Natural Attractions in Kenya and Tanzania

[Geza Ulole]

An African adventure for a Virgin balloon​

Pablo Bustos​

by Virgin
19 January 2022

Richard Branson set multiple world records with his ballooning adventures in the 1980s and 1990s. So when Virgin Balloon Flights were asked to lend a balloon to another ballooning enthusiast to go on the trip of the lifetime, the team knew they had to do what they could to help.

The ballooning enthusiast in question is David Bareford, the father of one of Virgin Balloon Flights’ pilots. He was setting out on an adventure with balloon manufacturer and expedition facilitator Ultramagic to do two things: fly over Mount Kilimanjaro and then be one of the first to fly in the Ngorongoro Conservation Arena in northern Tanzania, crossing the Ngorongoro crater.

Pablo Bustos

David is no stranger to challenging hot air balloon rides, having flown over Kilimanjaro 10 years ago with Ultramagic. He also won the National championships in Saga, Japan, in 1997 and Chatellerault, France, in 2002. Plus, he took home the bronze medal at the first World Air Games in 1997, and he’s taken part in competitions around the world. If anyone could take on a challenge like this, it was David.

​

Kilimanjaro challenge​

On the morning of the Kilimanjaro flight, David and the other pilots took off at 5.45am. There had been a rainstorm earlier, but by the time the balloons were due to take off it was dry.

“The launch site was at 5,300 ft amsl (above sea level) and within a couple of hundred feet we had entered cloud,” David said. “We continued our steady ascent, breaking cloud at about 8,500 ft, to be greeted by a clear sky above, the two mountain peaks of Kilimanjaro clearly visible in front of us and the rain clouds behind us.

“We could see most of the early balloons way ahead of us and mostly to the left of the peak but by staying relatively low I found a direction that would allow us to steer towards the crater. We passed close over the peak of Mawenzi and then descended slightly to line ourselves up for the main peak and crater. After just over an hour’s flying and 19 miles from take-off we passed straight over the crater with 1200 ft to spare, lobbing a competition marker into the crater as we passed!”

Pablo Bustos

David continued: “We flew on and at the far side the wind speed was slowing, dropping down to about eight knots and I became concerned that we would not have the duration to fly on to the landing area 15 miles beyond. After another hour and getting slightly nervous we had just reached the rainforest belt with the speed now down to barely five knots. We then heard on the radio from Stefan Zeberli that there were still about 20 knots at 10,000 ft so we started our descent. There was broken cloud below, so we flew on for another 30 minutes by which time the cloud had cleared and we were now well over the landing area on the far side. We initiated a descent virtually coming straight down from 10,000 ft to a stand-up landing near the road at a height of 4,800 ft amsl. We had flown for 50 miles in just over three hours and still had about hundred litres of fuel left.”

Pablo Bustos

When asked how he felt about the whole experience, David said “This was probably one of the best flights I’ve ever done. When I did it 10 years previously, I had regretted not dipping down and really seeing the crater so I was glad I had a chance to go again and really appreciate it.”

On to Ngorongoro​

There was no time to stop and celebrate the Kilimanjaro flight as next the team was off to Ngorongoro, a large crater 12 miles in diameter with steep sides. Ultramagic owner Josep Maria Llado had been trying for years to fly in or over the crater and this was the first time the balloons had been given permission.

Pablo Bustos

The team set off for the launch site at 4am, with a strong breeze that looked like it might jeopardise the flight. They were told that although they could fly over the crater, they did not have permission to land in it so would have to fly beyond.

“The wind direction looked as though it would take us over a tall mountain beyond the crater edge to the west which the approaching dawn revealed, covered in cloud. As I prepared, the wind abated slightly allowing the balloon to inflate without problem and we were soon off,” David said. “The wind picked up again and several balloons had difficulty in inflating behind with two managing to drag their pickup vehicles across the launch site. By staying low but above the stipulated 1000 ft over the animals we tracked north-west straight across the crater and the large lake in the centre with great views of elephants, herds of zebra, wildebeest and buffalo.

