Nane Nane 2012

 This is the entrance to "Nane Nane"- Dodoma's large, annual agricultural show, held each year on the 8th day of the 8th month- hence the name, as "nane" means "eight".
This year was Andrew's first visit, although I went last year with the children (see 2011 blog!). The children were very keen to go back and see the African animals and experience some of the fun of this major annual event, unlike anything else we have in Dodoma. So we set off mid-morning, joined by our MAF friend Gladys who works as an engineer in the MAF hangar. The 8th of the 8th is a national public holiday across Tanzania, in recognition of farming, so the children all have the day off school (despite only starting their new school year 2 days ago!!) - and everyone seemed to be at the Nane Nane show today...

This year, we visited the Bee-Keeping tent and display and learnt about bees, honeycombs and hives- and about the "stingless bee"- something we had never heard of! These little bees create a wonderfully sweet honey which we were all able to sample in the bee-keeping information tent.

Then we moved on to look at the larger animals- a great opportunity for me to learn some new Swahili vocabulary for animal names. Unfortunately, this creature was so tightly curled up that I could not fathom what was in the cage and the Swahili sign did nothing to enlighten me! I had to look this word up back at home and discovered that we had seen a sleeping civet cat!

The crowds were immense and I imagine it must actually be very stressful for the poor caged creatures with all of us peering in and exclaiming over them, along with the noise and the heat. The poor hyena in the cage below was pacing unhappily and it felt mean to snap pictures of him. Instead, my photo was to picture the crowds around his cage, of about 5 people deep, all fascinated by his every move:

In stark contrast, the huge lion seemed totally relaxed. He was still King of the Animals, even when on display in a small cage in front of thousands of visitors. He seemed to be having a wonderfully relaxing sunbathe, one paw outstretched against the bars of his prison, showing off his sharp claws and strong legs whilst snoozing in the afternoon heat:

 The lion's sheer size made Joel look very vulnerable and small, even when Joel was standing several feet away:

I think the Swahili name for this shy porcupine is such a fabulous word!

 This next cage brought everyone to a standstill. Inside was an enormous, and rather active, python. Esther and Ben were fascinated, but its National Parks Keeper did not seem too concerned about the enormously dangerous creature slithering and sliding about just inches away from her!

The python seemed to be intent on looking for a gap in the metal to try and make its escape; we didn't hang around too long, I would not want to be nearby if it succeeded!

 
There are roadways filled with visitors, leading to various agricultural displays. There are hundreds of stalls lining the way, selling everything you can think of,  from food to underwear to carpets to kitchenware, plants, toys, shoes... you name it, you could probably find it if you had the inclination to push through the ever-thickening crowds and put up with the burning heat as the sun rose higher in the Dodoma sky! Throngs of people had flocked to Nane Nane today along with us and I took the photo below as we pushed our way along the dusty roadways. The noise was intense at times, with everyone announcing their wares on loud speakers, like the one pictured on the top right of this photo:

 We climbed up the bank at one of the roadsides and found a shady spot by this fence to have a short rest and a drink of water!

 Refreshed a little, we set off to increase our agricultural knowledge...Ben was fascinated by this tall, green machine, which takes sunflower seeds, squashes them into paste, then into oil, filters the oil and finally produces the golden sunflower oil which Dodoma is famous for producing:

 Then it was time for Farmer Ben to try out the seat of this John Deere tractor:

 Esther had a turn too, much to the amusement of the onlookers:

Finally, after all the excitement, we headed back to the car, with a brief road-side stop to buy some hot chips cooked in the Tanzanian way:. Esther paid the chip-seller and made sure she stood well away from the hot pan and coals!

 We watched as the sliced potatoes were tossed from a bucket of water into the scorching heat of this pan full of oil, cooking on hot coals...

 ... then deftly removed from the frying pan in this pink colander, then portioned out into the smaller frying pan, ready to be bought and kept warm on these hot coals:

The chips were served in a black plastic bag, were liberally sprinkled with salt and were absolutely delicious! A great end to a great outing! :-)