At university I read War Studies and Theology. Whilst this makes me a complete weirdo it also means I can write very interesting newsletter articles. I have done one on Religion in Tanzania so now for the bit that keeps St Peter busy, War.

Little is known of East African warfare before the arrival of Europeans but we know the Arabs would have been developed whilst any combat involving the natives would have been small scale using edged weapons like swords (pangas), spears, bows and possibly shields. A look at the contemporary Massai or watching Zulu (great film) will give you some idea of what this would involve. Some Kenyan pangas from the Mau Mau uprising are on display in the Imperial War Museum. The Swahili’s first contact with gunpowder was from the Omani Arabs and then the Portuguese. However, most of the European-Swahili conflict occurred from 1884 onwards with the arrival of German occupation. The huge technological and military advantage enjoyed by the German’s meant that they were going to win most rucks. The British-Dervish battle of Omdurman (1896) with rifles, machine guns and artillery left 30,000 of the Sudanese spear chuckers dead or wounded for the cost of fifty British dead. However, the Europeans did not always have an easy day of battle.

The Hehe tribe had become one of the largest in Tanzania by the time of German occupation and opposed the colonists. In 1891 the heroic Chief Mkwawa led his tribe in battle at Lugalo and gave the Hun a good thrashing. A bit of a one off though as he was up against the finest offensive troops in the world and was soon on the run. He committed suicide and his head was cut off and sent to Germany where it remained until British diplomatic pressure saw it returned to Tanganyika in 1954.

By 1905 the Swahilis had been forced into labour and as a result of the appalling conditions, rebelled. The rebellion was known as the Maji Maji rebellion (maji = water) as the natives believed the Germans’ bullets would turn to water after firing. If their knowledge of ballistics was somewhat more developed then they would probably not have suffered such terrible casualties. The Germans reacted harshly but effectively using scorched earth tactics which resulted in wide spread famine and malnutrition. Mass executions of tribal leaders especially to the fearsome Ngoni tribe mopped up any remaining resistance. About 100,000 natives perished. Fortunately, the German colonists changed their stance and relative peace prevailed. Until 1914…

German East Africa (GEA) was surrounded by the British to the east in Zanzibar, the north in Kenya, the south east in Nyasaland, by the Belgians in the Congo and the Portuguese were honouring England’s oldest alliance and, therefore, the Germans were hemmed in from the south by Mozambique. This unenviable position was defended by Paul Von Lettow Vorbeck leading at any point about 3,300 Germans and 15,000 locally recruited levies. It was an impossible position really – his armaments were mostly obsolete and re-supply from the sea was going to be problematic.

The German Kriegsmarine’s ship Konigsberg managed to out fox the Royal Navy (RN) and was able to land supplies and wreck the Pegasus as she cleaned her boilers off Zanzibar. She fled up the Rufiji River where her shallow draft meant she could escape from the RN’s guns. If you have seen a particularly shocking Roger Moore film ‘Shout at the Devil’ (nothing compared to Moonraker, “I think he’s attempting re-entry”), then it shows the idea a little. However, the response was not to get a poor quality actor to black up with boot polish and take an alarm clock attached to TNT to blow the ship up. The British got two shallow draft monitors with long range howitzers to shoot it. Before sinking, the Germans landed the guns and ammunition and the Captain later defended Lindi.

Lettow Vorbeck employed hit and run tactics often deep into the surrounding colonies and was still being supplied by the Kriegsmarine. The RN blockaded the coast and supported the movements of the army along the coast. By 1916 the combined allied force outnumbered the Germans considerably and was led by the South African General Smuts. The Germans were rolled up and slowly encircled but the fighting continued in earnest. On 13th September a naval bombardment preceded a land attack on Mikindani. The impressive Customs House was shelled and wrecked and Mikindani claimed its only death of the war, sadly a forgotten villager. It appears the Boma was not attacked and resistance was not offered.

After a long game of cat and mouse and many casualties to malaria and dysentery the brilliant military campaign of the charming and brave General Von Lettow Vorbeck came to an end. He heard of the armistice two days after its signing and gave up his sword honourably on 25th November in North Rhodesia as a truly great soldier. GEA passed into British administration under a League of Nations mandate and became Tanganyika. The coming of the 1939-45 war did not result in any domestic combat but Tanganyikans did volunteer for service in the King’s African Rifles and the population as a whole suffered from shortages and rationing as Britain pulled her Empire into the war. Roald Dahl’s ‘Going solo’ provides an interesting account of life in Tanganyika at the outbreak of war (as well as great snake and decapitation stories).

