Tantravel 2013

The Land of Kilimanjaro & Zanzibar www.tanzaniaculturaltourism.com

TOURIST BOARD

Special Edition July 2013

Welcome President Obama to Tanzania, The Land of the 3 Wonders of Africa 45 Years of Tanzania's Tingatinga Art

Question and Answers On Visiting Tanzania

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Tanzania Tourist Board Joins All Tanzania In Welcoming President Barack Obama

The Land of Kilimanjaro & Zanzibar www.tanzaniaculturaltourism.com

TOURIST BOARD

Issue No. 61, June - September 2013

W

ith President Barack Obama’s approaching state visit to Tanzania, July 1-3, we are pleased to redesign this issue so it can become a souvenir publication for this historic occasion.

The United States of America is one of the top three source markets for tourists to Tanzania and is also a major international supporter of wildlife conservation here. For this reason, the Tanzania Tourist Board considers President Obama’s visit a great opportunity for Tanzania to enhance the existing cooperation between the two countries, and also to showcase the diverse attractions of our country to both the overseas travel agent community as well as to the American travellers. Therefore with this special issue, we gratefully and confidently extend our hand of welcome to President Obama, his wife Michelle Obama, and his delegation.

Another highlight of this issue is the recent announcement that three of Tanzania’s attractions were voted among Africa’s Seven Natural Wonders After a long, world-wide search for a consensus for selecting the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, Tanzania became the only country with more than one: Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro Crater, and Serengeti’s Wildebeest Migration. We have dedicated six pages in this issue to express this great honour for Tanzania.

Apart from the natural wonders, this issue also celebrates the 45th anniversary of the first Tingatinga paintings, for a Tanzanian style of painting that was started in Dar es Salaam in 1968 by Edward Saidi Tingatinga. Today, 45 years after Tingatinga painted his first work, the Tingatinga style has become a popular art form in Tanzania and East Africa at large, engaging over 500 painters and many local and international traders in art. In this issue we have also dedicated six pages for Tingatinga art in an attempt to trace both the history of the art and the reasons that make this style of painting distinct from other forms of art.

With these celebrations, I again extend a warm welcome to President Obama and his delegation to Tanzania and also welcome them to get a taste of the rich cultural heritage that is Tanzania through the unique world of Tingatinga art.

Publisher Tanzania Tourist Board P.O.Box 2485, Dar es Salaam Tel: +255-22 211 1244 / 1245 Fax: +255-22 211 6420 md@tanzaniatourism.go.tz www.tanzaniatourism.go.tz Editorial Board Dr. Aloyce K. Nzuki, Managing Director, T.T.B. Ms. Devota K. Mdachi, Director of Marketing, T.T.B. Geofrey E. Tengeneza, P/Public Relations Officer, T.T.B. Edward D.M. Mbwiga, Finance Manager, T.T.B. Gervase Tatah Mlola, Managing Editor Amos Manyanda, Advertising Agent Contributors Sheilagh Fundi, Thomas Ratsim Raphael Mbunda, Apolinari Tairo Roy Hinde, Antony Shaw, Adam Ihucha Design and Layout Tanzania Printers Ltd. Advertising Inquiries Managing Director Tanzania Tourist Board Tel: +255-22 211 1244 / 1245 md@tanzaniatourism.go.tz Reprints Permission is required to reproduce articles, photos and artwork from this publication. Please contact the editor, Email: tatah@p2psafaris.com Tel: +255 754 664569 The Land of Kilimanjaro & Zanzibar www.tanzaniaculturaltourism.com

TOURIST BOARD

Special Edition July 2013

Welcome President Obama to Tanzania, The Land of the 3 Wonders of Africa 45 Years of Tanzania's Tingatinga Art

Dr. Aloyce K. Nzuki Managing Director Tanzania Tourist Board

4

Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

Question and Answers On Visiting Tanzania

Cover Photograph: Wildebeest Migration in Serengeti National Park Photograph Supplied by Tanzania National Parks

Contents 14 16

COVER STORY

Tanzania, The Land of Wonders......................................

The Wonders of Tanzania.................................................

The Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.............................

14 16 18

ART & CULTURE

45 Years of Tanzania’s Tingatinga Art, By Daniel Augusta 28

Tingatinga’s Legacy By Ayushi Ramaiya...............................

30

Some Facts about Tingatinga ........................................ 32 KARIBU OBAMA

A Son Returns Home, a Welcome Poem by Gervase Tatah Mlola. 08

Obama Sees Tanzania as Beacon of Peace, U.S. Ambassador Says............................................................. 09

A Survey of Tourists Rates Tanzania No. 1 in Africa..... 09

CONSERVATION

Elephants’ Plea: Don’t Kill Us.......................................... 22 The War against Poaching: U.S.A. and Tanzania

Join Hands ....................................................................... 22

28 34

KILIMANJARO NEWS

Young Adventurers Atop Kilimanjaro at Ages 5 to 7..... 36

An All-Female Team at the Top of Africa........................ 36

36 38

ART REVIEW

Harmonising With Nature, Celebrating the Physical Universe By Antony Shaw ........................................................

40

READERS' SERVICE

Message............................................................................ 6

Notice Board..................................................................... 10 Obituary............................................................................. 48

Tanzania Travel Info ......................................................... 46

Tantravel Map of Tanzania...............................................

50 Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

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Welcome M

Tanzania

A Son Returns Home

By Gervase Tatah Mlola Karibu Obama, Welcome to Tanzania, the land of natural wonders, Welcome to the land of majestic Kilimanjaro and endless Serengeti, Welcome to the Cradle of Mankind, a sacred place since the beginning.

Hear the tramp of savannah mammals, and the whistle of the African bush, Hear the surge of rich soils, and the pledge the tropical sun brings forth.

Welcome to Africa, the place of your ancestors, Welcome to the place where life began, and blossomed, and spread out, Welcome back to clinch solemn hands, greeting a returning hero, Reach Africa with your message of change, Reach the yearning hearts with a new dream.

Karibu Obama, Tell us to speak of great days of peace and prosperity, Tell the generations of the great deeds, of great men, Stamp a symbol of inspiration and hope on lost hearts, Stamp the longest letter of freedom from America to Africa.

Come – stand on the pedestal of your forefathers, the place for a son to be, Come – see wet eyes calling the messenger of justice and harmony, Come – take the gourd that cleanses the thoughts of evils and fears, Pour out the bonding spell left by Lincoln, Martin Luther King and more, Pour out the charm that releases the shackles of the continent, forever and ever, For you’re our son, our brother, our fellow friend who makes Africa proud.

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Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

e Mr. Obama Obama Sees Tanzania as Beacon Of Peace, U.S. Ambassador Says  By Marc Nkwame uring preparations for U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit in July, the Ambassador of the United States to Tanzania, Alfonso Lenhardt, told a press conference that the president had chosen to visit Tanzania because it is a beacon of peace on the continent, an important investment destination, and a global champion in the fight against poverty.

The ambassador also said that President Obama’s visit was to reinforce the importance that the United States places on deep and growing ties with countries in subSaharan Africa through expanding

economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders.

As the nation prepared to receive Mr. Obama, the Minister of Tourism and Natural Resources, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, asked Tanzanians to promote the country’s good image during the visit as Obama’s presence in the country was bound to make a big impact in the promotion of Destination Tanzania. According to Ambassador Kagasheki, his ministry was considering coming up with a new promotion slogan: “Obama has visited

A Survey of Tourists Rates Tanzania No. 1 in Africa

SafariBookings.com analysed 3,061 reviews by over 1,000 tourists and travel professionals who participated in a survey on eight major safari countries in Africa.

Tanzania got an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars, the highest score.

Botswana and Kenya scored 4.7 stars each; South Africa and Zambia 4.6 each; Namibia 4.5; Uganda, 4.2 and Zimbabwe 4.1.

According to WouterVergeer, owner of the website, who is based in the Netherlands, some of the factors that compelled experts and visitors to vote Tanzania the best safari destination in Africa included the country’s political stability and safety as well as the fact that Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater are located in the country.

Other reasons included that Tanzania hosts the best chimpanzee-tracking in Africa, and that visitors can enjoy

D

study released in June by an online marketplace for African tours, SafariBookings.com, concluded that Tanzania is the best safari destination in Africa.

A

Tanzania, when are you going to do the same?”

President Barack Obama is going to be the third U.S. President to visit Tanzania consecutively. His predecessor, President George Bush visited the country in 2008, and before that President Bill Clinton came in 2000.

Last year Tanzania received around 1.2 million international tourists. Most visitors come to Tanzania for wildlife safaris, mountaineering, cultural tourism, and beach holidays.

authentic African wilderness without paved roads and fencing.

