Today was a complicated day … first, we walked from our hotel in Stone Town to the port to take the 7am ferry, then 2 hours on the high-seas back to Dar es Salaam (rough ride! - yes I barfed : ), then our driver picked us up and drove us to the hotel where the motorcycles were parked, then we packed, repacked, changed clothes ... and off we were, trying to get out of the city traffic and back into the wilds of Tanzania.
Nice ride as we left the coast and started climbing towards the interior of the country. Again, I am amazed how fertile and green everything is.
After 30 days in Africa, it is amazing how everything looks so familiar … the roads, the cars, the houses, the people, the markets … the newness and sense of wonder has abated ... it is so familiar now that I am beginning to forget to take pictures.
Once we left the main road and started heading up the mountains to Lushoto, everything changed. We started climbing, straight up, into hidden valleys with rivers and waterfalls coming down the mountains … on a one lane road, very tight, with old stone bridges, lots of switchbacks, and your occasional motorcycles or bus coming down the mountains. Incredible! The sense of wonder was back ... and the pictures : )
It had been interesting to notice how the farther we got from the city, the happier and nicer the people seemed … back to waving as we passed, back to children playing and laughing everywhere, back to people wanting to talk, curious, wanting to see if needed anything. I think cities make us busier, more preoccupied, focused on things that do not make us smile or happy, and more isolated … even when surrounded by more people than out here.
Our hotel for the night is called The Lawns and it is like a mountain resort anywhere ... colder, great views, fireplaces ... a nice place to stop. Tomorrow, we head to Kilimanjaro.
Villages in the north have more mud walls and the dress is more muslim
Stopped for lunch in Mgambo - nice spread
Lots of fields of like this one - it is sisal
The trusted steed
Into the Lushoto mountains - waterfall/rivers everywhere
This was the road we took into the inner mountains
Another amazing view
The welcoming committee in Lushoto
The view from our hotel
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