So you want to know about the locals? I hope you’re ready because we have good stories and memories of everyone we met. As I type this, I have a big smile on my face, as I’m recalling the memorable interactions we had on our trip.
I’ll start by talking aoubt the local Tanzanians and massai people we saw while driving down the roads from place to place. We mostly just observed these people while driving through towns slowly, or along the rural roadside away from town. Most people walk for their transportation, and there was never one stretch of hwy or roadway that there wasn’t a person walking, riding a bike carrying some large load, carrying a large load on their person, or tending to animals. Most people carry loads on their head, as they are taught this at a very early age. Better balancing comes with time, and the weight is distributed down their neck into their entire skeletal frame. It seemed that more women run errands and carry daily needs than men. It was common to see loads in the range of 30-50 # on a person’s head. Some examples of things we saw on heads were 5 gal bucket of water, hand-weaved baskets carrying miscellaneous goods, bananas, folded clothes. Some sat along the road with things to sale, trying to catch the eye of a tourist. These
ranged from clothing to artwork to bananas to necklaces. Kids were seen regularly walking to or from school, and I mean miles, not any short distance. Many a child under 8 years old were seen tending an entire heard of cattle or goats by themselves. The massai people were always in their colorful tribal garments, and seen carrying a staff/stick/spear. They do not live in towns at all, and their villages are out on the plains. They are evident by the clusters of huts in the open landscape.
When we did stop along the road or in a town for supplies or to eat lunch, we were immediately approached/surrounded by someone wanting to sell you something. Kids usually along the roadway, and grownup men in the gift shops and in the town open-air markets. Be ready, because they definitely do not know the meaning of personal space. They got right in our faces showing their wares and trying to strike a deal. They never take ‘no’ for an answer, and will continue to cut prices or barter to make a deal. I was quite
comfortable dealing with this, though I didn’t know at first how I would react. Brad has always been a good negotiator; he could sell ice to an Eskimo. However, the locals would always be in his face, not knowing about his blindness; and I’d get aggressive to quickly ‘move’ them back, explaining his condition and demanding more space if they wanted to discuss items for sale. They always listened, and I can say we all were happy with our purchases. We tried not to barter down too far, as we understood the economy we were in and that these sales usually meant food on the table. They were quite good at the ideology of ‘divide and conquer’. Immediately upon us entering into a store, a ‘Salesmen’ would start to follow us and help us with information. Prices were always spoken in a quiet voice, as they didn’t want each of us to hear the deal that the other was making. Brad taught me well, but Kirk didn’t fair so well the first day, inthat he ‘agreed’ to many initial prices. After visiting other stores on other days and hearing much lower prices for the same type of gift, it became apparent to him that he definitely ‘helped’ the economy more than others. However, we all agreed that it was very enjoyable to have these 
dealings.
Next, we got to interact with the many people that are employed to simply carry things for visitors to the area. There were people to carry your bags to the car from the airport, people to carry your bags from the car to you room at the hotel. It was a bit uncomfortable for us at first, since this was the first international travel for all three of us. It was difficult to determine how much to tip each person, and it seemed that we were almost always digging in for a tip for someone. I guess we got used to it after a while.
To help with our communications, we drilled our guides on how to say certain words and phrases. Swahilli is the language used in Tanzania, and I thought we did pretty good at conversing, though most any local in a service job had to know some English. Positions such as guides, waiters, etc had to know much more English. I’ll try to remember some of our most often used words and phrases- remember, spelling definitely doesn’t count in this exercise.
Jambo- surface level hello, as you would say to a stranger on the street
Mambo- hello used by friends and acquaintances
Poa- ‘cool’. Typical response to Mambo- when someone asks how you are doing… I’m cool man.
Jou- up, as in heading up the mtn
Chenny- down, as in going down the mtn
Asanti- thank you
Asanti sana- thank you very much
Mwamba belle- Rock on!
