Cities vs. Country: Perspective from Overland Travel in Africa

Today was a great city day, spent in the capital city of Harare, Zimbabwe. We came in early and holed up at a lovely colonial (read rich person) cafe, which had art work in its garden, delicious food and decadent desert of rich chocolate cake for Mu. We got a wifi passcard and got down to the business of travel, including emailing, uploading pics, posting on the blog, dealing with nagging issues back home and moving around future travel dates and such. We would be there for over five and a half hours. Fun, fun, fun!


I got a chance to steal away while Mu was busy on the net to walk the streets in this city, heading down one that was beautifully canopied by large Jacaranda trees across the wide boulevard. Had a bunch of bananas and a fresh grilled corn for a mid afternoon snack and made my way to the National Gallery, which has an exquisite soapstone sculpture garden stocked with pieces in the style for which this country is well known, as well as exhibitions on tap from a contemporary Zim artis.

Walking in a strange city is great for thinking. My awareness goes into hyperdrive to try to avoid any unpleasant situations and spillover effect from the extra attention is an active mind that can be directed towards pretty much any topic. In this vein, I got to thinking about the dynamic between our experiences in cities over this last month versus the country. For background, I was born while my parents lived in a wonderful hamlet, Wayne, Maine - population 800. When I was 5, we moved to Maine's biggest city, Portland, Maine, which is smallish in population but long on culture. As I have gotten older, cities have generally held more appeal for living, as long as they are close to some wilderness. I just love the vibrancy, diversity and unpredictability that is inherent to modern cities. In our time together, Mu and I have been fortunate to live in Melbourne, Saigon, Fortaleza, Vegas and San Francisco, all with greater metro area populations in the multi-millions, and very fun places to live.

So, even though I was born in a small town, my heart has been predisposed to cities since at least adulthood. However, that preference has certainly not carried forward into our travels here in Africa. Even though today was lovely, it did not create the deep satisfaction and absorption that has become the norm on our travels. It was a bit of an odd mental jigsaw to be simultaneous enjoying my walkabout in Harare while contemplating the things that bug me about the very activity that was bringing me pleasure. Then again, solo walkabouts are great for mental gymnastics.

Here are the three major characteristics for why thus far I prefer the country to cities here.

- Safety: cities are happily chaotic, but that chaos can present opportunity for people with malintentions. The volume of people creates anonymity and space within the social fabric to disappear. The stories that we have all read and seen from major cities do not help, nor do the suggestions regarding Danger and Annoyances in the lonely planets we read up on before every city. Also, in cities we tend to have more of our valuables, such as our passports, ipad, credit cards and my phone. If you notice, we don't hardly any pics of cities, and that is because i don't enjoying being flashy with a camera in the urban areas. All of this combines to create an palpable sense of apprehension when exploring in the city. It becomes much harder for me to relax and take in the vibrancy that it so wonderful, instead I devote much mental energy to evaluating my surroundings.

- Cleanliness: the countryside in Eastern and Southern Africa is simply stunning. It is easy to just stare straight ahead of the truck as we drive through country after country and be in awe. We really hope the beauty comes through in our pics, all in this post are taken from the rig as we zip around. Right now, in Zim we are in mix of lush green sub-forest mixed with small family farms, all with granite bubbles (mini Half Domes) sprinkled throughout the countryside.

Zipping through Mozambique

This beauty does not often carry into the cityscape, where trash disposal is generally poor with a corresponding pungent sharpness to the air. Box shopping complexes and markets dominate the city scape, much more interesting for the goods and the people rather than the architecture. General dirtiness and bland buildings/shacks are not always the experiences of a city, as our recent time in Europe proved definitively. Walking around Porto or Bologna, you stumble across an architectural gem that reaffirms the inventiveness of humanity. And even though European cities aren't dirt/trash free, I think that you might safely eat off the sidewalk in Monaco and be none the worse for wear. Sadly, the major cities that I have seen in Africa -- Nairobi, Arusha, Dar Es Salaam, Lillongwe, Harare, Kinshasa, Cotonou, Casablanca -- are often long on dirt/trash and short on architectural/decorative delights.

- Friendlessness: here i have to acknowledge that my sample size is small, but there has been a sizable gap between the overall temperament of people we have met in the country versus the city. In the city, people are either a) pleasant but aloof or b) trying to get something from you. I totally get both of these positions, for the former there is an exponentially greater number of people thru the shared space and hence each person is marginally-less important. For the latter, there is a large economic difference between the assets, resources and purchasing power of an average African urban resident and me, an American able to leave the workforce and just travel/live for months upon months. I would be pissed off if the shoe was on the other foot, and try to do a little micro-economic adjustment if at all possible. In the country, people seem to be happier just to have the chance to interact with people from far away. We get our fair share of wide eyed stares, and the vast majority of the interactions out in the country seem to leave both people feeling better than before, which is a pretty good ending point in my book.

There you have it, the three big differences between the country and city that we have seen in this last month. Am very curious to see whether this trend continues moving forward. Our travels will continue to be a continuum of these two lifestyles and we will keep trying to get the most out of both.

Starting our trip in Kenya