Pablo Bustos

“After an hour we crossed the crater rim passing over a herd of giraffe and headed out towards a large flat plain close to the road that ran from the crater rim down towards Olduvai Camp. We dropped down towards the plain covering the next 15 miles in only half an hour landing at about 20 knots on very firm but flat scrubland.”

With the flight over Ngorongoro completed, the adventure was over, but we’re sure it’s one that David and his fellow pilots won’t forget anytime soon. He commented: “With the pandemic now into its second year it had made this adventure all the more special and memorable.”

And plans are already afoot for the next adventure. We can’t wait to see where the balloons will float next.

Want to experience the thrill of a balloon ride for yourself? Visit Virgin Balloon Flights to start making your plans.

An African adventure for a Virgin balloon | Virgin

Richard Branson set multiple world records with his ballooning adventures. So when Virgin Balloon Flights were asked to lend a balloon to another ballooning enthusiast to go on the trip of the lifetime, the team knew they had to do what they could to help.

www.virgin.com

 

[Somi]

Mount oldoinyo lengai

 

[Somi]

An African adventure for a Virgin balloon​

Pablo Bustos​

by Virgin
19 January 2022

Richard Branson set multiple world records with his ballooning adventures in the 1980s and 1990s. So when Virgin Balloon Flights were asked to lend a balloon to another ballooning enthusiast to go on the trip of the lifetime, the team knew they had to do what they could to help.

The ballooning enthusiast in question is David Bareford, the father of one of Virgin Balloon Flights’ pilots. He was setting out on an adventure with balloon manufacturer and expedition facilitator Ultramagic to do two things: fly over Mount Kilimanjaro and then be one of the first to fly in the Ngorongoro Conservation Arena in northern Tanzania, crossing the Ngorongoro crater.

Pablo Bustos

David is no stranger to challenging hot air balloon rides, having flown over Kilimanjaro 10 years ago with Ultramagic. He also won the National championships in Saga, Japan, in 1997 and Chatellerault, France, in 2002. Plus, he took home the bronze medal at the first World Air Games in 1997, and he’s taken part in competitions around the world. If anyone could take on a challenge like this, it was David.

​

Kilimanjaro challenge​

On the morning of the Kilimanjaro flight, David and the other pilots took off at 5.45am. There had been a rainstorm earlier, but by the time the balloons were due to take off it was dry.

“The launch site was at 5,300 ft amsl (above sea level) and within a couple of hundred feet we had entered cloud,” David said. “We continued our steady ascent, breaking cloud at about 8,500 ft, to be greeted by a clear sky above, the two mountain peaks of Kilimanjaro clearly visible in front of us and the rain clouds behind us.

“We could see most of the early balloons way ahead of us and mostly to the left of the peak but by staying relatively low I found a direction that would allow us to steer towards the crater. We passed close over the peak of Mawenzi and then descended slightly to line ourselves up for the main peak and crater. After just over an hour’s flying and 19 miles from take-off we passed straight over the crater with 1200 ft to spare, lobbing a competition marker into the crater as we passed!”

Pablo Bustos

David continued: “We flew on and at the far side the wind speed was slowing, dropping down to about eight knots and I became concerned that we would not have the duration to fly on to the landing area 15 miles beyond. After another hour and getting slightly nervous we had just reached the rainforest belt with the speed now down to barely five knots. We then heard on the radio from Stefan Zeberli that there were still about 20 knots at 10,000 ft so we started our descent. There was broken cloud below, so we flew on for another 30 minutes by which time the cloud had cleared and we were now well over the landing area on the far side. We initiated a descent virtually coming straight down from 10,000 ft to a stand-up landing near the road at a height of 4,800 ft amsl. We had flown for 50 miles in just over three hours and still had about hundred litres of fuel left.”

Pablo Bustos

When asked how he felt about the whole experience, David said “This was probably one of the best flights I’ve ever done. When I did it 10 years previously, I had regretted not dipping down and really seeing the crater so I was glad I had a chance to go again and really appreciate it.”

