News from the Serengeti was quite positive. The rest of the group got to see many great sights and stay and wonderful lodges. The road in the Serengeti was kak though, so the whole affair was quite tiring. Highlights include a pride of 24 lionesses and they’re cubs around the vehicles (Johan showed me a few shots from his camera. Damn nice!). Marieke asked one of the guides if she can’t take one with her. Beatrice, the guide calmly replied: “Sure, why don’t you ask the mother?”. Having seen pics of “mother”, I doubt she’s a lady that likes to be trifled with. So much muscle and sinew, and she was just at rest!
Last night Dirk and the crew made a deal with Godwin, one of the tour guides to show us the area around Marangu, one of the spots at the base of Kilimanjaro. After that, we can drop him off at home, a village close by. We would have left today for Kenya already, but we need to hold tight another day. An ATM swallowed Dirk’s card during the safari and a replacement will be available for pick up on Monday (i.e. tomorrow). I need to apply for THAT kind of banking service! Suits me just fine, I want Luca to sell me some tanzanite and he doesn’t deal on a Sunday. We can try and do a deal tomorrow morning first thing instead.
We’re all ready to go for our day trip (rather, I know NOW it was a day trip. Both Annelie and I thought it would be a quick 2 hours or so...) by nine sharp and head out on the same road we took yesterday, that leads to Moshi.
Anecdote: Moshi means Smoke in Swahili. This is from Kilimanjaro’s volcanic activity years ago and because that damn mountain is almost perpetually covered in clouds (or rather, looks like it’s smoking).
Today is no different. All overcast, no Biggest Mountain in Africa(tm) to be seen. I’m beginning to think it’s all a damn lie! Moshi is more of the same beautiful lush trees and greenery, but clearly a city planner was actually present when they built it (as opposed to Arusha’s slapdash layout). The roads are well kept and Godwin (who now broadcasts live over the 2-ways) tell us that this is because of the colonials that planned and developed Moshi back in the day. So lots of access roads to the city centre. Traffic is much calmer here too for it too. Still no sign of Kili.
Godwin treats us to few anecdotes and pertinent pieces of info about the surrounding area. Before long we arrive at Makuru, one of the many angles of approach to Kilimanjaro. There is a waterfall here that he says we should check out. He’s brother also has a restaurant here. There are other industries present, a few lumber mills, stands for what are possibly markets during the week, furniture manufacturers (amazing what they do with zero to no tools), a joinery and cafe’s. We park off and walk along the pathway until we enter a rich forest area. It’s quite sunny by this stage and the clouds show signs of clearing up. The path is a gentle 10 degrees upwards slope and Annelie take the opportunity to run up it, making sure to ask Godwin which way she should go once she reaches the top. Off she goes (clearly she has too much pent up energy).
I’m taking a more relaxed approach, allowing the rest of the group to carry on a ahead while I stroll and admire the aura of the place. Very calming effect, the trees. They also have a pine plantation here (first I’ve seen in Tanzania). Explains all the pine used for the furniture back where we parked. I snap a few pictures for posterity.
At the top there is a little office and a slightly winded Annelie. We pay for admission, about 2000 Tsh each. The office is basically at the top of the waterfall, and you can hear the roar of the water from here. They have a little cultural heritage exhibition here too, but the works of arts look a little beat. We enter a little cove that leads down stone stairs all the way down to the waterfall. Very nice, not the biggest waterfall I’ve ever seen (it aint no Victoria Falls, for instance) but still a very nice site. Shoes off, sit on a rock in the water and appreciate the waterfall. After a quick crash course in how to use my camera, Godwin snaps a few pics of us. Water is refreshingly cold as we stand in the middle centre of the pool, brrrr! Gingerly walk back to terra firma, put our shoes back on and back up the stairs.
