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Published: April 10th 2012
Top waterfall Sonje
30 meters they said but it did not look like it...After leaving Dar es Salam and getting on the bus towards Mangula A (and yes there is both an B and C villages in close proximity) with the Sister and Soudi a.k.a. Shadow we soon realised that this would be the last time we meet in a couple of months. This because of my previously rather ambitious plans of crossing back through Kenya and accompany the Sister from Dar es Salam to her flight home from Johannesburg in the beginning of May. However realising this was not possible we had to make our quick farewells when the bus stopped to let them off. So from now on I’m alone, kind of scary and a little sad but at the same time exiting. The Sister and Soudi dropped an hour before reaching Morogoro and I continued for another six hours before reaching my goal. Found a nice little campsite behind the Mountain View hotel and since the hour was approaching rather late I set up the tent and fell asleap.
Udzungwa Mangula is situated at the foot of the Udzungwa mountain national park which was my goal to reach, a place famous mainly for its primates among
Time for a swim
Nice and cooling at the bottom of Sonje 170meters many being indigenous to Tanzania. It’s also a park for trekkers since you mainly climb up the mountains there are no roads for cars which makes it quiet and beautiful. My original plan was to venture on a longer trek in these mountains carrying tent and food for three days thus being able to reach the summit, however this plan was revised when realising they were playing dirty with the prices. Entry fee 20 USD, guide and ranger 20 USD, these are normal and acceptable but when we come to the camping fees inside the park they slap you in the face with 30 USD per night. And this only to be allowed to set up you own tent on the ground and use the common facilities. Might just be me but I fail to see the logic of this when the campsite just outside the entrance is five dollars per night. So with this in mind I went on two one day safaris instead.
Sonje waterfalls, full circuit The most popular and famous of the routes on the east side of the park. Taking you past three different waterfalls of the Sonje River of which the last
Sonje view point
The largest waterfall in Udzungwa is 170 meters in height, and a very nice place to go for a swim. Saw a number of Red and Black/White Collobus monkeys along with a bunch of the ugly assed baboons. Unfortunately I saw none of the larger animals known to be spotted in these parts such as buffalo and elephant, but we found track from both. Since I’m not that much into primates the main attraction would in my opinion is the magnificently huge trees. And the walking is fantastic, taking you deep into the gradually chillier rainforest and changing flora as you climb higher. The waterfalls was an attraction in themselves especially the last one, a very nice pool for swimming beneath with water of approximately 18
0C making it a nice, slightly chilly swim after the five hour walk to get here. This circuit was 6.2 kilometres long, starting and ending at 200 meters above the sea and reaching up to 800 meters of altitude. Also should be mentioned my guide who was a biologist specialising in the trees of Udzungwa, a lot of information about the medicinal use of bark and roots from different trees used by local shamans. The question arises however how
Bridge over the river ?
17 hours on a train, okay way of transportation compared to buses in Tanzania many of them are really medicinal after mentioning the fifth tree witch cures malaria, or are they simply placebo since a lot of people still die from this dicease?
Campsite three circuit The second day I ventured on a longer and higher walk through the mountains. Staring just opposite my hotel at a campsite called number three, hence the name of the route. Almost as genuine as the Mangula A,B & C... This circuit took 900 above the sea with rather steep slopes during the first two hours. The distance traversed was a total of 14 kilometres and I’m glad I took the real walking boots this day because it was rather taxing to the legs and feet. The main attraction for the day was another waterfall located near the summit of the walk, could get much closer to the actual waterfall here compared to yesterday. Apart from this, large amount of colourful birds, tracks from both elephants and buffalo but no luck this day either so no actual animals of size. Found a centipede, one of the colourful fellows with a poison fatal to humans. As I mentioned before the enjoyment of this kind of Safari is
Fish transport
I wonder i Bus4you would agree with this transportation. Also inside the bus was large weaving baskets with semi-fresh fish. The smell after five hours was quite something greater than bumping around in a car, you get an actually feeling you’re doing something . Also this day provided us with a rather painful experience involving black ants. At one point the guide suddenly tells me “okay now we have to run”. And with no further explanation we set of for a scramble up the steep path stopping after 50 meters, and this is when the biting started... Apparently a tree had gotten pulled down unearthing a large colony of black ants. These fellows are usually rather easy to avoid since they travel in specific paths but his disturbance had caused them to be evenly spread over 30 meters of our designated walking path. The result in any case ending in the four of us standing around for ten minutes cursing, undressing and cursing some more about the tenacity of these small devils!
