PART II: Tanzania – the Southern Highlands

b) Mbeya to Songea – “over the top”

We got into Mbeya in the early afternoon and tried to find the Rift Valley Hotel. We’d chosen it

from the list of hotels given in the Bradt Guide but, despite driving round and round, we couldn’t

find it. We gave up and looked for alternative accommodation, when what did we see at a corner?

The Rift Valley. Alas, it was a dump. We looked around some more but everywhere was full (the

president was expected). So we ended up at the upmarket Mount Livingstone Hotel ($35 pp B&B),

got laundry done and hair washed, and allowed ourselves to be spoilt for 3 nights.

Mbeya is a lovely town, surrounded by mountain ranges and peaks. Established in 1927 to service

the gold mines in nearby Chunya, it is an industrial city, a railway and road hub, with nothing much

to recommend the tourist. Despite this, there are some tour operators and a tourist information

centre in downtown Mbeya. We tried to consult them about Kitulo Park, our next destination, but

drew a blank everywhere. The two operators we asked didn’t know anything about the park, and

the Sisi kwa Sisi Tourist Centre was always closed (allegedly on tour with clients). And so we

decided to go into Kitulo ‘cold’ and take our chances.

Before going off into the unknown, we went on a 35km drive along the scenic Chunya road to see

Mbeya and the Usunga Flats from above, stopping at the World’s End Viewpoint – 08 49.518S

033 32.222E – that is so built up that there’s no view left, before leaving town. We did some salami

and cheese shopping at Ndiyo supermarket (lots of imported goods; it’s on the Tan-Zam Highway),

changed money at the only bureau de change in town (‘Blue Bird’, behind the Post Office), got more

cash at Stanbic Bank (only ATM that takes Master and Visa), bought postcards and stamps at the

post office (nobody else has any), combed road-side stalls for kitenge (found nice ones), and

refuelled once more before pulling out of town (TSh 1500/litre, uniform price for diesel).

We chose the spectacular ‘57-bend’ road to go up to Kitulo, turn-off at Chimala 78km E of Mbeya,

that climbs in steep hairpin turns to the first level of the plateau, from 1100m to 2000m a.s.l. There

is a big sign at the turn-off, showing a Denham’s bustard, the symbol for Kitulo Park. The road was a

bit hairy, especially when encountering truck traffic and speeding 4x4 dalla-dallas on loose gravel. I

didn’t dare look down, keeping my eyes glued to the road, despite the view being amazing (ok, I

had glimpses). I had been here before, four years ago, when the road was still in a very poor state. I

hadn’t dared to go up then, so was glad to have done it this time.

Kitulo Park is well signposted; although, when passing through the little town of Matamba, nothing

informed us that we ought to have bought our park permits here at Park HQ. We only learnt that

later, up at the next plateau level (2800m a.s.l.), at the park gate, when we encountered two

rangers. They promptly charged us the requisite park fees - $20 pp/day, $20 car – and the

compulsory guide fee ($10/day), despite the gate being unmanned and the plateau roads being

thoroughfares for public transport. Well, driving with a foreign number-plate always encourages

inquisitions. There is a camping place near the gate – 08 58.454S 033 56.552E – which, despite not

being finished, attracts a $10 pp/day camping fee.

We, knowing it would be cold – it was late afternoon by then and the clouds had descended onto

the plateau – pushed on to Kitulo Farm where, we’d been told by the rangers, accommodation

could maybe be had. We indeed found a room at the LMU Farm – 09 05.240S 033 54.113E – a

government-run dairy farm amidst a game-park (!), complete with cows and milking sheds. The

farm’s friendly Deputy Director let us stay at their community centre (2 guestrooms ‘for

emergencies’, a bar, kitchen and some dukas) which was a bit dirty (especially the bathroom – yuck)

but cheap and cheerful (TSh10,000). He entertained us with stories of the Livestock Multiplication

Unit’s history while Mrs Deputy Director fried chicken and chips for dinner and brought hot water

for tea and baths. Most kind she was! We found, the next morning at 8 a.m., that it was minus 1

degree Celsius outside! The car was white, covered in hoarfrost, as here we were at nearly 3000m

altitude (2845m, to be precise). Were we ever happy that we hadn’t needed to camp!

Kitalu sign at park entrance Above Ndumbi falls, with guide Juma

At 10 a.m., as arranged with ranger/park-biologist Noel Mbise whom we’d met at the gate the

previous day, the compulsory guide arrived. Juma was not much of a guide – no English, no

knowledge – but he tried his best to show us around. We went on a game-viewing drive, through

billowing volcanic ash that covers the whole Highlands, not seeing any game and only a few birds

(sadly no bustards). The landscape is beautiful (IF you can see it through the dust), the flora world-

famous (IF you come at the right time of year, Nov-Apr) and the forests contain little-known fauna

(a few years ago an unknown species of monkey was found).

Splendid Ndumbi falls The brave climber Karen

We ended up at the famous Ndumbi Falls that we’d wanted to see. Alas, ‘seeing’ was not the word

for it. The falls are so hidden in a deep valley that we didn’t even hear them. Anne and I took one

look at the steep-steep path that led down to the Ndumbi Falls – 09 04.220S 033 58.539E - and

declined going. Karen and Juma valiantly took up the challenge and climbed down to take photos.