•

Tanzania is a country of superlatives: it is home to the tallest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro, an amateur climber’s delight. It hosts the greatest game park in the world, Serengeti National Park, the scene of the annual wildlife migration, as well as the world’s largest (and best) game reserve, the Selous, and the biggest volcano caldera in Africa, Ngorongoro Crater. Tanzania is also the best place for fishing and water sports in Africa: it has hundreds of miles of Indian Ocean coastline and all of Africa’s great lakes, Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa (no other country touches more than one).

Africa’s most exotic and compelling Island, the legendary Zanzibar, is also found in Tanzania.

Apolinari Tairo

Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

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Notice Board

Swahili International Tourism Exhibition October 2nd to 5th, 2013, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

T

he first Swahili International Tourism Exhibition will be held for four days at Mlimani City Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam from October 2 to 5, this year.

The event will take the form of a travel and trade exhibition that includes a conference element focusing on market-related issues: sustainable tourism, conservation, and other subjects.

The event is expected to bring to Dar es Salaam hundreds of tourism and travel professionals from all over the world.

The Swahili Exhibition is a new international and tourism fair in Tanzania established after Tanzania and South Africa signed an agreement in February this year to start an initiative that

would boost the development of tourism in the country. The signing of the agreement took place in Dar es Salaam; the High Commissioner of South Africa in Tanzania, H.E. Ambassador Thanduyise Henry, signed on behalf of the Republic of South Africa, and the Chairman of Tanzania Tourist Board, H.E. Ambassador Charles Sanga, signed for Tanzania.

Dar es Salaam has been selected as venue of the event because it is the commercial capital of Tanzania, it has good infrastructure, and it is served by many international airlines.

Dar es Salaam also has other facilities suitable for establishing an international tourism fair, including the modern convention

centre at Mlimani City which meets the required standard for staging this type of event.

The exhibition will be an annual event beginning this year and will be held in the first week of every October.

Swahili Exhibition is owned by the Tanzania Tourist Board and will be managed by Witch & Wizard Creative (Pty), the tourism events management company that organizes the Indaba Tourism Fair in South Africa. Under the partnership, the exhibition is expected to grow and eventually become an iconic annual event for travel and tourism promotion in Tanzania.

- Information supplied by Tanzania Tourist Board

Photograph by Mary Kirkby

Photograph by Luca Todeschini

Correction: Leopard Photo in Tantravel Vol. 61

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Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

In the previous issue our cover story was on “Fundi�, a young leopard that is obsessed with automobiles in Ruaha National Park.

We would like to correct the credits for two of the photographs used: - the picture of the leopard on the impala kill was by Mary Kirkby, the picture of the leopard in the bush was by Luca Todeschini.

Here we have reprinted the pictures with the correct credits.

Meanwhile, Fundi is still seen around the Mdonya area, with amazing curiosity about vehicles. He is regularly seen around the Mdonya River bed area and around Mdonya Old River Camp.

Burunge W. M.A.

Burunge Visitors’ Center is Open

Delta Opens Office In Dar es Salaam

D

elta Airlines of Atlanta in the United Sates has opened a sales communities obtain benefits from the office in Dar es Salaam to serve business  By Thomas Ratsim conservation. Through W.M.A.’s, the and leisure customers intending to communities and community-based travel to America or to connect to he Deputy Secretary of the United organizations earn income through Delta’s extensive domestic route States Department of the Interior, ecotourism businesses and also have a network.

Mr. David Hayes, has handed over the chance to learn better how to protect Delta Airlines has opened the sales newly built visitors’ information centre the environment. office as a means of studying the East for Burunge Wildlife Management There are 17 registered W.M.A.’s Africa market before introducing direct Area to Tanzanias’ Ministry of with user rights in Tanzania, and an flights from America to Tanzania. At Natural Resources and Tourism and is additional 21 are being developed. the moment, customers travelling to or now officially open for service.

The Burunge Wildlife from the United States on Delta can The construction of the centre was Management Area is in the northern book flights operated by Delta’s joint sponsored by the American people tourism circuit, between Tarangire venture partners, such as KLM Airlines through the United States Agency for and Lake Manyara National Parks. and Kenya Airways, and fly via Europe.

International Development. The United The area overlaps with a corridor of Additionally, customers can opt to fly States government has supported the migrating wildlife in the Tarangirevia Johannesburg, Lagos, or Dubai to development of Wildlife Management Manyara ecosystem. With an area Delta’s hub in Atlanta. From Atlanta, it Areas (W.M.A.) in Tanzania since of 81,960 hectares, Burunge W.M.A. is possible to make onward connections 1998, first in the form of policy and consists of nine villages: Olasiti, to more than 150 destinations institutional development and, later, Minjingu, Vilima Vitatu, Mwada, throughout the U.S. and beyond. including implementation of W.M.A.’s Sangaiwe, Ngolei, Maweni, Manyara, Delta Airlines launched its first in areas with critical wildlife habitat. and Magara. services between Africa and the United Wildlife Management Areas are Mr. Hayes was joined at the opening States in December, 2006, and at the conservation areas that are community of the centre by Ambassador Hamis moment the airline operates services owned and managed; they are intended Kagasheki, Minister of Natural from America to five cities in Africa: to empower local communities to be Resources and Tourism, and Mr. Accra, Lagos, Dakar, Johannesburg, and decision-makers over their natural Alfonso E. Lenhardt, United States Monrovia. resources. W.M.A.’s take care of Ambassador to Tanzania, as well as the - Article supplied by Beatrice animal corridors, migration routes, regional commissioners of Manyara Philemon, a news reporter for the and buffer zones and ensure that local Guardian newspaper in Dar es Salaam. and Arusha Regions.

T

Turkish Airlines Flies to Kilimanjaro

T

urkish Airlines has begun its first flight to Kilimanjaro from Istanbul and is expected to contribute to Tanzania’s booming tourism industry and horticultural sector.

This is the second route for the company to operate in Tanzania. In June last year, the company opened a Dar es Salaam-Istanbul direct flight.

The airline will operate five times a week with a Boeing 737-900 on the Istanbul Ataturk-Kilimanjaro-Mombasa

route.

Turkish Airlines serves nearly 160 international destinations worldwide in 87 countries and through the new route more visitors from different parts of the world will be able reach the great national parks of northern Tanzania.

More information about Turkish Airlines and flight schedule can be obtained at: www.thy.com.

- Source: Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company

Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

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Zanzibar Heritage Hotel Stone Town, Zanzibar

For more information and reservations, contact: Langi Langi Hospitality, P.O. Box 29809, Dubai, UAE, Tel:+971 4 2269919, Fax:+971 4 2290817, Mobile: +971 55 9759024 E.mail: tanaf@emirates.net.ae

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Tanzania The Land of Wonders

After a four-year search, the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa have been named – and three of them are here in our country

Tanzania

well as representatives of international and local news media. The event was AFRICA officiated by the Prime Minister of hen nature sculpted the Tanzania, Hon. Mizengo Pinda. continent of Africa, The selection was a long process.

Tanzania was especially After four years of campaigning blessed, and that fact has been and searching world-wide for views recognized internationally in the on Africa’s natural wonders, the announcement of the Seven Natural voting began for the 12 short-listed Wonders of Africa: three of them are attractions. The entity received in our country. millions of votes from all over Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro the world. The 12 wonders were Crater, and the Serengeti Wildlife published on the internet, and readers Migration were the heart of the were allowed to submit their votes.

Seven Natural Wonders, joined by However, in order to base the final the River Nile, the Red Sea Reef, the choices on an objective assessment, Sahara Desert, and the only other the final selection was made by wonder contained in a single country, a panel of professionals in fields the Okavango Delta in Bostwana. related to conservation and tourism.

The announcement of the Seven The experts voted on ballot sheets Wonders was made on February 11 provided to them directly. in Arusha by an entity called Seven The selection and voting process TANZANIA Natural Wonders following four was closed on December 31, 2012, years of world-wide discussion and and the announcement was on input from millions of people on the February 11. internet.

The final selection, from a short list of 12 wonders, was made Mount Kilimanjaro by a panel made up from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, geologists, conservators, photographers, travel journalists, and people from similar fields. Their choices were based on statistical and traditional significance of the wonders, along with uniqueness and splendour.

Courtesy of Imma Mbuguni The announcement of the Seven - Rising 19,340 feet (5 895m) above sea level, Kilimanjaro is the Natural Wonders of Africa was made tallest mountain in Africa by the president of Seven Natural

Kilimanjaro is also the world’s highest free-standing mountain.

Wonders, Dr. Philip Imler of the

From the base of the mountain to the peak, Kilimanjaro supports United States at Mount Meru Hotel five major ecological zones: rainforest, heath, moorland, alpine in Arusha in the presence of ministers desert and glaciers. and government officials from

Kilimanjaro is composed of 3 volcanoes: Kibo (19,340 feet), different African countries, foreign Mawenzi (16,896 feet), and Shira (13,000 feet). diplomats, and other dignitaries, as  By Gervase Tatah Mlola

W

Lake Victoria

Arusha

Lake Tang

any

Dar es Salaam

ik a

a Nyas ke La

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Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

Serengeti Migration

Courtesy of Tanapa

- Serengeti is best known for its huge herds of plains animals (especially wildebeests, gazelles, and zebras.

