Hiking Above The Clouds, Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

(These blog entries run in chronological order from the bottom of the page)











Today, we get up very early. A few us leave at 8AM to go on a hike. The sun is shining and the air is reasonably cool for this hour. As soon as the sun rose higher, it began to get very hot. We ascend the mountain along a dusty rust road. Along the way we meet a woman who is outside a very small brick building. She is holding a large green fruit. It's skin has a prickly texture. We pay her for a piece of the fruit. She cuts it open with a machete. It's a jackfruit. We're given oil to rub onto our hands before touching the fruit. This is because the centre of the fruit contains a glue like substance. It tastes like a combination of a number of tropical fruits. Mango, banana and pineapple. It tastes nicer than it smells. It's very chewy also. We have chai tea inside the tiny building, then continue walking in the sweltering heat for another four hours until we arrive at the Irente cheese farm.

A Norwegian lady owns and runs the cheese farm. We have lunch in the shade here, at wooden tables under a canopy. Lunch consists of quark (a soft type of cheese containing garlic and herbs), various other types of cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, fresh homemade soda bread and passion fruit juice. I'm distracted by a rhinoceros beetle. It reminds me of very tiny dinosaur. On our hike in the Usambara mountains, we also discover an amazing view from a cliff edge which overlooks the vast Maasai steppe. We're as high as the few welcome clouds and it's breathtaking.

In Lushoto town, which is down the hill from the hotel, I post some postcards. I see prisoners being marched into the prison - the main door of which leads onto the main street. I run into a couple of more people from the main group. We wander through a large bustling market, where people tailor clothes on the spot.. there's fruit.. vegetables. It's a busy place. We take a short cut back to the hotel. We get a little bit lost and end up on the back streets of a hilly poorer part of town. We do get some strange glances from the locals. We make it back. The second night we stay in the Usambara Mountains, I pay $20 for a room in the hotel. I have a four poster bed and a spacious room to myself. No tent for me tonight. Luxury.