On to Ngorongoro​

There was no time to stop and celebrate the Kilimanjaro flight as next the team was off to Ngorongoro, a large crater 12 miles in diameter with steep sides. Ultramagic owner Josep Maria Llado had been trying for years to fly in or over the crater and this was the first time the balloons had been given permission.

Pablo Bustos

The team set off for the launch site at 4am, with a strong breeze that looked like it might jeopardise the flight. They were told that although they could fly over the crater, they did not have permission to land in it so would have to fly beyond.

“The wind direction looked as though it would take us over a tall mountain beyond the crater edge to the west which the approaching dawn revealed, covered in cloud. As I prepared, the wind abated slightly allowing the balloon to inflate without problem and we were soon off,” David said. “The wind picked up again and several balloons had difficulty in inflating behind with two managing to drag their pickup vehicles across the launch site. By staying low but above the stipulated 1000 ft over the animals we tracked north-west straight across the crater and the large lake in the centre with great views of elephants, herds of zebra, wildebeest and buffalo.

Pablo Bustos

“After an hour we crossed the crater rim passing over a herd of giraffe and headed out towards a large flat plain close to the road that ran from the crater rim down towards Olduvai Camp. We dropped down towards the plain covering the next 15 miles in only half an hour landing at about 20 knots on very firm but flat scrubland.”

With the flight over Ngorongoro completed, the adventure was over, but we’re sure it’s one that David and his fellow pilots won’t forget anytime soon. He commented: “With the pandemic now into its second year it had made this adventure all the more special and memorable.”

And plans are already afoot for the next adventure. We can’t wait to see where the balloons will float next.

Want to experience the thrill of a balloon ride for yourself? Visit Virgin Balloon Flights to start making your plans.

An African adventure for a Virgin balloon | Virgin

Richard Branson set multiple world records with his ballooning adventures. So when Virgin Balloon Flights were asked to lend a balloon to another ballooning enthusiast to go on the trip of the lifetime, the team knew they had to do what they could to help.

www.virgin.com

barafu imejaa vya kutosha Kilimanjaro

 

[Geza Ulole]

barafu imejaa vya kutosha Kilimanjaro

Hii marketing si ya kitoto haswa kwa siye tunaojua Virgin brand inasimama position gani duniani!

 

[bagamoyo]

10 January 2022
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro / Getting To The Peak! pt 2



Source : Ms Trudy

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

‘From Russia With Love!’ Strange Safari links Moscow and Zanzibar with New Nyerere National Park​

The New Nyerere National Park has some extraordinary connection with Zanzibar where it has been discovered that tourists from mostly Moscow and Warsaw who visit the Islands, link their itinerary with the country’s largest National Park.

Almost daily, Nyerere National Park records between three and five flights from Zanzibar, landing mostly at the Mtemere Airstrip, with International travelers that have been enjoying beach tourism in the isles, flying into the Game Park for wildlife experience.

Seth Mihayo is the Conservator in-charge of Tourism at the Nyerere National Park. He states that this uncanny alliance in tourism between the two destinations can be attributed to the easier and faster flights between Zanzibar and Tanzania’s largest Game Park.

“Plus the fact that Nyerere, being still a new and featuring hardly trodden reserves, boasts abundance of wildlife that can be viewed within a very short time after the tourists disembark from the planes at the Mtemere Gate Airstrip,” he added.

Is Nyerere National Park the ‘New Serengeti’ in town?

​

Italian Job?​

While it has been stated that many of the visitors who enjoy networking their travel itineraries between beach tourism in Unguja and Pemba with wildlife spotting at Nyerere National Park usually come from Russia and Poland, Italian visitors are also joining the adventure.

“It takes less than 45 minutes to fly from Zanzibar to Nyerere National Park,” explains Tomasz Dworczyk, a travel agent based at Unguja, who handles mostly itineraries of visitors from Poland.