The war passed as did British rule and now Tanzania is defended by the Tanzanian People’s Defence Force (TPDF) as well as a militia and a paramilitary police. I have personally seen the militia drilling and was not overly impressed. However, the TPDF proved themselves to be the best East African army in the war to oust Idi Amin from Uganda in 1979. Needless to say if America wanted Tanzania I would put money on the yanks, the TPDF’s budget would not buy a single US fighter aircraft. There was an issue a few years ago of Tanzania buying a high tech radar system from a British firm, I am unsure of the outcome.

A walk around Mikindani shows little evidence of current military activity but the historical signs are more common. The Mtwara airstrip was an RAF base, the customs house was destroyed by naval artillery and subsequent neglect, the splendid hotel is a fortified building. The Boma is no great castle but would have been a hard nut to crack. The crenulations (saw teeth type things you get at the top of castles) on the bastion at the back are wide enough to accommodate the large water cooled barrel of the Maxim machine gun whilst those on the tower could only fit a rifle. Both employed at the time of construction.

The now covered well shows that the adage is true that a castle’s defence is only as deep as its well and the witch doctor who dug a whole at the top of the Boma hill looking for German treasure found only spent German rifle cartridges. Using a chicken as a metal detector probably was not the best method of finding treasure though. The fact that Tanzania is relatively boring to a student of war belies its greatest asset. The peaceable nature of its citizens.

The day not long born – Bloody hot already, the sun reflecting off the tarmac and I could already feel the weight of the heat on my back and head, even through my Tilley hat. The fragile looking little single-engined plane, nicknamed in Brazil a ‘Teko Teko’ because of its resemblance in sound and vision to a child’s model plane driven by elastic bands – It stood there and shimmered and glowed in the sunshine while the temperature had not yet even reached 42 degrees Celsius.

In what seemed like slow motion a fat mechanic slowly hand pumped fuel into the plane’s tank. The smell of aviation fuel added itself to the tropical morning smells as Adam Baines and I stood waiting nervously to load and board this Teko Teko. Denis, the pilot, stood there in his beautifully cut, fashionably faded Khaki. This forty-something, athletic pilot exuded confidence as he emerged from the cockpit holding a slender glass phial which he dipped in the fuel tank. Denis looked at the yellow liquid in the phial against the blue, blue sky. He slowly brought it to his nose and gently sniffed it and rolled it under his nose with the concentration of a wine connoisseur. In Cruzeiro the pilot’s nose makes the final decision between aviation fuel and anything else that could find its way into tank!

Denis eyes turned to us, then drifted slowly over our baggage. He was not in a good mood. We were last minute passengers with extra weight, forcing him to remove all his various boxes, destined for different jungle stops and reload the craft again. On top of that we were going to pay the $900-00 with travellers’ cheques instead of US dollars cash. Denis looked us over. I could feel him wondering if the traveller’s cheques would bounce. He starred at these two Europeans and he probably wondered if we knew what we were getting into. I said, “The traveller’s cheques are paying for the return as well as the outward journey and, if they bounce; you won’t have to bring us back. Chief Biraci will vouch for us anyway”. Right he said, looking at my waistline “Back to the cargo hanger to get you weighed”. Finally, now having to believe that I really did weigh 85 Kilos, we approached the plane again.

Instrument checks done, the tower gave us clearance, chocks away. Propeller whirling, he shouted above the engine in English, let us sway. Mystified for a moment, then Denis loudly said the Lord’s Prayer in Portuguese and asked for the Lord to watch over our journey. A moment of reality came through the excitement and I prayed to whatever gods are up there, please keep an eye on us. The plane slowly surged forward, gathering speed, it lifted off and skimmed above the trees. Cruzeiro gradually disappeared behind us. At last, the adventure was to begin as we soared up, up and away.

I saw a carpet of green under the sky blue canopy, the sea of endless forest stretching as far as the eye could see to the edges of the horizon. I had a feeling of how small and insignificant are men in comparison to this wonder of nature. We flew on, gradually leaving behind the amazing golden beaches of the snaking river Jurua, so different from any riverbank I had come across before in either Africa or Australasia.