Coonwa maji- drink water
Poa cachesi comandesi- cool like a banana. Similar to our saying- cool as a cucumber
Pole, pole- slowly, slowly
I wanted to save the best for last. The majority of our interaction came on the hike on the mountain, since we spend 2/3 of our trip there. When we started, Kirk, Brad and I had 8 staff to help us on the mountain. We had 2 guides, and 8 porters. Every single porter on the mountain was a man, and all are Tanzanian. The guides Douglas and Alfred were with us the entire day, and the porters carried the majority of the trip supplies, including tents, food, etc. We were very fortunate to have a great staff. We got along well with our guides, and enjoyed all of our interactions with the porters. Our favorite by far was Simon, who was the food runner/waiter. He always spoke softly but in a high pitch, and would announce his entrance by stating, “hello”. He also woke us up each morning in our tents, as a custom on the mountain is to start you morning by being served hot tea in your tent… sort of like breakfast in bed, but more to help wake us up and get moving a bit quicker. I can assume this is because of the cold weather and daily fatigue usually has most climbers moving a turtle-speed. We learned most of our porters name, as we all wanted to be able to say hello and address people on a first name basis. We had David, Simon, Jonas, Brospa (need to roll the tongue on the “r”), Pasco-our cook, and Seraphim. It was amazing to see these guys carry the gear, etc up the mountain. They are as nimble as billy goats, and as
swift as if walking on flat ground. Now, don’t forget that everyone carries loads on their heads, so the nimbleness and swiftness was taken to a whole notha’ level by adding in the loads up to 50# that each carried. Now before any of you think we didn’t carry anything and just ‘strolled’ up the ‘hill’, let me describe a bit further. We each carried our food, water (3 liters), clothing, etc for the day, plus a bit more for some (kirk and I have a difficult time taking the bare minimum, as we always like to be prepared for all occurrances). As such, Brad carried 25# and Kirk and I usually carried close to 40# in our packs. All other gear was carried by the porters.
I’ll start by talking aoubt the local Tanzanians and massai people we saw while driving down the roads from place to place. We mostly just observed these people while driving through towns slowly, or along the rural roadside away from town. Most people walk for their transportation, and there was never one stretch of hwy or roadway that there wasn’t a person walking, riding a bike carrying some large load, carrying a large load on their person, or tending to animals. Most people carry loads on their head, as they are taught this at a very early age. Better balancing comes with time, and the weight is distributed down their neck into their entire skeletal frame. It seemed that more women run errands and carry daily needs than men. It was common to see loads in the range of 30-50 # on a person’s head. Some examples of things we saw on heads were 5 gal bucket of water, hand-weaved baskets carrying miscellaneous goods, bananas, folded clothes. Some sat along the road with things to sale, trying to catch the eye of a tourist. These
ranged from clothing to artwork to bananas to necklaces. Kids were seen regularly walking to or from school, and I mean miles, not any short distance. Many a child under 8 years old were seen tending an entire heard of cattle or goats by themselves. The massai people were always in their colorful tribal garments, and seen carrying a staff/stick/spear. They do not live in towns at all, and their villages are out on the plains. They are evident by the clusters of huts in the open landscape.When we did stop along the road or in a town for supplies or to eat lunch, we were immediately approached/surrounded by someone wanting to sell you something. Kids usually along the roadway, and grownup men in the gift shops and in the town open-air markets. Be ready, because they definitely do not know the meaning of personal space. They got right in our faces showing their wares and trying to strike a deal. They never take ‘no’ for an answer, and will continue to cut prices or barter to make a deal. I was quite
comfortable dealing with this, though I didn’t know at first how I would react. Brad has always been a good negotiator; he could sell ice to an Eskimo. However, the locals would always be in his face, not knowing about his blindness; and I’d get aggressive to quickly ‘move’ them back, explaining his condition and demanding more space if they wanted to discuss items for sale. They always listened, and I can say we all were happy with our purchases. We tried not to barter down too far, as we understood the economy we were in and that these sales usually meant food on the table. They were quite good at the ideology of ‘divide and conquer’. Immediately upon us entering into a store, a ‘Salesmen’ would start to follow us and help us with information. Prices were always spoken in a quiet voice, as they didn’t want each of us to hear the deal that the other was making. Brad taught me well, but Kirk didn’t fair so well the first day, inthat he ‘agreed’ to many initial prices. After visiting other stores on other days and hearing much lower prices for the same type of gift, it became apparent to him that he definitely ‘helped’ the economy more than others. However, we all agreed that it was very enjoyable to have these 
dealings.Next, we got to interact with the many people that are employed to simply carry things for visitors to the area. There were people to carry your bags to the car from the airport, people to carry your bags from the car to you room at the hotel. It was a bit uncomfortable for us at first, since this was the first international travel for all three of us. It was difficult to determine how much to tip each person, and it seemed that we were almost always digging in for a tip for someone. I guess we got used to it after a while.
