Queen stands looking out over the Tanzanian plains facing west — pondering the fate of the United States and what that destiny will touch on her people. Like many sub-Saharan Africans , she’s confused by the severe political divide in the world’s most powerful nation and worried about how the election and its aftermath will affect the country of her birth.
“We appreciate America and are grateful for the money they bring to our country,” Queen said. “But it’s concerning not to know what’s going to happen in a country that has such influence on the rest of the world.”
She’s the manager at Little Chem Chem, a safari camp in Kwa Kuchinia, Tanzania, where Westerners come to reconnect with the wild and get the rare opportunity to see elephants , wildebeest, Thomson’s gazelle, cape buffalo, zebra , impala, giraffe , and baboons — all in a single day, if they’re lucky.
While caught up in the endless partisan warfare waged during every presidential campaign season, it’s easy for the U.S. population to forget the effect national elections have on distant countries and people like Queen, a name given by a father who cherished the arrival of his firstborn.
“From what we see here in Africa, America is very divided,” she explained. “I sometimes wonder how a country that has so much wealth and so many gifts can have so much conflict. I wonder why they can’t find a way to enjoy the lives they could have and be grateful for all the good they can do in the world.”
Salum is an expert guide and wildlife expert working alongside Queen at Chem Chem and Little Chem Chem. He’s able to spot a lioness hiding cubs in tall grass from 50 yards away before serving as a translator for warriors of the Maasai as they teach visitors African homeopathy. He wishes nothing but the best for his American guests, hoping prospective visitors across the world appreciate the value of peace.
“Living with each other and living with the wildlife here, I think we learn how important it is to live in harmony with each other and with nature,” Salum said from the front seat of his safari car. “It is important for us to live together in peace here, to stay united, and to work together because we are preserving both the wildlife and the tribes of our country.”
Salum made clear his belief that only unity will allow Tanzania to grow in the future, stressing his opinion that internal peace clears the way for maximizing his country’s potential. He quietly inferred that Americans should consider similar points or risk their world-renowned quality of life.
Tanzania remains a socialist country with a governing philosophy different from the more libertarian ambitions of America and the U.S. Constitution. However, working Africans wonder if ample freedom and the potential for endless opportunities overwhelm Americans’ sense of community — pitting them against one another.
At the mobile tented camps Legendary Expeditions operates around the Serengeti plains under the proud shadow of Maasai Mara mountain, Nohu serves as a veteran guide, lending his enthusiasm and expert eye to his nature drives by escorting visitors and their cameras out into the bush. He acknowledged that his home country had severe tribal wars in the past but pointed out his people moved past those conflicts to unite the nation’s resources.
“There were wars between the Maasai and other tribes more than a century ago,” Nobu explained. “But the different tribes across the country live in peace today, trading between their villages. We understand that unified country benefits us all. We see the fight between old men like Biden and Trump, with the people taking sides, and question what that will mean for the future.”
While every nation has its own internal issues across Africa and around the world, countries competing on the global stage, for the tourism dollar in the case of Tanzania, keep one eye on the U.S., its politics, and its economy for indicators of what the future global economic scene holds. Like a rock tossed in a pond, if the American economy takes a dip or a war begins to rage elsewhere, the ripples wash over other countries and their economies.
African nations seem particularly wired into American status as the State Department reports an annual total U.S. contribution of $8 billion to the continent overall. With that in mind, Grace, a manager at Mwiba Lodge at the south end of the Serengeti National Park, yearns for a more peaceful and predictable political environment across the Atlantic.
“To us, the U.S. seems unstable,” Grace said. “We have seen our share of corruption here in our country and throughout Africa, but I am surprised at how much we see in American politics. Because Americans help [the people of Africa] a lot with investments that aid our schools and our development, watching the U.S. struggle inside itself with political corruption and mistrust makes us worry about how all of that will change our economy and our lives here.”
While she avoids talking politics with safari guests during her duties, Grace isn’t afraid to weigh in on the U.S. election when pressed about the Nov. 5 contest between President Joe Biden and his vanquished 2020 Republican rival, former President Donald Trump .
“I look at the job President Biden is doing, compared to his predecessor, and I think he is doing [a] good job,” Grace added. “For me, I think he’s the right guy for the U.S. around the world because he seems more able to get along with other countries. I wish he could bring Americans together the way we have united 125 tribes across Tanzania. In my opinion, beliefs amongst Americans are so different now, we wonder if there is anything that could ever bring them together.”
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Just outside Mwiba Lodge at a makeshift camp set up for guests to enjoy an African evening’s quiet by firelight, Nohu sat in the captain’s chair of a specially built Land Cruiser and watched the sunset over the Serengeti. He couldn’t help but compare the natural world he sees every day to the hustle and strife filling American cities more than 8,000 miles away.
“Americans teach us so much about technology or finances or medicine,” he said. “But I wonder if we could teach them something about peace and moving past their tribal wars.”
John Lewinski, MFA, is a writer based in Milwaukee.
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