Arusha National Park

Coming south looking towards the plains. 

Patches of sun illuminate a pretty awesome landscape. 

Very pronounced hills popped out of the landscape.

We recently went to Arusha National Park, which is only about 100km (60 miles) from Moshi. It was our first time visiting the park in over a year and a half and we were super excited. It has a lower park fee ($23.00 for residents) than most other parks and has a variety of unique ecological areas. Arusha's equivalent to Moshi's Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park, Arusha NP is home to Mt. Meru (4,565 meters/ 14,977 ft), a similar though smaller volcano than Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

One of our friends, Rob, has a safari company based in Arusha and he has recently taken more of an interest in birds. Since Ana has a pretty good knowledge of birds and is an excellent teacher, we've been getting together more and more to go on trips. We were super excited when the idea of Arusha NP was suggested since we have known that people with cars (motorcycles not allowed) could easily frequent Arusha NP from Moshi since you can stay out all day and still come back home at a reasonable time. 

One of Rob's friends joined us for the day, all with the mission of seeing some birds! I asked Rob how often he comes since I knew his job took him to a variety of national parks quite frequently. He said that he probably went every month or so but it was one of his favorites since the lack of big game meant less tourists and a more laid back feel. The landscape also varies quite dramatically from the dry savanna of the Serengeti; it has lush forests and grassland. 

Not only was the birding fantastic but the landscape was unique and the spirits were high among the crew. Our Tanzanian friends were happy they didn't have to be worrying if their clients were happy and it was a beautiful day, not always a guarantee in the rainy season. We passed some giraffes and buffalo grazing in the lush grasslands with rolling hills and clouds floating around Mt. Meru. It was mountainous but densely green and the clouds seemed to fill the spaces between the sky and mountain peaks. We continued through a forested area with fig trees and moss covering the forest. We spotted some ungulates including the rare suni!

Going with safari guides has its perks; they know the park extremely well and they have leftover lunches from previous clients. We did buy some chapati and bananas before we went in and we stopped at a scenic waterfall spot for lunch. No insects, sun shining down, plush short grass...it didn't even seem real. We laid down a blanket and pulled out cashews, chips, peanuts, coffee and tea, biscuits, and other snacks. 

Our friends said they had never spent so much time in the park and gone to so few places (birders are notoriously slow). They said they loved the pace and relaxed nature of our birding day and I couldn't agree more!

Clouds floated around the summit of Mt. Meru all day. 

There was a fig tree you could literally drive through. 

We stopped for a picnic lunch at this bucolic spot, which was pretty much a perfect picnic spot. 

Ana does some birding. I believe here she was looking at a common Fiscal. 

There were actually two fig trees that one was able to walk through. 

I won't lie, I am a huge sucker for clouds in the mountains. 

Super rare Abbott's Starling. The Head Park Warden even joked with us when we went in "if you're lucky you'll see a Trogon..if you're real lucky maybe you'll see Abbott's Starling..yeah right!"

Mazumbai Forest Reserve

Taking a brief stop to enjoy the vista on the way from Lushoto to Mazumbai Forest Reserve

Landscape to the south of the mountains. 

After our trip to Lushoto, we headed in deeper to Mazumbai Forest Reserve. It took us somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours to reach from Lushoto. There wasn't a lot of information on the reserve, other than it was the most well preserved and privately owned by Sokoine University, though we did confirm people were allowed to visit. We heard there was no food and basic accommodation, but apart from that there was little information.

View from the lodge. 

View from the lodge in the other direction. 

An old pump-house that generated basic electricity for the property. 

Inside the kitchen. Note the old firewood school stove with oven add-on. 

The road wound through smaller and smaller villages, running along a gorge on the south end of the Western Usambaras. There was a lot of farmed land but also some steep ridges with lush forest surrounding it. Eventually the road entered the forest reserve and I exclaimed how it would be worth it to simply drive through this part of the mountains since the forest was so thick and pristine.

When we finally arrived to the lodge it was raining and we took shelter in a wood shed. The grounds were well manicured and there were no signs indicating it was available for tourists. I actually thought that perhaps we were on a private farmstead, a vestige of the colonial era. I worried that it wouldn't stop raining and we'd have to drive back to Lushoto.

Luckily, after the rain it cleared up we made our way to the back of the house and found two gentlemen who helped us sort our accommodations and food. I don't want to go into great detail about it but let's just say that the accommodation is affordable and adequate, while it is recommended the food is arranged before.

We spent the next few days walking the nearby forests. There are several guides that are much more affordable than the guides around Lushoto, and there are several clearly marked paths (and others not so clearly marked). The forest was truly among the top tier of forests I've experienced with a range from tropical rainforest to montane forest. Ferns, moss, lichen, and lianas creates a lush and rich aura that feels more like you're in the Jurassic era than Tanzania.

Although we haven't fully explored the West Usamabaras, Mazumbai Forest Reserve was certainly the gem so far.

Walking up through the forest. 

Towards the top there is montane forest. 

Ana and I pose on the trunk of a gigantic tree. Due to the density of trees and plants, we couldn't get any more of the trunk in the frame but you can deduce how large it is!

Lushoto and Maramba Forest Reserve

Map of the Eastern Arc mountains. 