“This makes Nyerere National Park more accessible than say Serengeti or Tarangire and therefore we fly tourists from the Isles into Nyerere for game driving or walking safaris within a day, before they return to Zanzibar,” added Mr Dworczyk.

Driver and Tour Guide, Patrick Joseph Haule explains further that under the ‘Beach to Bush’ initiative, many of the visitors from the Isles who tour Nyerere National Park prefer alternative forms of tourism that can only be experienced there and nowhere else.

“Nyerere offers boat safaris on large rivers, this type of tourism is exclusive for the National Park, as well as large herds of elephants that can be moving together in groups of between 30 and 50 or more,” explained Haule.

Panthera Leo​

Nyerere is also home to more than 50 percent of the country’s Lion population.
As it happens, Tanzania has the largest number of lions compared to other African countries, according to the recent released global zoological report. The country has more than 15,000 such cats, which means over 7000 of them are hunting in the National Park.

Six piece, Leo orchestra at Nyerere Park

Encompassing nearly 31,000 square kilometers, Nyerere National Park which was carved from the Selous Game Reserve in 2019, is essentially the largest in East and Central Africa and according to the Acting Commissioner of Conservation Dr Emilian Samuel Kihwele, the destination is home to nearly 500 bird species.

Dr Kihwele, with a poster of water wading giraffes at Nyerere behind him

“Nyerere may be only three years old but the National Park is already attracting over 100,000 foreign visitors yearly and producing revenue of more than 3 billion/- per annum,” said Dr Kihwele.

“Nyerere National Park combines it all into one package. Marine tourism in rivers and lakes found within the precinct, abundant wildlife species, birds watching, canoeing safaris, cultural attractions from the Wang’indo Migration trails and holy trees and historical traces of Maji-Maji rebellion and World Wars sceneries.”
Dr Emilian S. Kihwele

‘From Russia With Love!’ Strange Safari links Moscow and Zanzibar with New Nyerere National Park

East Africa's largest National Park gets Russian, Polish tourists from beach to bush

tanzaniatimes.net

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

Will Smith in the Serengeti

 

[Geza Ulole]

Feature: Chinese company protects wildlife while building hotels in Tanzania​

Source: Xinhua| 2022-03-02 21:45:00|Editor: huaxia

DAR ES SALAAM, March 2 (Xinhua) -- At a hotel in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, Zhang Cuishan, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, was checking the status of the project. Not far behind him, a herd of elephants was drinking leisurely at the edge of a pond, oblivious to human activity.

This is the photo Zhang left when the hotel was just completed. The hotel, built by Zhang, has become a local celebrity, attracting tourists from all over the world every day.

"Building hotels in Africa has given me a deeper understanding of the relationship between human and nature," Zhang told Xinhua before the World Wildlife Day that falls on Thursday.

Zhang, 42, General Manager of Tanzania Branch of China Railway Jianchang Engineering Company (CRJE), has been in Africa for 15 years. In 2012, Due to his outstanding performance, he was appointed as project manager of a five-star hotel in Serengeti National Park.

As Tanzania's largest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Serengeti is famous for the annual migration of millions of wildebeests, zebras and other wildlife.

Since the project is located in the hinterland of the Serengeti, the requirements for ecological and environmental protection are extremely strict.

"Any construction waste and household waste generated during construction must be packed and taken away in time. After the construction, the working and living places of the construction personnel will be dismantled to restore the original ecological appearance," said Zhang.

If wild animals enter the construction site, the construction should be suspended and notified to the forest police immediately. Only after the animals are driven away, the construction can be resumed.

Wild plants are also protected in high standards. In one case, the construction team found an acacia tree blocking the hotel during construction. In the end, Zhang chose to revise the design drawings and re-construct around the tree.

"It's not easy to grow a tree on the prairie, and we have to do everything we can to protect it," Zhang said.

Tanzania is rich in tourism resources and tourism is recovering from the pandemic. According to Damas Ndumbaro, Tanzania's minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania's tourism industry has received 923,000 foreign tourists in 2021, with tourism revenue of 1.254 billion U.S. dollars, up 76 percent year on year.