- The Serengeti migration is the longest and largest over-land migration in the world covering an area of 18 641 square miles - The migration is an annual event travelling over 500 miles.

- The name Serengeti means “endless plains” - Serengeti National Park is a Unesco World Heritage site since 1981.

Ngorongoro Crater

Courtesy of P2P Tourism Services

- Ngorongoro Crater is the largest unbroken caldera in the world - The rim of the crater rises 2,000 feet (610 metres) above the caldera’s floor - The crater is home to a diverse array of animals including elephants, black rhinoceroses, leopards, buffalo, zebras, warthogs, wildebeests, gazelles and lions.

- The crater is part of Ngorongoro Conservation Area where mankind and wild animals co-exist in harmony.

- The Ngorongoro Conservation Area became a Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1971 and was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1979.

And what makes the three features of Tanzania Africa’s natural wonders?

Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest

free-standing mountain in the world.

Ngorongoro Crater in the largest unbroken caldera in the world and hosts a wide variety of wildlife like a natural

zoo. Serengeti is the place where the longest and largest wildlife migration takes place every year.

The features of the other four Natural Wonders of Africa are as follows: The Red Sea Reef of Egypt harbours over 1,100 species of fish of which 10 per cent of them are exclusive in the area.

The Sahara Desert, the largest hot desert in the world is embellished with many natural features like sand dunes that could be deemed as wonders themselves.

The River Nile, the longest river in the world, flows 6,650 kilometres from south of the equator to the Mediterranean Sea. The Okavango Delta in Bostwana, the longest inland delta in the world.

The short-listed wonders that did not make it into the top seven are Victoria Falls, Mount Kenya, Zuma Rock of Nigeria, the Peak of Furnace in Reunion Island, the Aldabra Atoll of Seychelles, the Tsingy de Bemaraha and Avenue of Baobabs, both in Madagascar.

And what does this selection of the natural wonders of Africa mean to us?

The words of Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in his speech during the announcement ceremony speak loud and clear: “The declaration of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa reminds us of how truly blessed our continent is and of how it is our task as Africans not to take these blessings for granted. We have to act as responsible stewards and value our natural resources to ensure environmental sustainability throughout our development efforts.”

His speech is in line with the focus of Seven Natural Wonders as a global endeavour committed to protecting the natural wonders of the world.

The mission of the effort to name the natural wonders of Africa, it states, was to help people discover and explore the natural wonders of the world, to teach people about the wonders and the things that threaten the wonders’ existence, and to inspire people to create a philosophy and practice of conservation.

For the tour operators in East Africa, the Prime Minister further advised, “Now that the competition is over, the major task ahead of us is maintaining the status of these wonders and using them to attract more tourists to our country.”

Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

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The Wonders of Tanzania

Mount Kilimanjaro M

ount Kilimanjaro is the crown of Tanzania. Rising abruptly from the open plains, capped by snow and frequently fringed by clouds, it is one of Africa’s classic images. At an elevation of 5,895m (19,340 feet), it is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest summit in the world that can be reached by walking, without handover-hand climbing. It’s also the highest free-standing mountain in the world.

Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano but not an extinct one. Ominous rumbles can sometimes be heard – and gases emerge from fume holes in the crater. Although just three degrees south of the Equator, the peaks of the mountain have caps of snow and ice year around.

Kilimanjaro climbers pass from a tropical to an arctic environment in just a few days.

There are several climbing trails; they pass through lush rainforest before reaching heather and open moorland where giant

lobelia and huge, cactus-like plants grow.

There is an almost-lunar landscape, the saddle that stretches between the two peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi.

The highest point on Kibo, and indeed the whole of Africa, is Uhuru Peak, with spectacular glaciers and stupendous views of the plains, five kilometres below. Also on Kibo are the slightly lower peaks of Gillman’s Point and Stella Point, both on the crater’s rim. These are the goals for most climbers. The pinnacle-shaped peaks of Mawenzi are for mountaineers only.

With the help of porters and a guide it is possible to walk all the way to the summit of Kibo without specialized mountaineering equipment or experience, and Kilimanjaro can be conquered by any reasonably fit person. The whole climb normally takes five to seven days and involves four or five overnight stays in mountain huts or tents.

Ngorongoro Crater N

gorongoro is one of the world’s truly amazing places. Ngorongoro Crater is a huge caldera (collapsed volcano) that is 250sqkm in size and 600m deep; amazingly, it hosts to over 30,000 large animals including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhinos.

Entry into the crater is by a four-wheeldrive vehicle only.

The Crater is the heart of Ngorongoro Conservation Area (N.C.A.), which covers some 8,300sqkm and boasts of the finest blend of landscape, wildlife, people, and archaeological sites in Africa.

N.C.A. was named a World Heritage Site in 1979 and got the status of International Biosphere Reserve in 1981.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a pioneering experiment in multiple land

16

use in which pastoralism, conservation, and tourism co-exist. The aim of the conservation area is to maintain the historic balance of people and nature in a way which has not been possible in other parts of Africa.

Olduvai Gorge (sometimes spelt Oldupai Gorge) is the most famous archaeological location in East Africa, and has become an essential visit for travellers to Ngorongoro and Serengeti.

It is located about 40km northwest of Ngorongoro Crater, just a few kilometres off the main Serengeti road.

The Gorge stretches about 50km and is up to 90m (295 ft.) deep. It was made famous by the excavations in the 1950s by the palaeontologists Louis and Mary Leakey. The most important findings include Homo habilis and Zinjanthropus

Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

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Courtesy of N.C.A.A.

Main Photo, Tanzania Tourist Board/Šbctmedia.com Inset Photos, Courtesy of P2P Tourism Services

The Great Migration of Serengeti S

erengeti is the world’s best well-known game sanctuary and one of the jewels of Tanzania’s wildlife crown. It lies in northern Tanzania between Ngorongoro Crater and the shores of Lake Victoria, and extends southwards from the northern frontier to the periphery of Lake Eyasi.

With an area of 14,763sqkm, its ecosystem extends beyond the park’s boundaries to include sections of Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Loliondo Game Controlled Area in the east, Maswa Game Reserve to the south, Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves in the west and the Masai Mara Reserve in the north.

The entire ecosystem marks the borders of the annual great wildebeest migration, the most magnificent wildlife spectacles of our planet today.

Every year, more than 1.5 million wildebeests, 600,000 zebras, and 300,000 gazelles, moving in a gigantic herd, migrate from the southeast part of the park to the greener west and north and return again to the south in a clockwise cycle. No one knows for sure what triggers the migration

but what is certain is that the herds know that the grass is greener on the other side, and they know when to move and where to go.

Crossing dangerous rivers, tramping for many kilometres, grunting in clouds of dust, the animals move with the spirit of nomads, looking for brighter, more attractive pastures beyond. Following behind the grand multitude are parks of wild dogs and hyenas, families of cheetahs, and prides of lions, all pursuing the herbivores. Above the long, noisy procession are circling vultures and other scavenging and hunting birds, also looking for fortune. It is truly one of the wonders of the natural world – maybe the most wonderful of all.

Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers the most exciting gameviewing in Africa: great herds of buffaloes and elephants, groups of giraffes and elands, and countless clusters of impalas, gazelles and topis. The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates the park. Prides of lion feast on the abundance of plains grazers, solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees,

and cheetahs prowl the plains. All the three species of African jackals occur here, alongside the spotted hyena and the serval cat.

But there is more to Serengeti than large mammals. Gaudy agama lizards and rocky hyraxes scuffle around the surfaces of the parks isolated granite kopjes. A full 100 varieties of dung beetle have been recorded, as have over 500 bird species ranging from the ostrich of the open grassland to the black eagle that soar effortlessly in the sky.

The Seven Natural Wonders of Africa

T

he organization Seven Natural Wonders, based in the United States, had conducted a campaign since 2008 to determine the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa. A total of 12 natural wonders from different parts of the continent had been shortlisted for the final selection.

After public voting on line, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and professionals in relevant from around the world cast their votes based on statistical and traditional significance along with uniqueness and splendour.

The voting exercise came to an end in December, 2012, and now Arusha, the safari capital of East Africa, had been selected to be the venue for the features that had won to be officially recognised as the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

The Prime Minister of Tanzania, Hon. Mizengo Pinda, was the guest of honour. The president and Founder of Seven Natural Wonders, Dr. Philip Imler, made the announcement in Arusha, and here are the Seven natural Wonders of Africa: Mount Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro was declared one of the official Seven Wonders of Africa. It is the tallest mountain in Africa, and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. It is one of the largest stratovolcanoes in the world reaching 19,340 feet (5,895m) into the air. It is close to the equator but it features a snow-topped peak year round.