It so happens that Godwin’s brother owns the restaurants where we parked, and before we went down to the waterfall the rest of the guys order 1.5 KG’s of lamb. I took one look at the meat, flies and all and Annelie and I decided, um, no. We’ve just recovered whatever the hell we had, so not again. So when we got back to the parking lot, we took a seat at one of the tables outside and enjoyed a nice cold beer, Kilimanjaro. I’ve had Kilimanjaro lager before, but not AT Kilimanjaro! So, that was cool :)
Food arrives and it actually doesn’t look half bad. They seem to have deep fried it or something, so all the bugs should be dead. I try some (very tiny piece). Not bad, quite tasty. They serve it with chips and a homemade chilli sauce. Chips in Africa is ALWAYS good, and usually a safe bet. Goes well with the chilli and the cool beer.
Next stop is just past the gate into the Marangu national park and reserve, where climbers approaching the mountain from this side meet up to begin their adventure. Lots of hawkers tying to sell us trinkets as we enter, the drive up to the gate was very picturesque, a winding slope further up the mountain. There is a large group packing gear on a patch of grass here, all directed by a gentlemen in a red jumper. These aren’t the climbers, they’re the bearers! Chat the guy, Nyatta about it. They’re taking 14 guys up, each with their own day packs, and then 45 bearers for the equipment. Cookers, mess hall tents, plates, forks, cups, climbing gear, you name it. Each bearer carries on average 20kg’s.
They do 6, 7, 8 and 9 day summits. They prefer the 9 day ones, since they get a 96% success rate on those tours. Most of the bearers have done the summit over 50 times. Needless to mention, they are supremely fit. Annelie in the meantime had a one to one session with one of the guys, James. He’s a vet, seen this movie at least 200 times, 24 times this year alone, 26 years old. Their conversation started with the climbing of the mountain, how many folks die during these trips, how many people go crazy, how many they have to race down the mountain due to lack of oxygen (on these improvised stretcher-cum-cart contraption, with one bicycle wheel. Their conversation turns to more cultural discussions, as the other guys start teasing him for talking to Annelie. James explains that in the African psyche, there is only “I have or I don’t have”. And if you are married to someone, you own them. So if someone else talks to your possession, you get very aggressive. She thanks him for the insight.
We snap a few pics of all the hustle and bustle. Also get a cool pic of the guys and their rental shop for mountain gear. Quite cheap, £215 dollars for everything. Incidently, if you’re keen on doing say a 8 day summit, excluding the gear you can expect to pay around $2200.
It’s about 14:45 or so when we leave there to head to Godwin’s house, about 8Km’s from here. He has a little piece of land there where he farms everything, coffee, bananas, berries and beans.
Anecdote: there are roadworks everywhere. In every African country thus far there are massive road building projects. But what's weird is that they don’t start and finish segments of it, but fuck up the WHOLE road at once. Good for whoever is getting paid a fortune to do it, bad for us. We also think the governments of theses countries use it as political ammo. “See, we’re improving infrastructure”. What they don’t mention is that they’ve been at it for 10 years now, what should have taken 4, and very little good asphalt to show for it.
Anyway, as you can gather, more roadworks and bad roads to Godwin’s house, earth moving equipment and cowboys driving big huge rickety trucks. At least they smile and wave while their driving you off the road.
The rocket scientists running this particular stretch of the African road building cluster-fuck managed to bulldoze the entrance to his place, so good thing we have these big bad 4x4’s. I would have never guessed there even was an entrance. It looks like if you where to hang a right there, you’ll be going extreme bush whacking into a tropical forest of huge banana trees en thick underbrush. Turns out, there is a small tunnel and dirt road through it all, with little forks to 3 or 4 houses off to the right and left. Totally hidden away! Lots of farms lands, corn, etc and people at work in the fields.
