Scrambled Blog

I got to Lushoto late in the day.  I had not seen any tourists for a week, but that was about to change.  I found a nice guesthouse and campsite, but I ran smack into an Overland bus.  I was tired so I decided to stay because there was a hot shower and comfortable rooms.  I do not want to go into it too much but some bastard on that bus stole my nice fleece.  It goes to show that traveler on traveler petty crime is really probably more of a problem than crimes by ‘locals’ against tourists.    The Usambaras are another set of mountains in the Eastern Arc chain of mountains that includes Taita Hills in Kenya, the Pare Mountains and the Uluguru and Udzungwa Mountains where I will be headed soon.  I visited the Friends of Usambara Tourist Information Center to see what I could hookup with.  They have lots of good walks and I chose a 3 night 3-day walk to a village known as Mtae on top of a ridge northeast of Lushoto.  The plan was to spend a few days walking there and then catch a bus back to Lushoto.  I thought this would be a similar trip to my Chome village trip in the Pare mountains.  It was really nice walking.    The first day we passed through some rainforest and saw tons of chameleon.  We stopped that night at a convent in Rangwi where I took a room.  The sisters were great.  They cook outstanding food and there is even beer available.  I considered staying an extra night but thought we better keep moving.  The second day we hike through a lot of farmland.  The area is Tanzania’s salad bowl providing many types of vegetable crops that are sent to markets and hotels in Dar Es Salaam.  It is really beautiful to see these fields as you walk through the valley, but the kids here are really accustomed to tourists.  The whole day they shout, ‘Mzungu’ and ‘Take a peecha.’  It almost seems like an alarm system as one groups shouts follow you for a kilometer or two until another group is alerted and they pick up the shouting.  We arrived at Mtae and it is a really nice village on the ridge with views to the Pare Mountains and Masaai Steppe.  The third day we planned just to hike to some forest around Mtae.  It was a full day in the forest and I suspect my guide even got a bit lost, but it didn’t matter.  I saw lots of Black and White Colubus monkey and we were wasted by the end of the day.  We stayed again in Mtae and took and early bus to Lushoto.     A picture of the sunrise from Mtae:

Mbaga was amazing. The cultural tourism program there is well-established and well-run. It is based at Tona Lodge in Mbaga which is a nice guest house with a great view which I had all to myself for 5 days.

I also stayed in a village called Chome a days walk from Mbaga as part of the CTP. It was heaven. There is fruit dripping from every tree. The avacado here are unbelievable. They are huge and fall off the peel when you eat.  From Chome I also climbed a peak (highest in Usambara and Pare Mts). No view on top but nice forest all the way. There was evidence of recent witchcraft at the peak. A fire, chicken feathers,bones and some rope. We stayed with my guides family in Chome and some of his uncles are in the picture from the Shashengena Peak. 

On the way back from Chome, I saw a couple firsts (all at once).  First, some (most) 10 year-old girls spend part of the day cutting and carrying firewood.  Second, some (ok, most) children are afraid of me.  Third, all children in Pare can run like rabbits through the hills and brush.  With this set of facts, it becomes possible to turn a corner on a trail to see a 10 year old girl with an ax screaming and leaping over brush half her height flying straight down a hillside. 

And that is exactly what I saw. 

So in the end, the hiking was beautiful and difficult as well. The Pare may not be tall but they are steep mountains and most of the trails went straight up. There are endless waterfalls, villages and viewpoints to trek to and the guides in this program are really affordable. At the end of each day my guide, Msafiri, and I would pick handfuls of mint for tea. The Pare people are known for there traditional use of plants in medicine and the mountains are blessed with an abundance of useful and delicious botany. These 5 days in Mbaga are the highlight of Tanzania so far. At the end of my stay, I was able to throw myself a going away party. I bought a couple liters of dengue lua (sugar cane beer) and hired the local dance troupe(another option of the CTP). It was good fun.

The most difficult part though is getting to Mbaga. On the way, I was crammed in a pickup type thing with about 16 people in back for 3 hours plus 2 hours waiting for it to fill up. To get back and to Lushoto, I hitched a ride with a road engineer, then rode on top of a sugar and beer delivery truck though the Mkomazi Game reserve which ended up being great bird watching. Then I still had two short legs on buses.