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Red Sea Reef

River Nile

The Red Sea Reef The Red Sea Reef stretches over 1,240 miles along the coast of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea and features abundant aquatic life, platforms, lagoons, and cylinders. The Red Sea Reef contains more than 1,100 species of fish of which nearly 10 per cent are exclusive to the region.

The River Nile The River Nile is the longest river in Africa. Its source is in equatorial Africa but it flows across the vast Sahara to pour into the Mediterranean Sea. The Ngorongoro Crater The description of Ngorongoro Crater speaks it all: it is the world’s largest unbroken caldera; the crater hosts over 30,000 animals including elephants, lions, cheetahs, wildebeests, buffaloes, and the rare black rhinos; the rim of the crater rises over 2,000 feet (610m) above the caldera floor, making it a natural fenced zoo. That is why it is often referred to as Africa’s Garden of Eden.

Courtesy of Tanapa Courtesy of Seven Natural Wonders

Sahara Desert

Okavango Delta

The Sahara Desert The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world.

Its area of 3,600,000 square miles (9,400,00 square km) can take in the whole of China or the United States, but just land of sand! In Africa, the Sahara Desert spans across 12 African countries, stretching from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, from the valley of the Niger River in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the north.

The Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta is the world’s largest inland delta. The delta is created from the rains that fill the Okavango River and flows to the basin of the Kalahari Desert. The majority of water is lost to evaporation and transpiration.

The Okavango is a wetland but there are hundreds of islands in between the distributaries hosting a wide variety of wildlife, including hippos, crocodiles, elephants, and antelopes.

The Serengeti Wildlife Migration The Serengeti Migration is the longest and largest overland migration in the world.

Frequently Asked Questions Q: What are the qualifications of a natural wonder?

A: The primary qualification is that a wonder of nature is just that it is completely natural. Additionally, a natural wonder needs to be statistically and/or naturally unique. Statistical factors that come into play may include characteristics such as height, width, and volume – but the focus is on unique wonder, beauty and amazement.

Q: How are the winners determined?

A: There are two mechanisms for voting. The primary mechanism comes from experts in related fields. Unesco counsels against any public voting because these types of campaigns are highly influenced by social marketing, marketing, and advertising efforts and do not reflect a true interest in determining the right seven. Such types of campaigns usually represent tourism or personal interest versus a collective representation.

Experts vote on ballot sheets provided to them directly. The general public votes on the site to complement the expert voting efforts.

Q: Where do you get the list of contesters in the first place?

A: Ideally, recommendation would come from a country’s board of tourism or a similar organization that is familiar with the wonders of nature that are available in that country or region - Source: sevennaturalwonders.org

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ad

Conservation

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ith a raised, pointing trunk, extended tusks and broadened ears, the elephant took an exciting posture before the on-lookers.

Though he stood as if ready to charge, he did not seem he would chase or harm the crowd as any wild beast of his size and vigour could likely do. Children took glittering beads to decorate him. More

Photograph Supplied by Alfred Kikoti.

Elephants’ Plea: Don’t Kill Us

and more people passed by to see him standing big between the exhibition tents in the open grounds of Karibu Fair.

His name is Mwalimu, the teacher, and he was at the exhibition to express this pleading message to humans: do not kill us!

Mwalimu is a life-sized elephant made of wire and iron bars. The sculpture

The War against Poaching: U.S.A. and Tanzania Join Hands

The U.S. Deputy Secretary of The Department of the Interior, Mr. David Hayes, and Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, at a press conference in Arusha.

T

anzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, and the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Mr. David Hayes, signed a Memorandum of Understanding

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(M.O.U.) in February to intensify efforts against poaching in Tanzania.

The M.O.U. will act as a framework for cooperation between the two countries in the fight against poaching, through logistical and technical support.

Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

had done his work well; he managed to present that posture of a calculating, strong elephant, and at the same time, an image of a calm beast beseeching friendship and acceptance.

Remy Macha, the sculpture, first did the framework by twisting and cutting pieces of iron rods and tying them together with binding wire. Then he covered the framework with pieces of wire gauze. Then he let him free to children to be adorned with thousands of glass beads so that he could sparkle and stand out everywhere he would go to teach humans the urgent need to protect elephants lest they vanished from the world by 2030. And so Mwalimu made his first appearance at the exhibition grounds during Arusha’s Karibu Tourism and Travel Fair this year to teach the world to stop killing the African elephant (Loxodonta africana).

During the signing event, Mr. Hayes emphasized America’s wish to develop a long-lasting relationship with Tanzania and to develop a relationship of working together on wildlife management. “The M.O.U. we signed will reinvigorate the relationship linking our ministries and further develop dialogue between us,” he said.

Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, who visited America last year to initiate talks leading up to the signing of the agreement, emphasized that the M.O.U. was a long-term commitment from both sides to safeguard Tanzania’s wildlife.

After signing the M.O.U., Mr. Hayes visited the headquarters of Serengeti National Park where he met with officials of Tanzania National Parks and the Frankfurt Zoological Society to discuss anti-poaching programmes and partnerships for wildlife protection in the greater Serengeti ecosystem.

- Photograph and text supplied by Colleen Hogg, the owner & creator of www. photography4life.

Photographs Supplied by Momella Foundation

400,000 today.

In Tanzania, the elephant population was halved during the 1970s and 1980s from 110,000 to 55,000. Such decline led to the African elephant’s being raised to Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) in October 1989. Cites lists species in three appendices according The sculpture is to the degree of protection they need: the product of the Appendix I includes species threatened Sparkling Elephant with extinction. Cites is an international Project, which aims agreement between governments aimed to create greater to ensure that international trade in awareness of the specimens of wild animals and plants endangered local does not threaten their survival. Cites’ wildlife species international ban of sale of ivory and other and vanishing ecosystems while elephant products, together with national providing children anti-poaching operations in Tanzania such with a creative as Operation Uhai, resulted in elephant outlet. population recovery from about 55,000 in 1989 to estimates of 109,000 in 2009.

The African elephant, the largest However, in the last few years, living land mammal, once occupied much Tanzania and other East and Central of the African continent. The population, African countries are again facing rising however, has been greatly reduced because law-enforcement challenges.

Elephantof the ivory trade and habitat destruction, poaching is increasing in the region driven caused mainly by expanding human by a resurgent demand for ivory in Asia. populations.

In Tanzania, estimates are that The number of African elephants has currently, 30 elephants are killed per declined from around 5 million in the day, which means that 10,950 elephants 1930s and 1940s, to about 1.3 million in will be killed in 2013. If this slaughter is 1979, to 609,000 in 1989 and to less than

allowed to continue unabated, the last of our elephants will be killed in seven years time, the year 2020.

The Momella Foundation, in cooperation with Rettet Die Elefanten Afrikas E.V., commissioned the creation of the elephant sculpture. Momella Foundation is a non-profit organization initiated in 2008 by Marlies and JĂśrg Gabriel, the proprietors of Hatari Lodge in Arusha National Park. The Rettet Die Elefanten Afrikas E.V. (Save the Elephants of Africa) is a foundation established in Germany in 1989 with the goal to support elephant-protection projects and anti-poaching campaigns. The project wants to establish transcontinental cooperation between pupils from abroad and school children from Arusha in order to create awareness of the drastic decline of the elephant population throughout Africa, and especially in Tanzania. The aim is to create greater awareness of the endangered local wildlife species and vanishing ecosystems while providing children with a creative outlet.

- Information about the elephant

sculpture gathered by the editor from notes from Stephen Castello of the Sparkling Elephant Project. Estimates gathered from recent reports of Tanzania Elephant Protection Society through the coordination of Dr. Alfred Kikoti of

World Elephant Centre.

Tanzania Elephant Management Plan 2010-2015

In 2010, the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (Tawiri) embarked on a five-year elephant management plan geared to reducing human-elephant conflict, as well as putting in place sustainable elephant management approaches.

The plan identifies several national strategic objectives to meet the most important challenges facing elephant conservation in Tanzania, including dealing with human-elephant conflict, control of elephant corridors, law enforcement, management of ivory stockpiles, and collection of elephant information. Thus the plan contains data on current population statuses, demographic patterns, threats to elephants, and problems of elephant health and welfare.

This national management plan to curb the deteriorating population of elephants is in its third year of seeking better ways to protect elephants in Tanzania.

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KILIMANJARO COFFEE FROM TANZANIA BACKGROUND Talking about coffee from the land of Kilimanjaro, we are talking of no other than coffee from the largest East African country “Tanzania” Mild Arabica coffee was introduced in Tanzania by Christian Missionaries from the Island of Re-Union (Bourbon) between 1880’s and 1890’s and was first grown on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest mountain of Africa); thereafter spread slowly to other regions of Tanzania and later to Kenya. Robusta coffee entered Tanzania from Uganda through the shores of Lake Victoria much earlier.