We arrive at a little parking area and Godwin takes us on the tour of his farm. They’re about 4 brothers, all sharing a fairly large patch of land between them. He points out the borders where his brothers plot ends and his starts, I can’t tell the difference. What I can tell is that we are witnessing extreme intensive farming! Banana trees, heavy with bananas dominate, with little banana trees growing next to them. Godwin says to cut off the bunch they cut down the whole tree instead. By that time, the little tree next to it is ready to start bearing fruit. The soil here is INCREDIBLE. Underneath the canopy of banana trees grow coffee plants, a type of potato plant, beans, think I say some cabbage too. Big BIG SUPERBIG Avo trees are all over too. Godwin reckons at present they harvest about 500KG’s of coffee beans, but in 2 years he can up that to a 1000. At 2000 TSH a KG, that’s pretty good going. Still cheap, I bought 250g for 6000 in town.
They pick the berries, once they’re red and dry them in the sun for 3 days before selling it on to the cooperative for the roasting and whatever blending they do.
There are also 2 graveyards here. Earlier in the day Godwin mentioned that it’s custom for family members to be buried in private burial grounds at home, this way they can be maintained better. The groves are very well manicured and immaculate, glowing white crosses on the white stone graves, fresh flowers put out.
We get to his house and are greeted by his lovely wife, Susan. There is a tiny banana tree next to a high hedge surrounding his house, little patch of grass growing quite well in this fertile soil. He explains that the little banana tree is a lightning rod, and there is another on the other side of the house. Lightning storms is a big deal around here...
We’re invited to sit in the lounge and are served drinks. The hospitality of the African people still blows me away. Susan has prepared a green banana stew which she implores us to try. Green bananas taste almost exactly like almost cooked potato, and the lamb in the stew was quite nice. And the house is very very beautiful. A modest one to be sure, but the finishing is quite pretty. The ceiling especially is made from a mosaic of very dark wooden slats. I ask the obvious question: how did you get all the cement, glass, wood and building material down here? With a lot of effort, he laughs. He and his brothers built the house, just like all their houses. Very very impressive.
Our drinks done, we thank our most gracious hosts and walk to the vehicles. A side note here about Godwin: he has a very friendly, open demeanour, very humble. The others mentioned before that his field knowledge is unsurpassed and that he’s read on the animals is truly amazing. One instance was when from a distance he say a troupe of zebra and said “there are lions over there”. They asked how he can tell and he said he can see by their body language (they weren’t running away or storming or anything, to the untrained eye they were just grazing). Sure enough, lions, 3 o’clock. Another time: lots of cars down the road. Godwin says “there is a cheetah there”. Obvious, since there are lots of vehicles gathered round, and a very high tree. Sure enough, there she was. It’s clear to me also how much general knowledge he possesses. And clearly he’s a most excellent farmer.
We say our goodbyes and promise to name his name if other folks ever want to come to Tanzania for a safari.
On the way to Arusha, Kilimanjaro just peeks through the cloud. As we go along, the clouds start clearing up more and more. Finally, I get to fire of a few pics of the elusive giant! Frame a few from the top of the bullet, standing on the spare tire and Annelie has to stop every few hundred meters so that I can get another angle. “Just one more shot”, I say. Just one more, this time with the sunflower fields. Oh oh, and this one, framed by these massive trees. Oh, stop stop stop, I can see the entire ice cap, I simply must put my 70-200 with the 2x extender to work!
I can do this all day, and in this golden lights from the setting sun... well. I can really do this all day.
The balance is that we arrive back at the Roika’s quite later than usual. I’m making chilli con carne tonight, my speciality. Yesterday we were at Shoprite again and I bought all the ingredients. First time I’ve made it in a cast iron cauldron on a little gas stove, but it was a huge hit, even by my standards. A subtle hint of chilli, just enough for a mild afterburn. I need to be subtle, since Annelie won’t heat a really hot one.
Off to bed by 22:00. Tomorrow we have to scramble a bit to get all our gear packed up, Dirk to get his card and I want to get Luca down to his offices first thing to try and buy some Tanzanite. But for now, it’s sleepy time.
Highlights: Seeing Kilimanjaro for the first time, having a Kili on Kili.
Godwin’s farm and proof of how upwardly mobile people can truly be should they choose to do so.
Lalla salama...
[G & A], out
Interplanetary, extra ordinary
