Africa: On the Ground #1...  

We've been in Africa for several days, but really busy. Most of my computer time has been trying to get my mail and downloading video from cameras.

South Africa was eye-opening. While I was prepared for the security measures, the reality of the fences is overwhelming. (Rats uploading photos doesn't work).

There is a semi-Gold rush sense when talking to ag industries and farmers here, as they all talk about "going north".  The hot spot is Zambia - the former Northern Rhodesia.  Good soils and some of the best infrastructure due to not having a civil war, but other countries are definitely in play. SA farmers are discreetly researching "escape plans" in case of government redistribution of their farms.

Now we're in Tanzania. One big hurdle is getting past customs without being fleeced according to warnings from our hosts in SA. The other challenge is to you kidneys on the roads. If you imagine the worst sections of your worst roads, then narrow it to one lane, you get the idea of our trip to Morogor, although there is a section of good two-highway, albeit extremely heavily traveled.

You have to be here, I think to grasp the intractability of the poverty problem. There other reality is running into Chinese everywhere. FWIW, don't get in their way at the airport, bus, etc.

Amazingly cell phones sort worked, but gmail won't here. Not sure why.

More from Nampula.