My version of the year 2012 in review: 6 December

I was on a Dar es Salaam bound flight from Mwanza. It was the first time I had flown in a budget airline. Fastjet launched its first flight in Tanzania on 27th November 2012.

The view oustide.

The inflight menu.

The view inside.

The flight was pleasant. The only novelty to me was having to pay for drinks and snacks on the flight.

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-trouble-facing-fastjet.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/03/fastjets-cabin-crew-inexperienced.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/12/4-reasons-why-you-should-fly-with.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 8 November

I discovered yet another elaborate cloud formation towards the east of Butiama. Did it transform

 itself into a rain cloud? I do not remember.

Related post:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-16-may.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 9 October

During a visit to Kagera region, I arrived in Kamachumu and visited the Mshonge Museum where a traditional thatched dwelling of the Haya ethnic group has been built. The dwelling is called mshonge.

The house contains compartments including a cooking area, a living room, storage areas, and quarters for female children. The male children would sleep in the living room area.

Another post in this 2012 review series:

http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-29_16.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 29 September

At the end of my 5-day Mt. Kilimanjaro climb with more than 20 students from Mwanza's Loreto Girls' Secondary School, we were met at the Marangu Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park by one of the teachers from Loreto, Sr. Poaline Boase.

In the photo, from left to right, Nusra Alkarim, one of only two students who received a certificate for this climb who reached Gilman's Point (the other student reached Uhuru Peak), Sr. Poaline, Samson Guloba from Loreto Girls' Secondary School, and Kilimanjaro guide Hamisi Mbewa from Zara Tanzania Adventures.

Another post from this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-25.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 25 September

In the morning I was at the Marangu gate, at the entrance to the Marangu route for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. With me, three teachers and over twenty students of Mwanza's Loreto Girls' Secondary School at the start

of our five-day climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was the first time I was climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro on the Marangu route, having utilised the 7-day Lemosho route for all of my previous climbs.

Later during the day, we caught a glimpse of Mawenzi peak, the lower peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro which is 5,149m above sea level.

Another post from this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-29.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 29 August

Continuing with her research for a planned autobiography on Tanzania's founding president, Mwalimu Julius

Kambarage Nyerere (1922 - 1999), Prof. Saida Yahya Othman, right, interviewed one of Mwalimu Nyerere's brothers, Jackton Nyambereka Nyerere, left.

Another post in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-27_3121.html

The ever changing face of Dar es Salaam

The city of Dar es Salaam is, to anyone who only visits occasionally, one huge construction site and keeps on changing by the day.

The construction of the planned Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transport system is responsible for part of this huge transformation of Dar es Salaam. The photo (below) depicts a section under construction in the Magomeni Kagera area of the city that which is a principal route of the transport system.

When completed the Dar es salaam Bus Rapid Transport project will comprise high capacity buses with their dedicated roads and thus reduce traffic congestion of the city's road.

More information on the project here.

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/09/dar-es-salaam.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2010/04/sometimes-picture-says-more-than.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-30.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 27 August

My cousin gave me an old bass guitar and I eagerly began to replace the old strings and was

looking forward to settle down and rehearse when I found out that one of the tuners was defective.

Other posts in this 2012 review series:

http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-13.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-29.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 25 August

At the Mwigobero fish market in Musoma I observed the new ferry that plys between Musoma and Kinesi load vehicles and passengers for its 1-hour trip across a section of Lake Victoria.

Travel by road between Kinesi and Musoma takes close to three hours.

Another post in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-11.html

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-ride-on-kamanga-ferry-from-mwanza-to.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-29.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 11 August

I traveled to Uganda and in a hotel in Kampala I found what I felt was an exceptional floral arrangement.

Another post in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-6.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 6 August

I stumbled upon a beetle moving on top of the droppings of the hundreds of Hyrax that are found in Butiama. I took out my camera to take a photograph. As the beetle began to burrow into the dung pile, I realised it was a dung beetle and I ended taking the following sequence of photos.

Other posts in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-4.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-11.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 4 August

I hiked from Nyamisisi to Butiama, a distance of about 15 kilometres.

The route has hills and mountains on both sides. On the far right is Mt. Mtuzu, also known as Vodacom to Butiama's residents, where the mobile phone company Vodacom has a cell site.

