With a tear shed for leaving our home stays in Zanzibar, our semi-stationary education has been replaced by learning in motion. We packed up our backpacks again--this time weight consciously leaving behind a few pounds of unnecessary belongings and extra books--and ferried back to Dar for an out of character night in the Heritage Motel: a hot shower, T.V., and continental breakfast. A whole 12 hours later we were up at 5:30 to jump on the bus to Mambo in north-western Tanzania's savannah landscape. Keeping up with readings and assignments on a cramped and bumpy bus ride is an interesting challenge, but, should you need it, there is a plethora of distraction to be had just outside your window as you ride through the sweeping grasslands complete with baobab trees and distant mountains; you'll most likely find yourself singing that Lion King song under your breath.
We then learned about Sisal... Mambo is the base of Katani Limited; a company designed for the local contract farming of this major Tanzania export in the area. They’re responsible for something like 40,000 acres. What is sisal you ask? Well, sisal is a plant somewhat like Yucca or Aloe--all part of the Agave family. It's grown for its light but strong fibers extracted from the leaves, and thrives easily in the warm, dry, savannah soil. It is chopped leaf by leaf over 15 years, and is then burned and left to fallow for 3 years until the soil’s ready to plant again. We toured around the rows of sisal attempting to basically saw off a few leaves here and there, but were completely put to shame by all the workers who supposedly collected about 3,300 leaves per day (per person) and who could take leaves off with tiny knifes as if they were made out of Styrofoam. Towers of bundles of leaves were everywhere. We were then brought to the factories where the leaves are separated into the fiber (only about 2% per leaf) and the leftover biomass waste. The fiber is dried, cleaned, and exported, while the waste is broken down for fertilizer and natural gas that is recycled back to help grow the sisal and run the factory. A pretty cool operation all in all.
After a night in Mambo, some dancing in a drum circle, and more sisal tours the next day, we loaded back onto our bus for another 5 hour bus ride up to Moshi. Driving through a valley, we caught our first glimpse of the snows atop Kilimanjaro. We were really lucky that we got to see the mountain at all, as it is usually, and has been everyday since, covered by thick puffy clouds. It's a pretty amazing sight though, and since I won't have time or money while I'm here to climb it, I'm planning on being back someday soon before the glaciers melt. Anyone up for it?
The town pf Moshi is all about coffee exporting. It's exciting to see what I drink in excess at home being picked off a tree and then through drying, shelling, sorting, weighing and auctioning off to international buyers. 99% of the coffee grown here is for international use—and meanwhile, the 5 other coffee refineries that have been built in the last decade means that the plant we toured is working at 10% capacity. We, as rethinkers of globalization, find this a dangerous trend. We're here for another night before we head up to Arusha and the Masai.
I promise: one of these days I will find an internet connection that will allow me to upload pictures.
|
