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Through woods, over hills and mountains, past elephants and antelopes, you find the untouched country of Tanzania; a country slightly larger than twice the size of Norway, with highlands both in the north and south. The country offers a widespread diversity of activities, from game driving to diving and safari in the wildest of forest.

One of the best ways to see Tanzania is by car. Although you will need a rugged car, as not all the roads are asphalted. Most roads are bumpy and bear witness to the rain season and its ravages. Through plains of coffee, crop land and cattle fields you get to see the native inhabitants as they walk with their cattle carrying their stick; the Maasai warriors is the native inhabitants of Tanzania, driven from south Kenya. Feared for their qualities as warriors, and most of the time they are left alone.

Short History

Little is known about the country's really early history. Recorded history begins around 1800, when the Maasai warrior tribes were migrating from Kenya to Tanzania. It is the Arab traders who have written the little history that actually has been written down about those days. But the history writings gained speed when the European explorers began arriving as well as the missionaries. The famous Stanley and Livingstone arrived Tanzania around mid 19th century, and it is from these days the famous phrase “Dr Livingstone, I presume”, comes from, it was said when the duo meet at Ujiji nearby Lake Tanganyika in 1871.

During the 20th century Germany got busy colonising Tanganyika - as the mainland was then known - by building railways and going commerce crazy. The Germans lost their war which stopped them from causing any in Tanganyika, and the League of Nations soon demanded the territory to the British. By this time, the British had already taken control over great parts of Zanzibar and Pemba.

Tanganyika won it's independence in 1961 with Julius Nyerere as the country's first president. Zanzibar was stuck with its British stiff upper lip for another two years, after which the mainland forged a union comprising Zanzibar and the nearby island of Pemba. By now; Tanzania was born.

In August 1998, terrorists bombed the US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, killing over 250 people and injuring more than 5000. Eleven days later, Madeleine Korbel Albright commented on the situation.

I pledge to do all I can as Secretary of State to remind the American people of the importance of the work that you do day in and day out on their behalf, and to remind them as well of the hardships and dangers. You are America's best; and you who are Foreign Service Nationals work side by side with us for a world that is more peaceful, prosperous, lawful and free.

Madeleine Korbel Albright
U.S. Secretary of State
August 18, 1998

Energy

All over Tanzania, charcoal from both natural forest and plantations is commonly used, it accounts for 93 per cent of their total energy usage. Since there is no or little petroleum natural in Tanzania, all petroleum is imported, but only 70 per cent of the demand is met. All the oil-explorations has turned out negative, however, there are rich amounts of natural gas which is likely to substitute for oil.

Their never-ending amount of forest and wood has made them very depended of fossil fuel. There has been done very little to make renewable energy sources commonly used, they are still too expensive but Tanzania has a great prospect of extract energy from these wells of energy as wind power, wave power and solar cell really is. However, the government has made some attempts making a connection to the neighbour countries hoping to share the power supplies, as the connection is rather unstable and may brake of for several hours and sometimes even days.

Environment

Tanzania is one of the largest territories for elephants. Tarangire National Park has the largest group of elephants in the entire country, where you will find almost 4 000 elephants making their way to the national park. Tarangire is one of Tanzania’s many national parks and is located only a few miles south east of Arusha town up north in the country,

After the ravages in Rwanda, the UN established a court of justice in the town of Arusha and has therefore gotten worldwide attention which has helped them grow and make a living out of the media circus as well as the strategic location between three national parks and Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Dar es Salaam, the administration capital of Tanzania, has become a city with a more European look and prospect than an African town. Everywhere you move, you see people everywhere, it is cleaned and people are more civilized than you would except from a European point of view towards Africa.

However; when it comes to driving standards, the Africans have a thing or two to learn from us Europeans. There is no respect for traffic rules and a bus (“dalla dalla”) can easily be loaded with fifteen people or more. The name “dalla dalla” originates from the cost of travelling with the very first of these mini-busses. Nowadays you can travel with these “dalla dallas” for approximately Thz200 (about $0.2), but accidents are frequent as the drivers race each other to an upcoming station in order to collect new passengers. Causing the entire traffic to halt as they often stop in the middle of the road to pick up new passengers and to prevent the other “dalla dallas” to get ahead of them.