Experiencing the beauty that Morogoro has to offer

It is a rainy day in Dar es Salaam. At 7:00 am on a Saturday, the city is already quite active. I am waiting in the Total University gas station at Mlimani City, watching vehicles passing nearby.

My idea for the weekend is to take part in a trip to Morogoro region, organized by AfroVibra.

After a while, the bus comes to pick us up. First destination: Udzungwa Mountains National Park.

In order to get to this area in the centre of Tanzania, the journey lasts a little over six hours.

All along the road, different landscapes pass by.

The urban spaces are, little by little, replaced with green meadows and huge mountains, while concrete roads are fading away to make place for dirt roads.

Afropop music accompanies the travellers in the bus.

With the rains of the morning, the bus sometimes skates to get out of the mud on the dirt roads.

Udzungwa Mountains National Park

So, after several hours of driving, we arrive at Udzungwa, wowed by the high mountain peaks. Just after we arrive, one of the park managers explains more about at the place.

The Udzungwa Mountains are part of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. The area hosts a huge diversity of flora and fauna, like endemic species such as the Udzungwa Red Colobus monkey, the grey-faced sengi elephant shrew and the Udzungwa partridge.

Furthermore, these mountains rise to heights of 2 579 meters. Unfortunately, during the orientation, rain begins to fall.

We are supposed to sleep in tent, but humidity pushes us to set up our camp under a roof.

Then, in front of a good dinner, we are lucky to listen to Tanzanian singer, Vitaly Maembe. He is one of the legends in East-African music.

Through his songs, he denounces injustices in Tanzanian society, and pushes the government to take action.

Therefore, it is with Swahili music and the rainfall sounds that we finish the first day and go to sleep.

We wake-up at 6:00 am. After a complete breakfast, we are driving in direction of the first activity of the day: a hike in the Udzungwa Mountains.

The mountain summits are really hard to discern, hided by the clouds.

Along the first meters of the climb, vendors of walking sticks and souvenirs try to accost us. After the habitation area, we then enter into vegetation.

The forest is luxuriant, full of life after the rainfalls of the night. Multiple noise may be heard coming from everywhere.

As we ascend, our guide explains to us the multiple tree species, with some of them owning medicinal functions.

We also observe some insects: millipedes, ants and even termites. At one moment, we are also able to observe the Red Colobus monkeys swinging from one tree to the next.

After a while, we finally arrive on a platform, just in front of the Sanje Falls.

It is one of the biggest waterfalls in Tanzania, with approximately 170 meters in height.

The water literally gushes out of the mountain, falling through the vegetation. By then, we want to continue in order to swim.

For another hour, we continue to climb until a place higher than the first fall. We find the smallest one, ideal for swimming.

Swimming under the Sanje Falls could be dangerous due to the high water pressure.

Although the other waterfall is not as imposing, the power it exudes is still impressive, which is confirm by the noise it provokes.

The place is filled with mist caused by the falling water.

The water is quite cold but I decide going to swim with a few other tourists. The sensation is great, pleasant and refreshing.

However, the current is very strong, and you have to be careful not to get carried away by clinging to the rocks.

After swimming, it is time to head on back to the bus.

On the road, we stop at the top of Sanje Falls. The view on the landscape is amazing.

We can see the multiple colours of the fields which share their spaces with dense vegetation areas. The cloudy sky casts shadows on the ground.

Houses can also be distinguished, mainly at the edge of the forest.

Morogoro town

The plan for the evening is to go to Morogoro town, the biggest city in the region.

We ride for the rest of the afternoon, until we reach a local village within the city. It is 6:30pm by then and it seems that there is a grouping of people, preventing the bus from passing.

Many children are gathered around the place. A cultural event is taking place, and we are invited to join.

Traditional Tanzanian dancers give a demonstration, accompanied by a band of musicians.

The show is about the Baikoko dance. The dancers mainly dance in a circle, shaking their hips and bottoms as they go.

But more than that, the dancers are also doing acrobatic move, in rhythm with the music.

