Our travels have brought us back to Tanzania, the only country where we’ve been solicited for a bribe by a policeman. We explained this to a young businessman running the beach camp north of Tanga and he could only shake his head. He tells us that all monies to pay policeman in any province comes from the capital, whereas it used to come from the regional government. Since the capital simply does not give the regions any money, the local police are forced to solicit their pay from drivers. And you know the cops aren’t pulling over a beat-up farm truck, they target the rigs tourists drive. While I sympathize that they aren’t being paid, they were not going to get any $$ from us. Showing me some fuzzy photo of the Beagle passing an End 50 sign with an equally fuzzy “60” at the bottom, they expected me to admit to doing 60 in a 50. It is best not to laugh even though it is hilarious to think they actually have speed trap cameras. I think they have a template on their phones with “60” on it and  they insert a photo of any vehicle passing a 50 sign. They’ll shove that photo in your face then start telling you that you’ve committed two offenses, speeding and breaking the law. We wait them out. Don’t show any money, don’t act like you might pay and definitely don’t cave and pay a bribe. The time they waste on us is time they cannot fleece anyone else, so they let us go; it is on to the next driver. Welcome back to Tanzania.

Most people in Tanzanian work in agriculture – that hard-work, low-paying, no-need-for-education industry. Still, here at this fishing village down the beach it is an exciting and prosperous time. The sardine run occurs between Pemba Island and Pangani twice a year and everyone gets in on it, especially the women. On the beach we met the tax collector, Miriam Joesph, an educated woman from Dar es Salem and she explains what is going on. Fisherman come from all over the local coast for this sardine run.  Women find good work hauling the pails of fish from the boats and cooking up the sardines, then drying them on tarps out on the sand. Someone has been hired to provide wood for all the fires, someone else is keeping the buckets and pails organized by boat number and this goes on day and night until the run is over. Yes, the sardine run could disappear – that would be disastrous and yes, the ocean cannot possibly sustain the population growth. But meanwhile there is work and food. The workers didn’t mind the attention we gave them, they liked showing us what they were doing. It was a busy morning on the beach.

I note that Miriam Joseph is an educated woman – that is not the norm away from the biggest cities. We’ve been told that the government doesn’t want a real educated population. That would cause problems. Children are taught only in Swahili until the secondary school, which many of them cannot afford to attend. There aren’t many fulfilling opportunities in the tourist industry for someone who cannot speak, read and write English. Despite all that, somehow some Tanzanians learn English and German and even Italian and Spanish and they bring themselves up from mining or farming. We met many of them. They, and the friendly villagers, are the people who make a Tanzanian holiday unforgettable. Avoid the traffic stops, wait out the policeman if you are stopped, and you are sure to have a wonderful time in this beautiful country.