Two hours later they were back, tired but triumphant, with great photos to prove they’d made it.

Karen wrote in her diary: “It was very steep, Juma had to support me on the way down and haul me

up on the way back, with frequent stops to catch my breath. The waterfall is lovely, ‘high’ and

falling down in a nice cascade. The flora at the bottom was almost tropical, lots of plants with scent,

including wild sage. Some of the forests are cedar, and there were small bluish orchids beside the

path.” Needless to say, next day Karen had very sore leg muscles.

We’d spent another cheap and cheerful night at the Farm, then took off for Njombe via Makete.

Having come up from the north, we left the Highlands going south – we were going over the top.

Leaving the austere grey hills of the plateau, the road down was most scenic. It got greener and

greener as we drove through little villages - lots of brick-kilns, many banana farms, even pine

plantations. Near Makete we saw a lovely little waterfall, ‘Evilkima’ said the sign - 9 12.558S 034

06.334E, right by the side of the road. Despite dust, bumpy stretches and road works everywhere, it

was a really lovely drive.

In Njombe we pulled into the first hotel we saw, the Chani Hotel (TSh 28,000), because it looked

nice and inviting. And so it was. We spent a peaceful night, had great curry for dinner, and set off

towards Songea the next morning. Before leaving we had a quick look around Njombe, a bustling

market town shrouded in cool morning mist (Njombe is still quite high at 1900m), where we bought

several ‘milulu’ baskets (made from reed-like grass), some home-made bread (dense and round like

cheese) and, yes, more kitenges (Karen collects them, you see). We then drove on very good tar to

Songea, 237km of beautiful, undulating, hilly landscape. Interestingly, the closer we got to Songea

the less the villages and homesteads … and hardly any traffic. Odd. Everywhere else is so densely

populated. Maybe due to poor soil quality?

Street vendors, Njombe Njombe town sellers

Songea is as bustling as Njombe, said to be the 3rd biggest town in Tanzania. Once again we had to

hunt for accommodation. Once again we drove round and round without finding anything.

Full, full, full. In desperation we pulled into the White House Hotel, trying to beg space somewhere

– anywhere. Mr Mark Mbwila, the owner, greeted us warmly and offered a cold drink, saying he

knew of a place that wasn’t in any guidebook. It might be a bit expensive but would we be

interested? Of course we were. He then proceeded to drive there (phones didn’t work) to ask if

they had space. They had. Hallelujah! And so we ended up at Seedfarm Villas on the eastern edge

of town, a quiet, modern, woman-owned hotel – 10 40.004S 035 40.270E – popular with business

people. Here we stayed for two nights (TSh50,000 dbl, TSh40,000 sgl) in friendly garden surrounds

complete with traveller palm. By then we had done 3000km and it was time for AAP to get a full

service. Mr Mbwila recommended a friend with garage (the local Toyota dealer) who came the next

morning, collected the car and brought it back in the evening, well serviced and ready to roll ($350).

That evening we had dinner with Mark at his hotel, as thanks for his invaluable help. He gave us

information on the new Umoyo 1 bridge, the bridge across the Rovuma into Mozambique at

Negomane that’d been delayed by three years already. When would it open? He phoned an

engineering friend (he himself used to be an engineer before becoming a hotelier) in Mtwara who

said “maybe November”. Well, we couldn’t wait until November and decided to use the Umoyo 2

bridge at Mitomoni instead to get to our next destination, Niassa Park. We refuelled, chased around

little shops for some coolant (oddly, fuel stations in Tanzania don’t sell oils, water, coolants), then

consulted ‘Irma la Duce’ (my GPS talks to me and is therefore called Irma) for the way out of town.

20km on the road to Mbamba Bay an easily-overlooked sign indicates the beginning of the 128km

track to Mitomoni. The track was quite good, recently graded in anticipation of the president’s

opening the new bridge, and we reached the spanking-new border post by lunchtime – 11 34.372S

035 25.444E. No money-changers, no hawkers, no guesthouses (the last one I saw was 20km short

of the border) – not even any dalla-dalla traffic. We had nice long chats with the border officials

who don’t see many crossings (the last car had been through five days ago!) and are therefore

amenable to long chats; they changed shillings into meticais for us ($1=25MT), and bid us farewell.

Tanz: Mitomoni border, Umoyo 2 bridge over the Rovuma Sign: built in 3 months!

Before crossing into Mozambique, I have to mention here that Tanzania’s ‘hungry policemen’ seem

to have gone, the ‘men in white’ (traffic police in Tanzania wear white) who prey upon foreign-

registered cars (to be fair, our Zambian police do that too), fine for fictitious infractions (I once was

fined for speeding while stopped at a traffic light!), or beg to be given kidogo, ‘some little thing’. We

encountered many road-blocks, had our papers inspected time and time again, but always it was

done pleasantly and politely, and not once did we encounter any ‘kidogo’ attempts.