Category: Transport
The Lunatic Express
What it will cost no words can express
What is its object no brain can suppose
Where it will start from no one can guess
Where it is going to nobody knows
What is the use of it none can conjuectre
What it will carry there’s none can define
And in spite of George Curzon’s superior lecture
It clearly is naught but a lunatic line
–The London Truth, 1896
Menaces of the road
Driving in Kenya is a skill I don’t hope to have to master. Urban and rural roads present their own obstacles—from impassable roads to gridlock traffic—but comprise the same players. Here are some of those players:
After the female head, carts are the most basic form of cargo transport. “Drivers” pull heavy loads up steep slopes. This man is bringing water to a market. Clean water is scarce in both rural areas and in the cities, where water salesmen tap into the municipal water lines.
Tanzania by air
Having taken 12 flights in the last week, I have come to know well the Tanzanian skies, as well as this month’s issue of Twende Magazine. From 8-seaters to 747s, I’ve gotten the full spectrum of flying experiences that Africa has to offer.
Juicing up the plane.
Tanzania by road
I’m on safari in Tanzania for the week with my dad, aunt, and cousin. I’ve been driving around near Arusha a bit. Some initial observations:
Bikes are a primary mode of transportation and often carry heavy loads. Unfortunately, they become less useful on inclined roads.
Making Do is an investigation into systems of innovation in Kenya's informal economy. Learn more and read the book online or in print here.
I'm Steve Daniels. I study the transformative impact of technology on individuals and societies. I am the founder of the Better World by Design conference at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design and Analogue Digital, a publisher of content related to global cultures of technology. Currently, I work at IBM Research, where I study mobile social computing in emerging markets.
I am particularly interested in how people create, adapt, and use technology in resource-constrained environments, which I have written about in Making Do: Innovation in Kenya's Informal Economy.
- Agriculture
- Art
- Business
- Connectivity
- Culture
- Day-to-Day
- Design
- Education
- Energy
- Finance
- Green
- Health
- Household
- ICT
- Informal
- Manufacture
- Materials
- News
- Observed
- Politics
- Rural
- Safari
- Technology
- Tour
- Transport
- Urban
- AfriGadget
- Changeism
- Emerging Futures Lab
- Future Perfect
- Information Aesthetics
- Konigi
- Make
- Maker Faire Africa
- Pasta&Vinegar
- REculture
- Smarter Planet
- Timbuktu Chronicles
- White African