Over the Easter holidays we took a trip to yet another of the Eastern Arc Mountains, this time the Western Usambara Mountains. We decided to start our trip in the well-known town of Lushoto, about a five hour ride by motorcycle. 

The ride down was beautiful and whenever I pass this way I enjoy the landscape. The mountains rise from the east in stark contrast to the plains in the west and there are usually clouds covering the tops of the mountains. When we reached the town of Mombo we turned up into the mountains. 

View of the mountains from the highway. 

Coming up the mountain. 

Once you turn off into the mountains from Mombo, you begin to climb and the scenery is pretty fantastic. Although the most startling thing to me was the extremity of clearing for agriculture, the mountains formations were still beautiful. The mountains there are a nice combination of rolling and jagged peaks and are small enough that you continually find yourself in different valleys looking at different mountains and peaks.

After passing through the bustling market town of Soni, we headed up to Lushoto. Lushoto is basically a one street town with some basic things (accommodation, bank, post office, police station) and it appears to serve as the "big city" for many of the smaller villages scattered throughout the mountains. There is a brilliant visitors center run by Friends of the Usambaras and guides there were courteous and not pushy.  It appeared that many of the multi-day hikes went from village to village but did not actually go into any of the five major forest reserves. I had underestimated the size of the area and I was anxious for us to locate pristine forest. The guides said that as long as we were in Lushoto we could check out Magamba forest reserve but we should eventually head to Mazumbai if we wanted the most well conserved.

We made our way up to a small farm/guesthouse which we heard some very positive things about. The setting was nice enough and there were day hikes and short hikes around, but the "farmstead" vibe didn't seem to fit the mood of our camping/hiking trip. They have an assortment of quaint guesthouse rooms and some bandas, as well as camping. There was a basic camping area which had a shower/toilet (hot water heater!) but basically an open field. They could definitely benefit from having a few secluded camp sites.  There were three other groups there and one group was a rambunctious group of Americans that were undoubtedly there to party.

View of the western side of the Usambaras. 

Walking the trail. 

We got there early enough to set up camp and take an evening stroll, pass through a nearby village, and view the plains from the side of the mountain range. Lushoto is on the far western side of the mountains and they rise sharply and dramatically from the plains below. The area around the farm was obviously familiar with tourists and we weren't exactly thrilled to surrounded by kids begging for money and dodgy "representatives" from the village trying to convince us of one fee or another. Still, the views were spectacular.

Morning view from the farmstead. 

Our camp site at the farm. Definitely framed this picture to make it look more isolated. There are like three trucks with 12 American's drinking behind me. 

The next day we headed to the recommended forest reserve of Magamba. The official map we had was not to scale and the place is not well marked so the trip took a little longer than anticipated. We stopped at the ranger station and paid 10,000 TZS ($5.25) for entry and drove into the forest. 

The forest was initially just a giant pine plantation. We were surprised as there didn't seem to be much primary or even secondary forest for the first half hour. Eventually there started to be patches of forest but there didn't seem to be any trails. The road got pretty rough and eventually led to what looked like a colonial area farm which had a strange ghost town feel to it since it was in the middle of nowhere, seemingly unoccupied, and in need of repair. It was a bit creepy so we just passed through and continued on the road. 

Eventually we found a trail leading off the main road and parked the bike. We walked on a trail which climbed up towards the top of a mountain ridge. The forest became less and less disturbed and there was an amazing patch of tropical montane forest. We didn't know where the trail headed but hiked along the ridge until about 1PM. It then looked like it would rain, which we deduced from the richness of the flora. I wasn't too pleased about this, even though we had adequate rain gear. 

As we started walking back it started to pour. We realized that no matter what we'd get soaked. We could have waited it out a bit but the vegetation was very thick on the trail and we'd get covered by wet bushes anyway. We marched on and eventually it was only misting. It reminded me of the Pacific Northwest in America and the rain really suited the landscape with all the ferns, moss and lichen covering everything. 

We got back to where we parked the motorcycle and some sun came out. We attempted to dry out as we worried about the long trip back, especially while we were wet. The mountains were already much colder than we were used to and I thought we needed to pass a village to get some hot tea or something or we'd probably get sick. 

Of course I was still in the mood to be a bit adventurous and I decided to try to loop back to Lushoto instead of following the same route we took. I just found the area to provide so many different views that I couldn't resist. Luckily, the road led to the middle of the forest reserve which just so happened to be a small village called Shume, surrounded by a pine plantation. It was a truly bizarre town, though it did have a small tea house!

The local tea house was great, namely for the cheap chai and mandazi (fried buns like a doughnut).  We paid 400 TZS ($0.20) to recharge, much to the amusement of the villagers whom kept peeking their head in to get a glimpse. We realized that many wazungu (foreigners) likely don't stop in for tea and we appreciated their genuine curiosity as opposed to the brash villagers in Lushoto. 

The road back went through a few villages (Viti and Lukozi) and we past through highly cultivated landscapes. We were amazed to see farm land literally covering the peaks of the hills. It was even more apparent since it was the beginning of planting season so everywhere was cleared and waiting for the rains. It was still a pretty scenic area and I'm glad we took the long way back. We did eventually reach, at a reasonable time and feeling a reasonable temperature!

Lots of clouds rolling in!

Village in the middle of the forest reserve. 

Awesome fern forest...not so awesome rain. 

Deep inside!