Tanzania Trekking: Longido

After about a month in Arusha, I finally got out and way from the city. Two weeks ago, I headed north to the small town of Longido, at the base of Mt. Longido, a small non-volcanic mountain. I had joined a group of interns from the ICTR and a couple of other ex-pats who live in Moshi. The plan was to spend the night at a guesthouse in the predominantly Masai-town of Longido and then to climb the mountain in the morning.

Longido is located approximately 80km north of Arusha, not far from the Kenyan border. Longido, the mountain, is approximately 2650m tall and apparently predates the many volcanic mountains in the area (including Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru).

The drive to Longido was quite interesting. While Arusha is very green and basically located in a rainforest, it doesn't take long to find oneself in a semi-arid environment. Indeed, in Longido we were told by the locals that it had only rained once this year and that they had been in drought for the past four years. The drive also provided me my first opportunity to see giraffes in the wild. Their so cool!

We arrived in Longido in the afternoon on Saturday and spent the rest of day basically drinking beer and wine and eating a lot. We spent quite awhile in a typical village bar drinking Kilmanjaro beer with one of the guides from the cultural tourism program, through whom we had organized the trip.

The next day, we woke up early to start our 6 hour hike. We were led by a sweet Masai guide (above) who climbed the whole mountain in flip flops made from old car tires! The trail up the mountain was pretty steep, and I felt like we had to stop a lot. Nevertheless, we made it to the top in 3 hours and 45 minutes, just under the average time of 4 hours. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain was encircled in clouds, so we could not see anything from the top. This was quite a let down, given that we'd heard that you could see Kenya and much of the rift valley from the top. Oh well! At least it was a fun hike.

Here I am at the summit. See the clouds?

The hike down was much faster although in some ways more difficult. I'm not sure I could tell you how many times I slipped and fell coming down. By the next day, I would barely walk; the fronts of my thighs were so sore. But it was totally worth it. I wonder what I'll climb next...

Obama Pub: 2008

...if only President Obama knew how many things his name had been attached to!

It's taken me awhile to actually get out and do things in and around Arusha, but I'm getting there. Two weeks ago, I joined two Canadian women and a Tanzanian high schooler for an outing to a couple of the large outdoor markets outside of Arusha. We were on a quest for traditional Swahili fabric (and, in my case, housewares).

On the way to one of the two markets, I spotted the pub above. So, of course on the way back, I insisted we stopped for a photo. Sadly, it wasn't open. (Then again, it was 11:00 in the morning, so maybe that's a good thing.) Someday, however, I have to back for a beer at the Obama Pub!!

The first market was a bit of a disappointment, as its actual market days are Thursday and Sunday. Nevertheless, I was able to find a few items for my kitchen. And the second market, pictured, made up for it. We had a wide selection of fabric to choose from. I succeeded in finding fabric to make into curtains for my new apartment. Unfortunately, we were only able to find one Obama kanga (i.e., a rectangular piece of fabric depicting the President flanked by maps of Africa set against a patterned background), and Anna, one of my colleagues bought it. But I'm on a mission to get one of my own!!! (Or several, if there are different designs.)

FYI, I hope you all enjoy these photos of the market, because I was scolded for taking them. A woman said that I was supposed to ask before taking pictures of people (they usually like to be paid). Ok, fair enough, but as I asked her, am I really supposed to go around and ask 200+ people if its okay if I take a picture of the market.