Missy was still with us as well and had just about finished her field work so both these young women were able to spend a weekend with us at Tarangire National Park and then a trip to Lushoto because I needed to go to the National Tree Seed Project to buy some seed.
My free pass was still valid for Tarangire National Park which was a big saving for us at the time and we always enjoyed our time there.
I'm sure I don't need to go into the detail of this trip but will add some pics. One thing though was when we came to the top of a rise, there stood a huge bull elephant! Out vol from Zimbabwe ordered me to stop so she could take a photo of him, but the elephant took fright and charged us, trunk raised and ears wide! I knew it was just bluff! No way I didn't, panic invaded the car and I put my foot down on the accelerator! I didn't even change gear! Now I think the elephant was probably bluffing, but he stood there watching us make a lot of dust!
I guess one of the perks I had was regular tips to Lushoto to purchase seed. Not only seed but plants of various types as well. For this trip we took a number of people including Mo & Jo, Missy, the vol from Zimbabwe and another from South Africa. A fair load for the Toyota and some had to sit [in rotation] in the back - lucky there was a canopy!
It is a long journey, maybe five hours and while others may think that the landscape is boring, I beg to differ. There is plenty see if you are interested and it is not only trees that interest me. Around Boma Ng'ombe the young men [now there's a thing, they are called boys and that is a legacy from colonialism - really a bit derogatory so I will use the Kiswahili kijana (one vijana (plural)] on their bike ferrying water. Always I try to glimpse Kilimanjaro as she lifts her skirts of clouds. Coming into Moshi the landscape changes and there is rice drying in many places. The two roundabouts through Moshi and memories of taking Upendo to look for a place in secondary school, and her friend not being used to a knife and fork, spilling her leg of chicken. After that I always use my fingers to eat when there is company who are not used to the ironmongery. Through Moshi is the place where they auction bales of used clothing - the first step for distribution. The river crossing and branch to Marangu. The vijana selling items to the bus passengers. The volcanic rock being cut into bricks. Some teak trees. Mwanga village, but before there is the railway and wrecked carriages - Mwanga mean (day) light. Then before Same is are the Baobab trees and just after the Elephant Hotel where we have eaten breakfast in the past. Then the scrublands that were sold off as small farms and we watched as the trees were removed, made into charcoal and crops of maize grown and failed. The Sisal farms and then Mombo the junction to climb up to Lushoto. Always stop for chicken and chips a Mombo! Clean ans anything, good, safe food and the Pare woman there was so like Mama Upendo! Mombo is vibrant with vijana selling all manner of things, mainly food. These were street vendors. The guard who I always paid 100/- kept his eye on our vehicle - he was paid by the restaurant but. And it is good with visitors because they see it through fresh eyes and reopen your own!
The road from Mombo is sealed because above Lushoto is a presidential palace - You can glimpse it but not take photos or enter the grounds, but they have picked a great place. t first the road is windy and steep-sided with many small bridges, and it is a steady climb to Soni Falls then Lushoto, it is great landscape and 'one of the better places to see!'
Lushoto was founded by the German colonists for somewhere to retire to in order to avoid the summer heat of Dar es Salaam or even Arusha. Some of the buildings still remain with the German architecture. Actually we were shown a place where the 'the Germans hid in during WWI, there is a tunnel into the hill, but at the top. I'm fairly sure that it was a bauxite mine and they wanted to keep it secret. There are other very good hiding places.
We stayed at the Grand Mandarin, which is up the hill a little. The guy, Manadri, was always pleased to see us. The hotel, if that is what it was, was still in the 'building phase' - was 10 years ago and will be in 10 years time. Most would rate it as basic accommodation but we liked it. One warning though, it can be cold there at night, so you receive a charcoal burner for heat. It robs the oxygen and also is inclined to cause a headache - and that should be a warning as well.
Wherever I go, I like to wake early and walk around before many people are awake - it is usually peaceful at that time and I like an early morning cup of tea or coffee if I can get it. I have been known to make special arrangements with the local people for that early burst of caffeine by leaving a Thermos of getting permission to brew it up myself!
The Ithene lookout point is a must. But regrettably the past president has built a huge tourist lodge overlooking it and this detracts from nature at its very best - then who could stop it? Guides want to take you there but generally we refused as we had our own vehicle and we had been there previously, but it is good to take a guide and pay him well as tourists can afford to pay and for the locals it is hard to scratch out a living.