PRODUCTION Botanical Variety grown

Bourbon and Kent Economic importance Directly coffee is grown by about 450,000 families. This constitutes 90% of the total coffee producers. The remaining 10% comes from the estates. Indirectly coffee make a living for 6% (2.4 million) of the country population which is currently estimates to be 40 million.

Growing regions Arabica coffee from North and South regions makes up to 60% of total country production. Robusta coffee from the western Kagera region is making 40% of the total coffee production Area under coffee It is estimated that total area under coffee is 265,000 hectares for both Arabica and robusta.

Growing altitude Robusta – 800 to 900 masl Arabica - 1,000 to 2,500 masl

Historical data

Average production started to pick up last five years 2008 – 2012 ( 53,000 mts green). Attained max of 70,952 mts in 2012.

Harvesting season (main crop)

North: July – December Southern: July –December Western: May – October

Processing

Tanzania uses British nomenclature of grading into following AA, A, B, PB, C, E, F, AF, TT, UG and TEX

Marketing systems Three platforms;

• Village market – where farmers sale at farm gate price to private coffee buyers, farmer groups and cooperative. Coffee is sold in raw form of cherry or parchment.

• National auction – Coffee auctions are conducted based on international market trends of New York-C for Arabica and London LIFE for Robusta.

• Export market - Growers and Auction buyers get opportunity to sell to trade houses and roasters abroad. This provides special window for premium coffee growers to establish relationship with International roasters and traders

Cup profile

Despite the fact that the North and Southern coffees have distinct cup tastes, but generally this is what some members of the Americans “Bar society” say about us: “A truly excellent cup of coffee, and much richer than Latin American coffees. -- Valerie Wenger “Please thank the East African Business Journal for the very thoughtful gift of Tanzanian coffee. It is absolutely delicious -- very full bodied and smooth. We had house guests this past weekend and

served it to them to rave reviews.

I also passed one tin on to Judge Hale who was extremely pleased by the gift as well and has enjoyed the coffee immensely with his wife and son.” -- Hon. Barbara J. Houser, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

“A rich, complex fruit-toned coffee with a quietly complex aroma. The coffee has abundant flavor, but is not at all harsh. It’s finish is light and clean on the palate.” - Julianne Parker “The best cup of coffee I have ever had.”

-- Areya Holder

“The greatest cup of coffee on earth. This coffee is second to none. The taste is outstandingly robust with absolutely no acid after taste.” -- Dana Ehrlich

New Industry Vision The Coffee Board in collaboration with stakeholders has come up with a new 10 year development strategy which sets targets to revitalize the sector by increasing production and quality ( from current average 50,000 MT to 100,000 MT) hence making it more competitive to raise revenue to $325m from current max of $230m by the year 2021.

Coffee Exports Tanzania exports have fluctuated between 0.6 million bags and 0.9 million bags. Over the last five years, average Tanzania exports have accounted for about 1.0 to 1.1% of the global exports.

Major exports destinations are EU countries, Japan and USA. Recent market trends show shift from Germany to Japan as leading importer.

External (export) Promotion

It is not uncommon to find a large number of producing countries are consulting promotions all over the world though exhibitions and conferences. Tanzania being one of the producing countries we cannot afford to remain behind.

Niche markets have to be explored in regions were our fine coffees are not traded, also we need to maintain the current coffee exports with our present customers for the purpose of increasing and maintaining our export levels abroad. This has been achieved through promotion campaigns. TCB and Tanzania Coffee Association (TCA) have continued to promote Tanzania Coffee in International Exhibition and Conferences.

Promotions in Japan (JETRO/SCAJ), United States of America (SCAA) and China are among the initiative made to promote Tanzania coffee.

Internal Promotion Domestic coffee consumption is about 2-5% of the total production. Out of the total consumption, 25-30% is soluble coffee.

Institutions 1. Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) – Industry regulator on all matters pertaining to production and marketing 2. Tanzania Coffee Development Trust Fund, (TCDF) - managing stakeholders, resources for coffee development activities

3. Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TACRI) – Coffee Research institute 4. Tanzania Coffee Association (TCA) – Private Association of Coffee Traders 5. Tanganyika Coffee Growers Association (TCGA) – Association of Coffee Estate growers

45 Years of Tanzania’s Tingatinga Art 

By Daniel Augusta

T

ingatinga is a name for a style of painting in Tanzania started in 1968 by Edward Saidi Tingatinga. The paintings are very colourful, and some people say they show us the world with our inner childish wonder: Tingatinga art is funny, cheerful, and vibrant.

The painting skill of Tingatinga is believed to have evolved from his initial casual work of painting earthen mud walls in his native village when he was a young man. The wall painting tradition is widespread in southern Tanzania and the young boy Tingatinga used to paint animals on the walls of traditional huts using soils, ashes and charcoal. He later came to Dar es Salaam, where his creative spirit led him to try various activities such as music, dance, weaving, and later painting.

Tingatinga painted single animals on hard boards. The animals were painted in a simple, symbolic way. Neither the colours nor shapes corresponded to the animals in the real world. Black antelopes, black and white giraffes, black and white leopard are some examples. The shape of body parts

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was further simplified so no details were shown. Edward Tingatinga talked in the language of symbolism, which is frequently seen in shamanism. Decorations in the forms of plants, birds, and landscapes in today’s Tingatinga paintings came later as the style developed and more painters learned the art. During the short time he was developing the style, Edward Tingatinga, had only six relatives as his students.

These were Ajaba Mtalia, Adeus Mandu, January Linda, Simon Mpata, Kasper Tedo, and Omari Amonde. After his death, the six students continued with Tingatinga work and passed the art to the next generation.

Today, 45 years since Edward Tingatinga painted his first work, Tingatinga style has become a popular art in Tanzania and East Africa at large. The style has spread outside the group of Tingatinga’s relatives, and tourists may find the painting style in many places in East Africa. Today, there are over 500 painters in the region. Most of them copy and imitate the art and handicraft of the family of Edward Tingatinga. Also today much of Tingatinga art is also in the form of painting on everyday objects, such as hand-painted plates, glasses, pencils, decorative objects, and other things.

The new generation of Tingatinga painters has come up

All Photographs Courtesy of T.A.C.S.

with new ideas like adding little flowers and birds to the paintings and putting colourful backgrounds to their work.

Slowly the art has become more complicated, and it takes more time to finish a piece than it did in Tingatinga’s time.

Currently, a popular Tingatinga wildlife painting will have more animals, more dots, and more decorations, building up a more striking piece of art.

In the past 20 years or so, Tingatinga art has gained ground in Japan, Europe, and the U.S.A., where several Tanzanian exhibitors have displayed and sold large numbers of Tingatinga works in international exhibitions. In 1996 and 1997, an exhibition of original Tingatinga paintings and those of his followers was staged in different parts of Switzerland.

Recognising the way Tingatinga artists paint wonderful animals in bright colours with an intricate use of pattern and design, in 2008 the cooperative of Tingatinga artists in Dar es Salaam signed a contract with Tiger Aspect to create Tinga Tinga Tales. Based upon animal creation stories from all over the African continent, Tinga Tinga Tales brings to life tales of how favourite animals came to be the way they are today.

The B.B.C. and Walt Disney now run a children’s television

series from the Tinga Tinga Tales. The shows are animated paintings of the Tingatinga artists and opens up a fantastical world of colour, characters and transformation.

At the Tingatinga cooperative studio at Morogoro Stores in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam, you can meet Tingatinga’s son Daudi, you can meet Saidi Chilamboni, Mohamed Charinda, Hasani and others who early joined this art movement. At 70 years old, Omari Amonde is the last living student of Edward Tingatinga, and he is also the oldest painter of the style.

There, you can also meet artists who have become recognized internationally and buy paintings from a wide selection of genuine Tingatinga products.

- Daniel Augusta is the Manager of the Tingatinga Artists Cooperative Society and a renowned Tingatinga enthusiast. He originally came from Czech Republic and here in Tanzania he is totally immersed in Tingatinga style, even living in the home once occupied by Edward S. Tingatinga in Dar es Salaam. His dedication to promote Tingatinga artists is expressed at the website www.tingatingastudio.com, and he can be reached by email at daniel@tingatingastudio.com

About the Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society T.A.C.S. Tingatinga Painters: 120 Products: canvas paintings, wall hangings- available in all sizes, name plates, wooden showpieces, carvings, stationary, stools, bottles, and many other products, including customized products Paintings Available at: Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society, Morogoro Stores, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Exports can be arranged.

©Zabury/ www.tingatinga.org

Coop Opening Hours: Open every day, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Workshops: Learn how to do Tingatinga painting (for kids and adults) on special request Website: www.tingatinga.org / www.tingatingastudio. com Prices: negotiable

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©Daudi Tingatinga, www.tingatinga.org

Tingatinga’s Le

©Zabury/www.tingatinga.org

Above: Chui painting, a specialty of the son of Edward S. Tingatinga, Daudi Tingatinga.