I was sitting in the seat by the pilot with my camera at the ready. Ready for what? I looked down at the trees so tightly packed together, my imagination was running away with the thought of what might happen if our one motor took sick and died. Chief Biraci had said, “There are no bad old pilots in the Amazon. Bad pilots die young; and so do their passengers”. Quickly glancing round I saw Adam starring out of the window, obviously moved by the sight of such beauty. Not the time to spoil his dream with a possible nightmare, for at that moment a rainbow appeared across the jungle and made what was already wonderful, magical. I looked at the Chief relaxed in his seat. I began to feel some of passion he had for his home, and also began to understand how he stood up at a conference in Panama and caused consternation by tearing up a prepared speech while shouting, “The Yawanawa want their land back”.

This man, who had lived on the building sites of Rio Branco and earned a pittance of money, had not only fed and clothed his body, but also fed his mind and soul and to become a survivor. At a time when most Indians ended up on the bottom of the human scrap heap, became alcoholics and the low life of the gutters of these fifth world towns. Chief Biraci had educated himself, fought for Indian rights to become their spokesman at the various conferences that became fashionable in the 80’s when the 1st world became aware of environmental issues. This plane journey was giving Biraci a small escape from his almost constant responsibility for the tribe. We had been in the air now for about 75 minutes, a journey that would have taken about fifteen days on foot or twenty by canoe.

Denis, the pilot, banked the plane and we moved on to another compass heading. He shouted over the roar of the engine in as much of a conversational tone as possible, “Don’t forget to be back on the grass strip on the date we agreed. We were cutting it fine by planning to be back just a couple of days before the start of the rainy season and the plane would be unable to land if the strip was waterlogged. I had already had a bad landing on a previous trip on a water soaked landing strip, the plane had tipped up on its nose – So, I had been there, done that and had no desire to repeat the excitement. “I make two passes and then I leave – That’s the deal”. I shouted back to the pilot,” I won’t forget, nor will Adam we both know that a seventeen day walk as the wet season starts could be the end for us”. Denis smiled,”Could be? It definitely would be”. “Thanks for the vote of confidence”, I shouted. We banked again and Denis said, “Sete Estrellas, time to land”. We swooped down low, crossing the river Gregoria and making for the grass strip by the side of the small group of thatched huts that was the village of Sete Estrellas and the jumping off point for our trip into the unknown.

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

We are sorry to say that Mac is not very well, but he is still e-mailing strong and recently sent the Beetle a collection of travel tips based on several trawls of travel websites. Here are some of the tips Mac has garnered:

• 1. Put wallet in breast pocket of shirt and then put another shirt over it. Me: might want to have a second more accessible wallet to hand to any potential robber
• 2. One traveller wrote that he kept two thirds of his cash in a pouch by his underwear
• 3. Another person wrote in to suggest this: you get old white undies, create a fake crap stain in the appropriate place and lay over your valuables

And here are some items that travellers have listed as being most glad they took: Gortex jacket, universal sink plug, nalgene bottle, toilet bag, pocket knife and camera, hiking type boots, backpack with pull-up handles and wheels, travel pillow, toothfloss, Pitzi headlight (a couple mentioned this), Ortlied folding bucket (a laundry bucket, bearing service bucket, and hat all in one).

Nick O Neill writes in BootsNall.com some good advice. Mac says that he stole his name Travel Nutter from Nick. He evidently has travelled for years. Some ideas I gained from Nick: when you shower pin your money belt with a safety pin to your towel. (I don’t know about that, I am so forgetful, I would probably leave the shower room without my towel or the money belt attached to it!)

On the subject of backpacks, Nick says he prefers a simple pack without 75 pockets and straps. He takes a medium sized pack that doesn’t encourage me to pack too much. Beetle: I have a side zipped Lowe Alpine pack that doubles up as a holdall that looks a bit less back packer-ish for those odd occasions when checking into somewhere a little more up market. Whatever backpack you use, try to get one with a zip cover that hides away all of the handles as these can get stuck in airport conveyor belts etc.

Nick says he has used an extra long North Face sleeping bag for over a decade. Mac asks, does he own stock? Mac says he uses a hollow filled bag while heavier than a down bag, it will retain heat when wet.

Nick says that he carries three $l00 bills in his money belt (the one fastened to a towel). He says he has even been able to use them in a shack in the Himalayas.

