We're back!

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Tanzania with my parents, which is why I haven't posted in a while. My parents came to our site for a few days, then we all went to Tanzania together to experience a completely different part of Africa. Among other things, we did several game drives where we saw elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, and many other animals. We also had an opportunity to spend some time in a Maasai village in a conservation area. It was a great trip for a lot of reasons (not least because I got to spend almost two weeks with my parents!), but the most blog-worthy part was seeing the similarities and differences between Gambian and Tanzanian cultures. Here are a few random things that stood out to us, in no particular order:

Similarities
- Communal cultures
- Importance of greetings
- English is widely spoken (particularly by civil servants and other educated people)
- Mud bricks are a common housing material, but Tanzanians fire them in a way that makes them much more resistant to rain than the ones in The Gambia.
- The cuisines are somewhat similar, with a lot of sauces and fish and beans, although they also have a stiff porridge called ugali (sort of like polenta) and plantains that they sometimes substitute for rice. They also have more curries and other spices, as well as chapatti bread, which are apparently more common near the coast where the Indian influence is stronger.
- Domesticated animals (goats, sheep, cows, chickens, donkeys) are everywhere.
- Tension between the increased influence of Western culture (in everything from education to clothing to entertainment to individual freedoms) and the desire to preserve the traditional cultures.

Differences
-Tanzania has two rainy seasons, making the land a lot of lush and fertile.
-Tanzania has mountains!
-Tanzania seems much cleaner than the Gambia (at least in the area we were in), possibly because there are enforced laws against littering.
-Tanzania generally seems better off financially (at least in the area we were in), partially due to a well-developed tourism industry, and partially due to natural resources and agricultural exports (coffee, cotton, cashews, tobacco, tea, sisal, gold, diamonds, tanzanite).
-Tanzania has 120 different ethnic groups!! They are united by a single language, Swahili, which is taught in primary and upper basic school - they switch to English in senior secondary school.
-Tanzania is equal parts Christian and Muslim. They keep the peace by equal representation in the government - even the presidency alternates Christian and Muslim!
-Even small markets take US Dollars (as well as Tanzanian shillings) in Tanzania, apparently because US Dollars are a more stable currency.
- People do carry things on their heads, but not nearly as much as in The Gambia. They also carry some things, like firewood, on their backs with a strap across their forehead, similiar to the technique used in Asia. I'm guessing this has to do with the difficulty of carrying things on your head over mountainous terrain.

Ok, that's enough for now, but feel free to post any questions you may have. I'll post a link to pictures as soon as my dad gets them up on Picasa.