In Zhang's view, with the implementation of the achievements of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Tanzania cooperation will embrace more opportunities.

"More tourists from all over the world will come to Tanzania in the future, and Tanzania's tourism industry has a promising future," Zhang said. ■

Feature: Chinese company protects wildlife while building hotels in Tanzania

Feature: Chinese company protects wildlife while building hotels in Tanzania-

www.xinhuanet.com

 

[Geza Ulole]

Oldest Hotels in Africa: Tanzania has one in Arusha … Except it has New Name​

It comes in the form of, The Arusha Hotel, which was once named ‘New Arusha,’ despite its age, but now the property operates as ‘Four Points Hotel, By Sheraton.’

According to the just released list by Forbes, ‘The Arusha Hotel’ which has been changing ownership as frequently as its titles, should be the oldest in East Africa.

Starting out as Motel, the property handled guests arriving on horse drawn carriages in the past and saw the mode of transport changing to modern motor cars in its wake.

A full detailed history of its rather dramatic past will be published by The Tanzania Times in few weeks time.

Arusha Hotel had its own fuel pump in 1930s. The Hotel later became New Arusha and now operates as ‘Four Points by Sheraton.’

However, on the continent, the Arusha Hotel, essentially located in the middle of Africa, precisely between Cape-Town and Cairo, ranks Sixth. It went into operation circa 1894 and is still standing adjacent to the Clock Tower.

The Arusha Hotel has become ‘Four Points by Sheraton and this is how it looks now

That now brings us to the Oldest Hotel in Africa, which according to Forbes is the Houw Hoek Hotel, of South Africa, which started as an Inn back in 1779, making it 243 years old.

Houw boasts two-and-a-half centuries’ record in the continent’s hospitality industry.

The Hotel Continental of Morocco is the second oldest in Africa having been around since 1870. Despite being 152 years old now, it is still going strong.

Hotel Continental in Casablanca

Marriot Mena House, of Egypt opened its doors to guests in 1886 thus has been in business for 136 years in the third position.

Hotel El Djazair, of Algeria opened shop in 1889 and with 133 years under its balcony, it is ranked the fourth oldest on the continent.

Grand Villa Holiday Hotel, in Sudan comes fifth with 132 years’ record since its ribbon was cut in 1890
East Africa’s only entry, is The Arusha Hotel, of Tanzania which ranks 6th with 128 years, plus some series of name changes, now known as ‘Four Points by Sheraton.’

Hotel Der Thermes, of Madagascar went into operation in 1896, ranking 7th but we are not sure how many Penguins were on the Island some 126 years ago.

At Number 8 is the Taitu Hotel of Ethiopia, which warmed up its foyer in 1898, which is 124 years in the past.

Across the border from Ethiopia is Keren Hotel, of Eritrea whose butlers opened doors in 1899 which is 123 years ago. It is 9th on the Forbes Listing.

Despite going into business in 1920 when guests drove there on modern motor vehicles the Palapye Hotel of Botswana is still a century old, in fact it has 102 years’ experience in handling parking spaces and garage.

Oldest Hotels in Africa: Tanzania has one in Arusha … Except it has New Name

Which is the Oldest Hotel in Africa? There are several, One of them is in Tanzania ...

tanzaniatimes.net

 

[Geza Ulole]

The African Americans who chose to return to Africa​

SATURDAY MARCH 05 2022​

A group of African-American families at a get together in Tanzania. PHOTO | POOL

​

Summary​

• The Ghanian declaration of 2019 as the year of the return, was significant because it came at a time when African-Americans, in general, were facing increased racial discrimination in the US through civic suppression, police brutality and killings, social alienation through poor housing and health amenities, and ultimately the rise of Donald Trump and Trumpism.

By BEATRICE MATERU
More by this Author

When Ghana declared 2019 ‘’The Year of the Return,’’ it opened the floodgates for African-Americans, descendants of slaves captured and shipped out of Africa, to move back not just to Ghana, but to Africa.

