Sunday, April 10, 2011

Morogoro Mountaineer

Three weeks ago I finally made an ascent into the Uluguru Mountains, which have been looming behind my house ever since I moved to Morogoro in September of last year. A group of friends from Belgium, Holland, and Germany who are currently living in Dar-es-Salaam met my housemate and I in Morogoro on Saturday morning around 8:30. We went to the tourist office in Morogoro together and met the three Tanzanian guides that would be joining us on our hike for the day. Our guides were Pamfrius (Pam for short), Samuel, and Immanuel (Imma for short).

We were scheduled for two hikes that day: Choma and then Morningside. We would hike the Choma tour first, a four-hour hike on its own, then break for lunch on top of the mountain. After lunch those of us who wanted to continue would then proceed to the second hike to Morningside, another four-hour hike, and those of us who were tired of climbing would descend the mountain.

We took off from the tourist office by 9:00am after we’d bought several liters of water for the hike. We began the tour by walking down a long paved road away from town to the foot of the Uluguru Mountains. As we passed along the road we saw a small group of men and women in a choir from Dar-es-Salaam who were filming a music video together. All of the men were in black dress pants and lime green button up shirts. The eight of them were in a row dancing synched choreography together. They looked like they were having a hell of a time. The women who were also intending to appear in the music video stood around behind the camera chatting and watching the men as they waited for their turn to go on film. As the group of us walked past we decided to pay a short visit to the dancers to greet and observe them. They were so enthusiastic to have our company that they got the two guys in our group to dance off camera with one of the directors along to the music the men were dancing to. It was such a hoot watching the guys try to keep up with the dancing. African choreography, no matter for men or women, usually involves a lot of fast hip and waist movement, which the guys, coming from Belgium and Holland, were not used to. Even so, they tried their best and we all enjoyed the experience a lot. After ten minutes we said our goodbyes and continued our attempt to scale the Uluguru Mountains.

Half an hour later we finally veered off the paved road to a dirt road at the base of the mountains. Since I walk at least an hour every day going to and from school and I often run in the evenings I’m in pretty good shape so I didn’t have trouble going up the mountain. I was often leading the group. I’m so used to walking fast that it just seemed natural. I even ran up the mountain at one point with another girl in the group. It was pretty fun.

About an hour into the hike we reached a rest area that has a small restaurant and places for climbers to sleep. As soon as we approached it I saw that there was a swing set. I immediately rushed down the labyrinth that led to it and hopped onto a swing. I pumped my legs so I was soaring high above the ground in no time. It felt incredibly liberating to be floating above the ground. Each time I reached as high as the swing would take me I could see all of Morogoro below me. All of the buildings in the town looked like the tiny white flecks inside a snow globe, scattered around and moving beneath my eyes as I swung above them. After a short rest on the swing we were on our way again.

Along our hike our three guides were having a friendly competition amongst each other naming as many plants as they could by their scientific names. To my surprise, they were able to name off the scientific names for pretty much everything we saw. Throughout our journey we spotted a ton of edible plant life ranging from banana, mango, passion fruit, and avocado trees to pineapple, carrot, corn, and cabbage plants emerging from the earth. Although some of the plants were wild, most of them had been cultivated by the Luguru people who live in the mountains.

It’s reported that more than 3.5 million Luguru people live in the Uluguru mountains …hence how the mountains got their name. All throughout our hike we saw whole societies of people living on the mountains. They all seemed like thriving and very self-sufficient communities. Being at least a four-hour hike from the main town of Morogoro requires nothing less of the Luguru people. There’s no electricity, but there’s a plentiful supply of really clean running water – some of which flows from waterfalls. The guides told us that the Luguru people come to town usually just once a week to get rice and other things that they cannot provide for themselves on the mountains. Since cars and motorbikes can only make it partially up the mountain, the Luguru people have to carry everything they get from town up to their home places by hand. In fact, we passed by dozens of women with all sorts of heavy loads balanced on top of their heads as we walked. Many of the women walk so much through the mountains that the heels of their sandals are completely worn through. As you might assume based on all the daily work it takes to get around the steep mountains and get between town and home, the Luguru people are some of the healthiest and longest living people in all of Tanzania.