Edward Tingatinga, the founder of the art, painted single animals in a simple, symbolic way. Neither the colours nor shapes corresponded to the animals in the real world.

Left and Below: Modern Tingatinga style. The new generation of Tingatinga painters has come up with new ideas like adding little flowers and birds to the paintings and putting colourful backgrounds to their work

Almost everywhere you go in Tanzania you will see paintings in startlingly bright colours, mostly the primary colours, mostly on canvas but also on just about any surface you see: walls, tables, plates, glasses, cups, spare-tyre covers, and on without end.

You may wonder where all this started. To find out, you need to go to go to Morogoro Stores in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam, where the tale of Edward Tingatinga’s legacy will unfold before you.



By Ayushi Ramaiya

©Amonde/www.tingatinga.org

E

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veryday, as early as 8 o’ clock in the morning, a guild of a few skilled artists assemble at work stations well away from the city centre in Dar es Salaam, a place they also call their village. Whether in the scorching heat, or on a windy day or during the rains, artists ranging from 18 to 70 years old sit surrounded by canvas boards and tool boxes of vivid oil paints creating masterpieces.

From a distance, they appear to be painting like any other busy artist, but when you get closer to them, you realize their art is a very special design. From exaggerated images of small butterflies to imaginations of dotted animals, and from abstract patterns of birds to figures envisioning people and flowers, they create and cherish a form of art which the world famously refers to Tingatinga painting.

Above: Chui painting by Rubuni Right: Omary Amonde the nephew of E.S Tingatinga paints tirelessly and at 70, he is now the oldest painter at the cooperative society.

Below:The children of E.S.Tingatinga, Daudi (left) and Martina (right) work at the Cooperative. The cooperative studio is at Morogoro Stores in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam.

©Tingatinga Art Co-operative Society

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©Tingatinga Art Co-operative Society

Astonishingly, before Tingatinga became a style of a painting, it was the name of a simple man, the beloved Edward Said Tingatinga, who founded this particular style of painting after a long journey of struggle and hard work. Born in 1932 in Ruvuma Region in southern Tanzania, Edward was the firstborn in a peasant family. Because of unfavourable circumstances, he could not complete his education. Fortune directed him to Tanga around 1957 and then to Dar-es-Salaam to try his luck.

When he arrived in the city, he sold fruit and vegetables in the streets of Oyster Bay from the carrier of a bicycle.

He also weaved mats and baskets and had an inclination towards aesthetics of creating embroidery designs on pillow and bed covers and table clothing. Later on, Tingatinga started painting the walls of people’s houses before finally settling down to apply the paint brush to canvas.

Using brush and enamel paint, Edward Tingatinga created animals, scenes, and motifs on square boards.

Edward’s style of painting was appreciated right from the beginning by visitors and buyers of his work. It was mainly the tourists who bought his stuff, and at a good price. Slowly, the demand for his work increased until Tingatinga had to involve five cousins in his work, encouraging them to do their own paintings as well. Unfortunately, Tingatinga died in 1972 when he was mistakenly shot by the police in a case of mistaken identity. He was only 40.

However, he left behind samples of his work which his cousins imitated and later taught to other people.

©Rubuni. www.tingatinga.org

’s Legacy

When Edward Tingatinga died, his five cousins, who were his first apprentices, faced many challenges working as a team but finally under the guidance of one of their leaders, Mr.Salum Mussa, they registered a Tantravel Special Edition July, 2013

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Above: Daudi Tingatinga paints imitations of his father, especially those of animals painted in simple style.

Right: Modern paintings of animals are artistically designed with dots and there are additions of decorations in the forms of plants and birds.

is unfolding a story, either one in the viewer’s own interpretation or as the reflection of the artist’s mind. Every Tingatinga artist has his or her own favourite subject to paint. While one artist may narrate tales of animals, another might paint poetry of birds, or simply portray fancy butterflies, or swirling schools of fish, or just a bunch of colourful fruit . . . and indeed, the history and the natural beauty of

Some Facts About Tingatinga Name of Art: Tingatinga or Tinga Tinga Location: Tanzania, East Africa Estimated Number of Painters: about 500 Started: 1968 Founder: Edward Saidi Tingatinga (ca. 1936-1972), born in Mindu in southern Tanzania Techniques: Mostly enamel colours on canvas or hard boards Derivative Products: T-shirts, pencils, cups, trays, plates, and others Origin: wall paintings in southern Tanzania Institutions: Tingatinga Arts Co-operative Society and Tingatinga Arts Promotional Society Tingatinga Projects: Fifa,, official art collection; Walt Disney, animated films of Tinga Tinga Tales: African Art, Memo Card Game, calendars and puzzles Most Expensive Painting: over �37,000 sold at auction house in Paris in October, 2010

by Rajabu Chiwaya, Tingatinga Cooperative, Dar es Salaam Largest Tingatinga Image: Wall painting in Copenhagen, Denmark (about 5 floors of a building) The Oldest Painter: Omari Amonde, over 70 years old (the last living student of E.S.Tingatinga) Books: Tingatinga - Popular Art from Tanzania by Yves Goscinny More about Tingatinga: www.afrum.com, www.tingatingastudio.com, www.tingatinga.info, www.tingatinga.org, www.tingatingastories.com, www.tingatingamemo.com - Compiled by Daniel Augusta

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©Rubuni, www.tingatinga.org

©Tingatinga Art Co-operative Society

cooperative for their work in 1990: The Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society (T.A.C.S). Through the society, Edward’s studio at Oyster Bay was refurnished as a school to train Tingatinga painters to learn the art and how to sell their work. Usually it takes roughly five to six months to learn the art and afterwards the artist can choose to become a member of the society. To be a member of the society, one has to be more than 18 years old, and be willing to pay 10 per cent of their sales to the society for administration costs.

Today, the society consists of 120 authentic Tingatinga artists, a few of them old artists trained by Edward Tingatinga himself. Daudi, the only son of Edward Tingatinga, is now a painter at T.A.C.S. He was four years old when his father died. As he grew up, he followed in the career of his father, first adopting his own style of painting: “I used to paint birds. I drew a lot of them, but when visitors came here they were demanding paintings like my father’s, especially those of animals like chui (leopard).” Daudi explains that he had to paint imitations of his father and surprisingly got huge orders.

The Tingatinga style of painting is true to itself and remains clearly distinct from other forms of art. Looking at a painting, one realizes that the painting

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Tanzania are reflected unfailingly in every painting.

The artists first paint a background in either single colour or multiple layers and patiently let it dry. After giving outlines to their subjects and painting over it, the inner designs are created with free hand, mostly using their own style and creativity.

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Edward Said Tingatinga has made a glorious mark on the pages of Tanzania’s history, his art being one of the unmatchable, brought down to generations meaningfully. He perhaps stands as a distinguished personality who popularized Tanzania to the outsiders through his paintings and his successors follow suit.

Today T.A.C.S. has been able to bind the painters and help them in their daily struggle. The heart of Tingatinga is the love that the artists and their admirers feel for it. The artists gather every morning, shedding their sweat to paint together their own distinct styles started by their mentor, proudly signing their names at the bottom of their masterpieces. They believe they are the fortunate bunch of a hundreds who have survived despite odds, painting the Tingatinga way. The Tingatinga legacy continues . . .

- Ayushi Ramaiya is a tourism student in India who did her field studies at the Dar es Salaam offices of Tanzania Tourist Board last year. She returned to India in December and anticipates returning to Tanzania on a different mission later this year.

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Kilimanjaro News

Mount Kilimanjaro W

Young Adventurers Atop Kilimanjaro At Ages 5 to 7 

Age or sex is no barrier to reaching Af

By Gervase Tatah Mlola

W

hen 7-year-old Aaryan Balaji reached Uhuru Peak of Mount Kilimanjaro on February 25, he joined Keats Boyd, who achieved the feat in 2008, as the two youngest climbers to reach the highest point in Africa.

Only two weeks later their accomplishment was nearly overturned when Maksim Giorgi Goncharova, just 5 years old, came within 214 metres of breaking their record. He reached Gillman’s Point, 5,681m, at the top of Kilimanjaro but not quite at the highest point, which is Uhuru Peak, 5,895m.

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Born on March 18, 2005 in Tamil Nadu, Aaryan is the son of an Indian Navy officer, Commander K.S. Balaji, and Mrs. Riki Balaji. Before the Kilimanjaro achievement, his parents had taken him to Nepal to trek to Mount Everest’s Southern Base Camp and to climb Mount Kala Patthar at

An All-Female Team At the Top of Africa

S

even women from Nepal and four from Tanzania and South Africa made up a group of 11 female climbers that scaled Mount

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Courtesy of Easy Travels/Marc Nkwame

The beginning of this year took a new turn in the history of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro: the mountain has become a symbol of the determination of children to challenge the human spirit of courage and survival.

