September 2011 - Tanzania - Amani Nature Reserve

Due to at least one power cut daily in Tanzania, the last two posts are a bit delayed.
After leaving the easy life on Zanzibar we returned to Dar es Salam where we stayed one night and caught up with our friend Chaky. He took us this time to the Indian quarter of the city. In the street in which we had dinner there were at least 3 huge Hindu temples and they all had ceremonies going on. So, while we were having humangous doshas for dinner we were surrounded by sounds of Indian music and people chanting (Andre, we thought about you a lot, you would have loved it), enlightenment was in the air!
We left Dar es Salam at about 4:30am to avoid the traffic as best as we could and headed towards the Amani Nature reserve. According to the Lonely Planet, it sounded amazing (the second most bio-diverse place in Africa after Madagascar...) and we were fixed on visiting it since a long time before starting the trip. We got a bit concern as nobody we had spoken to in Tanzania actually knew about this place and slowly started doubting.
Once we arrived to the road leading up to the reserve we understood why. In was in a rather bad condition, a mud road climbing up a steep mountain slope covered by rain forest is not really the place the Tanzanian government is going to advertise to tourists when the country has other well developed attractions such as the Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti to offer.
While driving up there we were happy to have arrived in the dry season as the roads must be impassable during the rains. Of course once we had arrived in our nice forest hut, on top of the mountain, deep in the rain forest it started pouring down... Thankfully even after 2 days of rain Cruisi managed the way down without any problem whatsoever and we were finally able to use the low range 4 wheel drive for the first time on this trip.
While in the reserve we had a wonderful guide whose name is impossible to remember but translated it meant ‘Little black’ and indeed he was tiny. He took us on a night walk in order to spot chameleons. Spotting the masters of camouflage in the dark and on top of that the pigmy-dwarf species definitely requires some skills which he had! Fred had difficulties distinguishing the green creatures from the leaves from a 10 centimetre distance... They are very cute, Lena, it was tempting not to shove one in the pocket for you!
Our guidi (who was speaking excellent English liked to put an ‘i’ at the end of each word, which seems to be quite typical around here and also very amusing) took us on another full-day walki which has been one of the best experiences so far. The walki took us through one of the oldest rain forests to be found on the continent. Everything seems to grow on top, in-between and within everything! Without a guide it would have been strictly impossible to orientate yourself, lefti, righti, straighti everything looks the same but so different at the same time.
Coming out of the forest we walked through tea plantations and local villages on the way. In-between the villages all the spices one can think of are growing, whole forests of cardamoni, pepperi and clovi trees making it the perfect alternative destination for a spice tour compared to popular Zanzibar. We bought fresh spices from the villagers who dry them in the streets. Several times along the way we were invited by people to their houses and offered fresh tea and bread. Their hospitality and their eager to welcome you and offer you whatever they have handy is simply overwhelming!
Despite them having so little they still feel the need to share it with you. So we got back home with a belly full of chapatti, fresh bananas from the garden of the village chief, cardamom and spiced tea, baked bread and Tanzanian doughnuts, sugar cane and plenty of forest berries.
Whoever wants to get a feel for genuine local Tanzania life within the surreal setting of an ancient rain forest should not miss this place!
We are off towards our last destination on the coast, this time in Kenya.
Thinking of you,
Luisi and Fredi