Although it seems like really hard work living on the mountainside (and it is), the hard work pays off… One of the greatest rewards for living on the mountain is having access to plentiful sources of crystal clear and disease free water flowing from the tops of waterfalls. Another perk is being able to gaze at some of the nicest views I’ve ever seen in my life. Many people’s back yards look like the real versions of some of the most coveted and majestic post card images the world has ever seen. I’m not exaggerating. It was absolutely gorgeous from the mountainside. I felt privileged to be able to share the sights with the Luguru people, even just for a day.

What I was wondering as we climbed was what it must be like to live all your life on the mountains and then have to come down to the populous flatland of the Morogoro town center. Since I grew up in a very rural town myself I know what it’s like to live far away from town, but I wasn’t this isolated and I did grow up with luxuries like electricity, internet, cable television, etc. Also it only took a thirty-minute drive to reach a semi-dense city. Even with that experience, I find it hard to believe what the transition between the mountains and the towns and city centers of Tanzania and beyond must be like for the Luguru. I’m sure that with the number of people in the Uluguru mountains only surging, it means that most of the Luguru people must prefer remaining at home in the mountains. I really don’t blame them.

What’s really ridiculous is how many Luguru people make such an effort to maintain what we would consider normal lives of going to school and working. Our guides told us that kids who live hours up the mountains must descend and scale the mountains every day for hours just to make it to and from schools in the town center of Morogoro where they study. Perhaps some of my students at the Morogoro Secondary School are among those children. What’s more, many of the Luguru adults who live on the mountains have jobs in the Morogoro town and must spend hours traveling between work and home. I cannot imagine what it must be like to have to spend three h ours walking alongside steep mountains just to get to and from home and school.

Furthermore, our guides told us that 90% of the Luguru people are Muslim. On our way up the mountain about two hours into our hike we passed by one of the two mosques on that side of the mountain where the Luguru come from all over to worship. The sound of the Call to Prayer must echo across the entire landscape. I bet it sounds beautiful.

We also saw a couple of animals on the mountainside. My friend and I who were leading the trek up front saw and heard some rustling in the bushes about 5 feet away from our path. Spooked, we stood back, cautious and anxious to see what was causing all the noise. It turns out that a goat was behind the bushes munching on some grass. Thank God it was a goat. Just before that I’d asked about whether or not the guides had ever seen snakes along their hikes, so I was fearful that the creature had been a snake before I could see it was a goat. One of the guides, Imma, confirmed that he had seen a huge snake digesting a dog once (an entire dog!!) off a hiking trail somewhere in Tanzania, but far enough away from Morogoro where we wouldn’t have to worry about seeing it for ourselves. He also said that since the rainy season was starting there weren’t too many snakes around so we shouldn’t have to worry. There are many more of them out on the hillsides during the dry season. So…you can imagine how relieved I was when I saw a goat rather than a snake! Although I don’t have much of a fear of snakes back home in the U.S., my phobia of them has intensified greatly since I’ve lived in Tanzania for nine months because if you get bitten by a poisonous snake here then that’s pretty much the end of your life right there. Since there’s really no concept here of emergency medical care (e.g. being able to call 911 or having an ambulance rush you to the nearest hospital), I know that I’ll be done for if a venomous snake bites me. Hence, my increasing fear is rather legitimate.

Not only did we see goats on the hike, but we also saw cows grazing the hillside and cats and dogs roaming around outside people’s houses. At one point I heard a weird sound resembling a cow mooing, but I couldn’t see a cow so I originally wondered why someone ahead of me in our hiking group was making such a weird sound, haha. It wasn’t until I saw that there was a cow way up on the hillside that I realized it had been an actual cow mooing instead of someone in our group crying out in agony.

