Times in Tanzania: Kindoroko Trip VIII

Clouds over the mountains.

Our last trip to Kindroko came with great risk, as it is now the peak of rainy season. We'd gotten rained on a bit during other trips (Part I,Part II,Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI ) but this trip we weren't so lucky! (note, trip VII was with my family but I didn't document it here...)

Since we are often so active taking trips on weekends, the arrival of the rainy season has quite literally dampened our spirits. The rains can not only spoil the day but they also make many of the roads impassable or difficult to navigate. The rain can also be very unpredictable with sunny skies in the morning giving way to constant rain and vice versa. So we have to plan to go places that are nearby in case we have to evacuate and head back home.

We decided that rain or shine, Kindoroko is always a nice place for us to go. Even if the rain is torrential, we can always hole up in the guesthouse and read, which is an activity both of us enjoy. I was also adamant that even if it was raining we could at least walk an hour with the promise of a hot shower (bucket) and dry clothes back at the guesthouse.

I'm happy I had a positive attitude towards the potential rain because that is exactly what happened. We drove through the rain to arrive Friday night and woke up Saturday to a drizzle. We decided to head up the mountain and get at least an hour of hiking in. Unfortunately the roads were so bad that we couldn't make it up the normal route and we had to park the car and walk about an hour to the trail head. This was my allocated "hour in the rain" but we pressed on to the forest.

We only made it about an hour before we both realized it was more trouble than it was worth. Although the forest is amazing in the rain, it was a little too much and we were a little too wet. We went back to our friend's house and although they thought we were crazy for hiking in the rain, they welcomed us with the customary hot chai and this time they even served us some food, the local staple of ugali with fish. The family shared with us that this was the first day of the year that it has rained like this, which was certainly unfortunate timing. We spent about two hours with them warming up and chatting before we headed back down. The rain did not subside the entire day!

In the end we had a great time as the guesthouse was completely empty and as a result of the rain the village was very quiet. Neither of us got too cold or too wet so we were quite comfortable in our dry clothes, reading and relaxing as the rain came down.