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Colobus encounters

People pay hundreds of pounds and trek for hours to see Uganda and Rwanda's mountain gorillas. But for a park fee of around £2 and a short stroll through the woods you get to see the almost as rare Zanzibar Red Colobus Monkey (Procolobus Kirkii). With their beautiful red coats and cheeky nature, they enthralled us in Jozani Forest, a short drive from Stonetown - and the only place on earth where they live.

And did you know, according to research by TT Struhsaker in the International Journal of Primatology, they're the only primate aside from humans known to eat charcoal in the wild? No, neither did I. It's been almost a year coming - but that's moderately interesting fact number eight.

Deepest, highest, longest ... largest

Tanzania's attractions are often accompanied by a string of superlatives:

• Lake Tanganyika: the world's longest fresh water lake and the deepest point on the continent.
• Mount Kilimanjaro: Africa's highest point and the tallest free-standing mountain on the planet.
• The Serengeti Migration: the greatest movement of mammals on the earth.

But now there's a new one to add to the list. Screen 1 at Dar es Salaam's new Century Cinemax theatre. Yes, it really is the largest in East Africa. (Number seven in the series of moderately interesting facts.) And on Monday night Dan, Tom and I paid it a visit to see the Bourne Ultimatum. It's very good indeed and well worth two hours of your time when it opens across the UK this weekend. Although perhaps Dan should lend his tripod to the director - as the shaky camera work does make you a bit dizzy after a while.

Sniffer rats: better than humans

Two hours down the road from Dar es Salaam lies Sokoine University in Morogoro - the location of one of Tanzania's more unusual success stories. They're training sniffer rodents. African giant pouched rats to be more precise, although I'm sure you're more familiar with their Latin name: cricetomys gambianus.

They started off searching out landmines in Mozambique. But now they've branched out into detecting tuberculosis from samples of saliva. Bart Weetjens, the wonderfully named project director, said the rats can diagnose up to 2,000 samples a day compared with a paltry 20 for a lab technician. Number six in this blog's increasingly infrequent series of moderately interesting facts.

What's more, you can just pick them up from the African bush and breed them. Well fed and highly trained, they can grow as large as a domestic cat. And their upkeep is considerably less than a human, needing just a small piece of banana as a reward. The trainers report that it's not easy for the rats to graduate but they're eager to learn and don't get bored with the somewhat repetitive task.

Zanzibar twinned with ... Glasgow

It seems they go back a long way. Well that's according to Tanzanian newspaper Nipashe which today provides number five in our series of moderately interesting facts. The "historic ties" include the little known nugget that Dr David Livingstone (born near Glasgow) was the "first tourist to visit Zanzibar".

Among other things, the renewed links will see Glasgow's mayor and councillors visit the exotic spice islands and Zanzibar get help with its sewage disposal.

I haven't actually seen the original Swahili news report about this - but the translation that popped up in my email inbox this afternoon also notes that "Glasgow is one of the ten main tourist destinations in the world". But you knew that already.

Update 1 February 2005: On further investigation it turns out that Glasgow is indeed on a top tourist destination list. It's one of the top ten clubbing cities in the world.

Saadani: our newest national park

Billed as the only place in Tanzania where bush meets beach, Saadani is the country's newest national park - bringing the total, I think, to 14. So last week when it was just two weeks old seemed like an ideal time to go - with Justine and Catherine, visiting from the UK. There's better bush and better beach but it was very pleasant all the same. And the boat trip down the Wami River got us just about as close as I've ever been (or wanted to be) to those pink and shiny hippos.

Moderately interesting fact number four: aside from the humble mosquito, hippos are responsible for more human deaths by animals than any other creature in Africa. And their huge teeth can cut a man into three with a single bite. Actually that last bit may be more myth than fact. But it seems to be happily repeated by safari guides all over the country. Not sure I really want to find out.

Roald Dahl in Dar es Salaam

With last week's premier of the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film, it seems an appropriate time for the third in the series of moderately interesting facts.

Now nestling among a line of ambassadors' residences, this is the house that Roald Dahl lived in during the 1930s. He and two colleagues ran East Africa's arm of the Shell oil company from it up to the outbreak of World War II. There is also an unsubstantiated rumour that Dar es Salaam provided the inspiration for the chocolate factory itself. Sitting on my balcony the beautiful sunsets often have added colour from the thick brown smoke that belches out of a chimney on the horizon. Sadly it's actually a polluting power station rather than the home of Willy Wonka's chocolate waterfall.

Uhuru Peak: on top of Africa

It was one of the most painful and exhausting experiences of my life but ultimately extremely rewarding and memorable. At 7am last Thursday, Martin, Judy and I finally stood at Kilimanjaro's Uhuru Peak - the highest point in Africa at 5895 metres.

We'd been woken at 11.20pm with a mug of tea and a chocolate biscuit with a smiley face on it. Our guide book offered the helpful advice of: "lift one foot then the other, just enough to place it higher". And this was about all we could manage as we staggered seven hours through the clear moonlit night. At some points, 30 paces a minute was all we could muster in the oxygen-starved atmosphere. Although the diamox did a great job at keeping the headaches and nausea at bay. And our guide aimed for the same effect by serenading us with Swahili hymns and songs.

But as the sky lightened to the east we reached our first target - Stella Point. And from there it was a relatively gentle climb round the crater rim to the summit. There were congratulations and hugs all round with acquaintances made from the previous six days on the mountain and total strangers. After a week with limited washing facilities we weren't a pretty sight or smell but no-one seemed to mind. Some were tearful and emotional; I was more concerned my camera battery was dying due to the temperature of minus ten. But we did it - and we all have the splendid gold certificate to prove it!

Moderately interesting fact number two: in 1994 Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, reached the summit wearing an eight-foot rubber rhinoceros costume.

Coming soon: more snippets and photos from my Kili trip.

The High Commissioner's party

Here's confirmation, courtesy of yesterday's Tanzanian Guardian, that Gordon has indeed been smiling a lot. He continued last night at the High Commissioner's bash. And despite our invitations saying 'Smart Casual - no tie required', the Chancellor emerged suitably spruced up and sporting a dark grey suit and sky-blue tie. Very dapper

He told us he was very pleased we'd pitched up to see him and had been excited to hear about the aspirations of Tanzania's children during his various tours to see real African life. He reported that many wanted to be pilots, doctors, teachers, engineers - but he could only find one child that wanted to be a journalist (polite laughter from the assembled press corps) and not one that wanted to be a politician. So no competition for future jobs there then, Gordon.

Moderately interesting fact number one: Mr Brown's wife spent the first seven years of her life right here in sunny Dar es Salaam.

After two and a half happy days he's now left us and is on his way to spend 24 hours in Mozambique followed by two days of very important business in South Africa.

For us, life returns to normal.