So what are you waiting for. 

Usangi is a very friendly and attractive village nestled in a valley in the Northern Pare Mountains of Tanzania(so get a damn map then).  Tanzania has a great system of semi-organized, semi-affliated Cultural Tourism Programs that are inexpensive and designed to benefit local communities (no, but you’re no Saint Arnold, either).  This turned out to be my first stop in a series of CTPs.  It is based in a secondary school at the far end of town.  I was able to secure a room in the school’s guest quarters, but I have to say there is a much better option in the center of town.  It is the one hotel/hostel with a good sign that you see from the bus.  It starts with “M” (you try to remember the name when you lost your only pen and have to drive a 3 hour mountain road to find a town where they sell pens, you jerk).  The hostel has an amazing cafe considering its location and good food and friendly staff. 

The CTP has a few things to do, so I designed one good day of walking up through a forest and over to a village to learn how local beer is made and visit a women’s pottery cooperative.  The forest was nice and I got a look at some blue monkeys.  The sugar-cane beer starts sweet, but finishes sour and the women’s pottery has some unique markings from the way it is fired, but most was too big to bring home. 

All in all Usangi is a nice stop for a couple days, but you would have to persuade the friendly staff at the M-something Hostel to give you Kiswahili lessons (and the older lady whose English was really good could definitely be persuaded) to make a longer stay worthwhile.

Here are pictures:

What can I say but do not take Falcon Bus overnight from Mombasa to Moshi.  There are better ways to go about it.  A three-hour breakddown combined with some of the most overloaded conditions I have ever encountered.  BUT we did drive through Tsavo West at 6AM and I saw countless giraffe, buffalo and 3 cheetahs, meaning it was the most value-packed game drive ever and totally recommended.

Then Moshi was a bit of a disappointment.  I had greta views of Kilimanjaro the entire 24 hours I was there, but I messed it up otherwise.  I came in at an odd time due to myovernight safari from Mombasa.  I was hungry, but noone had lunch ready at 11AM.  So I had to dine at the fast food type place across from my hotel.  Then being exhausted later in the afternoon, I napped.  At around 8PM, I went looking for dinner, but all the food was finished.  I had to eat at the fast food place.  In between these culinary experiences I was hassled by touts and could not sort out any cultural tourism program.  The town is very “Kili-focused” (for good reason) so I decided it was a good idea to get lost in Tanzania and leave cities of any description behind.  I decided to head to Usangi the next day. 

I do have one good memory of  Moshi.  I talked with the proprietess of Imperial restaurant (who was out of food).  It is located down the road from New Coffee Tree Hotel and Alberto Pub. She had four kids and talked about the difficulties raising them and providing for their education with her small business.  She helped me with my Kiswahili, but I was hungry and could only stay so long since I was hungry.  Someone go back there and eat I am sure it is good. 

First sign I am on an atypical Tanzanian safari.  I forgot to take a picture of Kilimanjaro.  See below:

The highlight of our safari was definitely the Masai Mara, Mara Porini Camp and the Great Migration.  We saw tons of everything.  It was amazing. 

First, the camp was perfect.  It is small and set on a conservancy bordering the Mara.  It works closely with Masai communties.  It is the one place I have experienced where the labels “Eco” and “Socially Responsible” tourism are more than just lip-service.  The spotters and guides, Gideon and Gordon, were really knowledgeable.  There are 6 tents at the camp which is well run and Obadiah cooks great food every night which is served to all the guests seated at the single large dining table. 

So getting back to the game highlights.  First, we went for a balloon safari.  It was unbelieveable.  You see all the Mara, the huge herds of Wildebeesat.  The pilots take you up and down and sweep to the level of the grass at times.  We got really lucky and saw a Black Rhino. 

Then, we had a full day of driving in the Mara.  We still had not seen a lion but that was about to change.  As we drove from the balloon safari to meet our guide, we spotted a lioness in the bushes.  It was sleeping next to a half-eaten wildebeest.  We met our guide Gordon and the first thing he spots is a pair of lions sleeping in the grass.  We pulled right next to them and watched for ten minutes or so.  Then they wake up and mate!  Right behind our Land Rover! 