Ifakara However leaving Udzungwa after these lovely days to catch the train leaving Ifakara the next day, the train also stopped in Mangula A and B but I had some time to kill and also needed an ATM. My guide from Udzungwa put me in touch with his uncle, a very sympathetic Rasta, who
Varan
At Kilombelo river let me crash at his place during my stay. Now here in Ifakara is the first time I ever encountered the phenomenon of a mobile bank branch. They actually put a small office and an ATM on a truck that drives around from town to town since there is no profit in opening permanent instalments. Unfortunately the ATM was broken, and I was really broke. But as luck had it planned my landlord was a rather wealthy man and he offered to change some of my emergency dollars into shilling making it possible for me to get the train to Mbeya. If you ask me I say his fortune comes from being the local distributor and dealer in marijuana but that might just be speculation based on the delivery of a rather large plastic bag of this dried plant
Cannabis sativa and the wad of cash produced from his pocket, similar to those used in the movie lock, stock and two smoking barrels. During the day I had to wait for the train we rented a couple of bikes and set off towards the Kilombelo River for some canoeing. The hope was to see crocodiles and hippos but we had
Ferry service Kilpmbelo River
Not quite like the line ferries back home... to be satisfied with three kinds of kingfishers, Black Herons and a Varan. Also we tried to lure the crocs out by taking a bath in this river known to inhabit them, however not even the lure of live human bait got them interested...
Nigh time fell and being slightly stressed of the fact that I was 20 minutes late for the train which was said to pass by Ifakara at 9 p.m., afraid I would miss it and be forced to wait for another four days. I only had to wait for 1hrs 50min before its arrival and another 40 minutes before it departed the station. The western way of time perception is still rather stuck in my head which will be made abundantly clear below.
Fast travelling Now after getting on the train to Mbeya I had with help from local sources and people with better internet speed back home pieced together that my goal was Kasanga and that the Liemba river boat left this port every Friday to cruise northwards along Lake Tanganyika towards Kigoma. So with this information in mind I left Ifakara on Wednesday morning at 1 a.m. arriving to Mbeya 4
Live bait
Slightly sceptical p.m. the next day. In Mbeya I had the number for another Rasta (yes there are a lot of them and they all seem to know each other) who directed me to his guesthouse. Arriving there I immediately set of to find internet and ATM. Wolfing down some food with my landlord for the night I got the information that there was a bus for Sumbawanga at 6 a.m. and from there I could get to Kasanga port. Since today now was Wednesday night I felt slightly that time was running short if I should make it to the ship in time. The bus for Sumbawanga, catching it as it was rolling out of the terminal, drove like a genuine madman. The driver managed to knock the breath out of the whole back of the bus a number of times by not slowing down when reaching large bumps in the road but actually increasing speed. This leaving us at the back sitting in the air for half a second and then being slammed into our seats as this bus with broken suspension made contact with the ground again. Some angry shouts arose but the insane trip continued in the same
Kids
Usually the kids are the nicest people here, except for the Muzungu part. And the love "pica picta" manner... Lucky to arrive safely I immediately started asking for transport to Kasanga since now the boat was to arrive tomorrow morning. After being run around a while, with the usual excuse “no there is no more transport today, you should by a ticket with my company for tomorrow”. I found a minibus to take me there. Six hours later I arrived to Kasanga after 14 hours of bus during one day. “Checked” into a guesthouse, had to sleep in the common room since al of the rooms were full for the night, this to the delight of every mosquito within 200 meters! Next morning I get the surprise when I start asking around for the ferry service. The boat has reduced its schedule and now only leaves every second Friday, and naturally not this Friday, however this information is not yet posted on the internet since the change was only made six months ago. So here to the reoccurring subject, NEVER stress while travelling Africa!
Muzungu Muzungu Muzungu Muzungu Muzungu Muzungu Muzungu Muzungu in Kasanga!!! Well accepting my faith and stupidity I settled down to enjoy
myself at the shores of the beautiful Lake Tanganyika. No harm
Kids
Mostly they are adorable!!! in actually relaxing a little when travelling. And one week here passed rather uneventful with good weather, disgustingly oily food and a nice cool lake to swim in. However I freaked out a little bit on Tuesday after spending four days here without electricity and no books and decided to take a trip back to Sumbawanga and return on Wednesday. Talk about desperation travelling for total 10 hours to get electricity and possibly even internet along with some variation in scenery. But the main reason for escaping Kasanga for a while was the unending shouts of Muzungu as soon as I moved anywhere outside the guesthouse. I know that people here don’t see it that way and that they are grown up with calling white people just white people (Muzungu) without feeling this at being wrong. But they are aware of racism in the other direction because talking to people down here about the problem and suggesting I should start addressing them as “black man” in response or something similar is met with the reaction that this would be offensive. However the problem comes with the kids to which you can’t really explain this. Sure you can accept them calling
you white for a while but after two days you think they might get used to seeing you around and maybe start saying hello when you make an effort to greet them. But no, they stubbornly insist on calling out Muzungu no matter what you say. They say it on average 20 times during the time it takes to walk past them, and imagine the choir when there are 10 children following you constantly repeating the same word like a broken CD. No wonder you try to get away from them by walking far off for hours or actually staying in the guesthouse when you should be outside. However after learning where you live they start coming into the guesthouse grounds calling Muzungu when you sit peacefully trying to relax or eat some fruit. Waking up in the morning to hear children outside calling for “white man”, and asking them to stop doesn’t work, not in English nor Swahili. Chasing them away is only met but fearful delight and any other attempt leaves you with no results. So now you see that my desperation was not only to get electricity it was also to escape the broken CD. However before
Liemba
View from top deck aft. Some small storm coming out from Tanzania on the starboard. leaving, I blatantly started ignoring any calls for Muzungu from anyone whether they were from children or 80 year old grandmothers. Sometimes it took the time to say “Muzungu hamna, rafiki tafadali, sawa”, which roughly would translate to “not white man, call me friend please, got it?” After returning from the trip to Sumbawanga it got a wonderful surprise. One girl I met in the street, age approximately 10 years called me rafiki. Greeting her happily and moving on to ignore the rest of the kids standing around still calling me muzungu made this take root. After two more days people called me rafiki as often as muzungu which made me extremely happy, and also I admit, a little bit proud. But now my stay in Kasanga has reached its end because the next Friday has arrived, and I have to say, not one day too soon!
