Rukwa, a treasure hidden by poor infrastructure
 
2008-03-14 09:04:15
By Rose Mwalongo

I recently got an opportunity to visit Rukwa region and in particular Mpanda district and could not help but admire its beauty, natural forests especially Ugala with its beautiful river flowing by.

The more we flew the more I realized how blessed Tanzania was in terms of beauty and fertile land.

We arrived there early in the morning and I could not help but feel the cold weather conducive indeed and within minutes of our arrival it began raining cats and dogs.

I thought why not, with all these trees around the area deserved more than the rain.

I expected to see tourists flocking around to admire the natural beauty. However much to my disappointment I found none.

At the time I did not know why it was so until I found out that not only was Mpanda landlocked but the whole of Rukwa region.

An hour later I found why my aunt who happened to be there could not believe when I told her that I was in town. She must have been wondering how I got there.

We got inside a Land cruiser Gx otherwise known as a luxury car but not even that could spare us from the bump ride.

I got to admit I told my colleagues we had to not only fasten our seat belts but to tighten it real hard lest we are forced out of our seats and thrown out.

My colleague jokingly told us that the poor infrastructure had led to its people searching for an alternative means of transport and no wonder some of them had been using baskets to fly in at night.

We all broke into laughter because some one had warned us that the region was a power house in terms of African science namely witchcraft.

As we drove to Katumba I could not help but see maize and other crops behaving well proving that people around the region were great farmers.

A very quick review of the situation made me understand why the region is among the big four in terms of food production.

From what I hear the region has been feeding not only Tanzania but also our neighbouring Zambia.

Sadly, the region still lags behind in terms of tourism and not to mention of investors.

Rarely and I mean rarely would you see tourists saying that they are going there and seldom do you hear someone say he or she is planning to invest in the region.

Rukwa, one of the big four happens to be home to Katavi Game Reserve, a reserve said to have some of the rarest wild species in the world and not to mention hundreds of elephants, hyenas and Zebras just to mention a few.

To be quite frank Rukwa region is 1500 Km away from Dar es Salaam yet travelling to go there is a nightmare.

One must struggle to connect one bus after the other and even so most of the roads are impassable during rainy season making it completely out of reach.

Some unconfirmed reports have it that the area could be having some minerals specifically gold.

Sadly no mining company has settled there because the area leaves little to be desired.

There is neither a factory nor is there a reliable power supply.

A public servant in the region tells me that the region depends upon the neighbouring Zambia for its power supply with generators playing a role in Mpanda as the main supplier of electricity.

One wonders what the region did to deserve this. Rukwa is feeding us all yet we let it remain in dark that is sad to think of.

Perhaps it`s about time someone did something to unravel this treasure which has been left to rot.

If one were to go there they would find more than they can imagine.

Let those responsible improve the infrastructure to upgrade this region which has a lot to offer in terms of resources.

• SOURCE: Guardian