Northern Tanzania


	NORTHERN TANZANIA


	The 1994 production saw us shooting in two locations. Bagamoyo, was our primary location for approximately five weeks, and for a very short time in Morogoro.




		Children watching us in Tanga


	In 1997, after one week in Bagamoyo, the cast and crew set out for the northern region. We were in the Tanga area for only two days, but the cast and crew were excited to actually be staying in a place that had running water coming out of the pipes, albeit cold.

The north had gems of its own. We shot for two days in a bat-filled cave and I was pretty excited because at the opening of one large room was a rock configuration that resembled the Orisha, Obatala -- a good omen, even though our lighting truck could not make it down the narrow passage to the caves and the gaffer had to be quick-thinking in getting light into the caves. Solution: Two car batteries.


	Yes, Toto, this is the world of independent filmmaking. Oh, and let's not forget that the narrow passage was muddy and the cars were always sliding. Did I mention that solid rock was on one side and the other side was a ten foot drop into a crocodile infested river? Adventure, indeed!




		Jommo, Queenae, Thecla and Kijieri, the "Professor'






			The Arusha Village on the back face of Mt. Meru

		We were delayed in Arusha (the town just below Mt. Meru) as we were trying to get our permissions from TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks). Its director who had already okayed everything was away on a trip and no one knew anything about us. In the end, Tanzania's Minister of Tourism Zakia Hamdani Menghi worked it out and we prepared to travel up the mountain.

By the time we headed off to the mountainous north, Arusha area, the cast and crew were even further excited because we would be staying in a place that had hot water, the first any of us had in over two weeks. We had decided early on that Mt. Meru was far more suited for our purposes than her much larger sister, Mt. Kilimanjaro. Kili is so large that at times it doesn't even appear as if you are on a mountain at all. Meru, on the other hand offers a variety of landscapes from lush, tropical forests to moon-like formations at its summit.