Ghana holds a significant place in the lives of African-Americans because it was and has preserved to date, one of the largest slaveholding ports on the West Coast of Africa.

St Georges Fort at Elmina, built by the Portuguese in 1482 -- and infamous for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade through the ‘’Door of No Return’’ --- has been for decades, a place of pilgrimage for African-Americans seeking to make a connection with their ancestral roots.

But even long before the 2019 declaration by Ghana, many African-Americans had visited Africa and some even moved here either temporarily or permanently. In 1961 for example, Maya Angelou moved to Egypt and shortly later to Ghana where she joined a small, tight-knit expatriate African-American community that included the great scholar and activist W. E. B. Du Bois, the writer William Gardner Smith, lawyer Pauli Murray, journalist Julian Mayfield, and sociologist St. Clair Drake.

At the height of the American civil rights agitation, a number of members of the Black Panther movement moved to Tanzania, and lived outside Arusha where they formed a community, calling themselves ‘’Afros.’’

Decades later, many more Africa-Americans are visiting Africa, doing genetic tests to trace the origin of their ancestors by ethnicity and tribe, and visiting the modern-day countries as a way of finding their identities.

The Ghanian declaration of 2019 as the year of the return, was timely because it came at a time when African-Americans, in general, were facing increased racial discrimination in the US through civic suppression, police brutality and killing, social alienation through poor housing and health amenities, and ultimately the rise of Donald Trump and Trumpism.

All these factors had led to an increase in the number of Africa-Americans opting to leave the US. Some chose to look beyond Ghana and West Africa and moved to East Africa. Rwanda and Tanzania so far are host to a growing number of these ‘’returnees’’ and a quick YouTube search brings up a number of video channels run by ‘’returnees’’ documenting their new lives and even advising other African-Americans on how to go about making the move.

African Americans at the Cape Coast Castle, in 2019, outside the "Door of No Return", through which enslaved Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas. PHOTO | AFP

Recently I hung out with a community of ‘’returnees’’ families living in the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar es Salaam. They were holding what they call a ‘’Uniting diaspora Pop-up Shop.’’

At the event, held on Sunday, I had trouble recognising who is Tanzanian-born and who is American-born, as they all blended in perfectly, that is until one spoke. Being a Sunday, most attendees who are business people, event organisers and newly arrived African-Americans were all wearing informal African print Sunday clothes. Many were still navigating their way around the city and how stuff works.

"This is truly what my spirit needed to hear," said Tori Upton, a visiting Africa-American.

"I am happy to see more African-American returning to the motherland and leave all the racial stuff in the US, although I sometimes wonder if they cope well with our two world-differences; things like technology development, street life in Dar, household conditions and the like," said Irene Isaya, a resident of Dar es Salaam who sells popcorn and fresh juice smoothies at the pop-up shop.

We met Naima Bowe-Woods who moved here with her three children and her mother in 202I when the world was still under the pandemic cloud.

“I knew I wanted to move to Africa, but I didn’t know which country to go to since I've never been to the continent before even on a visit. Some of our friends moved to Ghana, but I decided to join my mother and move to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania instead.”

Within six months of settling down, Naima set up and co-owns a hair salon at Mbezi Interchick on Mbezi Beach Street, a middle-class neighbourhood of Dar es Salaam. Her mother, Yasmin Bowe-Woods runs a couple of charity organisations including Mheco Daycare, a charity educational centre.

The daycare offers free quality education to children from kindergarten to primary school education. It caters for orphans, street children and those living with HIV/Aids in Bunju, Dar es Salaam.

Bowe-Woods says she was looking for a haven for herself and her family and the fact that Tanzania did not close its skies or borders to international travellers during the Covid-19 pandemic, made her decision to move here easier.

“I am a fan of Tanzania’s late president John Pombe Magufuli and we took his word as a welcoming note for us to come home,” she said in reference to his stance on Covid-19 and vaccines. She added that they travelled to settle in Tanzania just six months after making the decision to move.

