Sightseeing around Africa’s highest mountain Kilimanjaro is worth of seeing and experiencing. Journey takes you through dozens of villages, where you can still see the traditional African life. Many villages still look roughly similar than beginning of 20th century. You can’t see much of electronics and technology. Most people are living in villages in small shacks, and a few villages have electricity available.
Water is usually got from higher slopes of mountain. Villages have been preserved so far as originals because of the poor road network. Now there is running a big project, which makes asphalt around the entire mountain. This means a totally different situation in the villages, because transit traffic is growing strongly.
Kilimanjaro sightseeing tour is starting early in the morning from Moshi. The first half an hour is driving towards Arusha. On the way you can see how people are doing their morning chores. Little bit before the Kilimanjaro International Airport you turn to a smaller road towards Sanya Juu. After passing a few villages on the road, the landscape changes to a traditional African Savannah. There is also a chance to see animals such as antelopes, giraffes, elephants and zebras.
The first villages and settlement that come towards you are the Masai tribe’s traditional bomas. Masais are still living almost the same way as for hundreds of years ago. Masais are mostly self-sufficient, so they don´t buy almost anything from the cities. During the day Masais are grazing cattle, sometimes far away from the home village. Closeness of Mount Kilimanjaro guarantees that in this region rains a little more than elsewhere, and the animals have enough to eat. During the drive you can see Masai men herding large herds of cattle.
The journey continues to higher slopes of the mountain. Sometimes you stop to admire the stunning scenery and take some pictures from Kilimanjaro, and in the other direction apparent Mount Meru. Landscape changes slowly to pine forest. This is almost the only place in Tanzania, where climate conditions are right to grow pine trees. This place is part of Kilimanjaro protectorate, but it’s leased for forest planting. Foresters are watching where and when the trees are planted or poured. When the time is suitable, you will stop for a lunch to a place, where you can see spectacular views to the Kenyan plains.
When the journey continues, the landscape is slowly changing to a lush mountain forest. Almost every day there are some tropical rain showers on the mountain slopes. If you want, you can stop by the restaurant for some refreshments and to admire the rain. The journey continues, and on Wednesdays and Saturdays you can see large markets near the villages. The villagers are selling there different products to each other. People come also far from the mountain slopes and bring to the market for sale for example bananas, coffee and beans. They buy themselves products which are not available in their home villages, such as fish, rice, some spices, soap, clothes and electronics.
Shortly after markets you arrive into Moshi-Mombasa road. If you are not too tired, you can stop to see how the raw materials of the bricks are extracted from the depths of the mountain. You will arrive back to Moshi in good time before sunset.
