Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, 1985 |
 The first time I went to what is now Tanzania, it wasn’t called Tanzania: it was in 1959 and in those days it was a UN Trust Territory (in effect, a British colony) called Tanganyika. (An account of my hitch-hiking trip from Johannesburg to Mt Kilimanjaro – and of my unsuccessful attempt to climb the mountain – is also available on my website.) Tanganyika achieved independence in 1961, and in 1964 – after incorporating Zanzibar as part of the country – adopted the name Tanzania. The green in Tanzania’s flag represents the country’s agricultural resources, the blue represents the Indian ocean, the gold epitomises the country’s mineral wealth, and the central black stripe on the flag stands for the nation’s people. |