Southern Pare Mountains
I wrote this yesterday, but I was out of internet range so I’m posting it today.http://jminafrica2010.blogspot.com/2010/08/southern-pare-mountains.html
I’m currently in the village of Mbaga in the Southern Pare Mountains, about 100 miles or so southwest of Moshi. The mountains rise abruptly out of the plains, and are very steep and rugged. Getting here was its own interesting process, which perhaps I’ll write about on a slow day. I’m staying at the Tona Lodge, a very basic lodge started and run by a local man, Elly Kimbwereza, as an effort to bring tourists to this part of the country and to provide some economic development to his village. Elly is very smart, educated, a great conversationalist with a wry sense of humor. The lodge is built around a couple of houses which he has connected with a veranda/balcony. The facilities are very simple concrete buildings, with a sort of funky, home-made feel. But the beds are comfortable, the food is good traditional African cooking (rice, stew, bananas, ugali, chapati) and the atmosphere is extremely friendly and casual. There have been a few other guests, mostly young European backpacker-types and two young Tanzanian women who are students at a nearby university, studying cultural tourism.
The Tona Lodge
The dining room, which got a bit chilly in the evenings
The balcony/breakfast-room
Yesterday we walked around a bit in the morning. It was market day, so we checked out the local market, where women put out their vegetables, dried fish, clay pots, and various other items. Since the entire village is perched on a hillside that must be at least a 45-degree angle, the market was on a sort of terraced area, where the women put their things on cloths on the ground. We also went to see a new building Elly is putting up, to be a somewhat more luxurious tourist lodge. I’m a bit perplexed about how he’s going to market this new lodge, and I think he may be too.
Mbaga Market
The new “luxury” Tona Lodge, under construction.
Later, I went on a hike — sort of training my leg in preparation for the rhino project to come. It was quite arduous, lots of ups and downs on a fairly precarious path. My guide was a young woman who lives in the village. She has a husband and two children, she works as a guide, and she has returned to school to finish up her secondary-school diploma. Part of my goal was to see birds, which are said to be abundant here. However, I spent all my time watching my feet, so I didn’t see any birds if you don’t count chickens. I did see a brilliant green feather on the ground, which is promising, I suppose. We wound up the mountain through various small farms, past bananas and sugar cane and sweet potatoes, small houses, goats and chickens.
Not a great picture of my guide Gertrude among the banana trees.
We came to a large rock promontory called “Malameni”. This promontory has a rather gruesome story attached to it: traditionally, if a family had a small child with a mental problem, they would wait until the child was asleep, carry it to the top of the promontory, and leave it. When the child woke up, it would crawl around until if fell off. I wish I didn’t know. Now you probably do, too.
Malameni
Last night one of the other guests had an attack of what turned out to be malaria. It was quite alarming, and I had the experience of going to the local dispensary at 10 PM to fetch the nurse and get some medicine. The night nurse was a slow-moving older woman with a philosophical attitude, but she seemed to know her stuff. She provided anti-nausea medicine and rehydration salts. Next day, the malaria test was done, and anti-malarial drugs (a series of three quinine shots to the buttocks) provided. It’s a good incentive for me to remember to take my Larium.
Today’s hike was along the road; the destination was an overlook from which you can see in all directions and, I am told, you can see Mt. Kilimanjaro on a clear day. Really, though, it was a walk past schools and shops and houses, being greeted by so many people that I began to lose my ability to respond. I have the feeling that these folks are working to provide interesting hiking destinations, and this one didn’t really stand the test, but we did find a chameleon crossing the road. I picked it up on a couple of twigs and gave it a lift so it wouldn’t get run over by a scooter. Still very few birds.
Chameleon, Saved From Death by Motorcycle
Tomorrow it’s back to Moshi; the daladala leaves here at 5:00 AM for Same, from which I’ll take a bus to Moshi. I do not know why there is one daily daladala that leaves at that hour, but that seems to be the fact.