Marangu Village Tour

Kilimanjaro is a highly populated area of Tanzania. You notice this when you travel from Marangu to Moshi and see almost uninterrupted pedestrian travellers along the main highway. People are just out walking from one place to another. There are no sidewalks for pedestrians so they walk along the roadway moving out of the way for animals and vehicles along the road. Along the road to Marangu one village leads to another connected by trails that run parallel to the main road and through the village.

A walking tour of the village was offered through the hotel and a local took us out to teach us about their culture and how their communities are set-up. Philius was a father, grandfather, village elder, coffee farmer, and excellent guide. He was very proud of his country and believes that his life has gradually improved since independence was gained in 1963. He compared the traditional Chagga house of his parents to his own cinder block home and concluded that life was gradually improving for the average Tanzanian. The plots of land are divided and sectioned so everyone in the village has enough to grow some coffee, bananas and to keep their goat and cow. His cow and goat are fed fed the banana leaves and kept in their corrals 'outside' rather than 'inside' as they were in the past. The Masai tribe would raid the Chagga villages for cows because they believed any grazing animal belonged to the Masai people.

The children all go to school in uniforms, but there is a cost for the family to send children to school. They attend to age 15 after which only a small number go on to a higher education. They too have their problems with unemployment of the young which can lead to alcohol and drug use. The alcohol is sold in small packets that they buy everywhere and are littered on all the paths from village to village. We travelled to a waterfall that was very spectacular, but the heavy rain made the rickety steps so dangerous I almost tumbled down the cliff. Our guide was outraged with the condition of the steps and made a point of complaining to the person running the tourist site. This is one of the many tourist initiatives to raise money and employment opportunities. We toured the Marangu village market where lots of fresh market vegetables were available. There were bananas (that are more like potatoes) frying to deep fry pans, and lots of local foods available. The villages were drying millet they use to mix with bananas for a type of beer. This beer is only drinkable for a day or two after fermenting. Philius explained that it was important for any traditional celebrations. Alcohol is a problem for some of the villages. The food from Tanzania is a lot of beans and corn and while there are lots of spices available, they seem not to have developed seasoning skills in the same way as the Indian or middle eastern cultures.

Everywhere cooking is done by heated charcoal or wood under clay pots. There are no modern cookers. Even at the Hilton in Zanzibar and the Movenpick in Dar, the cooking was done with charcoal and clay pots. The washing or laundry is all hand done and hung to dry. Again even in Dar this is the method of cleaning clothes. As a result, there is not much cleaning of clothes and many people only wash their clothes after a week or more.