Hiking in Uluguru Mountains

This past long weekend (Friday was Zanzibar Revolution Day, a statutory holiday in Tanzania) I tagged along with a group heading out of the city to Uluguru Mountains to hike and camp. The tour was arranged by Afriroots (http://www.afriroots.co.tz/) an outfit that works with local communities to promote responsible tourism and it was so much more than I had expected!

It took us only a few hours to arrive in Morogoro from Dar es Salaam but this part of the country is so lush and green and the air is so sweet that it felt like we had traveled much longer.

I’m not sure I have ever been so sweaty as we hiked up to our campsite – my t shirt was drenched from the exertion and humidity but after reaching our campsite, which was nestled beside an old abandoned colonial German house the mountain breeze soon cooled us off!

The mountains are in fact home to the Luguru tribe who mostly support themselves through farming along the sides of the mountain. As we sweated our way up the steep and narrow trail people would appear out of nowhere carrying lumber or produce on their heads. It made us feel a bit silly huffing and puffing with just our daypacks!

The next day I opted to do the 6 hour hike to the top of the mountain. It was fairly steep and quite a workout for the legs! Unfortunately it was too misty at the top to enjoy the view but we came across a number of natural waterfalls along the way and enjoyed a weary lunch at the top.

That night back at our campsite we enjoyed a lovely campfire and incredible stars and I went to sleep exhausted. As I drifted off to sleep I could hear a faint drumming coming from far off in the distance. The next day as we made our way down we came across the source of this drumming – villagers STILL celebrating the new moon from the evening before. It was a magical moment as I joined in the dancing with some of the women.

It was wonderful to enjoy a weekend away, surrounded by gorgeous landscapes and good company….even if my legs are still sore!