To help with our communications, we drilled our guides on how to say certain words and phrases. Swahilli is the language used in Tanzania, and I thought we did pretty good at conversing, though most any local in a service job had to know some English. Positions such as guides, waiters, etc had to know much more English. I’ll try to remember some of our most often used words and phrases- remember, spelling definitely doesn’t count in this exercise.
Jambo- surface level hello, as you would say to a stranger on the street
Mambo- hello used by friends and acquaintances
Poa- ‘cool’. Typical response to Mambo- when someone asks how you are doing… I’m cool man.
Jou- up, as in heading up the mtn
Chenny- down, as in going down the mtn
Asanti- thank you
Asanti sana- thank you very much
Mwamba belle- Rock on!
Coonwa maji- drink water
Poa cachesi comandesi- cool like a banana. Similar to our saying- cool as a cucumber
Pole, pole- slowly, slowly
I wanted to save the best for last. The majority of our interaction came on the hike on the mountain, since we spend 2/3 of our trip there. When we started, Kirk, Brad and I had 8 staff to help us on the mountain. We had 2 guides, and 8 porters. Every single porter on the mountain was a man, and all are Tanzanian. The guides Douglas and Alfred were with us the entire day, and the porters carried the majority of the trip supplies, including tents, food, etc. We were very fortunate to have a great staff. We got along well with our guides, and enjoyed all of our interactions with the porters. Our favorite by far was Simon, who was the food runner/waiter. He always spoke softly but in a high pitch, and would announce his entrance by stating, “hello”. He also woke us up each morning in our tents, as a custom on the mountain is to start you morning by being served hot tea in your tent… sort of like breakfast in bed, but more to help wake us up and get moving a bit quicker. I can assume this is because of the cold weather and daily fatigue usually has most climbers moving a turtle-speed. We learned most of our porters name, as we all wanted to be able to say hello and address people on a first name basis. We had David, Simon, Jonas, Brospa (need to roll the tongue on the “r”), Pasco-our cook, and Seraphim. It was amazing to see these guys carry the gear, etc up the mountain. They are as nimble as billy goats, and as
swift as if walking on flat ground. Now, don’t forget that everyone carries loads on their heads, so the nimbleness and swiftness was taken to a whole notha’ level by adding in the loads up to 50# that each carried. Now before any of you think we didn’t carry anything and just ‘strolled’ up the ‘hill’, let me describe a bit further. We each carried our food, water (3 liters), clothing, etc for the day, plus a bit more for some (kirk and I have a difficult time taking the bare minimum, as we always like to be prepared for all occurrances). As such, Brad carried 25# and Kirk and I usually carried close to 40# in our packs. All other gear was carried by the porters. I'd say our best experience with the porters and guides was on the last morning, they all gathered in a group and sang us several native mountain songs in swahilli. It was very fun and we all started dancing and clapping. Such a nice time.
That kind of summarizes a good bit of what we experienced.
That kind of summarizes a good bit of what we experienced.
Just read the Post-Gazette article and was really inspired. For full disclosure, I lived in East Africa for > 10 years and made it up Kili twice. I was glad to read that you guys really tried to connect with people in Tanzania. Wildlife and landscapes are awesome, but it's the people that makes Africa so special. VOSH is a great cause - thanks for making me aware! Take care and God bless Brad!
ReplyDeleteBrad, We just got off the mountain and know your struggles. We guided 8 visually impaired climbers and each had their own techniques for getting up the mountain. Don't give up. The great mountain will still be there next year.
ReplyDeleteMarc
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