Sukumaland is simply amazing. The endless flatland with occasional hills and big rocks. The land is dry with sparsely intertwined trees. Farms and cattle. Cotton, cassava, and sorghum.  From the Rock City to Shy (Shinyanga) and down to the new district of Meatu. I am falling in love with this place.

To elaborate further. I spent a few days in Mwanza. I visited the Saa Nane Park, which is interesting for a very small park near the city. Then, I took off into the hinterland. First, I traversed and stopped in Shinyanga and then, moved on onto the real Sukuma district of Meatu.

The journey was quiet good especially the Mwanza-Shinyanga tarmac road. The second leg of my journey from Shinyanga to Meatu was tiring as the roads were a little rough. However, the whole trip as a whole, worth all the pain.

I had some issues with cellular connectivity. Cell-phone connection was a bit shady. It was only functional reliably once you are on top of a tree. A very nice experience indeed. It requires you to use one hand holding on a tree branch and the other holding on a cell phone. Multitasking.

The areas I visited were very dry. I have never seen a drought such as this one. Very similar to southern Utah deserts. The Angel’s Landing and Bryce Canyon. The drought has also added to the already difficult life the village people endures. The rain did not come this year. Therefore, there are no harvests at all. There will be no maize, no cotton, and no any other type of food crops. I am definitely sure that a lot of villagers in these areas are going to die of hunger if no serious help are made available to them and sooner.

I was just in shock.  How dry the area was?  How do people live here? I am terribly shaken on how these people are going to feed their families, pay for their kids school fees, and all the other contributions that goes along with the free education system in Tanzania.