Hitting the Trail

In a quest to explore more of Tanzania, I headed to the Usambara Mountains for the weekend. The U Mountains are in northern Tanzania, approximately a 7 hour bus ride from Dar. Unfortunately for me, it turned out to be a 12 hour bus ride. There is one main road connecting the coastal region with northern Tanzania and a semi-trailer had jack-knifed on one of the bridges on this road, completely blocking it off. It took 4 hours for the semi to be moved. In the meantime, the traffic backed up the hill and into the horizon, passengers lounged under trees, and enterprising local villagers stopped by to hawk boiled eggs, cashew nuts and drinks. There was an audible sigh of relief when we crossed the bridge. An hour later, the bus grated to a stop in the middle of nowhere. It had run out of oil and the nearest garage was more than an hour away. After admiring the horizon for a while and watching other buses steam by, it became apparent that there were local dalladallas going to Lushoto, my ultimate destination. With the aid of a fellow passenger, I flagged one down and continued on my way.

In Lushoto, I stayed at a church-run hostel, Tumaini. I highly recommend it. It is cheap, comes with all the good stuff (power, mozzie nets & hot water) and has a great restaurant attached to it. While eating dinner, I met an American couple and we decided to sally forth the next day on a 2 day hike. Little did I realise that we would be hiking 16kms a day; I would have ditched my guidebook. The hiking was amazing. We went from subsistence farming plots to rain forest to rugged hillsides. Over the two days, we went through numerous little villages where “hellos, hellos” rained down on us from the hillsides and little feet shyly followed us. In front of us, beautifully erect women put Eliza Dolittle to shame as they walked up the hill with perfectly balanced hoes/rocks/baskets on their heads. From the villages we walked through, I got the impression that the income level is fairly low and the women work incredibly hard.

The highlights of my visit to the U Mountains were tromping through the rainforest while it poured and the frogs commented full throatily on the state of the world; and then, we stayed at a convent. There were a score of young, black nuns who seemed delighted to see us and even happier to fill us up with fresh bread and hot tea. Both of which were welcome after our hour long soaking. The convent was beautiful and extremely quiet. Hiking through the mountains was an amazing way to see what rural Tanzania is all about and to enjoy being outside. However, by the end of the 2 days, I was more than happy to put my pack down and curl into bed for a long sleep.

Day 3 started bright and early, as we had a 4 am bus to catch. We had spent the night in a town called Mtae. There is no power in Mtae and there is only one bus a day, which leaves at 4 am. If you miss that bus, you have a long walk ahead of you, as there aren't any private vehicles and you would be hard pressed to find someone who would lend you their bike. A quick bus change over in Lushoto and several hours later, and I was back in the heat of Dar.

You may have noticed, I'm not gifted with posting multiple pics directly into my blog. However, I've added a new link to my the pics from the Usambara Mountains in the side bar.