Tours
Winter Intersession Program on Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking
December 21, 2009 - January 3, 2010 | Optional Mainland Safari - January 4 - January 9, 2010
The program will offer students tours of Zanzibar and Tanzania. All tours are at program expense, with the exception of the optional safari, discussed below. The tours will offer the student a chance to get the most out of the experience, while learning a great deal about the history, modern day culture, and politics of the region.
OLD SLAVE MARKET
Finally closed down in 1873, after slavery had long been abolished in most of the world, the Slave Market in Zanzibar operated for over 60 years, with approximately 60,000 slaves passing through the market each year. We will spend a half day at the market.
BAGAMOYO
The town of Bagamoyo, located on the mainland, is the oldest town in Tanzania, founded at the end of the 18th century. “Bagamoyo” means “the place where I lost my heart” in Swahili and it was the place where the horrific transit into slavery began for many East Africans. It has been described as “one of the most historically compelling towns in East Africa.” Today the town has about 30,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the District of Bagamoyo, recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We will tour Bagamoyo and visit the historic sites that mark and commemorate the origins of the East African Slave Trade.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA ("ICTR")
We will visit the ICTR, located in Arusha, meet its officials, and receive lectures on its work. It is likely that the visit will occur at the beginning of the program, although the actual dates are still subject to confirmation.
OPTIONAL SAFARI ON MAINLAND TANZANIA
After the program concludes, students will have the opportunity to participate in a four or five day safari in several of Tanzania’s world-class game parks on the mainland (Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, Mt. Kilimanjaro, or Lake Manyara). Enrollment in the safari will be limited to 30 persons, on a first-come first-serve basis.
The Serengeti, the name being derived from the Maasai language and meaning "Endless Plains," consists of grasslands and woodlands in the Mara Region in Tanzania. It has more than 1.6 million herbivores and thousands of predators. Blue Wildebeests, gazelles, zebras and buffalos are the animals most commonly found in the region. This area is most famous for the migration that takes place every year, which is considered to be one of the seven tourist travel wonders of the world. The area also contains the archeologically significant Olduvai Gorge, where some of the oldest hominid fossils in existence are found.
Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain rise in the world, as well as the highest point in Africa at 19,340 Feet. Kilimanjaro means “Shining Mountain” in Swahili. The mountain is a stratovolcano, although not currently active, and scientists concluded in 2003 that just 400 meters below the summit crater is molten magma.
Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest unbroken volcanic caldera. The crater is 610m deep and the floor is 260km². The steep sides of the crater mean that it has become a natural enclosure for a very wide variety of wildlife, including most of the species found in East Africa. Aside from herds of zebra, gazelle and wildebeest, the crater is home to the "big five" (rhinoceros, lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo). The crater plays host to almost every individual species of wildlife in East Africa, and there are an estimated 25,000 animals within it. Lake Magadi in the centre of the crater is, like many in the rift valley, a soda lake supporting flocks of flamingo and other beautiful bird species.
Lake Manyara is a shallow freshwater lake in northern Tanzania. It is also the home of a diverse set of landscapes and wildlife. Of the 127 square miles of Lake Manyara National Park, the lake's alkaline waters cover approximately 89 square miles. While best known for baboons, the lake and its environs are also home to many herbivores, including hippos, impalas, elephants, wildebeests, buffalo, warthogs and giraffes. Giant fig trees and mahogany trees seen around the park gates draw nourishment from the underground springs replenished continuously from crater highlands directly above the Manyara basin. There are also big cats. Leopards, although in abundance, are hard to get a glimpse of, much more so than the other elusive feline carnivores - the African lions - of this park. Manyara is famous for its "tree-climbing lions" as the lions in this park make a habit of resting and sleeping in the trees around the lake.