at this beautiful beach bar on the bay. I got some pictures but haven't uploaded them yet -- will do later. Last night they had three supposedly-famous jazz musicians from the US and the Netherlands, who performed with local artists in a 9- or 10-artist ensemble, right on the beach. A few local poets read their works (English, not Swahili) while the artists played background music behind them. I'm not really a jazz person, but the whole show was pretty good. Anything's fun when you can drink beers while standing barefoot on the beach.
Dar Alive kinda got me in the mood for Tanzanian music, which, I'm discovering, is excellent. Tanzanian music encompasses a lot of musical styles: traditional, R&B, rap and calypso-ish music. One of my co-workers, Dave, gave me a few hundred songs this morning from his collection, so I'm set for a while. I'll post some favorites next week so you can sample the good stuff.
I have some good plans for the weekend: tomorrow, a few of us are going to Bongoyo, a small beach island just North of Dar (not as far as Zanzibar -- it's more of a local place). On Sunday, I'm flying to Mwanza then driving to Bunda, a small district capital in the cotton-growing zone. I'm going to spend about a week with the farmers learning about their business. I'm looking forward to getting out in the field and seeing how cotton works. We're about five months from harvesting so the farmers will be hard at work.
I hope I can use my time in the North to go on a weekend mini-safari, since the area around Bunda is also home to Tanzania's two most famous national parks: Ngorongoro and Serengeti NP. These reserves are the incredible places you imagine from seeing safaris in the movies / watching the Lion King. They're packed with elephants, giraffes, hippos, wildebeast, and monkeys. Also, some of the herds are apparently in migration season right now, so millions (literally) of herd animals are moving along the Grumeti river. Safaris aren't cheap (I'm not even sure I can make it happen) but if I'm already nearby, it seems sad to miss out on the chance to see giraffes, elephants and other hard-to-spot beasts. I'll pack my white safari-esque hat just in case.
And speaking of rare creatures: the postcard is a dying breed. Too bad, because everyone likes to get them. So, limited-time offer: if you want a postcard from yours truly, write your address in a comment to this post and I'll get on it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
fuck yah, i want me some african postcard action.
ReplyDelete3 Widford
Castle Road
London, NW1 8TE
(or just c.o. timw, wood green)
can you just try to sneak into the national park independent of a safari group or is that a bit dangerous? if you stay clear of the lions and the hippos you should be fine i'd say. like if you stayed in a heard of wildebeast you might camoflage yourself, or maybe they'd all just scram and you'd be like the sick little wildebeast shivering before the jaws of death...hmm, maybe better to jump onboard a safari, or at least go offroading via jeep and bring a tranq gun.
i've avoided your blog til now because i knew how insanely jealous i'd become. even now my head is tensing up and i have this insatiable need to get out of here and live in africa where they eat albinos and whatnot. in the end it's worth it though, cause i get to have a little vacation in my head. keep living the dream..
tim