The 2014 trip is well underway. We've been in Zanzibar for the past 3 days. Today we head back to Dar es Salaam. We'll be visiting 2 NGOs (MEDA and Global Platforms) tomorrow and Friday, then off to Arusha Saturday evening. More details and photos will be coming later. Poa! Hakuna matata!

Professor Narriman Jiddawi is featured in this short video from BBC News. She is with the Marine Sciences Institute from the University of Dar es Salaam. We will be meeting with her and seeing some of the work that she does with local women on Unguja (the main island in the Zanzibar Archipelago). Seaweed - Zanzibar's gift from the ocean.

Have you been waiting to "add" ANTH 390/Tanzanian Society & Culture (001850) to your Spring 2014 schedule? Thinking you missed the dreadfully early January 17th "add" deadline? Well the good news is you can still add a class with a registration permit signed by the instructor and student. Permits are available in academic departments (Anth/Earth is King Hall 103) or from the MSUM Records Office, Owens 104.

Well we got some nice publicity this week with the article Find New Perspectives in Tanzania in the MSUM Advocate. I just have one slight correction though. The students in the photo are actually not from MSUM but instead from a program I was directing in Fall 2010 when I was on leave from MSUM.  I was serving as director of a semester long study abroad program, the ACM Tanzania Program. That was 21 undergraduates for an entire semester and it was an experience! 

Check out the Globe-Trekker episode: 
Globe-Trekker-Tanzania-&-Zanzibar

This program is open to students of ALL majors! The 3 credits are in Anthropology but you can be from any major. The more diverse the better! Karibuni sana!

Jambo. This blog will be used to post information related to the 2014 MSUM Tanzania Tour.  This study tour will be part of ANTH 390: Tanzanian Culture & Society (001850), offered for 3 credits in Spring 2014 semester.

Weekly pre-departure meetings will begin the week of March 24th. Students will be assigned background readings and will receive basic instruction in Kiswahili, the national language of Tanzania. The culmination of the course will be the 3 week study tour to Tanzania. Travel dates will be approximately May 19th – June 9th, depending upon airfares. The program fee of $4900 is subject to slight change due to fluctuation in exchange rates and/or airfare. This fee will include airfare, accommodation, internal transportation and tours including entrance fees, meals, and group insurance. The fee does not cover the cost of immunizations, a tourist visa, and personal spending money. The good news is that since it is part of Spring semester these 3 credits can be "banded" with your other credits. That means as long as you're not planning to take more than 19 credits, you won't pay any extra for tuition.

I'm still working on details of the 2014 itinerary, but I'm listing below some of the highlights from 2013. Please forgive the links to TripAdvisor.com but a lot of places in Tanzania do not have "official" websites!  

2013 Highlights

Dar es Salaam

MSUM students at House of Culture, Dar es Salaam

• Makumbusho Village Museum
• National Museum/House of Culture
• University of Dar Es Salaam (Sometimes they have problems with their website)
• Bongoyo Island Nature Reserve 

Zanzibar

Red Colobus Monkey!

• Stone Town
• Jozani Forest Reserve, home of the Red Colobus monkeys
• Kizimbani Spice Farm
• Chaza Cooperative Society
• Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam 

Lunch at the Spice farm, Zanzibar

The Northern Circuit 

Wildebeest, Ngorongoro Crater

• Ngorongoro Crater 

  

  MSUM students at Olduvai Gorge

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Olduvai Gorge
• Laetoli Footprint Museum 
• Seregeti National Park
• Lake Manyara National Park