The National
Tree Seed Project is an excellent facility originally set up by Denmark and handed over to the Tanzania Nation. Frida managed the enterprise with expertise and was always a delight to do business with. I know very well that I could collect much of my seed requirements myself, but if enterprises such as this are not supported, then they close and that would be a tragedy. Misitu Juu!
There is a wonderful herbrarium close by but sadly it is not used to any great extent but the collection of plants really is extensive.
There is also a huge arboretum there as well, set up years ago and not really managed but some of the trees are very large with the species range being extensive. I collected some material that I was looking for - some Leyland cypress cuttings - they have no viable seed. I had also found some Bhutan cypress and collected seed because that species is not generally grown - unfortunately it was all unviable.
But for anyone with an interest in trees, it is a place to go - few knew about it back then.
It was not possible to find or to buy Arucaria seed mti ngazi meaning a tree of steps because of it's form. It is a popular tree over most of Tanzania as an amenity tree. Vijana collect the seed as fast as it ripens and plant it to sell the seedlings at a premium price. I always took a few to take as gifts for people within the various projects.
I saw a small sign stuck to a tree saying Bustani ya Miti - Tree Nursery. The old guy there had worked in a Forestry Department tree nursery years ago and was still enthusiastic. He had a small nursery with a diverse species selection. He just made enough money to buy his booze and I was happy to support him. I enjoyed talking with him and we shared knowledge - his far more extensive than mine! The respect was mutual and I took trees from there to be planted within the extensive Meru area.
Below the NTSP there was another nursery and they specialized in many fruiting plants such as passion fruit, but also some forest species but more suited to higher rainfall areas. I always left there with several plants as well.
The roadside market at Soni Falls was always a place to stop. The street vendors would arrive at the car window en mass which can be over-powering for some passengers. I always bought a bucket-full of Loquat and pressed my passengers to eating them and saving the seed. The nursery workers and friends at Makumira also had the task of eating as much fruit as possible and saving the seed.
There were other fruits available, but most of them needed the cooler climate to thrive, so I bout enough to satisfy our immediate needs and of course to offer a taste to the folk we worked with and lived among.
This I have written from memory as the note in my diary says that I was too busy to write up the full events of the trip, but I would do so later - well I didn't. My diary also stated that there were plans for a visit to Zanzibar at the end of the month, but there was much to do beforehand.
PS. I have trouble setting out pictures. Maybe all one side of page is best.
My free pass was still valid for Tarangire National Park which was a big saving for us at the time and we always enjoyed our time there.
I'm sure I don't need to go into the detail of this trip but will add some pics. One thing though was when we came to the top of a rise, there stood a huge bull elephant! Out vol from Zimbabwe ordered me to stop so she could take a photo of him, but the elephant took fright and charged us, trunk raised and ears wide! I knew it was just bluff! No way I didn't, panic invaded the car and I put my foot down on the accelerator! I didn't even change gear! Now I think the elephant was probably bluffing, but he stood there watching us make a lot of dust!
I guess one of the perks I had was regular tips to Lushoto to purchase seed. Not only seed but plants of various types as well. For this trip we took a number of people including Mo & Jo, Missy, the vol from Zimbabwe and another from South Africa. A fair load for the Toyota and some had to sit [in rotation] in the back - lucky there was a canopy!
It is a long journey, maybe five hours and while others may think that the landscape is boring, I beg to differ. There is plenty see if you are interested and it is not only trees that interest me. Around Boma Ng'ombe the young men [now there's a thing, they are called boys and that is a legacy from colonialism - really a bit derogatory so I will use the Kiswahili kijana (one vijana (plural)] on their bike ferrying water. Always I try to glimpse Kilimanjaro as she lifts her skirts of clouds. Coming into Moshi the landscape changes and there is rice drying in many places. The two roundabouts through Moshi and memories of taking Upendo to look for a place in secondary school, and her friend not being used to a knife and fork, spilling her leg of chicken. After that I always use my fingers to eat when there is company who are not used to the ironmongery. Through Moshi is the place where they auction bales of used clothing - the first step for distribution. The river crossing and branch to Marangu. The vijana selling items to the bus passengers. The volcanic rock being cut into bricks. Some teak trees. Mwanga village, but before there is the railway and wrecked carriages - Mwanga mean (day) light. Then before Same is are the Baobab trees and just after the Elephant Hotel where we have eaten breakfast in the past. Then the scrublands that were sold off as small farms and we watched as the trees were removed, made into charcoal and crops of maize grown and failed. The Sisal farms and then Mombo the junction to climb up to Lushoto. Always stop for chicken and chips a Mombo! Clean ans anything, good, safe food and the Pare woman there was so like Mama Upendo! Mombo is vibrant with vijana selling all manner of things, mainly food. These were street vendors. The guard who I always paid 100/- kept his eye on our vehicle - he was paid by the restaurant but. And it is good with visitors because they see it through fresh eyes and reopen your own!
