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Of Prisons and Beautiful Flowerbedsby lute wa lutengano Some few years back I was pleasantly surprised to come across a breathtaking straddling the Ruaha river lodge and in the middle of nowhere. This was the Kitonga Comfort Lodge perched at the bottom of the panoramic Kitonga escarpment in Iringa region. The lodge had some good meals with very professional staff. You also had the privilege of ordering, or for those more adventurous, catching some fresh fish from the nearby Ruaha River for your dinner or lunch. Because of this I naturally spent a night at the lodge that time. Traveling south this time I remembered the lodge and calculated my drive so I could spend some more time at the lodge. But what a disappointment! The place was run down and looked dirty. But the last stroke came when I ordered for a glass of white wine. The lady behind the counter quipped back that the lodge did not have wine glasses. She then added that I could use a tumbler. That was not enough let down because she confidently asked me how many tots of wine did I want to order. I was on the road immediately. I drove up the Kitonga escarpment and was vividly impressed by the new road. That part which has troubled engineers for years is now stable with some huge concrete slabs having been laid on it. So it was a smooth drive all the way up. My colleague, Mzee Peter, was already looking forward to drinking ‘ulanzi’, a sweet bamboo wine which grows from the earth in the southern highlands region. Lucky southerners! I was planning to by-pass Iringa town on my way to Njombe, but decided to give it a try, particularly after reading an impression by some South African white ladies on their first trip up ‘black Africa.’ The group calling itself ‘Savannah Jane’ had driven all the way from South Africa to Tanzania and actually had ended up climbing Ol Doinyo Lengai ‘the Mountain of God’ in Maasailand in Arusha region before driving back. In their travelogue they hailed Iringa as ‘the prettiest town we have encountered so far.... On this planet there are tales of beautiful cities, hidden in the mountains and laden with treasures. I have found the high jeweled city of Africa. Iringa. Her approach is long, slow and curvaceous and when you finally enter her, she accepts you with the gentle embrace of a passionate lover. Iringa hums to the soul and sparks visions of a season in retreat. I know Iringa and was slightly skeptical by that description. On arrival I was pleasantly surprised to note that the Iringa I knew, and that is for many years, is not the one I saw. Here was a clean and well organised town with beautiful gardens for residents to rest and good roads. I took time to take a walk around the town and savor this beauty. Even the ‘machingas’ had special areas, which to my surprise were well arranged and clean. Passing by the town prison facility, I could not fail to notice the well laid and flourishing flower beds around its walls. With that I went around to Mamas place and ordered a mouthwatering fresh goldfish from Mtera dam for my late lunch, before proceeding to the land of ‘ulanzi’ – Njombe.
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