The 7-year-old Aaryan Balaji (above and right) reached Uhuru Peak of Mount Kilimanjaro on February 25, 2013 joining Keats Boyd, who achieved the feat in 2008, as the two youngest climbers to reach the highest point in Africa.

Kilimanjaro from the base to Uhuru Peak in a mission to highlight the importance of women’s empowerment and girls’ education in Asia and Africa.

The 11 climbers ascended through the Machame route on Feb. 28 and on March 5, they reached Uhuru Peak to celebrate the International Women’s Day at the highest point on Africa.

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The seven girls from Nepal make up the Seven Summits Women Team, which from 2008 has been in a mission to climb the highest peak in each of the seven continents of the world.

Kilimanjaro is the fourth summit they have climbed, after Mount Everest in Asia, 2008; Mount Kosciusko in Australia, 2010; and Mount Elbrus in

o Welcomes Everyone

Courtesy of Shah Tours & Travels Ltd

ng Africa’s highest point, Uhuru Peak

Courtesy of Shah Tours & Travels Ltd

Maksim Giorgi Goncharova (above and right) is the youngest person to have ever reached Kilimanjaro’s Gilman’s Point (5681 meters high). He achieved this at the tender age of 5 years in March 2013.

The 11 female climbers from Nepal, Tanzania and South Africa, climbed Kilimanjaro in March this year to highlight the importance of women’s empowerment and girls’ education in Asia and Africa.

Europe (Russia), 2010. The next target is Mt Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America.

Although many publications have shown Aaryan to be the youngest to have ever climbed Kilimanjaro, they missed the record in 2008, when another 7- year-old boy conquered the mountain. This was Keats Boyd from Los Angeles in the United States who successfully reached the summit of Kilimanjaro on January 21, 2008.

Keats climbed with Thomson Safaris of Arusha and was accompanied by his father, Bryan. More information about Keats’s achievement is recorded at www.

g

Courtesy of W.F.P./Jen Kunz.

5,554 meters, becoming, in May 2012, the youngest person to stand on that majestic peak.

It was after this Nepal expedition that Aaryan came to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in February this year.

Aaryan was accompanied by his mother, who said she was supporting her son as a way of encouraging other mothers worldwide to engage their children in constructive outdoor adventures instead of letting them be spoilt by passive activities like video games and television. The boy’s Mount Kilimanjaro expedition was arranged by Easy Travels, a tour company based in Arusha.

climbmountkilimanjaro.com and on Keats’s website, www.climbavolcano.org It was as Aaryan was finishing his climb this year that Maksim, came on the scene and unbelievably walked from the base of the mountain to Gillman’s Point. Maksim is from Russia, and he climbed the mountain in a group of five people, including his parents, in an expedition organised by the Shah Tours & Travels Ltd of Moshi. It was a sixday trek following the Marangu route beginning March 8. Maksim reached the 5,681-meter high Gilman’s Point on March 12 and became the youngest person known to have reached such a high altitude on Kilimanjaro.

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Courtesy of W.F.P./Jen Kunz.

The Seven Summits Women Team from Nepal. From 2008, the team has been in a mission to climb the highest peak in each of the seven continents of the world. Kilimanjaro is the fourth summit they have climbed, after Mount Everest in Asia, 2008; Mount Kosciusko in Australia, 2010; and Mount Elbrus in Europe (Russia), 2010.

All women at the summit on March 5, 2013.

The mission of Seven Summits is not only to scale the tallest peak in each continent but also to touch the lives of people across the world, especially girls, sharing with them how life can be what we make out of it.

Most of the climbers of Seven Summits come from humble backgrounds in rural Nepal. Each has her own story of challenge, struggle, and ultimate success. One ran away from home at the age of 14 to escape a forced marriage, another took a housekeeping job in her early teens to support her family.

The coordinator of the team is Shailee Basnet who currently works as

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Courtesy of W.F.P./Jen Kunz.

a reporter for Himalmedia, a weekly Nepali magazine. Another in the team is Nimdoma Sherpa, who reached the top of Everest at the age of 17 in 2008, becoming the youngest woman to do so. Others are Pujan Acharya, an accomplished athlete from Dolakha; Asha Kumari Singh from Danuwar; Chunu Shrestha from Kathmandu; Pema Diki Sherpa from Dolakha; and Maya Gurung from Sindhupalchok.

The African women also have interesting stories. Ashura Kayupayupa is a youth activist based in Dar es Salaam who campaigns against early marriage; Anna Indaya comes from the almost extinct Hadzabe tribe of

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hunter-gatherers; Hlubi Mboya is a TV actress in South Africa; and Nima Sitta is Tanzanian working for U.N. World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.

After the climb, the young women visited schools in Arusha and Dar es Salaam to tell their stories and encourage students, especially girls, to believe in education as a tool that can help them achieve what may seem impossible. Supported by the U.N. World Food Programme, the group visited the schools to motivate students to climb their own mountains and to understand the significance of education to make that happen. The U.N. World Food Program is producing a documentary movie highlighting the women’s remarkable journey to Kilimanjaro, the stories of their lives and their achievements with the viewpoint of inspiring young girls and women.

- More information about their climb can be found at www. sevensummitswomen.org

Art Review

Harmonising With Nature: All Photographs Supplied by Creo Ltd. All Photographs Supplied by Moiz Husein of M.H Gallery.

Celebrating the Physical Universe

Ochieng’s “Winnower”

Minzi’s “Freedom”

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

A

By Antony Shaw

n art exhibition recently held in Dar-es-Salaam offered a stimulating and diverse mixed-media response to the theme Harmonising with Nature. The six-day event at Alliance Francaise Cultural centre showcased the work of sculptors Sakina Kimbokota and Francis Ochieng together with painter Thobias Minzi.

Across the centuries, the exploration of nature in art has taken endless forms, not surprising as the physical world provides artists with an endless

array of inspirations. The response of visual artists has ranged from photorealism to abstraction. Tanzania, of course, is a land of diverse landscapes containing an incredible variety of flora and fauna that can offer a life-time of stimulation, subject matter and ideas to creatives of every kind. Harmonising with Nature presented innovative and thoughtful offerings that made one consider the beauty of our world – from familiar daily sights to the mysterious aquatic life of the sea.

Visitors admiring Minzi’s painting of zebras. The two zebras portray almost a mirror-image but the title “Love,” suggests a mating pair.

Minzi’s “Voice of Hope” shows a young female alongside Bi Kudude, the legendary Zanzibar singer, who died shortly after the exhibition, aged over 100 years.

Above: “Rooster” by Ochieng Left: Wall-mounted “Peacock” by Sakina Kimbokota

The sculptural work “Rooster,”

by Ochieng, was a life-size metal work that captured the character of the strutting male chicken with great style. Small details, such as the rooster’s feet, gave this sculptural work a real life-like quality. Moving from the familiar scene of domestic chickens, Minzi (working in acrylic) transported us to the wild herds of the great plains with “Love.” The zebras were depicted as almost a mirror-image but the title, perhaps, suggests a mating pair while the multi-coloured, swirling background gave the piece a dream-like quality.

Kimbokota’s “Giant Squid” and “Injustice” moved the exhibition out to the Indian Ocean. These finely shaped, free-standing metal sculptures were dramatic and had a striking sense of movement. Her wall-mounted “Peacock” (a familiar site around the State House and Botanical Gardens in the city) had a similar kinetic quality as the fine metal “spokes” representing the fanlike plumage of the majestic bird gave the piece real energy.

Harmonising with Nature, while celebrating the beauty of our planet, also offered a further layer

to this interpretation of the theme.

Ndesumbuka Lamtane Merinyo, a cultural commentator and exhibition curator, explained, “The artists featured in this exciting event work in paint and metal to reflect the glory of Creation. They have, however, purposely included representations of humanity to remind us that our destiny is tied to the preservation of the natural world.”

Humankind was therefore diversely and richly represented in sculpture and canvas. Minzi’s “Beauty of Honour” depicted a veiled female with entrancing eyes that appeared to follow you around the exhibition!

His “Voice of Hope” showed a young female alongside Bi Kudude, the legendary Zanzibar singer, who died shortly after the exhibition, aged over 100 years. “Moran” and “Mask” by Kimbokota were smaller than many of the other sculptural works but were thoughtfully crafted pieces. The former represented the important Maasai social group making the journey from boyhood to manhood. The latter showed the powerful symbol of the mask that has featured across African cultures since the dawn of humanity.

Ochieng provided a series of bold

sculptural depictions of various figures, from an elegant lady “Fetching Water” to the beautifully angular “Winnower” sitting to separate chaff from the grain.

