A little detour on the way back

---

We didn’t just want to drive straight back to Dar. As it was mainly downhill from here on, we didn’t have to worry about delays with overheating of the car. So we went for a detour to a place our hiking guide Francis had recommended, Sakarani Farm on the way down to the valley. Unfortunately it wasn’t just next to the road, but up another mountain, so we had to take some involuntary breaks again to give the engine time to cool down. Sakarani is run by German Benedictine monks and produces wine, macadamia nuts and carpentry works. The head monk (one of the last two Germans there) showed us round and told us about the problems there. We assumed the soil was very fertile, as everything looks very green and vibrant, but he said the ground throughout the Usambara mountains was depleted from over-farming and soil erosion caused by deforestation to win additional farm land. As people don’t build terraces the rain washes the top soil down the mountain. They also finding a market for their macadamias, unlike in Kenya they aren’t popular in Tanzania. We bought at least a few bags each and also some of their wine. He didn’t have any open, so we couldn’t do any tasting. It sounded like it would be better than the Altar Wine we tried on our language training and it was quite cheap, so we thought it was worth the risk.

---

Photos

Sakarani Farm
This might as well be Southern Germany or Austria...