I visited Iringa and fell in love. The beautiful people, the green hilly landscapes and cool weather was refreshing and I wish I had more than two nights to spend there. The highlight of the trip was our visit to the Isimila Stone Age site. The canyon and the sandstone pillars rising up to the sky was a landmark I had had on my bucket list for a long time.
As the bus crept up the hill leading to Iringa’s main bus stand, I looked out the window admiring the surrounding hilly landscape decorated with sunflowers and lush tea fields. Iringa is located in Tanzanias southern highlands region, elevated on a plateau which gives it cooler weather than Dar es Salaam. Thankfully I had chosen a pretty good bus company called Al Saedy, so the bus was clean, had seat belts and it was relatively punctual. I left Dar at 7 am in the morning and arrived in Iringa around 5.30 pm. For a distance of 489 km that is pretty late, but buses in Tanzania only drive around 50 km/h and they make a lot of stops letting people on and off along the way. So traveling anywhere in Tanzania is always a long trip.
After almost 9h on the road I finally arrived in Iringa and stepped out of the bus into a crowd of touts and taxi drivers wanting to take me somewhere. My boyfriend who had arrived a day earlier than me was there to pick me up and we walked the short distance to our guest house Neema Crafts.
Neema Crafts is one of the most charming guest houses I’ve ever been to and the rooms are simple but always clean and have warm (functioning) showers. That is more than what you usually get in Tanzanian guest houses so I was extremely happy for that. A double room at Neema's costs 40,000 ths ($20)/night (residence price) so it's definitely more expensive than your average guest house but when you see it, you understand why. For some reason I forgot to take a picture of our room but check out their website for pictures. Another reason for my great love of Neema’s is the little restaurant/café which is run by deaf Tanzanians. The food is delicious and the cakes are to die for! Their Lemon swirl cake was incredibly moist, buttery and still so fresh that I ate a slice every single day of my stay there. R who is generally not a chocolate fan went crazy for their chocolate cake with creamy frosting that melted in your mouth. During my stay in Africa I have learned that baked goods are not anything special here (they are actually kind of bad) so when I taste good cakes in Africa I remember it.
Neema Crafts also houses a super cute shop with clothing, jewellery, homeware, decor all crafted by people with disabilities in Tanzania. I love the concept of shopping beautifully crafted items made from sustainable materials and at the same time empowering a group of people who are marginalised in Tanzanian society. There's a great stigma attached to having a disability in Tanzania, and Neema's provides dignity and hope for many people who previously relied on street begging or were hidden away at home. I truly loved everything about Neemas crafts.
The next morning we woke up and and headed for breakfast in the cafe. The breakfast is included with the room and you get a cup of tea/coffe, a bowl of fruit, a choice of yoghurt or juice and one slice of lemon cake or a cinnamon roll. For an extra 5000 tsh you get two slices of toast, scrambled eggs and a fried tomato. For one person the extra addition is a bit much, but me and R shared the eggs and toast and we got very full.
After our delicious breakfast we headed to the local soko (market) to stroll around and have a look. The market was colourful and very organised so I couldn’t help but film as much as possible (watch the vlog here). The shop keepers where super friendly and invited us over to the different stalls to have a closer look at their goods. I must say that I’m usually not a fan of going to local markets as they get busy and there is often many touts harassing you, but this market was a joy to walk around in, we had no issues what so ever. I could film in peace and we left with a bag of little limes that we where planning to use for our drinks when we got to lake Malawi.
After that we headed to the shopping area. Most clothes sold in Tanzania are second hand items and the cheapest clothes are put in piles on top of tarps on the ground. My boyfriend had forgot his swimming trunks (to a beach holiday?!) so he had to get some before we reached lake Malawi. After a short walk we found a man selling Adidas shorts and we settled for a black pair. The shorts where probably counterfeit from China but at least they where new so the poor guy didn’t have to swim in used trunks haha.
Finally we where done with shopping and we could head to Isimila Stone Age site; a canyon which archeological artifacts, particularly stone tools, from human habitation estimated to be between 60 000 and 100 000 years old. But I was less interested in that and more excited to see the dramatic landscape of eroded sandstone pillars reaching high up into the sky.