The hike proceeded fairly smoothly all the way up to the top of Choma. We took frequent water breaks because it was a really hot day even in the mountains. By the time we reached the peak of Choma we could hear the rumbling of water gushing from waterfalls. We climbed down a super steep and narrow pathway to rest at the base of one of the waterfalls. It was absolutely breathtaking! We shed our shoes and crawled like true primates, using our hands and feet to grip slimy rocks and catch our balance as we crouched down to make it across several larger rocks into the big pool of water at the base of the waterfall. The mist caused from the power of the waterfall sprayed our bodies as we stood knee-deep in the small pool. Standing there I felt an overwhelming sense of peace. There was absolutely no one else around. The only sound you could hear was the crashing and booming of the water as it dumped itself into the hole at the bottom. All I could do was smile and appreciate the fact that I was there. To make the experience even sweeter, a local Luguru man climbed down to meet us and offered to sell us passion fruit, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries. Like true tourists, we were happy to help out a local Luguru man, so we gleefully all chipped in and bought an assortment of the natural treats. Since it had been months since I’ve tasted those kind of berries, I was especially excited to taste them.

After basking at the base of the waterfall for half an hour we put on our shoes and readied ourselves to climb back up the steep hill to the main path we’d been walking on. By that point it had started drizzling a little bit so the compact dirt path to the waterfall was pretty slick. As if like a leapfrog effect, as each person made his or her ascent up the path the person behind him/her became his/her spotter until we all made it safely back to the main path.

By that point it was already 1:00pm and our stomachs were grumbling and readying themselves for the local Tanzanian food that awaited us in a Luguru house just ten minutes away. Once we reached the house we all relaxed in cushioned chairs and chatted about our satisfaction with the hike so far. Meanwhile, a Luguru woman who had prepared the food for us was busy bringing out the various finished dishes to the table in the sitting room. As each dish took its place on the table the aromas of the food danced around the room and swirled around in our noses.

Finally it was time to eat! We gorged our taste buds on rice, ugali (boiled corn flour that becomes a stiff porridge when cooked, which is especially useful for soaking up the soupy flavors of other foods), boiled cassava leaves resembling a mushy multi-colored green mess resembling cooked spinach (it was extremely delicious…and my favorite!), and fish stew with a smooth coconut broth. It was all delicious and satisfying. As soon as we replenished our food energy we all instantly went into mini food comas. The conversation died down a little as we all relaxed and really soaked it in that we were on top of a huge mountain in Tanzania. It was such a great realization.

During lunch a few local craftsmen and craftswomen came with their artwork (bracelets, necklaces, paintings, and small sculptures) and set out a small display of them outside the house where we ate. Inside the house the woman who cooked the food for us advertised the local handmade pottery made with clay taken from the mountain. She was selling small clay bowls for only 1,000 Tanzanian shillings ($1 = 1500 TZ Shillings). As a lover of pottery she sucked me right in and I bought one of the bowls. I’m happy to report it even made it down the mountain with me unshattered and even unchipped. To be able to bring home such a unique and special product of the Luguru people and the Uluguru Mountains as a physical token of my hike up the mountain is a really amazing thing for me. While it might just be a bowl, it represents the mountains that have been a part of my life every day since I’ve been living in Morogoro.

As we snapped out of our food comas we settled on who would continue to Morningside and who would leave the mountain through a repeat of the Choma route. I decided to stick it out and make it to Morningside along with four other people from the group. Two of the guides accompanied us while the other guide went with the four others who were heading home.

It only took an hour for us to get to the Morningside site after lunch, but it was probably my most favorite part of the whole day hike. By the time we were trekking to Morningside we were already on the top of the mountain so we could literally see all of Morogoro below us on our way. Every time we could get a clear glimpse of the land below we stopped to take photos to just take it all in. Arguably more breathtaking was all the land that surrounded us at that height on the mountain. Huge forests of trees from the rainforest beyond spanned the countryside. I felt like I was living inside an imagined landscape created by a famous artist’s brushstrokes. It was almost too pretty to believe it was all real.