The Liemba As far as river boats go this one is one of the oldest still in service. She launched in 1913 and has been sailing the Tanganyika since then, or so people in the staff tell me. With her 175 feet and classic design she’s a very nice ship with
Cargo stowing
And you should only see when they lift these things onboard. Never walk under hanging load and such rules don't really apply here room for a lot of cargo and passengers of, like the Titanic, three classes. Oh don’t go there you might say, making the likeness between your means of transport for the next two days on the second deepest lake in the world to that of a ship that sank tragically. But since you’re reading this I’m safely on shore after a nice 50 hours cruise. To summarize: I love being on water, doesn’t matter if it’s fresh or salt as long as it’s water! So the price for foreigners travelling from Kasanga to Kigoma was 95 USD for first class. For this you get a shared cabin for two, shared bathroom but washbasin in the room. No extreme luxury but very comfortable. My bunkmate was a guy from Rwanda who spent his two days on the boat by being piss drunk from morning to night, sleeping two hours midday to have the energy to continue drinking.
The trip in itself offers spectacular view of Tanzania to starboard and the shadowy silhouette of the Congo (DCR) on the port side. The ship puts into many small villages to take on passengers and cargo, and yes even the ships are packed
Sunset
Lovely with some rainbow reflections in the centre clouds Africa style like all other vehicles here. To summarize the cargo in approximate numbers : 100 tons of concrete in the bulk, 50 tons of corn and corn flour in mid ship cargo hold and on top of everything approximately 40 baskets of dried fish each of which measuring one cubic meter and weighing approximately 300 kilograms. Apart from this t is allowed to take 600 passengers of which 500 is in third class. The boat stopped, like I mentioned, in villages along the way. Some of these didn’t have any land way joining them to the inland but relying only on boat transport. My first thought was that this was an interestingly picturesque way of living once life with not too much influence from the outside world. However the less positive side of this living was shown as we stopped in one village to pick up sick kid of maybe 10 years in need of hospitalization. Probably malaria, didn’t feel it appropriate to inquire. Unfortunately it was too late as he passed away two hours before reaching Kigoma.
The days on the boat passed very lazily simply walking around the boat, enjoying both sunrise and sunset from the top deck. During this journey I also meet up with two German guys volunteering in northern Zambia, currently travelling during the school holidays, Joanna and Christian. Always nice to share stories and also, among other, to practice exit board procedure from the ship. This was done by jumping from the top roof. Also this meant we had to improve our piracy skills by scaling the outside of the ship using fender lines and railings. This if anything surely fuels the local’s stories about white people being crazy for real behaving like madmen. The journey passed otherwise smoothly with some minor thunderstorm to pass through. Not too much rough sea and mostly very nice weather meaning that I, like always, look like a cocked shrimp... After arrival in Kigoma we (me and the two Germans decided to travel to Rwanda together) found our way to a nice little guesthouse were I decided it was time to catch some food poisoning, funfunfun!!!
Now this entry is nearing its end, however I have not yet said particularly much concerning the rainy season in Africa as promised, this because there is very little to say. Maybe I’m lucky but the few times the skies have opened I have had good shelter above my head and the times this have happen can still be counted on fingers only. And I should also add that now were back in real time. This post is made from Kigoma unlike the last one that I had to wait for three weeks before finding a connection that agreed with what I wanted it to do.
But now enough for this time, next time we’ll change countries!
Take care in the lovely spring back home!
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Beebwa
non-member comment
Mzungu
\"Mzungu\" does'nt mean \"white person\". It started being used in the 19th century when European explores started criss-crossing East and Centraal Africa, looking for the source of the River Nile. The African tribes whose lands the white explorers passed through didn't know what these white people were looking for, so they simply referred to them as \"mzungu\"(singular), \"wazungu\" (plural). This comes from the Bantu verb \"kuzunguka\" which means \"to go (or walk) round and round\". As far as the Africans were concerned, these white people were just going round and round, without a purpose, or so it seemed. The word \"mzungu\" does not mean \"whiteman\". The etymology of \"mzungu\" makes the meaning closer to \"vagabond\".