Home » Tanzania » Day 15. Sat 5th October Iringa

Today we drive to Iringa on the edge of the Ruaha National Park, which is the wildlife highlight of the trip. It is only a short drive, but a dirt road and very steep, and the Defender is still having problems with its fuel feed, so we don't arrive until about 13:00. This area is full of Baobabs, the "upside down" tree, so called because for 11 months of the year it has no foliage at all, and the branches grow in all directions so that they more resemble roots. There are various legends about this tree, most based around the idea of God casting the tree to earth in a rage, so that it lands upside down. The Baobab only flowers for a single day every year, so when we see one that is flowering, of course we stop to photograph it.

Day 15. Sat 5th October Iringa

DaveMidgley
2005-10-22 12:35:56

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Today we drive to Iringa on the edge of the Ruaha National Park, which is the wildlife highlight of the trip. It is only a short drive, but a dirt road and very steep, and the Defender is still having problems with its fuel feed, so we don't arrive until about 13:00. This area is full of Baobabs, the "upside down" tree, so called because for 11 months of the year it has no foliage at all, and the branches grow in all directions so that they more resemble roots. There are various legends about this tree, most based around the idea of God casting the tree to earth in a rage, so that it lands upside down. The Baobab only flowers for a single day every year, so when we see one that is flowering, of course we stop to photograph it.

We stay at the Ismilla Hotel, which is average. The loo doesn't flush but the manager kindly provides us with a large plastic bucket.

The afternoon is free. Iringa is a decent sized town with the usual bustling market place. I am having a cash flow crisis, and the banks are all shut, so Ken takes me to a black market money changer he just happens to know, and I convert some $USs into shillings at a rather poor rate. Then Andy and I wander around the shops. Andy buys a huge Masai knife (he's really into the weapons of mass destruction) for 3000TS (about £2) which seems like a real bargain, and I take pot luck on a CD of African religious music for Pete and Liz (brother and sister-in-law). Then we try to find the Maji Maji rock, which is supposed to have a magnificent view, but, although we see it several times in the distance, we are unable to find a path to it, and return to the hotel hot and sweaty.

In the evening we go out for dinner to a little place in town called Hasty Tasty Too, which only seats about 12 people so we take it over entirely. It is run by a charming old gentleman of Asian extraction and the food is excellent.