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Issue 00416 |
April 22 - 29, 2006 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Off Topic |
| Salient Aspects of Bunduland Trip by lute wa lutengano After spending the best part of this year in Bunduland – read Ilembula – I have finally made it back to Arusha. As usual, it was a long and laborious trip of more than 2600 kms by road. Thanks to Magufuli, the road is through and through very good. And with the professional expertise of Mwarabu, we managed to make it with ease. Before I go into details of my sojourn I would like today to only highlight certain salient aspects of the trip. These are very important for most travelers on our Tanzanian highways, which I can assure you, thanks to Magufuli again, will increase by thousands of kilometers in the coming few years. First, there is an unwritten law that bicycle riders have right of way. These riders on either side of the road and going in all directions do strongly believe that vehicles on the roads are one of the biggest nonsense since God made the world. Then you have the food vendors. These have a national policy which stipulates that apart from fruits and bottled water, a traveler will consume anything be it a crow or a chameleon. So if you have a mission which dictates that you need to reach your destination with a functioning stomach, keep a distance of a few thousand kilometers from these people. Since the roads are becoming better and better – again thanks to Magufuli – most villagers, young and old, along the way have turned them into talking shop centres. So when you drive and see pairs of bottoms protruding from the edges of the road, don't confuse them for some smooth stones, no, these are really human bottoms enjoying the warmth the tarmac road as their owners talk shop. And if you are driving to the Southern Highlands – Iringa, Mbeya, Ruvuma – between October and May, consider 80 per cent of the pedestrians on the road, who are not school kids, 'ulanzi' propelled. They quaff this sweet bamboo wine from very early in the morning to very early in the morning....but, as they watch their fertile maize and beans farms sway to the wind currents. This time we even had the privilege of enjoying some live sex near Makambako. The sexual Orgy was right on the highway. The couple was oblivious to the passerby and heavy vehicles' traffic thundering by and the fact that it was a daylight performance. The things that 'ulanzi' can cause! The accidental meeting in Makambako with James Kombe and Evans Mkonyi (of the House of Wine fame) was one of the main highlights of the trip. We were on our way to Njombe when we suddenly received a call from James and Evans. They were somewhere near Mikumi National Park, on their route to Njombe. As tradition demands, I made hasty arrangements to buy some fresh 'ulanzi'. The meeting sent ripples from the modern Mid-Town Hotel, which was our base, throughout Makambako. Apart from 'ulanzi' James' highlight of the trip was the Kitonga escarpment. After having driven hundreds of kilometers and after scaling the breathtaking escarpment, and being told he still had hundreds more kilometers to reach Njombe, he surrendered. "How can one wake up early in the morning in Arusha, leaving people still asleep, and drive and drive until people are back in bed in the evening, and still not reached the destination?" wondered James. I believe 'ulanzi' had something to do with this fertile imagination. It seems James and Evans have become addicted to the Njombe trip. I met them the other day and they were trying to convince me to join them in another trip. Why? I asked. "We are going there, actually at the end of this month," they replied. I am amazed! lutengano@hotmail.com.
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