Day 2

Leaving Dar es Salaam

Driving in Tanzania is sometimes like a crazy adventure. On the streets you will find all vehicles from slow three wheeled ‘Tuktuks’ or ‘Bajajis’ as they are called locally, and buses (of all kinds) to fast big cars and four wheeled drives. All mixed together with lots of pedestrians who are jumping in between. Our guide and driver Mr. Arnold F. Kihama - from Savannah Tours did a great job in getting us through this mess. He easily maneuvered us out of Dar es Salaam and on our way to Lushoto.

For the first week of my trip Fawwad Hamid Mahmud is driving with us. He works for Kempinski and knows Tanzania like his trousers pocket. We were heading towards Lushoto, a town in the Usambara Mountains.

The green country

Outside Dar es Salaam I once was more amazed at how green this country actually is. We saw endless panoramas of green fields, huge palm trees and banana trees and a vast variety of other plants. The villages we were passing through fit perfectly in this picture. Many of the buildings are built in the traditional style of wood, clay and banana leaves or “chelewa” broom covered roofs.

Lushoto

As we arrived in Lushoto we were already surrounded by grass covered mountains with deep cliffs, rocks, waterfalls - and extremely small, muddy ways. At this point I realized why it was advisable to have a 4WD. Every standard car would have been stuck after a few meters. But we made our way easily and checked into the beautiful Lushoto Executive Lodge. It is located some kilometres outside Lushoto - a very calm and peaceful residence.

Testing the 4WD

Because we had so much fun driving on narrow tracks we went on a tour with the safari 4WD car. We ended up in a remarkable camping site. It is located on the top of a mountain. You can put your tent next to a cliff few hundred meters deep. A fantastic view - but you have to definitely think about which direction you leave your tent …
Jakob - who works at the camping site - recommended a lot of things to do here; like hiking in the mountains, bathing in the waterfall basins and much more. We will leave tomorrow - but this region is definitely worth another visit.

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Green fields on the way from Dar es Salaam to Lushoto

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4 Wheel Drive with special safari equipment

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Savannah Tours: One of our partners for guide, driver and car

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Still no wild beasts but this lovely goat

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A hut with “chelewa” broom covered roof

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View in the Usambara Mountains

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View from the Irente Viewpoint at ca. 1300m height

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Arnol from Savannah Tours is enjoying the view from Irente Viewpoint

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Jakop sits on a terrace that belongs to the Irente Farm camping ground

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Fog takes the sight from the viewpoint

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Plants on the Irente Farm

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View from the Irente Viewpoint

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View from the Irente Viewpoint