To get to Isimila we took a dalla-dalla (public transport) going towards Mafinga. From the town bus station it is a 30-min ride to reach Isimila. Just make sure to tell the conductor you want to get off at Isimila “kumbu-kumbu” and they will drop you off on the side of the road at a junction. Take your left and follow a dirt road lined by corn fields and sunflower fields. After 10 minutes or so you will reach the gate of Isimila Stone Age site. In the little reception building you pay the entrance fee and you can get a guide as well. There is also a small museum in the building with thousands of years old archeological artefacts displayed on the walls. Having a guide can be a good idea if you would like some historical context as you walk around the canyon. R and I were not offered a guide but we where ok with that since we mostly wanted to stroll around by ourselves and take pictures of the scenery. I was also really happy that I was able to pay the local rate rather than the tourist rate, those inflated tourist prices would have left such a sour taste in my mouth :(
The tour started with some steep stairs down to the canyon. At first there was not much to see but as we moved further ahead, the rock formations took on more interesting shapes and the walls around us where tinted brightly orange-red. We must have walked around for a good two hours and after getting a little lost we finally reached what I had came to see; the natural sand stone pillars reaching several stories up into the sky. R who had not been so keen on going to the Stone Age site at the beginning of the day took my camera and was snapping away in an attempt to capture the stunning landscape and I think he did a pretty good job. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, almost other worldly with the eroded rocks and it made the perfect day excursion.
A good thing to know is that there are no set paths in Isimila, so good footwear is advisable. Also, as we walked around I could see and feel that the moist path that we where walking on actually floods and becomes a river when it rains so try to go on non rainy days. Sunscreen is always important to wear but maybe more so when you are hiking in the hot arid valley of Isimila. All in all, Isimila Stone Age site is a perfect visit if you are in Iringa, I just wish they would lower the tourist price.
To get back to town we could only hope that a dalla dalla would pass by the road as soon as possible. When no bus came after 10 min we started to feel that we might be stuck in the middle of nowhere for a long time. So my boyfriend suggested that we hitchhike. I had never hitchhiked before and was not certain it was a good idea. But before I could protest, his thumb was out and a big truck slowed down for us. Wow! I was so nervous climbing up in that extremely high truck (never knew that it would be so awkward getting up in those vehicles) but the driver just asked me to take off my shoes and sit on what I believe is where he slept while on the road. Richard took the seat next to the driver and then we where off. I don’t remember the truckers name because it was kind of unusual but he was great! He had been on the road for 2 weeks driving all the way from the DRC and he was driving his cargo to Dar es Salaam. He was very interested in R and I and asked us where we came from and how we knew so much Kiswahili. It was a fun ride back to town but I don’t think I’ll try hitch hiking again anytime soon. All through out the ride I was afraid of getting in an accident. Without a seatbelt sitting in the front I was going to crash against that window like a rag doll in case of a collision.
Back in Iringa town we returned to Neema’s and freshened up before we headed to the restaurant. After hiking for hours we where super hungry and we shared a delicious veggie panini and juicy burger with fries. I don’t know how they do it at Neema’s but they have trained their chefs really well, all the food there tastes amazing. And it is even more spectacular that the whole staff (except for one) in the cafe is deaf!
As the day came to an end we strolled around the public park and had a few beers with some of R’s old peace corps colleagues who where in town. Then we went to an Indian/Tanzanian fusion restaurant and bar where some of the gang had pizza for dinner. Lauren, another peace corps friend had arrived to Iringa late and we where catching up with her before heading back to Neema’s. We where going to have an early morning the next day as R, Lauren and I where doing the first leg of our trip down to Liuli by lake Malawi.
Iringa had been awesome and I really wished I could have had one more day in town to explore the Gangilonga rocks. But I guess it is all the more reason to return.
Neema Crafts Prices (tourist)
Single room 25,000 tsh
Double room 45,000 tsh
Family room 65,000 ths
Isimila Stone Age site Prices
Tourist 20,000 tsh
Resident 10,000 ths
Local 2,000 ths
Bus to Isimila (one way)
1,500 ths
Comments