Usambara Mountains

With limited time left in Africa, I decided to forgo southern and western Tanzania (I'll have to do them next time I return) and headed towards the coast. Next stop, the Usambara Mountains. I woke early in the morning to catch a 5am bus from Mwanza to Arusha. The only perk to getting up this early was the sunrise.

This was my first long-distance bus experience I had had in Africa. There were over 700km to cover and the bus driver knew it. Once we got past the police checkpoint outside Mwanza (losing a passenger and his so-called "suspicious bag" in the process), we sped along the open road. And we didn't slow for anything. I had a front row seat for the whole thing.

Slower vehicles in front of us... just keep truckin', switch into the oncoming lane without proper visibility, and pass the sucker. We're the bigger vehicle and even if someone is coming in the other direction we apparently have the right-of-way.

Oh look, the pavement is ending and becoming an incredibly unkept, bumpy, dirt road... so what? Since there are no seatbelts, hope you brought your helmet!

Livestock in the road... hakuna matata. Anyone want beef roadkill for dinner?

Bicyclers or pedestrians on the shoulder... minor inconvenience. Just honk the horn about a gazillion times to let them know you're coming so they can bail into the roadside ditch.

Oncoming semi-truck in our lane, quickly approaching... no biggie. A friendly game of "Chicken" anyone?

We stopped once for 10 minutes for food and the bathroom and that was it. The bus reached Arusha around 5pm and since I had already spent all day on a bus, what's an extra 2 hours to Moshi? I stayed the night in Moshi and then got up early again so I could reach Lushoto and the Usambara Mountains by midday.

With the bus experience of the previous day, I thought I knew what to expect and so was better prepared. I sat further back so I couldn't see what we could or could not crash into and I picked a window seat so I could better control the temperature. (Buses don't have a/c and Africans don't like wind or fresh air meaning bus rides are always hot and stinky). We had only been driving for about 10 minutes when I realized there were still things that I wasn't prepared for. We stopped on the side of the road to pick up a mother and her two kids. The bus was already overflowing with all seats filled and people standing in the aisle. The mother walked as far back as she could, picked up her kid, reached over the man sitting on the aisle next to me, and set her younger child on my lap. Then she proceeded to set her older child on the man's lap and off we went. Nothing strange about that, right?

I was up in the mountains in Lushoto by 1:30pm. I found a guide to take me on a two-day, two-night hike through the area. Then, I picked out a cheap guesthouse for the night. I had heard good things about Lushoto and went out exploring. Typically, the higher you go, the better the view. So, I started walking up, passing through the village and some nice scenery on the way.

I didn't stop until I reached the end of the road and Irente View Cliff Lodge. Worth every uphill step!

The next morning, I met with Philipo and off we went from Lushoto to Langwi.

I stayed the night with the nuns at a Catholic convent in Langwi.

Day 2 we walked from Langwi to Mtae.

Mtae is an amazing little town built on top of the cliffs.

 I took in the sunset at the World Viewpoint.

I woke up extra early (4:15am) to catch the first and only regularly scheduled bus from Mtae back past Lushoto and out of the Usambara mountains. Little did I (or the bus driver or any of the other passengers) know that the lone police officer in town had decided today was the first day that buses couldn't drive this route in the dark. TIA... This is Africa. Not much makes sense. Suffice it to say, at 6am we finally left Mtae.

Click here to see more photos of the Usambara Mountains.