Domestic Tourism

Sunflower plantation in Mlolo / Kikombwe Iringa.

Hey y'all, 

It was an amazing 6 weeks back in motherland filled with joy, calmness, shock, sadness, reality-check, togetherness, and so much more. We had to go to Iringa twice two weekends in a row. Both times were not for a happy reason, but I give God the Glory. On our way back from Iringa we passed through Mikumi National Park, we had our few minutes of utalii wa ndani as we drove through the main road. We came across different animals both times, I made sure to record videos, please watch the video link below. 

Even though I had been to Mikumi National Park before back in 2002 (school tour), it felt different this time around, I desired to go back into the park and not just drive through it. My sister had never been to Mikumi and she wanted to do a domestic safari so badly, unfortunately, time was not on her side. Even though it was not an actual safari, we were happy with what we saw and we still desired for more. 

When I was in Zimbabwe, my cousin Zack asked Kaka about his experience doing safaris in Tanzania. We Tanzanians don't take advantage of what we have as much as foreigners do. It was interesting that a Tanzanian was asking a foreigner for tips to visit Zanzibar,  and whether they (my cousin and his family) should do Serengeti Safaris or Ngorongoro. But my cousin was real, he talked about how we Tanzanians work hard to make money yet do not spend the time to enjoy what our country has to offer. And it had to take some convincing from his wife for them to go back to Tanzania for a break this June to visit national parks as well as swim in the clear waters of Zanzibar. 

I do not have the statistics of Tanzanians who do domestic safaris but I would guess not as many as the government wishes, and I wonder why that is. Do we do a better job of advertising our mother nature to the outsiders more than we do to the insiders? Or do the outsiders do a better job of telling each other about what Tanzania has to offer and that's why they flock in in good numbers? And I say this because when I traveled with Kaka back in 2010, we went to Maziwe Island in Tanga which I had never heard of before he mentioned it, so perhaps the lonely planet has something to do with it. And no, it's not just me, I have mentioned Maziwe Island to a few friends and they had no idea about it. I mean, apart from mentioning the five national parks which we had to remember thanks to the childhood songs about Tanzanian national parks, what other parks can we think of on the top our head? I came to know about Selous national park in 2012 when my supervisor at my first job had taken his family on a safari to Selous on one of the long weekend, I think it was organized by their community. 

How many of us Tanzanians truly know what we have, without being adventure lovers like my friend Suzanne who organizes group tours within TZ and abroad for her family and friends just for fun, or my friend Hasina who owns a Tours and Travel company? How can an ordinary Mamatembo be informed about what Tanzania has to offer, near and far, so that on a lousy day when I have the cash and a long weekend, I can decide to go somewhere for a hike, a walking safari, or swim in our exotic beaches or bath in the water falls? I can give some credit to the government for advertising tourism on some TV stations, or a dedicated TV station that I think I came across by accident. But let's be realistic here, I spend more time on Instagram than I do watching TV, how good are we marketing our national treasures to the social media generation to the point where we are all effectively and equally reached regardless of what media we use?

Anywho, I suggested to my cousin to visit the Ngorongoro Crater and I know he and his wife won't regret it. Zanzibar is a must see as well.

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What I learned about traveling from my friend

I heard about the Ethiopian flight at Church on Sunday and of course I felt for the those that lost their loved ones, when I got back home around 2 p.m. I remembered Kaka told me he was in Addis Ababa headed to Nairobi. When that memory kicked in I shouted so loud that my sister got scared. I took my phone so fast to look at my chat with Kaka just to make sure he wasn’t on that flight (because we texted a day before the plane crash). I felt a huge relief when I saw his text saying he’ll be leaving Addis on Monday. I can only imagine how those that actually lost their loved ones felt, my condolences to them all. 

As Kaka will be heading to Nairobi, Arusha, Dar and Zanzibar, I wish I was there with him. Our Tanzania adventure holidays involved saving money by staying in non -luxurious hotels (we would search for budget hotels in Tanzania way in advance) and make sure the rest of the cash was used on exploring, enjoy the touristic experiences and eating well. Our travel around TZ taught me a lot of saving skills as a tourist, if I must admit. 

As a tourist one thing to keep an eye on is making sure you eat well yet inexpensive (because you would not want to get sick, nor would you want to go broke half trip). Have enough cash for transportation but also, use the most affordable means of transportation available to you (this way you get the authentic experience of the locals). It's easy to save on accommodation in Tanzania, all you have to do is search for places on online, but also make local friends and find out where they would stay if they were not originally from that specific town. But make sure to keep security as your number one priority regardless of your skin color or nationality, thieves are thieves and anyone is target including the locals.

Enjoy you stay in TZ kaka.

Bisous.