A mysterious guy with a mask is also here, walking on stilts. At some point, fire dancers who arrive and begin performing dangerous tricks.

I think it is quite nice to have that kind of free show, which provides, to the local population, an access to the arts and a pride of their cultural heritage.

Families and travellers are enjoying the show, and could freely join in by dancing with the performers.

It is a pleasant and friendly moment, allowing me to better understand the traditional cultures of Tanzania.

When the show finished, it is already night.

We quickly head on to a local hostel, before heading to Samaki Samaki, a famous nightclub restaurant in Morogoro Town.

The place is very crowded, with a DJ playing the decks. With my buddies, we settle in at a table in order to have dinner.

I ordered “kuku” with fries, accompanied by a Kilimanjaro beer.

While waiting for the ordered food, I climb for a moment on the night club upper floor, a large terrace which allows me to have a great view of the city’s panorama at night.

In the distance, I see mountains overlooking the city, lit by the Morogoro’s lights.

After some waiting, meals arrive, enabling us to recover from the long day we just spent.

With music varying from Drake to Diamond Platinumz, we also enjoy the dance floor.

Morogoro people are also up for a dance. And as such, we finish the second day of our tour.

Mikumi National Park

Finally, here arrives the last day. We are planning to go to the Mikumi National Park to observe wild beasts.

We wake-up at 7:00 am, take a quick break-fast, and into the bus we go.

The national park is about two hours from Morogoro town. The morning is accompanied by a soft blue sky.

In order to arrive at the entry of Mikumi, we need to use a main road into the park.

A lot of monkeys are on the sides, looking at the bus passing nearby. More and more, the bus sinks into the middle of the savannah.

There are many information signs indicating the danger of hitting a wild animal crossing.

From far, in middle of trees and vegetation, I already see some animals.

We arrive at the entry of the Mikumi National Park, our guide introduces himself to the group.

He explains us that the park serves to protect the wild animals and to share the discoveries of Tanzanian nature with people.

Furthermore, it is not possible to go on foot in the park, it would be too dangerous.

We then enter deeper into the savannah with our bus, following the dirt road as we go.

The landscape is a huge plain, full of vegetation, with trees rising here and there.

An antelope herd appears and later, an elephant shows himself too followed by zebras.

I learn that zebras are in reality black, but they use white strips to protect themselves from the sun.

Further away, African buffalos are chilling under the sun.

They can be really dangerous when they are disturbed.

At a moment, a small head appears in middle of ferns: a hyena is steering at us.

We learn that when a hyena meets a partner, they stay together all their life.

All these species, living together make me easily remember all the books and movies I saw while I was still a young boy, making a picture for myself of what African savannahs might look like.

These areas are important places for biodiversity, and need to be preserved at all cost.

The guide points out the fact that they are regularly putting up fires in some parts of the park, in a controlled manner, with the aim of regenerating the soil.

It is a practice called eco-burning, but it is also contested for its destruction of fauna and flora, and for its limited effects.

Then, we continue down the road in the park until we stop in front of a muddy pool of water.

By looking at it, it appears that something is emerging of the water.

Indeed, a hippopotamus is taking a nap.

This animal is able to move more than 5 kilometres during the night, looking for other places to stay.

We also see more or less a lion, hidden in a bush.

He is sleeping, like most of the animals here, due to the high temperatures in the middle of the afternoon.

As we finish the tour, I meet the giraffe dubbed “Miss Tanzania”.

Her tight and long neck are really impressive. Her mottled skin is also very pretty to look at.

She is starring at us from afar, probably wondering about us.

Of course, we try our best not to be noisy so we do not disturb the fauna.

As we finish, our guide explains to us the meaning of the park name. Mikumi is the local name for a specific palm tree species found here, the Borassus aethiopum.

Human tribes used to climb up these trees to protect themselves from danger.

Thus, the visit in the Mikumi Natural Park is finished. We must now come back from our journey.

The trip ends happily and in song, all the way back to Dar es Salaam.