Back to Mac: travellers who have had some military service might want to check out the overseas military clubs that are equivalent to the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars etc. In Australia and New Zealand and Western Samoa they are RSL Clubs. I checked in at Cairns, told them a little bit about myself, where I had travelled etc and asked if they knew where the Catholic Church was, the time of Mass etc. and if they knew any reasonable place to stay and eat, asked about local bus transportation, what I should see etc. They made me an honorary member of their organization for the time of my stay in Australia.

In South Africa they are MOTH clubs (military order of tin hats which started in WWI) and Comrade Clubs (British oriented.) Again, I was made an honorary member and even invited to some of the members’ homes. They like to learn about you and you like to learn about them. In the MOTH clubs the commander is always called Old Bill no matter what his actual name is.

In Western Samoa, the commander of their RSL was an American working in Western Samoa. I asked how he got to be commander of this foreign club. He laughed and said he was about the only one of its members that had been in the service, the rest were associate members. Sometimes these clubs in some places to keep them going take associate members without any military service. Most of them are very hospitable and good sources of information and kind of a security blanket. Mac

The Athletic Clubs and other clubs in some of the countries when you show them your passport will let you eat there and use their facilities.

If you would like to contact Mac, he is happy to answer e-mails: macsan400@yahoo.com

Our original speaker Matthew Leaming unfortunately had to drop out at very short notice, so Dick Curtis filled the gap with an interesting talk on a trip he made to China . The talk was a bit random as Dick had 3 sets of slides marked A, B & C, and the audience chose the order! I was glad to see Dick produce photos not just of the Great Wall and all the other sights you would expect, but also photos of the people and landscapes of this vast nation. Well done Dick.

Our second speaker was Amar Grover who gave us another talk on Pakistan. We saw the Khyber Pass near Peshawar, and then to the north to Gilgit to see photos of the spectacular mountains. As with the previous talk we saw the people, many are fair skinned descendents of Alexander the Great's army, who came through the area over 2000 years ago. Amar also showed us rural life, including colourful pictures of Apricots drying in the sun.

January 2005

Globetrotters first meeting of 2005 got off to a great start as Martin Featherstone , showed us pictures of all the exciting places he went to during his army days, then he gave us a talk on Belgium! To be precise he showed us the battlefields and cemeteries of WW1 and told us the stories of some of the many allied servicemen who gave their lives. He then showed us the battlefields and told some of the stories from southern Africa, including Rourkes Drift, explaining how a tiny group of Dutch settlers put their carriages in a circle and managed to defeat more than 15,000 Zulu warriors. Martin has a way of bringing these stories to life with such as why a Zulu spear had a special name, it was supposed to be the sound the spear made when it was removed from its victim, well it made the front row wince!

Our second speaker was Kevin Brackley whose talk on Sinai was hot off the press having only returned 4 days previously. His journey took him from Cairo, where he took in the pyramids and Sphinx, under the fascinating Suez canal where he watched ships in the desert and into Sinai. Kevin showed us the wonderful, if chilly sunrise at Mount Sinai, before he went camel trekking (KFC in Egypt stands for Kentucky fried camel) and walking in the White canyon, before chilling out on the Red Sea at Dahab.

After the interval we had a quiz, those who only got two answers correct will not be named (but for this they should send a donation to the Tsunami fund or else!), the winner of the Wind up radio was John Goddard , congratulations John.

Jayesh Patel was our third speaker and he took us to the glaciers of Chile . Jayesh and his party trekked into the windswept landscape, camping when there was no room in the Inn. Jayesh showed us the spectacular glaciers, icebergs and to prove how windy it was pictures of trees bent over at right angles. We saw the wonderful Torres del Paine National park in Chile with its fabulous rock towers.

Julian Webster arrived in the nick of time to give us a quick tour of India , starting in the Himalayas, then into warmer areas of Rajasthan, we saw some super pictures of the rainy season and my favourite of all a lifeguard in Kerala with a comical “Go-faster” pointy hat! Julian's images brought the warmth of India to a chilly London in January.

Many thanks to all todays speakers who helped to make our first meeting of the year a great success. The day culminated with the annual New Years party, enjoyed by all, thanks to Nadia and her helpers.

We cannot finish without mention of the Tsunami that struck on Boxing day. The days takings at the door of £157 have been donated to the fund.

Next month, on Saturday 5th March 2005, Matthew Leeming will be giving a talk on Afghanistan and after the break, Terry Richardson will be talking about Turkey's new 500km long distance footpath “The St. Paul Trail”.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk Admission Members £2 Non-members £4