Lonely Planet Tanzania
Travel Report
Deadline to Dar-es Salaam
Trekking on Mt Meru
Safari to Ngorongoro Crater
Trekking the Usambara Mtns
Zanzibar
Lake Tanganyika
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Travel Notes
Arusha
Dar es Salaam
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Mt Meru
Ngorongoro Crater
Usambara Mountains
Zanzibar
Dar es Salaam & Tanganyika
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Travel notes from Dar es Salaam
Hi Everyone,
It took the best part of a day to get from Arusha to Lushoto in the Usambara Mountains, about halfway along the main Arusha, Dar es Salaam highway. The Usambara Mountains are part of the ancient Eastern Arc chain, which stretch along the northern border with Kenya. The bus dropped us at the small village of Monbo from where it was a winding 32km trip up into the mountains on a local dalla dalla (matatu) with Bob Marley blaring out on the stereo. Lushoto is a small place set in a very green valley at an altitude of 1,200m; the surrounding hills are all covered in forest and small farms. It's also the main town in the western Usambara with a large and colourful market. We planned to use this town as a base to do a four-day trek across the mountain range. There is an excellent tourist information office in town from where we hired a guide. A couple of guides are recommended in our Lonely Planet book and by coincidence the guide we were asking after, Yassin Madiwa, just happened to pop into the office while we were there.
The trekking in the Usambara is very different to the previous trekking I had done on this trip. For those who have trekked in the Himalayas (I haven't yet) it is supposedly very similar; you trek from village to village following local paths and roads which pass through farmland, forests and over mountain peaks. Each evening we arrived in a small village and stayed at a local guesthouse and dined out at a local eating houses, the food being very basic, rice, beans, beef etc. Wherever we hiked we heard the cry, 'Mzungu!', which is Swahili for white-person; the kids would follow us along the road until they got bored; it was worst when we walked past a school.
Our first day, was also the longest walking, took us from Lushoto to the village of Lukozi, walking via Gologolo Forest, a section of virgin rain forest covering the side of Magambo Peak, the highest mountain in this range at 2400m. The next two days were easier hiking, but I still felt tired by the end of the day, carrying my pack, which weighed about 16kgs. Day two took us to Emao where we spent the night in a convent. I don't usually stay in mission guesthouses but the sisters cooked the best food in the village and also served cold beer; there was no competition. Day three took us to Mtae at the edge of the mountain range from where there was a steep escarpment dropping over 1000m to the plains below, Kenya and the Tsavo plains to our north and the Pare Mountains and the Masai Steppe to our west. We spent two nights here and on our fourth day hiked through Shagayu Forest, another virgin rain forest, although a large part had been severely damaged by fire a few years ago. We climbed up to Shagayu Peak, the second highest peak in the range at 2200m, from where the views over Mtae, perched by the edge of the escarpment were fantastic.
We took a local bus back to Lushoto, it left Mtae at 04.00 in the morning. After an hour crawling along the dirt road through the mountains, stopping at every village to pick up more passengers, you could not move. It was then that a kid standing over me was sick; there was nothing either of us could do, no one could move so the kid was sick over my trousers. I made a mental note to do some laundry the next day. At 07.30 we were back in Lushoto with time to stop for breakfast before we boarded another bus to take us to Dar es Salaam.
We planned to get to Stone Town on Zanzibar that that, but the bus was too slow and we missed the late afternoon ferry, so we spent the night in Dar instead. We boarded the first ferry the next day at 07.30 for the crossing to Stone Town, which took just under two hours. From Stone Town we took a shared taxi to the northern tip of the island, to the town of Nungwi. This is really now just a beach resort town, the tourist development seemed very insensitive to the local people and has really taken over the town. Nungwi does have one of the better beaches on the island and isn't affected by the huge tide fluctuations that the east coast suffers from, so you can still swim at low tide without having to walk 15 minutes to find the ocean. After all our trekking and travelling over the last month or so, it was nice to take some time out and relax on the white sandy beaches, lined with palm trees and swim in the crystal clear water.
Stone Town is a fascinating place to visit. There is a real crossover between Arab and African cultures, reflecting the long colourful history of the island and it's ancient trading links with Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Walking around the labyrinth of streets I felt that I was back in a medina of a Middle Eastern city. There is a large Muslim population, as well as Christian and nearly on every street there is a mosque or a church. The food on the island was great; if it swims in the sea then we ate it, with a curry sauce of course; the influence of the Asian population. The only down side to Zanzibar was that it was far more expensive than the mainland, I was thinking about going back but have decided, due to budgetary restraints, not to. We took a ferry back to Dar es Salaam and on Sunday (about an hour or so ago) Gerald flew back to England. Meanwhile I am taking a week off and having a break in the city. Dar is a really nice, relaxed place, full of friendly people and good amenities; I've found a nice hotel, the Holiday Hotel on Jamhuri Street, with a balcony where I can watch the street life below and catch up on my travelogue. Opposite the hotel is a fantastic little restaurant and just down the road is a local bar where you can sit out on the pavement and drink a bottle of beer for GBP0.45. In about a week's time I shall hit the road again and try to get Lusaka in Zambia via the scenic route.
Regards
Geoff
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