After a 10 hour journey from semi-arid Singida, I arrived in the small town of Same (sah-may) in the Kilimanjaro region. Same’s landscape echoes the Southwestern United States. It’s dry, dusty, and instead of sage, the landscape is blanketed by varieties of acacia and sisal plantations.
“Just come up the road until you see the guesthouse. Ann. There’s only one road.” David said.
I grabbed my dark brown canvas and leather bags – intentionally brown hide the layers of dirt from daily life, put my Stetson on, and made my way into town. I met up with David on that single road, and waited for our friend Emily to join us. After having wali na maharage (rice and beans), we eventually headed up to David’s village in an old car packed to brim with villagers returning to the mountains. It was about a two drive up with a few stops along the way. A couple days later upon our return, we ended up breaking down and getting stuck on the side of the dirt road and waited for another van to come along. This is fairly typical of transportation in Tanzania. It teaches you to be patient, and that you will eventually reach your destination.
I’m surprised there isn’t a goat up there.
View from David’s house in the Pare Mountains of Kilimanjaro
Going for a walk through the village and heading into a forest reserve.
Relaxing at his neighbor’s house
The mornings were cool and crisp. Villagers walked by and greeted David from the road below. As popular and charming as he was in English, he was equally so in the tribal language – Kipare. An interesting aspect of Kipare was that it was spoken with an overt lisp. It was unexpected, and very different from the sing-song intonations indicative the of tribal language of my village in Central Tanzania.
The sunsets were like this every evening. A burning coral star going to rest among rolling shades of green.
Emily somewhat struggling to cut up this cucumber while helping David’s village breakfast mama.
The knives are extremely dull in the villages, so chopping anything is a challenge! We are having a tomato/cucumber salad, chapati with a fried egg and some beans with instant coffee (Africafe) or Chai Masala tea for breakfast.
Morning Hike
If you find yourself in the Kilimanjaro region, I highly recommend experiencing the less trekked Pare or Usambara Mountains. There are rarely tourists here and as such, it is more of an authentic experience of what daily life is like for Tanzanians in this region. Oftentimes, guides or safaris will want to include a tour of a Maasai village and while the Maasai are very distinctive and different (dress, customs, diet, semi-nomadic lifestyle), it is still much more representative to visit a village like this one in the Pare to get a feel for how people live in the majority of Tanzania.