What an amazing journey this has been. I thought the excitement of Tanzania would evaporate once we boarded our plane to Tanga, but Tanzania’s spell is still cast on me.
On Easter Sunday, Sara Mtagwa, a dental therapist/oral health care fellow extraordinaire, escorted us to our Tanga trip. We flew a mini-airplane, reminiscent of build-it yourself craft airplane toy. The windows gave us glimpses of the glittering blue belying the border of Dar and we arrived to the cute Tanga airport. The airport was scaled ten times less than the Dar airport. The air of Tanga has a dewy, crisp ambiance that is carried above the city.
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| Plane to Tanga |
Eager to trek through the terrain of Lushoto (on a budget!) we scrambled to the Tanga bus station. Luck herself gave us her blessings for Lushoto -- right as we entered the bus station, a miniature local bus with the greetings of “TEXAS” was leaving for Lushoto. We paid the Tanzanian price of 7500 TSH (around $3.75) for a 5 hour path to the paradise that is Lushoto. In the blackness of the night, we felt the bumps and the winds of rocky mountain road to Lushoto. We arrived around 8:30 and the sky welcomed us by illuminating more than a million stairs. We really gave luck a run for her money by arriving at our lodge when the reception desk was closed and walking in to the common areas that were surrounded by Zungus (foreigners) and engaging conversations. The hospitality that was shown to us by the Irente Farm Lodge was paramount to the beauty of it’s landscape. They called the lodge owner, who woke up and gave us a room with a smile on her face. The Irente Lodge was a camping lodge populated with wayfarers who find happiness in the simplicity of nature and the unassuming nature of African life. The stars were calling our name and we basked in the enormity of the sky that night.
As we heard the roosters chime their morning greetings, we prepared ourselves for what we heard was the most breathtaking view in Tanzania -- the Irente cliff in the homey village of Irente, that has a radius of no more than 7km. The “mambos” and smiles from the townspeople were plentiful as we trekked through the mud that had been blessed with rain. The beauty of the small village enveloped in mist did not prepare us for what our eyes were soon to behold. We climbed above the steps that were carved in to the cliff and found we were literally above the clouds. My eyes were not sure if they had seen anything as magnificent before.
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| Irente Cliff Viewpoint |
After consuming as much of the views as our eyes could stomach, we said our goodbyes to the village people and found our way back to the Irente Lodge. Our eyes feasted on the complimentary breakfast the Irente Farm Lodge prepared, and our stomachs also gladly complied. The Irente Farm Lodge is actually a biodiversity reserve that works with local farmers to produce the heavenly fruit preserves, cheese, fruit and beverages served at breakfast. I discovered a festering love for passionfruit I did not know existed before this breakfast. After exchanging our farewells with the harem pant-wearing travelers of the lodge, we decided to hike back in to Lushoto. The inclines paired with the views and the scurrying animals made it a hike to rival any. We patted ourself on the back when we came full circle and boarded another local bus at Lushoto back to Tanga. With 4 hours of sleep and pockets that were lighter than their normal levels of Tanzanian shillings, we arrived at Tanga and managed to get off at a stop closer to our hotel than the one we departed Tanga from. Using Tanga’s street art and traffic structure, we managed to walk back to our hotel without the use of a taxi fro the bus stop.
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