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Relax at Mt. Kilimanjaro pub .... Eh! No ... 'Recreation
center'
By Valentine Marc Nkwame
When the gate entrance fees to both Mount Kilimanjaro National Park and the
Serengeti Game Park were recently hiked, I had this rather eerie feeling, that
something bad, involving those two prime tourist destinations was about to
happen. Now the trouble with such strange feelings is that, they have this queer
habit of becoming a reality.
It all started with the mountain! Apparently, some latest developments here have
just revealed that, Kilimanjaro, which for many years was believed to be
Africa's highest and naturally occurring land feature, was actually a 'man-made'
structure, which got constructed in 1964, as means to boost the country's
tourism industry.
This rather big and extremely shocking secret about our Mt. Kilimanjaro, was
revealed in Moshi last week, by one of the potential lady envoys, who are vying
for this year's Miss Tourism Tanzania beauty crown. This is a tourism oriented,
National pageant, which for the first time is being staged here in Arusha
'City.'
Her confounding revelation which put to light the tightly hidden, dark secret
about the alleged 'Roof of Africa,' came after the entire 'Miss Tourism
Tanzania' entourage of contestants, had just completed a full round trip of the
Northern Zone's tourist attractions, among them, local game parks and of course
the Mt. Kilimanjaro itself, where they allegedly managed to 'learn a lot of
things!'
After the 'highly educative' trip, the beauties were then reportedly stopped
over in Moshi town, where they got asked various questions, meant to test their
knowledge on the local tourism Industry. It was at that moment when the beauty
dropped the ultimate bombshell. When asked what she knew about Kilimanjaro, her
response was swift; "Mount Kilimanjaro," chortled the participant, "was
established here in 1964, in order to boost the country's tourism industry!"
(Sic).
I have always been suspecting such a thing myself. I mean, Kilimanjaro is
nothing but a gimmick, no wonder its snow cap is now melting at an alarming
rate, it must have been done using the ordinary icing as used to decorate cakes
for graduation ceremonies. The kind of icing mixture which was common in 1964
must have been less effective. Either that or whoever was hired to do the icing
on the mountain, had chosen some cheap mixture so as to save some cash for
himself.
The lady who brought this burning issue to light, certainly deserves special
recognition. In fact, if there was any fairness left in this world, she ought to
win the pageant crown in the first place. Actually as soon as the beauty pageant
is over, I personally intend to seek an appointment with the beauty, so that she
can also divulge some other crucial insights regarding the Ngorongoro crater.
Oh! And while she is at that, the beauty brain can also throw in some few hints
about the Serengeti National Park as well.
For years there has been this tug-of-war between Kenya and Tanzania, each
claiming the rights of Mount Kilimanjaro ownership. So far this problem remains
unsolved; Geographically, the mountain looks as if it lies within the Tanzanian
borderline. However in reality, Mt. Kilimanjaro can only be viewed from the
Kenyan side, even amid; thick cloud cover, mist, fog and what-have-
you! Besides, it is the Kenyan tour agents who are currently busy selling the
mountain abroad. Tanzanians on the other hand, are busy playing porters to
foreigners who come to scale its peak.
Either that or burning down the mountain at any given opportunity. Suffice to
point out that, the reason behind this is the fact that, cross-border smuggling
to and from Kenya would have been relatively easier without such a big
obstruction as the Kilimanjaro presents itself. Mind you, with the East African
Community federation plans in the pipeline, we don't exactly need such a large
wall between us and Kenya.
In other words, just as its snow continue to melt away, the stuffing material
used to build up the mountain should now be starting to give way underneath.
Anytime soon therefore, the giant, fabricated anthill would collapse and so will
the Kenya-Tanzania border, but more important .... the local tourism industry
which has been profiting from the structure, for over four decades, since 1964.
Maybe before all those things happen, we should come to terms with the reality,
by calling cease-
fire to the historical tug-of-war and send Mt. Kilimanjaro back to Kenya where
it belongs. We can utilize the space where it once stood by constructing a more
profitable structure, such as a borderline drinking pub. And it doesn't have to
be called a pub either, that is a very old fashioned word. A 'Recreational
center,' should be the more appropriate term.
nkwame@gmail.com
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