That said, I'm here to share a little about what a local described as the "swiss alps" of Africa. After 4 days of sitting/standing in a Landcruiser on safari, we were 100% ready to move our bodies (kudos to Rob for not losing his mind... that boy needs to be active!). Our original plan was to head from the Ngorogoro Crater to Mount Kilimanjaro to enjoy a couple day hikes in that region (near a town called Arusha). After saying our farewells to Victor and Juma, we headed east towards Arusha. To get there a quicker (I'm hesitant to use the work 'quick' in a blog about Africa).... okay, let's say... to get there in a less slow fashion, we opted to not take public transport, which stops about every 5 minutes to let passengers on and off. We climbed on into a minivan (with A-C - halleluja!) with a lovely local family and cruised our way towards Kili. Turns out Tanzania must have more $$ to go around than Uganda. The road from safari-land to Kili was paved almost the entire way. I felt as if we were driving on gold. Despite a couple stops from the police (usual... they'll give the driver a ticket willy-nilly; depends on their mood), before we knew it we spotted the monster Kilimanjaro ahead of us. Kilimanjaro is indeed beautiful and very enormous. It's ~ 19,000 feet tall and very green. A different look than Rainier, but awesome none-the-less.
Upon arrival in Arusha, we showered (this is an exciting part of the day after experiencing the dust-storm that Africa can be, unlike at home). I usually wouldn't mention a shower as part of my day at home, but a hot shower here is comparable to me being served a big bowl of ice cream smothered in chocolate sauce. Both invite happiness. To make it even better, we previously had been camping for 4 days with the lions of the serengeti, so warm showers and sparkling clean bodies weren't a reality at that point. All that to say, we were clean and hungry and ready to meet our friend, Rob Frank, in Arusha. He is our friend because we had been emailing with him a couple months prior. He's a guide for Kili and was helping us do some planning. We enjoyed dinner with him at a local street-side Indian restaurant. Correction... by night, a restaurant, and by day, an auto-shop. Talk about maximizing the use of space! He must be a good mechanic because the food was delicious.
Rob Frank told us that day hikes around Kili are a little anti-climatic because the views aren't so good when you are on the mountain, which makes sense. So, he told us about what he described as a heavenly little mountain town and promised it wouldn't let us down. Kili-hiking scrapped and we were headed to Lushoto to hike in the Usambara Mountains.
You may be asking, why didn't they summit Kili? Well, friend, it's because it's 5k per person and it would have swallowed an entire week of our trip, not to mention the extra supplies we would have needed in our backpacks. That was enough for us to decide to just hike and be able to enjoy Zanzibar.
Okay, so the next morning, Rob Frank said to be ready at 6 a.m. SHARP so we could go to the public bus station ("taxi-park" = always crazy in every african town). We were waiting for him and right around 6:28 Rob Frank comes running into our hotel lobby. He whisks us into a random car that literally flies to the taxi park. Well, not literally. Anywho, we chase the bus down a couple stops later and before we knew it were on our way on a cramped "6 hour" bus-ride to Lushoto. I could blog for a day just about bus rides in Africa, but I'll save both of our time. I'll keep that topic for Rob. Over 8 hours later, we started climbing up some mountains in our bus... I knew we were getting close. While after what felt like 100 curves and quite the scenic view (when Rob let me look out the window... he didn't want me to see the edge), we arrived in the small village of Lushoto nestled high in the Usambara Mountains. Sigh, we made it. Sweat-drenched clothes and dusty-faced Kilcups exited the bus, fended off the traditional local-plea-for-business, and made our way to our new temporary home. This hotel did offer hot water, except only when you went to tell the manager that the water isn't working. I guess that's a good way to save money.
The next day was our mountain adventure. We had a fun and poa (cool) guide named Michael. The journey started in the village market where we grabbed some bananas and mangoes for the journey We then started climbing up. A couple stops on the start of the hike to admire some chameleons. I even let one crawl on my arm for a bit. I am the daughter of Tony Melchiors, that's for sure.
Some men doing what appeared to be VERY hard work
After hiking through a couple villages, passing by women carrying enormous loads on their heads or smiling kiddos, we hit the Magamba (or something along those lines?) rainforest. The hiking was steep and the flies were intense. Beautiful but no monkey spottings.
It was a quick jaunt through the the dense tropical forest and then popped out into the more open land. Michael continued to share about his life, which includes a 10 - 30 km run every morning in the mountains. Amazing. We then hiked to an awesome view and then onto Irente Farm for lunch. Definite highlight. Incredible food. Fancy wheat bread (that didn't look like cardboard), mangoes, carrots, cucumber, goat cheese, swiss cheese, strawberry jam, another mystery-fruit jam and passion fruit juice. Everything tastes good after hiking, but I for sure felt like I was eating like a queen in a picturesque bungalow nestled in the palm trees of the Usambaras.
First viewpoint: Michael and Rob
On the way up to the viewpoint above
Coming down that ridge to head towards the lunch spot / farm
Made it to Irente farm
Getting served up delicious food. Mango in africa = soooo good!
Fueled up, we headed for Irente viewpoint. Up and up until we were at the top looking out to the Pare Mountain range across the way and across countless mountain villages. Beautiful. Peaceful. Rob played with the edge of the cliff (naturally) and I busted out a yoga pose. After we both met those desires and sat in the beauty in quiet for about a half on hour, we were ready to descend. We wound our way out passing through more and more lovely little villages and people. Kids love their photo taken, so I enjoyed the unforgettable giggles and smiles of the school kids gathering around the digital camera to see their picture. Roundtrip the hike was 18 km and a gorgeous and unique hike. Rob Frank was true to his word; these mountains did seem like the swiss alps of Africa. Except I remember the alps covered in snow :). Ah, snow... what a distant thought. Hard to imagine. I'm inside and dripping sweat. Just typing.
little munchkins
school kiddos
usambara homes
heading up
almost there!
made it!
gotta stretch out after those long bus rides :)
typical (below)
heading back down
coffee
These sunflowers reminded of my dear friend, Maggie,
who I thought about every day during my trip.
passed through many villages
and maize fields
back in lushoto
headed to the market. very fresh and organic!
After hiking we had a new friend Michael and a dinner recommendation. He pointed us near the market to where we could find "mama lesha". She would serve us a full meal (meat, veggies, rice, ugali, etc.) for 2,000 shillings. That is just over 1 USD. Not bad. Oh, and Michael might have taught us the only swahili phrase we will remember. "poa kachisy camandisi" (I definitely just botched that spelling), which means "cool and crazy like a banana". So, that's what the young local boys throw out.... and the Kilcups. I guess that means we are poa kachisy camdaisi!
Well ladies and gentlemen, that officially wraps up part 1 of our trip... the adventurous african life. Next we had the relaxation of Zanzibar to look forward to. First we had to get there, though, which in itself is always an adventure over here...
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