With the final ceremony of the passing of Nelson Mandela now
behind us, the transformation of the great statesman and humanitarian from man
to legend will gather momentum, and rightfully so. When the physical presence of someone of
Madiba’s stature is no more, attention shifts to the geographical places where
that person was born, lived and died, as well as the places where some of his
or her most epic feats were accomplished.
In Mandela’s case this process has already begun, and thousands of
tourists visit his house in Vilikazi Street, Soweto and his cell on Robben
Island every year, and the village of Qunu where he grew up and is buried has
joined that group of illustrious sites that honour his memory. There are other lesser known, but hugely
significant, places on this earth that have felt the presence of arguably the
world’s greatest statesman, and a month ago I was privileged enough to visit
one of them.
The Solomon Mahlangu
Nursery School, Morogoro
On a wall in the Solomon Mahlangu Nursery School in
Morogoro, Tanzania there stands a mural featuring a white dove and the message
“there shall be peace and friendship”, and beneath this a black child and white
child hold each other’s hands while they wave the unmistakable black, green and
yellow flag of the African National Congress.
I was there to visit the school and plant a food garden, and like most
white South Africans who had been educated under apartheid I had a very limited
knowledge of the history of the ANC and the struggle to liberate South
Africa. But there was no mistaking the
colours on the mural and the message above it.
The mural might as well have been a graffito saying “Mandela was here.”
Like a good historian I did my research, and like a good
anthropologist I explored the location to discover more. Morogoro is a small, bustling city about a
hundred miles inland from Dar es Salaam, nestled against the Uluguru Mountains
that tower above the city in jagged green magnificence. In this spectacular setting the residents of
Morogoro are in many ways an embodiment of the new Tanzania. Proudly Tanzanian and African, they are
hardworking and innovative and live by strong codes of social justice and
hospitality. In Morogoro, as is the case
across Tanzania, a guest must always leave your care in better shape than they
arrived in, which in our case meant leaving town with our vehicle overflowing
with samosas, mandazis, vitumbua and a dozen bottles of Konyagi gin, thanks to
our incredibly kind and generous hosts.
The warmth, dignity and generosity of the Tanzanian people
must have deeply impressed Mandela when he visited the country in 1962, shortly
before his arrest and imprisonment. As
President Jikaya Kikwete mentioned at Madiba’s funeral this week, he left his
boots behind, intending to return for them when his African tour was complete (he
ended up only getting them back in 1995).
Although I could find no evidence that the great man actually visited
Morogoro during his visit, it was in Morogoro that the legacy of his time in
Tanzania would live on. In 1969, with much
of the senior leadership imprisoned and the movement in a certain amount of
disarray, a new generation of South African freedom fighters convened in Morogoro
to chart a new way forward. They
included people like Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo, Alfred Nzo and Moses Mabhida,
names now familiar to most South Africans. Without going into too much detail on a very fascinating
but complex topic, it was at the Morogoro conference that the liberation
movement finally and formally recognised the role that non-black South Africans
were playing in the struggle, and acknowledged the role that people of all
races, even the whites, would have to play in a post-apartheid South
Africa. It was in Morogoro that the
African National Congress, to a certain extent, turned its back on African
nationalism. As a white South African,
it was at the site of this educational complex at the foot of the Uluguru
Mountains in far away Tanzania that the course that enabled the life and
freedoms I enjoy today was charted. It
is a humbling thought.
This chapter of Morogoro’s history is not commemorated in
grandiose plaques or monuments – in a country where tourism is still all about wildlife,
Kilimanjaro and beaches the idea that mzungu tourists would be interested in
the history of the struggle against apartheid has not quite caught on yet. Hopefully that will change soon, but the
Tanzanians are well aware of the role they played in the struggle and will
gladly chat about it once you bring it up.
In some ways the fact that Morogoro’s historical significance requires
interaction with the locals to uncover is deeply appropriate. The city was founded by escaped slaves from
Zanzibar in the nineteenth century, and the legacy of liberty lives on in the
openness, dignity and pride of the people.
Lupanga Peak looms
above a small farm on the outskirts of Morogoro
When the hustle and bustle of the city gets too much for
you, the mountains beckon. The Ulugurus
are part of Tanzania’s Eastern Arc mountain range, one of the world’s most
pristine and unique ecosystems, and are draped in rainforest that plays host to
many species found nowhere else on earth.
It takes a demanding but rewarding seven hours to reach Lupanga Peak (2150m)
but you don’t have to go all the way up.
Look out for colobus monkeys and three-horned chameleons, while
twitchers can look out for three species endemic to the Ulugurus - the Uluguru
Bush Shrike (Malaconotus alius), the
Loveridge’s Sunbird (Cynnyris loveridgei)
and the Uluguru Grey-throated Mountain Greenbul (Arizelocichla neumanni).
There are several spectacular waterfalls, and many viewpoints from where
you can look down on a city that in many ways embodies modern Tanzania –
rewarding, prosperous, proudly African and free.
Details and other
things to do in Morogoro:
The Solomon Mahlangu Nursery School is within the larger
Solomon Mahlangu Campus, which is in turn one of the four campuses of the
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA).
In addition to the historical angle the SUA is also famous as the
headquarters of the HeroRats research programme, in which African Pouched Rats
are trained to detect landmines and, more recently, tuberculosis. More information on the SUA is available at www.suanet.ac.tz and you can find out more
about the HeroRats (and even adopt one!) at www.apopo.org/en/. If you would like to visit the Solomon
Mahlangu Campus itself contact headmaster Moses Achimpota at
achimpotamoses@yahoo.com.
To arrange a Morogoro city tour, cultural experiences and
excursions up the Ulugurus, contact Chilunga Cultural Tourism (http://www.chilunga.or.tz/). Chilunga is a registered charity that ensures
all the proceeds from your visit go to supporting the sustainable livelihoods
of the local communities, and they know the city and the mountains like nobody
else. You can book your tours online,
and they can also help you arrange accommodation in Morogoro.
Morogoro has a great atmosphere, which is shaped by the
contrast of the old German colonial architecture and well-planned street layout
with the chaotic but friendly informality of modern Tanzania. The climate is usually warm but a lot cooler
than on the coast, so walking around the city is a pleasant and engaging
experience. The Main Market has the best
selection of fresh produce in Tanzania, the size and variety of fruits in
particular is astounding. When you’ve
had enough, head to the Rumbo White Bar (any taxi will know where it is) for
the best nyama choma (grilled meat) and Chips Mayai (chip omelette) in town, washed down with Kilimanjaro beer or, if you’re feeling frisky, local
Konyagi gin. Watch the football and
laugh with the locals well into the night.
Enjoying a lunch of Chips Mayai
About an hours’ drive southwest is the Mikumi National Park,
where you can get the Big Five wildlife experience without the hassle, crowding
and exorbitant prices of the Serengeti.
A little further down the road is the more remote and challenging but
hugely rewarding Udzungwa Mountains National Park, one of the world’s top
biodiversity hotspots. For more
information on these and other parks in the region check out the TanParks
website http://www.tanzaniaparks.com.
Getting there:
Morogoro does not have a commercial airport, but good
quality bus links from Dar es Salaam are available for about $5. Sandinavia Express and Sumatra are the most
reputable and reliable companies, and the journey takes about two hours. A number of airlines offer flights into Dar
es Salaam from all over the world.
