We left Dar es Salaam early on the morning of Tuesday 4 October for the long drive north to theAmani Nature Reserve in the Usambaras Mountains of northern Tanzania. For much of the time we drove through a very poor part of Tanzania with endless ribbon development of square mud huts where people are eking out a living from virtually nothing. Much of life seems to be communal with scrawny goats browsing and grazing where they can and a few chickens scratching in the red earth, polished from endless brushing. The dirt roads were lined with immaculately dressed school children who, we assume, walk for miles to go to school in shifts. The people are generally not very friendly and looked suspiciously at us as we drove past. Considering what they have and what they see in us, this is hardly surprising.
There were small townships along the way where people trade in vegetables, second hand car parts and the inevitable coca cola. As we passed through we became an immediate source of income and were surrounded by hawkers and expectant children. We stopped to buy petrol and were charged for 80 litres. When we got going again we noticed that the fuel gauge was not registering full, as it should have done after a fill up. Our first thought was that we had been ripped off, but a generous second thought was that the fuel gauge was faulty. We waited until the next fill up which showed that the gauge was not faulty and the guy in the first garage had ‘seen us coming’ and fixed the pump to deliver less than its gauge showed! As ever, no proof!
After the heavy traffic of Dar es Salaam in the early morning we made good progress on tar roads towards the small town of Muheza where we left the tarmac and headed for the Usambaras Mountains on a rough dirt road. We had assumed it would take us about an hour to cover the 3000 foot climb along 20 odd miles of track to Emau Hill where we planned to stay but the road conditions were atrocious and nearly two and a half hours later, as dusk was falling, we finally crawled into the campsite.
After the heavy traffic of Dar es Salaam in the early morning we made good progress on tar roads towards the small town of Muheza where we left the tarmac and headed for the Usambaras Mountains on a rough dirt road. We had assumed it would take us about an hour to cover the 3000 foot climb along 20 odd miles of track to Emau Hill where we planned to stay but the road conditions were atrocious and nearly two and a half hours later, as dusk was falling, we finally crawled into the campsite.
The Usambaras Mountains are unique to Tanzania in that they are clad in dense rain forest. The Germans and later the British established a research station here and grew many species of plants and trees. Now the area is a nature reserve.
Then, some 11 years ago, an Englishman called Stephen Valentine met the parish priest of Amani Parish and they decided to form an organisation called ‘Tukae’ (meaning ‘Let us be Together’ in the local Shambaa language) in order to help reduce poverty amongst the people of the Eastern Usambaras Mountains. They are trying to educate the people to be self sufficient and so give them transferable skills like dress making, cooking and cleaning to a standard required in a camp that attracts tourists. To raise money for this venture they established a remote campsite deep in the forest where people can stay. It is an ambitious project but the disadvantage of it is the camp is so remote it can only be reached in a 4 wheel drive vehicle and so cuts down the number of people who can go there. Bird watchers use the campsite as the bird life in the mountains is superb. For us, the area was in such contrast to the arid regions we had visited on our journey through Africa and we revelled in the cool mist and light rain as we walked along the mountain paths near the camp.
The African Violet was first discovered here in these mountains and, although not the season for flowers, we saw the plants growing in profusion out of the rocks.
The same can be said for many plants which we nurture as house plants in the UK which grow here like weeds.
It drizzled for much of our time in the mountains and we could see why the rain forest came into being with so much rainfall each year. Despite all the rain however the collection of water for the campsite is a problem as it lies above the source of the local stream and Jeremy suggested to Stephen that he installs a solar pumping system like that used by Lynne Taylor in Zimbabwe to provide water for the camp.
Then, some 11 years ago, an Englishman called Stephen Valentine met the parish priest of Amani Parish and they decided to form an organisation called ‘Tukae’ (meaning ‘Let us be Together’ in the local Shambaa language) in order to help reduce poverty amongst the people of the Eastern Usambaras Mountains. They are trying to educate the people to be self sufficient and so give them transferable skills like dress making, cooking and cleaning to a standard required in a camp that attracts tourists. To raise money for this venture they established a remote campsite deep in the forest where people can stay. It is an ambitious project but the disadvantage of it is the camp is so remote it can only be reached in a 4 wheel drive vehicle and so cuts down the number of people who can go there. Bird watchers use the campsite as the bird life in the mountains is superb. For us, the area was in such contrast to the arid regions we had visited on our journey through Africa and we revelled in the cool mist and light rain as we walked along the mountain paths near the camp.
The African Violet was first discovered here in these mountains and, although not the season for flowers, we saw the plants growing in profusion out of the rocks.
The same can be said for many plants which we nurture as house plants in the UK which grow here like weeds.
It drizzled for much of our time in the mountains and we could see why the rain forest came into being with so much rainfall each year. Despite all the rain however the collection of water for the campsite is a problem as it lies above the source of the local stream and Jeremy suggested to Stephen that he installs a solar pumping system like that used by Lynne Taylor in Zimbabwe to provide water for the camp.
Kenya
After two days in the mountains we left and embarked on our journey to the border with Kenya. Border crossings take time and endless patience while paperwork in triplicate is checked, rechecked, stamped and sent to another office for the same procedure all over again. The staff do not always seem to recognize the documents, but have to ‘save face’ and so go through all the motions. We have to be very careful as they also wield a lot of power and can refuse us entry into the next country. The quickest crossing to date has taken 2 hours. At the Kenya border the official put the wrong registration number of the vehicle on the insurance document so we had to start all over again!
The early history of Kenya is similar to that of Tanzania in that the Arabs were the first foreigners to reach its shores. Some settled and intermarried and they created the Swahili culture along the coast. The first Europeans to reach Kenya were the Portuguese in 1498. They dominated the coastal regions for some two centuries and introduced maize and cassava but did not penetrate inland.
Kenya came under British control in the 1880s. Subsequently white settlers flocked to Kenya taking over the best land. Indians also arrived about the same time and formed a middle class of traders. The Kikuyu (the main local tribe) responded in 1924 by forming the Kikuyu Central Association under Jomo Kenyatta and this led later to the Mau Mau uprising from 1952 to 1956. The British responded by declaring a state of emergency and British troops were sent out to deal with the insurgency, using concentration camps to detain the Kikuyu until it ended.
In 1963 Kenya became independent and joined the Commonwealth. It now has a population of about 40 million and has become one of the more wealthy countries in Africa. Nairobi, the capital, is the commercial hub of the region and Kenya’s main exports are flowers, coffee and tea. Tourism provides the main source of income, accounting for approximately 65% of GDP.
The frustrations of the border crossing over we set off (in the mid day sun) towards Mombasa and saw an immediate difference. The Kenyan countryside was more fertile, better planted and tended and the whole standard of living was raised a notch. This does not mean prosperous, but there was more feeling of well being and the people were much friendlier and keener to please. By late afternoon we reached our camp site on the coast which was virtually empty - there was only one other tent there! It is a beautiful spot right on the coast some 20 miles south of Mombasa.
Tourism has been badly hit by the activities of the Somalis and it would appear that all advice in the UK at the moment is telling people to avoid the Kenyan coast. We are still south of Mombasa and so fairly far south – we will not venture any further north up the coast and tomorrow will head inland. The locals here are hugely dependent on tourism and all the police are heavily armed so there is an element of desperation and for that reason alone we feel safe as they can not afford for somthing to happen down here.
Tomorrow we leave for Tsavo National Park and then on to see Anne and Mark Simpkin at Timau, some three hours drive north of Nairobi.
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