To Bowe-Woods, Magufuli’s leadership and low Covid-19 cases in Tanzania was enough hope that this was the haven she was looking for on the continent.

Naima and her mother are not alone. Many more African-Americans recently moved to Africa to escape racism and police killings of black people in the US.

“I moved to Tanzania for my family,” said Tim Ford, who left Memphis, Tennessee and who together with his wife Chavon see Tanzania as an ideal country to settle and start a new life and without having to look over his shoulder all the time because he is the ‘’wrong’’ race or colour.

“We were looking for somewhere close to what we think is our ancestral origin. We were once in Jamaica and we loved it there but as African-Americans, we wanted to settle somewhere close to home and that’s Africa,” said Ford. He said they wanted to settle close to the origin of mankind, which is in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

A YouTuber, entrepreneur and herbalist, Ford said that the happy faces on the streets and the warm welcome he and his family received when they first got to Tanzania won him over.

“That was the most amazing part,” he said laughing out loud, adding that, “We thought Africans don’t like African- Americans.”

Before deciding to settle in Tanzania, Ford and his family visited Kigali, Rwanda’s capital -- which has the honour of being Africa’s cleanest city --- but “but apart from the city being clean we did not feel like it’s a place for us to settle, a place we can call home, and then we moved to Dar es Salaam and here we are,” said Ford.

He says he can relate to the Chagga people who live in the northeast, in the Kilimanjaro region, because of his entrepreneurial skills. Within his nine months of settling in Dar es, Salaam, Ford organised a ‘’Uniting the diaspora pop up shop,’’ to bring together African-Americans in the city for a meet and mingle event.

“Since we got here, we have been helping other Africa-Americans settle in Dar through our YouTube channels and events like this.” Once in a while, they hold the ‘’pop up shop’’ and offer children entertainment, raffle giveaways, food and dessert vendors and other products. There is always music.

It also provides a platform for people to network with like-minded people, as well as fellow African-Americans. But it is not all rosy, holding hands and singing Kumbaya.

Ford confesses that he grows homesick sometimes when he cannot find ‘’genuine’’ people with whom to build and connect. "Most people I met during my first few weeks here had a hidden agenda, both locals and my fellow African-Americans. They were all looking to gain something from me and from the pop-up fair. That makes me miss my family and friends I left in the US," he said.

But Ford and his wife Chavon look at other aspects of their lives and are grateful. For example, the food and the weather have been easy to adapt to. The weather especially tops their list of ‘’likes’’ although they confess it is a bit "too hot" this year, but still perfect for a day on the beach.

We met Uber driver Mathias Boniface at the pop-up shop and he said; “We come here a lot, I met Nehemiah and his mother, Nicol Manning, a month after they moved to Dar es Salaam, and they love it here. I’m friends with six African-American families who moved here between 2019 and 2021, and it’s shocking the rate at which African-Americans are moving to Tanzania.” He is also friends with other returnees, namely Sharhonda and Tonny Rivera, referrals from Nehemia.

Nehemiah and his mother first moved to Greece then Sweden, and Ghana before settling for Tanzania.

Since 2019, a number of African-Americans have moved to and settled in Dar es Salaam, around Mbezi Beach, Kigamboni, Mikocheni and Bahari Beach streets but also upcountry in Arusha, Moshi, Iringa and Mwanza.

“Tanzania is now our new hope. We are yet to establish our businesses due to a few processes with Tanzania immigration. But when we relocated we brought our expertise and intentions to build with our brothers and sisters,” said Ford, expressing optimism.

The African Americans who chose to return to Africa

When Ghana declared 2019 ‘’The Year of the Return,’’ it opened the floodgates for African-Americans to move back not just to Ghana, but to Africa.

www.theeastafrican.co.ke

CC: nairobae

Angalia Wamarekani wako!

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Geza Ulole]

Balala, CS Ministry of Tourism says, "We have competition from Dar es Salaam and what r we doing at Jomo Kenyatta?"...

 

[Geza Ulole]