Day 71 – Marangu
Iddy took us for a walk to a nearby waterfall, we visited Mama Salma in the afternoon & popped into Moshi for tea and pick up a Tanzanite bracelet.
Day 72 – Leaving Marangu
We left Marangu, both Suma and me feeling quite ill from probable mild Carbon Monoxide poisoning from the a partially blocked flue on the inside wood fire. There is a road that circles Mount Kilimanjaro, and at Josh’s request we drove it – we were hoping to get a glimpse of Mt Kili. The drive was quite long and a bit dull. It would may be of interest to visitors new to Africa who fly into Arusha, but for us who are accustomed to seeing East African lush forest, it wasn’t so interesting.
Quite close to Kenyan border, we pull over & discuss the option of crossing over into Kenya and visiting Amboseli, Tsavo E & W then coming back down the coast into Tanzania. The kids weren’t bothered: me and Suma didn’t feel like dealing with border control while being off colour so we pigeon-holed it for a future trip.
We headed towards Lushoto. We stayed near Mwanga in a nice quiet little lodge. It was very good value for money at 70k Tsh for 2 rooms with evening meal and breakfast. I was still a bit off-colour but, improving after a lie down and a couple of small beers.
Day 73 – Lushoto
Avoiding the main tar toad, we drove around the back of the Pare mountains. I let Reece sit on my lap and drive the car for the last 30km of dirt road. He was super happy being allowed to drive. When you ask him what was his most favourite part of the trip, this was it. Josh’s favourite part of the trip was when we reached the tar road and i took control of the car again.
We then drove up to Paradise Eco Lodge way up in the Usambara mountains near Lushoto. Lack of good signage and a very narrow, steep, rutted & precipitous dirt track meant we had to keep stopping to ask locals if we were on the right route. It is a very nice lodge with amazing views, very high up and only accessible with 4×4. I wouldn’t like to try getting there in the wet season, there are long drops off the edge of the track.
We stayed in a very nice room instead of camping.
Day 74 – Lushoto
Usambara information: Its a huge mountainous area jutting out of the flat surrounding plain. There are loads of hills, valleys & mountains going up to about 1800m, with numerous farms, villages and forest reserves covering the whole area. It seems like its own completely separate community, accessed by a 1.5 hour drive up from the plains below. Food grows everywhere, and the people have their own distinct culture and language (Sambara). People here are noticeably shorter and with slightly lighter skin.
We did a few short walks around the area with the lodge manager as our guide. We walked to a nice viewpoint, finding a Chameleon, followed by a nice waterfall, then finally a short walk up the hill from the lodge to a great viewpoint to watch a lovely sunset.
The council bollocked our guide near the waterfall as he wasnt an ‘official guide’. The land around the waterfall base had been annexed by the local council as they want to charge people to visit it. The owner of this land, who built the stepped access trail and built viewpoints was understandably none too pleased. He had a small shop selling drinks and snacks, and was furious with the council who were demanding a cut of his takings. The council seem a bit over-zealous in their pursuit of cash, and maybe need to be a bit more sympathetic to the landowners, who have lived there for generations.
Day 75 – Tanga Coast
We left Lushoto and drove towards the coast, heading to find somewhere between Tanga & Pangani. We had plenty of time so we looked in at all the places between Peponi Beach resort and Bahari Pori. All were very nice and had excellent rooms. We were spoilt for choice, all were empty too. We decided to camp at Peponi beach, as they had a pool, a shaded beach-side pitch and a really nice shaded bar/chill area with sea-views.
Very nice place and only $8 USD pppn to camp.
