View the full set of Usambara photos here
At the Mafia Island airport we met some fellow Australian travellers from Adelaide, Katie and Ty. Ty has a Sudanese father and Australian mother. Ty and Katie had both been in South Sudan visiting him. We generally avoid Aussie tourists but these guys seemed like good eggs and we caught the bus north with them from Dar es Salaam to Lushoto in the Usambara Mountains. While both being compulsive chatters they are a rare breed in saying interesting things the majority of the time, and they were great company on our walk through the beautiful Usambara Mountains.
We had a typical bus journey to Lushoto, and by typical I mean terrible. We were seated at the front waiting for the journey to begin when a man motioned for me to remove my feet from the raised metal floor in the aisle. He then slid the floor back to reveal the engine block conveniently located right beneath our feet. A good few litres of oil were poured in which the bus probably consumes in one journey. So, in addition to the usual crowding, we now also had a floor hot enough to fry an egg on, toasting my feet instead. The floor really started to get hot when we left the plains and started the slow trawl uphill with frequent stops to let people out and pour water on the engine.
When we finally got to Lushoto 8 hours later, we found it a pleasant town in the hills with a refreshingly cool climate. The following day we walked through the lush hills dotted with farmland to Irente Farm where we had an excellent lunch of fresh rye bread and cheese, local tomatoes (nyanya in Swahili) and cucumbers, preserves and jam, washed down with passionfruit juice. The food reflected the German origins of the farm. The scenery felt Australian in places because of all the gum trees. There were also echoes of Rwanda and the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The nearby viewpoint gave spectacular views of the sheer mountains and plains below.
We went on a three day walking tour with a group called Friends of Usambara and guide Jackson who was excellent at spotting chameleons which we could barely spot even when they were pointed out. These little lizards move in a stuttering way like an old-fashioned cartoon and change colour to match their surroundings when they feel threatened. There were heaps of them sitting in bushes as we made our way up a steep hill and through farmland, before passing a local school where Sarah was mobbed by kids giving her ‘high fives’ a little too hard for comfort. We soon entered the jungle where we spotted a few black and white colobus monkeys leaping around in the trees above us. The butterflies were also amazing, coloured with beautiful yellows, blues and greens.
We had a buffet lunch at the local University, which has one of the most picturesque campuses I’ve seen, then watched the afternoon rain start pouring down. We haven’t experienced much rain on this trip, let alone the torrential tropical downpour that we experienced here. The plan was to catch a local bus to our next accommodation so Jackson had the unenviable task of standing outside under the eaves and keeping an eye out for its arrival. When the bus finally turned up we dashed on to find no seats free so we had to stand up in the aisle, dripping on the other passengers. We’ve had some dangerous bus journeys but this one took the cake. The driver drove as though the devil was after him on this dirt-road-cum-creek which had sheer vertical drops on each side. The bus lurched from pothole to pothole as the driver stuck his head out of the window (wipers are never functional on these buses). The windows were pretty fogged up but we could catch glimpses of the fate awaiting us off the cliffs should the driver lose control. At one of the stops Katie and Sarah made a bid to get off and walk the remainder of the way, but given that we still had 15km to go before getting to the hotel, and the potential for torrential rain, we stayed on. Jackson asked the driver to please go a little more slowly, which he seemed to do. We only had one further hairy moment when the rear wheels seemed to lose traction. The driver stamped on and off the accelerator and managed to halt our slide to the edge of the road. Finally we arrived at the convent, our bed for the night.
Nestled into the hills it was a peaceful spot apart from a feral cow lowing in the depths of the hills. After washing with a bucket shower we had a fantastic vegetarian dinner that night, minty vegetable soup, roast potatoes and fresh greens. Our dinner companions were a camp German man and his “nephew” as well a perky Chinese guy who had been living in Melbourne for seven years. The cosy dining area was lit with candles and, with the statue of Jesus being crucified sitting above the table, it made for an atmospheric dinner.
The next day we walked about 20 kilometres to the small, clifftop town of Mtae. On the way we spotted another chameleon and as I came to look at it I heard a rustling in the bush next to me, as though I had stood on a stick that moved the bush, but when I looked to my left I instead saw a large snake beating a retreat up the hill. I’m not an expert on African snakes but if it was a black mambo then we were very lucky not to get some poison injected. It would not be a simple procedure to get to the nearest antivenom dispenser. We also saw more monkeys crashing through the trees with abandon. Coming out of the jungle we walked through a pine plantation not dissimilar to Canberra’s Stromlo Forest in the good old days and then we wandered though the local sawmill, bypassing the irate looking bull grazing in the open. For lunch we stopped at a local hole in the wall, a wooden hut built out over the hill in a local village with chickens eating beneath our feet. Local schoolkids kept peering through the doorway with curiosity, then glee when they saw the ‘mizungus’ (foreigners, usually whities) and got a ‘mambo fresh!’ (a cool form of hello) from us. Lunch was a taste sensation which could take off in Australian pubs: a chip omelette served with beans, rice and a fresh tomato and cabbage sauce. Simple and very tasty.
After lunch we passed through a small village where the local women make and sell rustic pottery, including animal figurines. I was mobbed by cute youngsters as I rested in the shade while Sarah almost caused a riot in giving their mothers chocolate biscuits for the kids.
The road to Mtae has stunning views of the valley below. The Usambaras rise sharply from the valley floor making it feel like you’re super high up. The town of Mtae is perched on a ridge with sheer drops on each side. It’s a fantastic location and a great place to spend the night. Locals were particularly friendly and clouds nestled below us. At night, the sky was an explosion of stars. After another bucket shower, the following day we headed back to Lushoto by car, stopping by a waterfall where local kids tried to sell us lilies they’d picked from nearby fields, and then again at Irente Viewpoint Farm for lunch before walking the six kilometres back to our hotel.
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