* PART ONE* In 1967 when I started work on my Ph.d on the Sisal Industry in Tanzania, I drove to the Village of Kabuku. I took the short cut through Handeni and stayed at a Greek run ,motel. Next morning when I went to see the District Administrator. I was told there was an emergency. In a room I saw dozens of spear, knives etc. A few hours later I heard that the Swiss Manager of the sisal estate had been killed
So I decided to spend the night at Kabubu. I did not have to pitch my tent. The Tanzanian Water Engineer from Bukoba in Tanzania told me I could stay in the self contained caravan. He strongly urged me to sleep in the Caravan because there was a maneater in the vicinity. Being a Goan with a sense of History I thought of all the Coolies earning a living building a RAILWAY….they were being devoured by Lions near Taveta. I did need much to be persuaded to have an early dinner his house. There was a stew of made from Green bananas. Six years in Makerere thought me to appreciate the value of steamed cooking bananas (they call the dish <<<Matoke>> ) …after all John N was a top cricketer, a future novelist and my next door Neighbour was George W later to become the Governor of the Bank of Uganda. At Kabuku there was a small glass dish with what appeared to be roasted nuts. For relish there was a curry made from Bitter Tomato which grow wild in many parts of Tanzania. The <<<mosted nuts were FLYING ANTS >>>> They come in profusion in urban area under street lights>>> The spoonful I ate was was crunchy, had a subtle taste of lemon. It tasted like the small prawns I ate in Goa Next morning there was a huge commotion …there was a Landrover belong to te Game Department …yes the Black Mane Lion was killed …the proof was in lifeless animal in the steel floor of the land rover. I stayed some night at Kabuku …I wanted to interview the next yet to be rich Tanzanian Sisal Farmers. The Accommodation in the Camper was free. My allowance of Two BPS would give me a good meal at the Greek place …sensibly they had not imported the culture of smashing plates after dinner. Anyway on the way back to the Caravan, I realized that I needed matches. So I stopped in a small duku lit by a Koroboi (an old cigarette tin filled Kerosene with a handle and a tiny wick.) I hear the chip chip sound….in an open space was a Makonde Sisal Worker, working on a two foot log of black wood. Makondo are a tribe living in Southern Tanzania and even into the neighbouring Mozambique ….Their women are scarscified, have a lip plug about the size of a soda bottle ccover. The men sharpen their teeth a few like nails. They are feared and socially ostracized because they were considered as CANNIBALS I cannot resist writing a PS….for my work drafting the Water and Sanitation for the Third Water Development Decade for WHO/UNICEF I was offered the position by WHO to be their Representative in the Solomon Island. I declined …not because of the existence of Cannibals which I had read about in <<<Robin Caruso>>> I was returning to Tanzania because next door was the lunatic Iddi Amin Grandolfo Still a Goan living in Makongo Juu Where one of my rich neighbours serves Matoke and Senene (Flying Ants)