Other posts in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-23.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-6.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 23 July

In Dar es Salaam I walked past a board nailed to an electric pole advertising the ailments that "Dr." Jabali can cure. "Doctor" is a title that traditional healers freely adopt without consideration of the norms associated with using such titles.

The board lists the following: cures for chronic malaria, intestinal worms, business (I assume a cure for an ailing business), love (probably, lack thereof), education (getting to a university degree without trying), legal case (winning a case that you should have lost), as well as theft protection, protection against ill-fortune, provision of lucky rings, maintenance of wealth, and a trap for spouses (I assume a means of catching unfaithful partners, although it also sounds like a cure for taming a spouse).

Other posts in this 2012 review series:

http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-12.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-4.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 12 July

I began to replace the guitar tuners of an old bass guitar that I was given by my cousin.

Unfortunately, after I replaced the set and began to tighten the guitar strings but the tension from the strings broke the bridge and ended my reacquaintance with a guitar.

Other posts from this 2012 series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-9-july.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-23.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 9 July

I rose early and took the Mwanza-bound bus with Dr. Thomas Molony. We dropped off at Nyamisisi and took another bus to Tarime located near the border with Kenya.

Coastal Aviation had offered Dr. Molony passage on one of its chartered flights to enable him to take aerial photographs of Mwitongo, Butiama, for his soon-to-be-released biography on Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Tanzania's founding president. The flight was from Tarime.

Dr. Thomas Molony at the Tarime airstrip with the Cessna Caravan aircraft that we boarded later.

From a speeding bus to a crowded bus (I could not get a seat and stood most of the way on the way to Tarime) and on to a chartered plane that first flew tourists to two separate tented camps located in the Serengeti National Park, we then flew over Mwitongo, Butiama, and then landed at Mwanza airport concluding a day that possessed stark contrasts.

Other posts in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-30.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-12.html
Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/11/dr-thomas-molonys-quest-to-become.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-version-of-year-2010-in-review-may.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-version-of-year-2011-in-review-3_27.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 30 June

I traveled to Mugumu in Serengeti District to attend the wedding of my cousin Daisy to Grayson

Nyakarungu, and later a wedding reception where I, for the second time, delivered a wedding speech for the family of the bride.

Another post in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-18_23.html

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-fictitious-second-wedding.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2010/09/weddings-are-different-nowadays.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-version-of-year-2011-in-review-2.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 18 June

I returned home from a hike to Mt. Mtuzu and came across what appeared to me a flower-infested bush.

I do not recall that the leaves were not green as the image depicts. Perhaps I have been over zealous with tweaking the Auto Correct option on the image editor.

Other posts in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-10.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-18_23.html

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/08/view-from-top-of-mt-mtuzu-butiama.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2009/01/visitors-to-butiama.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 10 June

On the last day of my sixth Mt. Kilimanjaro climb with the members of Tanzania Development Support we hiked from Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate through the dense forest on the lower slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

On a misty morning, the canopy cover allowed only partial illumination of the forest floor by the sun's rays.

Another post in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-9-june.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 9 June

I was at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Uhuru Peak, at 5,895m above mean sea level. With me, a group of climbers from Tanzania Development Support who I had joined to climb Africa's highest peak to raise money for a library and a community resource centre at Nyegina Secondary School.

At the summit: Jeannine Thurmaier and Prof. Kurt Thurmaier (Mama Anna and Baba Anna) from Tanzania Development Support take a short rest before beginning the trek back to Barafu Camp.

In a short period other climbers began to arrive at the summit. In the several occasions I have been to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro I had never seen so many climbers at the summit.

A while later, Prof. Thurmaier (left) watched as another set of climbers from the Tanzania Development Support group approached the summit.

As we descended towards Barafu Camp, our next destination, I photographed a snow-laden path with Kilimanjaro's other summit, Mawenzi, in the background. I had never seen so much snow at the summit. For a brief few days, the effects of Global Warming disappeared from sight.

Other posts in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-7-june.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-10.html

My version of the year 2012 in review: 7 June

On the third day of my sixth Mt. Kilimanjaro climb, I took out my notepad to record the day's log in

my tent at Karanga camp, approximately 4,000m above mean sea level. I was reminded again that even pens, particularly cheap ones, also suffer the effects of high altitude. My pen developed a leak.

Other posts in this 2012 review series:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-5-june.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-9-june.html