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Issue 00403 |
Jan 21 - 27, 2006 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Tourism |
 From Udzungwa to ArushaBy: Elisha Mayallah It was a chilly dawn in the south-east of Tanzania, and I was half asleep when the nightwatchman came knocking on my room door at Twiga hotel in Mang'ula. "Good morning Sir, it is about time for the departure drive to Morogoro" he said loudly. After settling the five of us into our car, we set out immediately with our driver heading to Morongoro, where we were to connect to our destinations. It was a return journey, Mr. Richard Mwangulube and I was returning to our home, Arusha; while other scribes were going back to Dar es Salaam. We had just finished a one week tour of both Mikumi and Udzungwa Mountains National Parks. Udzungwa is not your usual tourist destination – far from the big names in the north [Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Manyara], Udzungwa sees only a small percentage of tourists. The Udzungwa Mountains have remained untouched for thousand of years. Nobody really knows all there is to know about the Udzungwa Mountains, we were told. The Mountains have so much to offer and explore – wild, beautiful scenery, nature reserves, interesting with relaxed people, plants and insects yet to be documented. The sun had not yet risen over the streets as we drove away leaving behind several isolated Udzungwa Mountains ranges, each of these has a unique mixture of habitats and animal species. Still rarely visited, Udzungwa is swathed in a unique and fascinating rainforest. We drove on a quiet hill and a faint horizon, a stretch of pale blue like watercolour, appeared from a distance. But as we drove further to reach the edge of the hill, the most spectacular view opened in front of us and the sky above was astounding! After an hour's drive through villages on one side, along plains and sugar plantations on the other - on the Ifakara to Mikumi road - minibuses and bicycles were already ferrying passengers in the purple predawn light. The ride out there was just smooth and beautiful. As we branched over to the main road [Dar es Salaam to Iringa] a big red sun had risen over the horizon and bathed in golden light, was in full view. I opened my window and looked straight on to the sides to admire the sprawling villages scattered in a small area. Here my admiration of the scenery, people, landscape and the nature really begun. The road from Mikumi is straight, well paved, sparsely populated with trucks, minibuses, coaches and cars mostly flying at crazy speed. I have always had a fixation with travelling, and I have done quite a bit of it too, most of the time alone, a few times with the family and friends or for official trips. It has all been tremendous fun, in the frenzied, tourist kind of way, but this time I felt something different. Something more compelling, more powerful; a quieter excitement, a deeper, older and inward joy! As we drove further away from Mikumi National Park, the vegetation turned dry with the taller trees with long beards of moss hanging from the branches in the scorching sun heat. A troop of gazelles and impalas crossed the road, oblivious of the fact that they were looking for greenery as the drought has nearly hit the whole park. As I gazed through the window, transfixed, eyes shuttling to different horizons, and settling that I had never seen anything more beautiful landscape than this. The Southern highlands to be more precise – any generalization about that vast and beautiful countryside is grossly unfair. I had never been beyond Morogoro before, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I had some general impressions – all thoroughly wrong of course, as preconceived impressions are apt to be, and as I learnt eventually. It was good to be on an African road again and I relaxed, contented to watch the countryside fly past in a blur of green fields and scenic hills. We bounced along the road, dodging potholes and skidding noisily around dusty corners. However, feelings of adventure, freedom and joy was remarkable than the hurdles - sensations that so often arise when travelling through this great country of ours. There's no need to hurry - as they say - just go with the flow of Africa. Part of the fun of travelling - I was once told - is the journey itself, especially the devastatingly beautiful scenery we passed through. Our first part of the journey [Udzungwa to Morogoro, nearly over 290 kilometres] was over when the driver pulled over at the bus station. Morogoro is a cheerful and bustling town nestled in the Mountains of central Tanzania. A bunch of boys immediately besieged our car, eager to sell us tasty eats, sweets, biscuits, soft drinks, bananas and newspapers. We alighted, stood for few minutes shaking hands and trading goodbye pleasantries with the driver and the Dar es Salaam based journos. Next week, the last leg – Morogoro to Arusha. E-mail contact: elisha.mayallah@gmail.com
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Updated:
January 07, 2006 . |
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Webmaster: WDJMallya |
