Lushoto, a Little Piece of Heaven

From Sunday to Tuesday, Max and I ditched work for a chance to check out the much acclaimed Usambara mountains. Our roommates have been goading us to see the verdure countryside of Lushoto and eat the amazing food there, and we finally caved. When I retire later in life, I hope it is there.

We boarded a slightly sketchy bus early Sunday morning. Four and a half hours later, we arrive in Lushoto town. Lushoto is located high up in the Usambara mountains, around 1500 kilometers asl. Unlike Moshi which is dry, brown, and HOT, Lushoto was completely green and cool. The drive up the mountains involved weaving along narrow roads that hugged the moutainside, and every corner promised a picturesque view.

From Lushoto town, we got a ride to our destination, Mullers Lodge. This beautiful resort is hidden in a garden of colorful flowers and run by a giant German. To follow the trend of this entire trip, we were the only hotel residents. We spent Sunday, drinking tea and local coffee in their hotel garden and walking around the premises. For dinner, we had one of our the best meals in Tanzania. Every night they serve a buffet dinner. Even though it was just Max and I, we were offered 6 DIFFERENT main courses, with a soup appetizer, and a mouth-watering apple custard pudding and cake dessert. It was phenomenal and we left dinner stuffed.

Monday morning, we awoke to another amazing multi-coursed meal. Afterwards, we met with Babu Francis for a day-hike around Lushoto. Babu Francis is a tiny Tanzanian from Lushoto. He is incredibly fit, despite being a chain-smoker (and rounded off 3 cigs on our hike). The man is also incredibly warm and garrulous. When he was not greeting every single person we passed, he was recounting details of American history or the botanical names of all the plants and trees for Max and I. In addition to offering many educational lectures during our hike, he navigated us down main roads and through farmland. We often walked in between rows of cabbage, through football fields, and across people's backyards. To see some of our pictures, check out the flickr account. We returned to the lodge, exhausted but satsified (and ready for another awesome dinner, which we received).

Tuesday morning we set off for home. The ride returning to Moshi was not as smooth as the one leaving there, but at least we arrived in one piece.

In a couple of days, however, we leave agian. This time: Kilimanjaro.