The road from Mombo is sealed because above Lushoto is a presidential palace - You can glimpse it but not take photos or enter the grounds, but they have picked a great place. t first the road is windy and steep-sided with many small bridges, and it is a steady climb to Soni Falls then Lushoto, it is great landscape and 'one of the better places to see!'
Lushoto was founded by the German colonists for somewhere to retire to in order to avoid the summer heat of Dar es Salaam or even Arusha. Some of the buildings still remain with the German architecture. Actually we were shown a place where the 'the Germans hid in during WWI, there is a tunnel into the hill, but at the top. I'm fairly sure that it was a bauxite mine and they wanted to keep it secret. There are other very good hiding places.
We stayed at the Grand Mandarin, which is up the hill a little. The guy, Manadri, was always pleased to see us. The hotel, if that is what it was, was still in the 'building phase' - was 10 years ago and will be in 10 years time. Most would rate it as basic accommodation but we liked it. One warning though, it can be cold there at night, so you receive a charcoal burner for heat. It robs the oxygen and also is inclined to cause a headache - and that should be a warning as well.
Wherever I go, I like to wake early and walk around before many people are awake - it is usually peaceful at that time and I like an early morning cup of tea or coffee if I can get it. I have been known to make special arrangements with the local people for that early burst of caffeine by leaving a Thermos of getting permission to brew it up myself!
The Ithene lookout point is a must. But regrettably the past president has built a huge tourist lodge overlooking it and this detracts from nature at its very best - then who could stop it? Guides want to take you there but generally we refused as we had our own vehicle and we had been there previously, but it is good to take a guide and pay him well as tourists can afford to pay and for the locals it is hard to scratch out a living.
The National
Tree Seed Project is an excellent facility originally set up by Denmark and handed over to the Tanzania Nation. Frida managed the enterprise with expertise and was always a delight to do business with. I know very well that I could collect much of my seed requirements myself, but if enterprises such as this are not supported, then they close and that would be a tragedy. Misitu Juu!
There is a wonderful herbrarium close by but sadly it is not used to any great extent but the collection of plants really is extensive.
There is also a huge arboretum there as well, set up years ago and not really managed but some of the trees are very large with the species range being extensive. I collected some material that I was looking for - some Leyland cypress cuttings - they have no viable seed. I had also found some Bhutan cypress and collected seed because that species is not generally grown - unfortunately it was all unviable.
But for anyone with an interest in trees, it is a place to go - few knew about it back then.
It was not possible to find or to buy Arucaria seed mti ngazi meaning a tree of steps because of it's form. It is a popular tree over most of Tanzania as an amenity tree. Vijana collect the seed as fast as it ripens and plant it to sell the seedlings at a premium price. I always took a few to take as gifts for people within the various projects.
I saw a small sign stuck to a tree saying Bustani ya Miti - Tree Nursery. The old guy there had worked in a Forestry Department tree nursery years ago and was still enthusiastic. He had a small nursery with a diverse species selection. He just made enough money to buy his booze and I was happy to support him. I enjoyed talking with him and we shared knowledge - his far more extensive than mine! The respect was mutual and I took trees from there to be planted within the extensive Meru area.
Below the NTSP there was another nursery and they specialized in many fruiting plants such as passion fruit, but also some forest species but more suited to higher rainfall areas. I always left there with several plants as well.
The roadside market at Soni Falls was always a place to stop. The street vendors would arrive at the car window en mass which can be over-powering for some passengers. I always bought a bucket-full of Loquat and pressed my passengers to eating them and saving the seed. The nursery workers and friends at Makumira also had the task of eating as much fruit as possible and saving the seed.
There were other fruits available, but most of them needed the cooler climate to thrive, so I bout enough to satisfy our immediate needs and of course to offer a taste to the folk we worked with and lived among.
This I have written from memory as the note in my diary says that I was too busy to write up the full events of the trip, but I would do so later - well I didn't. My diary also stated that there were plans for a visit to Zanzibar at the end of the month, but there was much to do beforehand.
PS. I have trouble setting out pictures. Maybe all one side of page is best.
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