Iringa City

Although our primary residence is a few hours outside of Iringa city, we do also keep a place in Iringa town and I've found it quite a lovely city. It's located at nearly 1600m (5,280 ft) and hosts about 200,000 people which makes it busy enough to have nearly all the things you need but it doesn't feel overcrowded, in fact I was pretty shocked when I looked up the population as it is far more than I would have guessed. The downtown area is very compact with neighborhoods sprawling out on the plateau. There are small hills on each side of Iringa town which means urban sprawl is relatively constrained due to geography.

 

The elevation of the "southern highlands" is clearly demonstrated here

Iringa is located near the "TANZAM" (Tanzania/Zambia) highway which stretches from Zambia to Dar es Salaam. However, with the location of the town on a plateau the traffic does not actually pass through the city rather vehicles must make a short climb up the escarpment to reach the city proper. This helps to reduce congestion though vehicles passing onto Dodoma must pass through the city.

Iringa is a very safe city and apparently (I have heard) a great place to take Swahili classes. There are many expats with various professional backgrounds in the area from farmers and missionaries that have been living there for decades to young people learning Swahili before moving to a work or study post in another area of Tanzania. Compared to Moshi (where we lived for a few years) the expat population is far more professional and in my opinion, interesting. We have made more friends in Iringa in one year than we had in four years in Moshi!

There isn't much to do in Iringa but there is a popular hike and rock formation on one of the hills called Gangilonga. It's a nice hike and a fantastic view that faces west so you can catch the sunset. There's a nearby bar, Sunset, which also has excellent views.

There are a variety of nice western restaurants in Iringa. My personal highlights are the Greek Club, Sai Villa, and a hidden Indian restaurant. Neema Crafts is an amazing organization and the unofficial meeting point for foreigners and networking locals alike. They have a really affordable (though often booked) guesthouse, cute cafe, and well crafted handicrafts on their compound. It is the best place to go and get a coffee and run into all the Iringa-ites.