Gonja

For so many months I have looked over to South Pare Mountains from the Usambars. They were part of every sundowner and now I finally manage to enter them while taking some back roads towards Kenya. My visa has already been issued on the same day of application (30th). That was fast!
They are just around the corner but Pare feel very differently than Usambaras. I climb up to Bombo and drop William - a local hitch hiker - there. The view back on Usambaras is spectacular with a severe thunderstorm approaching from the West. The path upwards is extraordinarily fulfilling: steep, narrow, muddy, rocky with low range gears required. I am just about to think "Man, how tricky!" when I see a huge bus in front of me managing this same "heavy shit" with solely rear axle drive. The people up here look differntly and speak some other slang. That's very funny! Also fewer Islamic influence up here. I don't spot any single mosque but some Catholic parishes. Bombo seems to be some kind of boys' heaven having a damn lot of pretty women walking around. I don't know how many times I am about to say "hello" to the ditch ... :-D
I take my time enjoying the view. There are no suitable camping spots discoverable and I ask in a church for a small lawn to park the car. They give me a ginger beer and send me further down the road to the church in Mpepera which would have even offered a great view into the western valley, was it not that I arrive just after sunset.Läs mer