Kenya vs Tanzania

I admit it, if it came to a popularity contest between Kenya and Tanzania then my vote would go to the Kenyan side (pole to all my lovely Tanzanian friends!). There is no rational reason for this - my preference is merely based on the fact that Kenya was the first African country I ever spent time in and where I made many wonderful connections. I also admit that there is a lot of room for improvement in Kenya, but like a first love whose acne and badd dress sense you overlook, I'm willing to gloss over its flaws ;-). When V. and I crossed the border with Tanzania though, it didn't take long to realise that this was a much better run country (outwardly at least). And while Tanzanians are generally more understated than Kenyans, they're not shy about extolling the virtues of their nation over Kenya. According to our various sources, Tanzania beat Kenya hands-down in:

1. Roads: as we noticed the second our bus entered Tanzanian territory, the quality of the roads on that side is dramatically different. Goodbye to potholes the size of volcanic craters and hello to smooth tarmac! Drivers also seem much more controlled and the bustling minivan industry is bound to strict regulations that are actually kept (unlike in Kenya, where a bribe to the traffic police cures everything). Not having to fear for your life because of hyped-up maniacs in matatus made travel a lot more relaxing :-).
2. Kiswahili: even Kenyans will tell you that the way they speak Swahili is not 'proper' and that Tanzanians are more skilled in this department. Maybe an explanation is that Swahili is a lot more prevalent in Tanzania, with less English signs or translations. In my case, the few basic phrases I'd learnt in Nakuru were obviously inappropriate in Tanzania since many people pointed out to me that I needed to change my vocab!
3. Manners: politeness is valued immensely in Tanzania: while Kenyans rarely apologise or use thank you phrases (I was told to stop using asante and pole so much when I lived there), Tanzanians pride themselves on using 'please', 'thank you' and 'sorry' in almost every single sentence.
4. Cuisine: our Tanzanian hosts are adamant that the quality of their food is far superior, whether it's beans, ugali, tea or meat. Being used to the fantastic cooking of my Kenyan host mum Mary, I'm not sure I support this claim but let's just say it's up to the individual cook :-).
5. Wildlife management: we are in a position to compare as we went on safari in both countries and it definitely seems that game drives are more tightly controlled in Tanzania. In Kenya's Samburu and Nakuru National Parks we noticed a lot of off-road driving, something which is strictly forbidden in all Tanzanian parks. This means that you can't view animals as closely as in Kenya, but it makes more sense from a sustainable wildlife management perspective.
6. Politics: our dear friend P. gave us an introduction to Tanzania's political history and we learned that the country's first president, Nyerere, was seen as a visionary leader, who even assisted South Africa's ANC party during the apartheid regime. Tanzania has also been home to half a million Rwandan & Congolese refugees in the past 15 years and has hosted several African peace talks, as well as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (in Arusha). That's a lot to take on for one of the poorest countries in Africa and speaks volumes about its willingness to help where possible.

I'll leave it to my readers to agree or disagree with these statements - comments are more than welcome!