Finally to finish our day we headed over to the Mara River to see if we could catch a Wildebeest crossing.  We waited a while and in the process saw tons of Hippos and Crocodiles as well as a male lion with a pair of cubs.  There were Wildebeest massed on the top of the hill at the bank of the river, but after 3 hours finally we had to give up and head back to camp.  And right then it happened!  They started literally pouring down the hill and crossing the river.  At first it was amazing then really disturbing as you watch the falls some were taking over the cliff.  I watch a couple break their necks, but then realizied what was really amazing was how many animals were making it.  Young wildebeest could just fly off the cliff no problem.  At the end we saw maybe 1000 cross and three died. 

After all that we still had more actvities.  We were able to walk around the conservancy with Masai guides and get a better look at the grasslands.  Then on our last game drive in the conservancy we managed to see a leopard and a young male lion hunting impala.  I have to recommend Porini Camps and the Masai Mara completely.  More info can be found and Porini camps can be booked directly through Gamewatchers Safaris in Nairobi, http://www.porini.com .

See Pictures.

Our first safari stop was Samburu National Park in the north of Kenya.  It was a rough start in fact.  Our tranfer vehicle from Mount Kenya brokedown in the rain in the National Park.  We were able to flag another vehicle which took us to a lodge only 5km from our lodge.  Our “luxury tented camp,” Samburu Intrepids, could not get it togther enough to pick us for over two hours.  Imagine we are just cold and tired and wet from our hiking and all we needed was our room where we could relax and we got stranded.  Samburu Lodge where we were stranded did try to take care of us even though we were non-paying guests and seemed like a really nice place.  Then when we finally did make it to our lodge we were put in a room that did not exactly match what we had reserved.  One of the staff told us we were lucky to have that because it was so busy or something.  Amanda went ballistic(see earlier comments about cold, wet, dirty, tired). 

 Anyway, after that things were fine.  They were able to correct our room for our 2nd and 3rd nights.  The staff  and our guide were really nice.  The food was great.  The gamedrives and the park just beautiful. 

We saw tons of animals of course.  The unique “Samburu 5″, Somali Ostrich, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk, Grevy’s Zebra and Beisa Oryx were in abundance.  The Gerenuk is a long-necked antelope that has these big eyes and triangular head that gives it an alien look.  They can stand on there two hind legs to get to trees leaves to browse  We also saw one leopard just sleeping by the river.    

See pictures. 

Mount Kenya is some of the most amazingtrekking in the world.  To get to the “hiker’s peak”, Point Lenana (~4950m), you cross thorugh 4-5 distinct ecosystems some of which are completely otherworldly.  The national park has a good hut system and well-trained guides.  Amanda and I set off on our hike with a guide, cook and 2 porters.  which we arranged in Nairobi but which can be arranged from any of the towns at the base of the mountain. 

 We started our hike from Sirimon Gate.  A short first day (~10k) is mainly in rainforest to get to the Old Moses Hut.  Along the way we saw lots of baboons and elephant dung. The highlight of day one was the walk we took at sundown away from the hut.  We found a clearing above the hut with a nice view and as we sat there an Eland came by about 50 meters away.  Elands are the largest of the antelope family but not terribly common especially at 3300m altitude.  He stared at us for 15 minutes as we stared at him and then we all decided it was getting late and we should head home. 

 Day Two was a long haul of 20 km to the next hut at 4200m.  This is really where you see some odd botany.  Lobelia and Giant Lobelia dominate the scenery and it it just seems Jurassic.  There are some pictures below.  We did not have any trouble ith the altitude or distance.  Frankly, we used to carrying our own loads so having the porters is a real luxury.  The hut is set beautifully with the major peaks rising steeply all around. 

Day 3 starts at 3AM to head for the peak.  There is a lot of scrambling on steep rocky slopes.  We got some snow on the way up and there was a bit of ice, but we had no major difficulties.  The peak was beautiful as you can see from the earlier post. 

There is still a 20km hike down the mountain to the Chogoria Gate.  By the end of that I did feel like the walking dead.  We had a banda reserved for that night.  It was like a little cabin of our own, a good change from the dormlike huts. 

Our guide Peter and cook John and porters John and Joseph did great.  They were so excited about our “marriage” (the concept of engagement did not really translate) they sung us Kikuyu wedding songs that night.  All in all it was just beautiful and perfect. 

See pictures.