GREENE – Filmmaker Robert DeLoss will present his film, “Tanzania Safari” at the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, and again at 2 and 7 p.m. Friday, March 23. Admission is free and the doors open an hour before each show.

DeLoss has been giving film lectures since he was 16. A secondary school teacher, he has won numerous awards for his teaching skills. DeLoss worked his way through college as a radio news reporter and has several years of television experience.

His films have been shown across the country and have been used in the production of feature films for European television. Parts of the Amazon film are being used by major airlines to promote travel to South America. He has spent six years on the platform lecture circuit for the Audubon Society.

DeLoss spends his summers working with young people on field trips. He has completed 35 years of continuous summer’s service to the young people of the Sioux City area.

A graduate of the University of South Dakota, he majored in zoology education. Later, he continued at the same institution to receive his master’s degree in geology. He is also the recipient of honorary degrees from Burton College and University College.

DeLoss will take the audience across East Africa’s land of Tanzania. The film will begin in Dar Es Salaam, the economic capitol of Tanzania, and tour the shipping docks. Wood carvers of Mwenga will demonstrate their skills and painting at Tinga Tinga will be shown.

A short distance from the capitol is Bagamoyo, the site of the first Roman Catholic missionary in East Africa. The audience will visit some of the original holding areas where slaves remained until they were shipped to markets around the world.

On the island of Zanzibar the audience will walk the streets of the old stone town where Arab traders would make deals in human cargo and the price of spices was determined. They will journey to the outer reaches of the island to visit a clove plantation where the origin of the term Spice Island began.

On the mainland, the northern city of Arusha has a clock tower indicating the city to be half way between Cairo and Johannesburg. It is here that the 1964 peace accord was signed uniting Zanzibar and Tanganyika into the United Republic of Tanzania.

Considered the eighth natural wonder of the world is the Ngorongoro Crater within which can be found the richest array of wild life on the earth’s surface. The vastness of the Serengeti with its populations of lions is depicted as DeLoss follows a lion family. Four of Tanzania’s major national parks are visited in the film.

Farther north and west can be found Mwanza, located along the shores of Lake Victoria. It has some of the most unusual geologic formations originating from decaying granite. From the waters of the lake pours the Nile River.

The Sawyer Memorial is located at 371 Sawyer Road. Call 946-5311 for more information or visit http://ourworld.cs.com/sawyer foundation.

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