“A day spent on the Pare Mountains can change your life forever”
Elly D.Kimbwereza
Email: Elly.Kimwereza@gmail.com
Pare mountains tourism project envisages linking the jewels of established tourism in Tanzania with the rest of the world. Pare mountains is a charming place even though not enough has been written, printed and said , both in words and pictures.
The mountains have old features, millions of years older than the nearby famous mount Kilimanjaro whereby time has evolved unique flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world . No wonder the Mkomazi National Park on the foot of these mountains is described in scientific publications as having great biological significance, representing one of the richest savannas known in Africa and containing many species found nowhere else in Tanzania and 1/3 of plants classified as unique in the world.
As you drive up the mountains in the lush greenery which surrounds the many hills you find yourself in a place finally that likes to be open to the world. You will be driving on roads carved through the most beautiful landscapes in Africa. We now invite you to these remote Pare mountains where you can walk on steep slopes through our traditional villages, dense rain forest, mountain lake and glittering waterfalls.
Spiritually your visit to the Pare mountains can change your life forever and in the words of one visitor who said “A day spent on the Pare mountains can change your life forever,” and asked how this can be? He replied very confidently as follows, “Its because your soul recognizes that it has come home on these great , beautiful landscapes that look like the edge of the world”
As the world becomes more crowded and people’s lives getting faster and fuller, so the peace and tranquility of the Pare mountains becomes an increasing tourism attraction and as a matter of fact a tourism jewel.
There are many stories and legends as old as the Pare people occupation of the mountains from legendary rocks, clan forests ,traditional religious beliefs and many more.Again it’s a wonder that such a small geographical region embraces several climatic areas such as dry savannah plains, near desert like conditions, cultivated green slopes, lush montane rainforest (Shengena) on the mountain top.
Your days stay in the Pare mountains will provide you with a unique view of a distant and largely unknown culture apart from enjoying the natural features of the hills. The local people are extremely friendly and would like to share your heartbeat with them. They do everything in their power(always with a smile) to show their villages tourist attractions with English speaking Guides as intermediaries, thus imparting cultural information to visitors .Unlike many other places where people have made begging almost a tradition, here you will never meet a beggar other than excited children leaping into the air ,shouting ”Mzungu, Mzungu”. Hands would be thrust to seize yours and shake them as if you just won some motor rally. You my never receive such a welcome anywhere else in Africa.
By creating unique adventure tours in the Pares, the people responsible in the promotion of cultural tourism not only offers visitors an experience that promises to reawaken the soul, but through this encounter they aim to capture the imagination of the worlds discerning traveler of all ages.
Promoting greater consciousness of the possibilities and responsibilities of cultural and other forms of tourism on these fragile ecosystems.
*Elly D.Kimbwereza is the coordinator of Cultural Tourism in the South Pare Mountains Same.