The critical relationship between humanity and the wider natural world was further reflected in the use of recycled metal to form the sculptural works on display. Re-purposed bicycle parts were innovatively incorporated into the designs with great skill and it was intriguing to see how various mechanical pieces were weaved into the various representations of animals, people and plant life! The use of scrap metal, however, had an underlying message about the fragility of our natural resources. Indeed nations like Tanzania, which have preserved vast swathes of unique habitat through the establishment of national parks and reserves, face the constant challenge of preserving the treasures of Creation for future generations.

Harmonising with Nature displayed the glorious wonders of our planet, the beauty of humanity and how the destiny of both are inextricably linked.

- For more information about the works displayed, contact info@creocomm.net

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Questions and Answers on Visiting Tanzania

wildebeest migrations. (For details on the top three natural attractions of Tanzania see the article “The Wonders of Tanzania” on page 14.

What are the Entry Requirements for Tanzania?

Visitors seeking to enter Tanzania should be in possession of a valid passport. The passport is to be presented to the Immigration Control Officer at any entry point: border station, airport or harbour. The passport must be presented along with a valid visa, or a resident permit, or a pass.

There are five types of visa valid for entry into Tanzania but an ordinary tourist would need just an ordinary visa or a transit visa.

An ordinary visa is issued at any Tanzanian mission abroad, or at the entry point in Tanzania. A transit visa is a permission to cross Tanzania from one entry point to another. It is issued for a maximum of two weeks.

How Do I Get to Tanzania?

Three international airports connect Tanzania with the rest of the world.

Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam is about 15km from the city center and well served with taxis and shuttle buses. If you want to come to Tanzania to visit the coastal areas and the game sanctuaries of Selous or the historical town of Kilwa, this is the best airport to use.

Kilimanjaro International Airport is roughly halfway between the tourist towns of Arusha (42km) and Moshi (40km) in northern Tanzania and the gateway to the tourism attraction of the country’s northern safari circuit.

It is also the ideal airport to use for those who want to come to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Zanzibar International Airport is on the island of Zanzibar, about 8km from the historical Stone Town.

The international airlines that serve Tanzania are the following: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Swiss International Airline Emirates Qatar Airways South African Airways Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines Kenya Airways Uganda Airlines Air Malawi LAM (Mozambique Airlines).

Turkish Air

Where Can I Get Detailed Information about Tanzania?

For tourism information, contact the Tanzania Tourist Board, headquartered in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, as follows: Tourist Information Centre Samora Avenue Road, Matisalamat Building, P.O. Box 2485, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

Tel.: +255 22 2131555 Email: info@tanzaniatourism.go.tz The Tanzania Tourist Board has also a branch office in Arusha that assist travellers to northern Tanzania and the contacts are as follows: Tourist Information Centre, Boma Road, near Clock Tower Roundabout P.O. Box 2348, Arusha, Tanzania.

Tel.: (255) 027 2503842 / 3 Email: ttb-info@habari.co.tz For investment and trade information, contact the Tanzania Investment Centre (T.I.C.) in Dar es Salaam and the contacts are: Tanzania Investment Centre, P. O. Box 938, Dar es Salaam Tel: +255(22) 2116328 –32 Email: information@tic.co.tz The T.I.C. has also established zonal offices in Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, and Mbeya regions to help up-country investors obtain all relevant permits, approvals and licenses required to set up their businesses.

New York

Dar es Salaam

Where is Tanzania?

Tanzania is in East Africa, just below the equator. The country is bordered in the east by the Indian Ocean; in the north by Kenya; in the northwest by Uganda; and in the west by Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the south by Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique.

The direct distance between Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, and New York in the United States is 12,462 kilometres (7,744 miles). Tanzania is reached form the U.S.A. via connections in many countries or Europe, Africa, and Asia that are reached by airlines flying from many American cities.

Why Visit Tanzania?

Tanzania is unsurpassed in the beauty of its land and the abundance of its wildlife. It is the land of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain; Zanzibar, the fabled Indian Ocean island; and the famous wildlife reserves Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater.

All of Africa’s Great Lakes have portions within Tanzania’s borders, and the country’s long Indian Ocean Coast has several centres for fishing, swimming, diving, snorkeling, sailing, and more. Over a quarter of the country is reserved in the form of national parks, game reserves, forests, game-controlled areas and even flower reserves. Tanzania is therefore one of the finest places on earth to see herds of big mammals, families of predators, diverse species of birds, and the famous

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Obituary

A Tribute to Bi Kidude The legendary Zanzibari taarab singer practiced her art until her death this year at more than 100 years of age. 

B

By Gervase Tatah Mlola

i Kidude was a taarabu singer who rose from a poor Swahili background in Zanzibar to be the undisputed queen of Taarab music in East Africa. Until her death in April at about age 102, Bi Kidude was the oldest singer in East Africa, continuing to sing past her 100th birthday.

Her real name was Fatuma binti Baraka, and she was born in the early 20th Century in the Sultanate of Zanzibar to a coconut vendor’s family of seven children. She did not know the date of her birth but it is believed to be around 1910 because she started singing in the local taarab troupe in 1920s when she must have been a teenager.

Also, various interviews Bi Kidude said she grew up when the rupee was the currency used in East Africa. The currency was brought to the coast of East African by Asian traders and was used as a medium of exchange until the First World War. Everyone called her Bi Kidude, and there are various explanations on how she got this name. Some people think

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the name originated from her active participation in initiation ceremonies of Unyago, in which she prepared young Swahili for their transition through puberty and offered marriage instruction to women. Hence, Bi Kidude, the Grand Lady, became her trademark.

Bi Kidude started singing with other women at initiation ceremonies when she was 13 years old. She was a protégé of Siti binti Saad (1880-1950), the first female taarab singer on the island. Many writers have mentioned the two singers as the first Zanzibari women to lift the veil and sing in public, both on the island and in different parts of the world.

Taarab is a popular Swahili music sang in a group of vocalists and players of violins, flutes, and fiddles with a variety of African drums and percussion instruments. The music developed around the coast and has Arabic, Indian, and African influences.

In 1928, Siti binti Saad travelled to Bombay to make some of the earliest recordings

Photograph by Peter Bennet at Sauti za Busara 2013

Photograph by Antony Siame

by an African artist and Bi Kidude took the opposite direction, starting a long tour of inner East Africa with a taarab ensemble, visiting the major coastal towns and inland as far west as Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika.

In the 1930s, she stayed in Dar es Salaam, where she sang with Egyptian taarab group. In the 1940s, she returned to Zanzibar where she became more engaged with offering sexual education (Unyago) to marriageable girls, which was accompanied by traditional songs, drumming, and dancing. The climax of the unyago ritual is the wedding, a colourful event at which Bi Kidude and her friends would play their drums and sing to the gathering.

Apart from her singing career and unyago lessons, Kidude also made her living by making henna to draw designs on young women’s arms and legs for weddings and feasts.

The first time I met her was in 2005 at the open fortress in Zanzibar’s Stone Town during the Sauti za Busara (Voices of Wisdom) music festival of the dhow countries.

The fortress was packed with a cheering audience of various

Despite her failing health, Bi Kidude managed to get on stage at the annual Sauti za Busara festival in February this year.

nationalities. She sat at the high platform next to the organizers and distinguished guests. When the festival stopped for recess, I walked to the platform to greet her, my notebook and pen clutched in my hands, but I never managed to run an interview with her. Everyone was talking to her. She was a wrinkled, frail-looking woman, but very active and joyful whom everyone wanted to talk to.

Nothing seemed to bother her. She sat relaxed, smoking her cigarettes until she was called to the stage to greet the audience with a verse from her old songs. Everybody cheered.

In the last 30 or 35 years she had come to be widely recognised as one of the finest musicians on the continent. The countries she toured included the countries of eastern Africa and Europe, as well as Egypt, Mozambique, and India. In 1995 for example, she toured the United Kingdom with the Shikamoo Jazz Band. In 2004 she toured several countries of Europe with the Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar. The last foreign country she toured before her death was Poland, last year during the Brave Festival.

During her last days, she lived in

a small house in Zanzibar town and performed with the Twinkling Stars at selected hotels, and every February she would be the celebrity at the annual Sauti za Busara festival.

The talents of Bi Kidude were acknowledged by the Zanzibar International Film Festival at the second Festival of the Dhow Countries in 1999, when she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to the Arts.

In 2005 she was awarded a prize for her contribution to world music at the World Music Expo, the annual gathering in Europe of the world music industry. In 2012 the President of Tanzania, Hon. Jakaya Kikwete, gave her “Sports and Arts Award” of ???? all time.

The life of Bi Kidude, is mostly accounted in the video documentary As Old As My Tongue:The Myth and Life of Bi Kidude, released in 2006, (DVD available at www.amazon.co.uk).

Bi Kidude continued to sing until she was more than one hundred years old. She died on 17 April, 2013, and was buried in her village of Kitumba in Zanzibar, where President Jakaya Kikwete and other dignitaries paid their respects.

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