What Tanzania's toilets reveal about tourism

You can say anything you want, but Tanzania has the best toilets in East Africa.

I know that is a strange way to begin a safari review, but hear me out.

Over the last few days, I have visited Lake Manyara National Park, the Ngorongoro Crater, Makuyuni Wildlife Park, Lake Duluti and Arusha National Park.  I have stopped at public facilities, picnic sites, visitor centres, and various places along the way. And everywhere I have gone, I have noticed the same thing.

The toilets are spotless.

The floors are clean and dry. The bowls are clean. There is no smell. There is tissue paper. There is soap. There is water. There is none of that familiar balancing act where you try to enter a public toilet without touching anything, stepping in anything, or breathing in too deeply.

These toilets look like somebody actually cares. 

Before anyone accuses me of having unusually low standards, let me say this: clean toilets are not really about toilets. They are about systems, attention to detail and pride. A clean public toilet is a love letter from a country to its visitors.

When a country can keep its public toilets clean in the middle of a national park visited by thousands of tourists, it tells you something about how that country thinks about tourism.

I have always visited Tanzania expecting great wildlife. I mean everyone knows Tanzania has wildlife. What I did not expect was to be impressed by the washrooms. Yet here we are. The more time I spend here, the more convinced I become that Tanzania is East Africa's safari powerhouse.

The wildlife is spectacular. The landscapes are stunning. The cultural experiences have been wonderful. Visiting the Hadzabe and Datoga tribes was fascinating. The parks are well managed and the tourism infrastructure works.

Even the packed lunches deserve their own mention. Every day I open the lunch box expecting the standard boiled egg and a piece of fruit. Every day I discover something else tucked inside. A surprise snack, a special treat, a little something that demonstrates true hospitality, packed with affection.

The only real complaints I have are that safari here is expensive  (although entrance fees are low for East Africans) and some places are becoming victims of their own success. The Ngorongoro Crater was breathtaking, but it was also crowded. At one point I counted twenty-six safari vehicles gathered around a single rhino. Twenty-six. The poor rhino had more audience than some musicians performing live in Kampala. Still, that is the price of popularity. People travel from all over the world to see these places, and it shows.

As for language, yes, English is not always as widely spoken as it is in Uganda or Kenya. But honestly, that has never been a problem. Safari has its own language. A pointing finger, a smile, shared excitement when someone spots an elephant, the collective gasp when a lion appears, the laughter when a monkey steals someone's snack. 

You find a way to communicate, they find a way to communicate, and everybody understands each other. Could that be because the real language of travel is curiosity? Or maybe it is because people on safari everywhere are already speaking the same language. I do not know. 

Whatever the reason, Tanzania has now won me over completely. I arrived knowing what to expect when it came to wildlife. I am leaving impressed by wildlife, hospitality, packed lunches, and yes, public toilets.

Especially the toilets.

From where my feet are, that deserves recognition.