Home » Tanzania » One Year Africa: Living as a Vagabond in South - Tanzania Part I: Mbizi Mountains

Once it was a point on a map, some kind of a dream, an idea. Now it no longer is. I have realized the fixed idea: I have been in the heart of the Mbizi Mountains.

One Year Africa: Living as a Vagabond in South - Tanzania Part I: Mbizi Mountains

Maarten de Boeck
2006-05-01 18:05:52

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Gazing at maps I let myself lead by the euphony of geographical names. I had studied the maps of the countries I planned to visit, especially the map of Tanzania. Names of places like Mbizi Mountains, Livingstone Mountains, Kitulo Plateau, Kipengere Range captured my imagination. I wondered how it would be to wander around there.
They were the places I definitely had to go to and once in Tanzania I did so. I really wanted to be there. I wanted nothing less than to penetrate in the heart of each of these mountain ranges, transforming the idea in tangible reality. I had in mind wandering around as a vagabond, everything I needed should be in my backpack. At night I would sleep in the bush, camping or bivouacking, a romantic idea, in the true denotation of the word.

My quest for journey into the Mbizi Mountains commences in Zimba, a remote village near Lake Rukwa's lakeshore. I travelled there by car coming from Sumbawanga, a scenic and adventurous drive through the mountains, down the escarpment and along the lakeshore.
In Zimba I stayed at the Catholic mission, a beautiful building on a hill overlooking the lake. I enjoyed the hospitality of the two local priests who offered me one of the empty rooms in the mission premises.
In Zimba I ventured out to the lakeshore. I was alone, starring in the distance, my mind in a state of clear reflection, thinking about places and people, about the days ahead of me, about life...

In the afternoon a feast was going on in the village. Sitting on the patio I heard music resonating from the village. I strolled down to see what was going on. In the village men were playing drums and drinking pombe (alcohol), elated women were dancing and drinking pombe as well. Animated I observed the exuberant people, sitting beside a tree. On my return ...