While we were at Morningside we explored the old building the Germans had built at the site in 1911. The whole building smelled like rotting mildew and didn’t look very well kept. Graffiti that had been chipped into the walls identified previous visitors. It plastered every inch of the walls. Going from room to room, the whole building felt like a really dark and eerie maze. Every room inside had two doors, each of which led to another neighboring room. It would have easy to get lost in there had it not been for one of our guides who was leading us around. In one of the rooms there was even an ancient looking bathtub along with an old stove for cooking. There were a few disheveled-looking bed frames in some of the bedrooms with musty thin foam mattresses where hikers are welcome to use when they reached the site. It was only a couple thousand shillings to stay overnight since the offerings were meager. Still, the building provides a safe place to stay as it has a nice roof overhead for when it rains and a small fireplace to warm yourself up in front of after hiking for a long way. Although it was obvious that the place’s heyday had since passed long ago, it was still intriguing to explore such an important building to the history of colonialism in Tanzania. Even though I wouldn’t be tempted to recommend an overnight stay there (it really did feel like a spooky haunted old mansion), its sense of history was very interesting and definitely worth a visit.

After our short visit at Morningside we continued down the mountain. It started sprinkling as we started to walk again, but luckily we avoided any downpours. Since most of the sky was bright blue with only a few clouds and it was sunny as all get out, I was really hoping to see a rainbow, but it never materialized. The landscape changed dramatically as we scaled off the mountain. The paths we had used earlier on during our hike that had been so narrow and rough morphed into smoother paths wide enough for cars and motorcycles to pass on them.

We passed by a few thriving communities on our way down the mountain, one of which I was told has a reputation for taking advantage of naïve travelers and trying to steal their things if they aren’t with a guide. I was definitely happy to have two guides with the five of us hiking at that point – since all of us who chose to continue on to Morningside are White and hence look clearly foreign, we would’ve been likely victims of thievery had we been alone. Fortunately we didn’t run into any problems and the people at the first sight even seemed really friendly. With the sheer number of them, though, I could see how it would have been easy to overtake a lone traveler and steal his or her things.

We finally exited the foot of the mountain around 6:00pm, just in time for dusk to set in. By that point the bottoms of all our feet were pretty sore from stomping down the steep parts of the mountain on our way down. We followed our guides back to the tourist office, thanked them for their kindness and superb guidance and then took off back home. After getting out of our hiking gear and washing off the mud that covered our bodies, we freshened up and met the whole hiking group in town at the New Green Indian-cuisine restaurant and shared a meal together in celebration of our hike earlier on in the day. Surrounded by good food, good company, and buzzing with excitement from summiting the Uluguru Mountains, I really couldn’t have been happier. Reflecting on it now, it feels good to have explored the mountains that have been making shadows in my backyard since I moved to Morogoro in September.

2 comments:

  1. You are such an amazing writer! Your dedication to documenting your experiences and travels is beyond imaginable! I will be interested to hear if any of your students or students at the school are from the mountains. You should upload a few photos from your hike. The waterfall, the fruit tress, the children and the smiles that you must have seen while going up and then coming down must have warmed your heart. I bet you were smiling a great deal as well :)

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  2. I hiked to Morningside with my parents as a young teenager in the 1960s. It was pretty much as you described. We were also thrilled to see the strawberries offered by the local farmers having had none in 2-3 years! I also explored many other areas of the mountains as a lived on the lower slopes. There were also many precious stones - rubies, tanzanite, along with generous supplies of garnet, amethyst,black tourmaline, and azurite/malachite along the unpaved roads. We were always hoping to find diamonds, but I don't think that they are found in the area! On the other side of the mountains near a Catholic mission (not the Catholic Teachers college on the Morogoro side), there was a stream with a garnet beach!

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