Mambo View Point, Tanzania

Wow! And What a View it Is!

February 2014

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We left Amani Forest Reserve in good time, as we wanted to stop at the Irente Farm for some supplies and just to check it out. We tried to stay off the main highways on our way north, but we had to use them a bit.

People ride bicycles and motorbikes a lot in Tanzania, and they don't ride them for fun. They are a primary means of transportation, not just for people, but for products. People use their cycles the way we use pickup trucks. It's hard work, but it's what a lot of them have. They end up pushing up some hills, and then riding down the other side. That has to be dangerous, as all that weight makes a bicycle pretty wobbly and unresponsive. And things sticking out are easy to snag on passing vehicles on narrow roads.


Push Uphill, Ride Down Photo by Dona	Carrying Water Photo by Dona

Charcoal is, unfortunately, used for cooking a lot. So we saw people making charcoal, and saw large bags of it by the side of the road waiting to be picked up for sale.

Charcoal
Photo by Dona

We don't have a television, and we don't watch Disney trash, so we were clueless when we saw buses with "Hakuna Matata" written on the back. I guess it helps attract tourists to that artificial world that's disjoint from the real one they are visiting.

Hakuna Matata Bus

Our route took us winding through the Usambara Mountains. They are highly developed, yet peaceful and inspiring. There are small farms everywhere, small villages everywhere, and probably the best dirt roads for bike trips I've ever seen. Wonderful views and reasonable grades.


Stream Photo by Dona	NEMts Farms Photo by Dona	NEMts Tree Xxx Photo by Dona

We made it to Irente Farm some time after lunch, but in time to still get lunch. We cooled off and enjoyed looking at all the indigenous trees they had labelled, and got help with a tree at Amani that we couldn't identify. After lunch we continued on towards Mambo View Point.

Gary, Lunch at Irente
Photo by Dona


Cape Fig / Mkuyu Ficus Sur	Cabbage / Mtindi Cussonia Holstii	Mtalawanda Markhamia Lutea	Dragon Tree / Ng Weng We Dracaena Steudneri
Photos by Dona


Wild Olive / Mziaghembe Olea Europea	Cape Ash / Monko Ekebergia Capansis
Photos by Dona


Sunflowers	Farm


Water Haulers	NEMts Hand Cart


NEMts	NEMts

NEMts

We didn't have much of a map, and as I've said before, there are no street or road signs anywhere in Tanzania, except for maybe the major junctions on the main highways, of which there are maybe two. So we took a few wrong turns and had to backtrack a bit, but it gave us a chance to stress-test our Swahili (it failed mostly) and interact a little with the average person-on-the-dirt-road.

Typical vista from an Usambara Mountains road.

We finally made it to within a few miles of our destination, Mambo View Point, and they had some signs up. At that point the roads started going to heck, but that was ok.

Mambo View Point Driveway

We had chosen Mambo View Point because of its spectacular view, and we were not disappointed. We were incredibly lucky, as this is a place known for being obscured by fog or rain or just overcast weather, in a country known for clear skies. We were close behind the short rains, and the weather had been mostly overcast for the past few days.

Mambo View Point is one of those places with a spectacular view that should really not be there. It would be far better if it were sited back from the edge of the cliff so you could enjoy the natural surroundings. But given that it's there... it's an amazing view. The cliffs where you are perched drop steeply down the the plains below, which are just about pancake flat, extending off into the undeveloped areas comprising Mkomazi National Park and then Tsavo National Park in Kenya. We set up our tent and tarp and made good use of the community building to block the wind for cooking and playing bananagrams.


Evening

Shelter

The next morning we had the kind of view you expect from the top of a high alpine peak -- we were above the clouds, and the rest of the world was below them.


Morning Clouds

The folks at Mambo View Point have done a great job of growing and encouraging plants used by birds, and we had a great time chasing them. The butterflies and flowers were equally colorful.


		Photo by Dona
Variable Sunbird


Variable Sunbird Photo by Dona	Variable Sunbird F Photo by Dona

Malachite Sunbird


Dark Blue Pansy Butterfly (Junonia Oenone) Photos by Dona


Butterfly Xxx Photo by Dona	Butterfly Xxx Photo by Dona


Flower Xxx Pink Photo by Dona	Flower Xxx Violet Photo by Dona

I was amazed by the fact that people were attempting to grow crops on some of these steep hillsides. It seems like a disaster waiting to happen, and a good way to throw / erode away your precious soils.


Steep Fields


Cliffs	Gary Photo by Dona

It seemed like the tourist business was booming, and everyone was trying to build a new eco-lodge or guest-house on the edge of the cliff with a great view. It struck me as a place in need of a sense of community planning.


Local Place with a View	Big Place under Construction Photo by Dona

House

Bottlebrush


	Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona
Malachite Sunbird		Variable Sunbird


	Photo by Dona
Usambara Two Horned Chameleon

Checkers


	Photo by Dona
Women Walking


Plains View

I hiked part way down the steep hillside adjacent to one of the big cliffs, hoping to get a view of some raptors which might be nesting on the cliffs. I was surprised a bit later as four young boys non-chalantly walked out to my viewing place on the end of a small promontory.

I was trying to identify some birds through my binoculars, and trying to take some pictures. Unfortunately, they were looking for handouts, and appeared to be used to begging from tourists. It seemed like there were eight hands grabbing for whatever was available, and I quickly made sure my camera equipment not around my neck was stowed in my backpack. They thought looking through my binoculars was pretty cool, but then they wanted to keep them.

Cliff Tree


Kids We're all on the end of the fin sticking out in the lower left corner of the photo to the right.	Photo from Mambo View Point

Erosion


Ridges	Evening by the Cliffs Photo by Dona

Plains below the Ridges

Black Chested Snake Eagle
Photo by Dona

After two nights at Mambo View Point, we headed down the mountain for Mkomazi National Park. Originally I had wanted to take the "back road" down, which is a steep 4WD road with a spectacular view. But we got a rather confusing report the day before about someone who had come up it, or tried to come up it, or come part way up it and gotten stranded and had to hike the rest of the way, or had to spend six hours fixing the road so they could come up it. Or something like that. Since we only had our Rav4 and not a Land Rover, we decided to descend by a more conventional route. That involved some backtracking, but it was all pretty and we saw some things we would have missed otherwise.

Mambo View Point from the Plains

On to Mkomazi National Park.