Living with Sunburn: Wanafunzi on Vacation: October 2-10

During the weeklong midsemester break, we got the chance to see anything we wanted in Tanzania. So six of us plotted to return to Zanzibar for a quick weekend, then head up North to Lushoto, a town way up in the Usambara Mountains of Northeastern Tanzania.

We hopped on the on the Zanzibar ferry almost immediately after our Ecology midterm (well, we hopped on a dala-dala to Mwenge, then a crowded-hot-sweaty-butt in face-bus to Posta, walked to the seaport, then got on the ferry). We stayed in Stone Town for the night, but took off for a resort on the northern end of the island the next day. It was called Sunset Resort. The Sunset looked like this:

The following day, we went snorkeling with a dhow full of other tourists. It was my first time, and I found it to be quite fun after I stopped hyperventilating. The dhow is a "traditional sailing vessel," though ours was powered by a motor to save time. We stopped off of a private island about a half-mile from the Zanzibar shoreline. We weren't allowed to go near it, even the beach. Apparently, Jay-Z spent around one million USD to rent it once. A little patrol boat kept an eye on us the whole time.

The next night, we stayed at a place called Jambiani, which literally means "place of Arab knives." I didn't see any while we were there, but the sunrise looked this:

Jambiani had great pilau (spiced rice, usually with meat, potatoes, sometimes raisins and other stuff). The establishment we stayed with shares the beach with the local residents, so after sunrise we watched the fishermen come and ready their boats as the tide came in.

After booking it back across the ocean to Dar Es Salaam, we spent a night with our host families before waking up at 4:30 AM to board the bus to Lushoto. The Ubungo bus terminal is extremely confusing for those who have never experienced it before. Buses depart from Ubungo for destinations all over Tanzania. The station is basically a large parade ground with hundreds of buses packed in bumper-to-bumper and side-to-side. Fortunately, the minibus driver we hired to take us to the station took the time to help us find us find the half a dozen or so buses going to Lushoto. He spoke no English, but his Swahili was particularly clear, and I think he recognized how screwed we were, given that it was still dark out, we were totally lost, and the six of us were already huffing a lot of diesel fumes.

When the bus finally left, we had been watching a bootleg, poorly subtitled showing of the American film classic "10,000 BC" on the mounted TV. The diesel fumes helped. We had a safe ride, though we saw a crashed bus on the way, and Brendan became an exceptionally unfortunate victim of the East African norm of picking one's nose in public. The finale of the ride was a harrowing 90 minutes up into the Usambara Mountains to get to Lushoto.

On our way to a viewpoint after arrival, Brendan and Scott played with some watoto. The kids were fun, but a couple threatened to start hurling rocks when they found out we didn't have zawadi (gifts).

The view from the viewpoint.

Our friend's camera hand was a little shaky, but we were having a good time.

Some the villages are quite high up.

There are lots of chameleons in the Usambaras. The locals are aware that wazungu have a bizarre fascination with them, and often pointed them out to us.

A view of Mombo, the junction for traffic heading off the main road into the mountains.

The picture says it all.

Thomas, an "unauthorised guide" whom we picked up while wandering through a village. He turned out to be great. He knew some excellent hiking trails, and spoke pretty good English. Afterwards, he took us to his house to meet his mom, who was very nice, as most Tanzanian moms are.

In Lushoto we stayed at Irente Farm, a self-sufficient organic farm started by the Lutherans (they're everywhere, right?). They make excellent cheese (which is generally difficult to come by in Tanzania), delicious coffee, and homemade bread and granola. Possibly the best food I've had in Tanzania to date. Also, the chicken curry was incredible.