Richard Francis Burton claimed a small population for it, saying only that a person could walk for two weeks and find only scattered Tembes.

There was and remains the problem of inadequate rain for crops and humans, the rainy season being short and erratic with frequent drought.

[3] Kimbu and Nyamwezi colonists gradually colonized the dry plains west and east of Ugogo, which travelers on the principal road most feared.

He was given orders to "break or undermine Arab influence," build a German base on Lake Victoria, and be prepared to intervene in Burundi if necessary.

He crossed Ugogo after leaving Bagamoyo in April 1890, razing 19 villages and stealing about 2,000 animals after an askari was killed as a result of a chief's demand for tolls.

The Holy Ghost Fathers, the eldest of the five already existing societies, expanded their mission from Bagamoyo's hinterland to Kilimanjaro (1891), Usambara (1907), and Ugogo (1910).

The next decade saw their expansion to Ufipa, Buha, Mbulu, and in the direction of Lake Nyasa from their initial bases in Karema, Tabora, and Bukumbi.

The CMS prioritized Uganda, giving up its station atop Mount Kilimanjaro and keeping only a little area in Ukaguru and Ugogo.

When the rains stopped in November 1917, the entire central region went through three years of mutunya the "scramble for food," the worst famine in recorded history—as its supplies were depleted.

Both Ugogo and Uzigua have a long history of hunger, extremely unpredictable rainfall, the ability to export grain in good years, and an inability or reluctance to grow crops that can withstand drought, such as manioc.

While Ugogo was endangered by tsetse and purposefully cut off from territory matters by a conservative provincial commissioner, Uzigua had also lost its livestock reserve to the disease.

The government pushed the growing of drought-prone maize rather than drought-resistant millet and encouraged the export of food and animals for military use.

[citation needed] While early European writers emphasised the political chiefs of the Wagogo, calling them 'Sultans' as was customary on the coast, and stressed their collection of the very profitable taxes (hongo), on scarce food and water, it was really the ritual leaders who influenced the entire country.

They were not to leave their "country," they were to be rich in cattle, decided on circumcision and initiation ceremonies, give supernatural protection for all undertakings and be arbitrators in homicide, witchcraft accusations, and serious assault.

After having his physical needs met, a strange traveller would be accompanied many miles by the young men of a homestead in order to place him safely on his way.

Most marriages took place within a day's walking distance after agreement was reached on the number of livestock to be included in the bridewealth, only then is the transfer made.

Even a hundred years later, bridewealth is still normally given entirely in livestock and a high proportion of court cases involve the payment or return of the brideprice.

It is the worst news of all that I shall never be able to drain this cesspool of iniquitous passion, extinguish the insolence of Wagogo chiefs, and make the land clean, healthy, and even beautiful of view.

While my best wishes will accompany German efforts, my mind is clouded with a doubt that it will ever be that fair land of rest and welcome I had dreamed of making it.

Also worked with Amref Health Africa as WASH Expert and currently he is the C.E.O of Chiwanga Enterprises Ltd; an Executive Director of the Integrated Rural Development Organization (IRDO).