The Final Countdown

Wow, so I’ve reached my final country! It’s been an absolutely amazing summer. And before I say more, my computer is being funky, and I can’t actually see anything that I am tying at the moment. So I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes. I will try to rememer my high school tying class days, but I can’t promise anything.

So where have i been for a week? That is a very good question. I have not been shirking my duties as the moment of truth approaches. I am actually now in South Africa, although when you last talked to me I’m not sure where I was. I think I was in Vietnam, and completely ignored my time in ATanzania (and it wasa very good time) – so I will take a long time to catch you up.

But, anyway. It’s Sept. 3rd. My fellow circumnavigator’s have long started schoool.. I’ve been gone for almost three months now. crazy. wow. when you can’t see what you’re writing, it’s really hard to control what you say. Okay. let’s try again.

In tanzania. What have I done? I was on safari! duh! what does anyone that goes to tanzania do? there’s actually a spot on the visa application for what safari company you are going to book with. because tourism to the national parks is THAT big. actually it’s only big to a few parks – serengeti. ngorogoro. but those make up the entiretiy of the Park services budget (TANAPA it’s called there). anyway. I went on a visit to tthree big Parks on the northern circuit, the circuit that has been the country’s money maker for the past forever, and that is getting hurt by theglobal economic slowdown.

Tourism is great whif you need an alternative for the really bad really environmentally unfriendly pratices of mining oand logging that traditionally go on inside protected areas. Especially if you’re talking about local communities – there’ s an obvious desire to promote tourism. you can involve local tcommunities, rich foreigners get to see the cool stuff, and everyone wins. But what do you do if the economy slows down? well, tanzania does what anyone would do when you don’t have money. you dont’ spend anything (although this might not be true, if you read stuff aout America in general or any of the other stuff going on). And so the big probelm right now in Tanzania is how to fund the asome of teh amazing programs that they have? And they have some good ones – ones that the US Park Service should be jealous of. their outreach program, which basically funds schools, health clinics, and so many other investments in the local areas (this is what my project is about!)! i love it!). has no money. their budge talready a measly 7% of the Park Service’s tourism revenues, has been cut in half. the danger of relying on foreign visitors is what happens if the tourists stop coming, or in Tanzania’s case, they come still, but don’t stay as long, and spend less money. So the communities are seeing less benefit, and one of the programs that could be a model for the rest of the world, is struggling.

but that’s asad. i dont’ want to talk about that. i’m sitting in acafe, eating pizza (with chili sauce , which is definitely NOT pesto! oh my god, i’m crying right now. people are giving me looks.) and I want to talk about happy stuff. Like the cheetah that I saw hunt and kill a gazella. How awesome is that!? The serengeti is absolutely amazing, but like everywhere, none of the visitors are the poor locals. they’re too busy working, usually as cooks for the tourists. although I did learn in a report that the serengeti and the kilamanjaro circuits are actually some of the best tourist ventures thao get income directly to the poor locals, mainly through a strong tipping system and high wages. The problem with a lot of tourism that replaces extractive activities in pakrs is that tehy actually don’t do what they say – they actually don’t provide help to locals, just the business owners (although this is still true in tanzania. everyone and their mother wants to start a tourism business. because only by owning, rather than working for one, do you make money)

where was I? anyway, so tanzania actually does a better job than most for getting a tangible benefit in the the terms of higher wages to local people. Whcich is a good thing. The fact that everyone wants tme to give them my phone number and email so they can get the capital to start their own business shows though that tehere are still really big problems. Everyone wants to move up because the benfits o the owners are so much higher than aworkers. it’s kind of sad. especialyl whne you consider how much work the cooks and guides do,.

god there’s so much! tI haven’t slept in three days – the product of really long bus rides, delays, and sitting in an airport overnight. who wants to pay 30$ for five hours of sleep? so forgive the ctrazy attitude. I’m a little jittery right now on coke (the drink kind. the circumnavigator’s don’t give me THAT much money)

haha. sorry. very poor taste. But again, I’m semi delusional right now, and fortunately my hostel is right down the street from my internet cafe.

So I’ve spent my time on safair, yes, but that’s not very academic right? I’ve also spent another gruelling few days in teh library of the Park headquarters. The books and reports they have in the libraries I’ve been too have been great. A lot more than you can find on the internet, except for the Park documents. The libraries are alsways super modern, EXCEPt when it comes to actual documents relating to their own parks. The Tanzanian one has books about sustainable development from as recently as 2007 – really cutting edge stuff that I really wanted to borrow, because they’d cost me a bundle normally. and actual readable stuff too, not the typical scientific mumbo jumob that normally plagues penvironmental books. bgut the most recent park management plan – the core tenet of Park services’s plans to manage their parks and the motivation that tehy get their day to day functiosn from – are usually ono newer than the milenium. Explain that!

If you insist. A lot of it has to do with the hadvent of computers and now a lot of Park documents are online. So I’m just being mean right? Wrong! Because al ot of the Park services, especially in teh developing world, barely have a functinoal website that’s been updated in five years, let alone the archives of all teh revlevant park documents that should be on their. Hopefully, this situation can only get better, but still, I wouldn’t mind NOT spending 10 hours a day in a small room that seems to always fill up with dust and the occasional wasp/hornet. The librarians are always nice though. So that’s a plus.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough for one post, and I have lots more to follow – i think you guys will enjoy the one about my actualy safari, which I shared with an italian couple, a surly tourist guide, a devout muslim cook who was fasting all day while preparing our food, and three very annoying, lvoed to whine canadian girls my age. It sounds like a bad joke, and in some sense int was, but it was also absolutely amazing. Makes me miss being a kid again, when I coudl get to experience so many new cool paces.

But who am I kidding? I know this summer has been amazing, but the amount of stunning, breathtaking places let in the world is larger than I could go to in a lifetime.

Sorry for the ramblingness, and the occasionaly offensive joke. I will come back when I have a good two (maybe three ) hours of sleep behind me. Adieu!