When I was researching accommodation in Lushoto, I came across an eco-lodge called Mambo Viewpoint, around 50km further up into the mountains. I would have disregarded it as being too far away, but the reviews were so glowing that I felt it was worth a visit. The owners were working on a number of development projects with the local village, which sounded interesting.
But first, the journey. Costantine flagged down the bus and told the driver where I should get off and a number of hands reached down to hoist me up the huge step. It was packed and the bus jerked away as I tried to squeeze along the aisle (thankfully I'd left my big rucksack in Lushoto!). After much jostling and shouting a space was found for me in the back row and I was greeted with smiles and calls of "karibu".
I think "bone-shaker" is the only way to appropriately describe this bus. We were travelling on mostly unmade roads and it lurched and spluttered along, threatening to bounce me off of my seat on several occasions. Nevertheless I loved the journey. The scenery was spectacular and we passed through several small, picturesque villages which offered a nice glimpse of local life. Out in this remote area the dusty roads must see very little traffic and small children would often run out when they saw the bus, waving frantically. Whilst most people took no notice, I of course waved enthusiastically back, which got them even more excited. I guess they see even fewer white people than they do buses!
Finally after two hours we stopped at Mambo Junction and the bus driver gestured for me to get off. It was a further 3km to the lodge and the owner had told me to call when I was nearby, but my phone was out of signal, so I decided to just start walking. A group of elderly village men were walking just ahead of me and they turned and asked if I was going to Mambo Viewpoint and said they'd show me the way. After we'd all shaken hands and exchanged greetings we attempted to converse a bit, but their English was about as limited as my Swahili! Still, they seemed to like it when I threw out the 10 or so random words I'd learnt by this point. We passed women walking the other way, with branches and buckets balanced on their heads and schoolchildren who called out and waved when they saw me.
It was only after walking with the men for about 10 minutes that I noticed that each one of them was carrying a machete. I dropped back a couple of paces as I tried to figure out if I'd just made a terrible error of judgement, but the fact that all the village women and children knew the men reassured me, and before long a taxi pulled up with some other guests heading to the lodge, and I jumped in. Just as well, as it was still quite a way away!
I knew that the owners of the lodge, Herman and Marion, were Dutch, so I was a bit surprised when five big African guys came out to welcome us as the car pulled up, shaking us each warmly by the hand and making introductions. Now, knowing more about the project I think it's actually perfect this way. This really is all about the local community and Herman and Marion are like the worker bees in the background, pulling it all together.
Mambo Viewpoint is an eco-lodge, not a luxury hotel, so it's simple and homely, but has been designed with a lot of thought and originality. I loved it instantly.
I was staying in a "luxury" tent, which was perched on the edge of a cliff offering a beautiful view out across the plains far below. There was a private open-air bathroom attached, but the shower hadn't been fitted yet, so as the sun started to set one of the staff brought me a bucket of steaming hot water to shower with. I did this whilst looking out at the view and breathing in the fresh cold air coming in over the bathroom "fence" - wonderful.
The really special thing about this place is the amazing work that's being done here. The eco-lodge is just one of many different projects aimed at developing the local community of Mambo, a poor isolated village where the average wage is still less than $1 a day. Having worked in development for many years in many countries, Herman and Marion found themselves disheartened by the way things were being run (namely the amount of money spent on overheads, offices and 4x4s!) and decided it was time to do it their way. They were lucky to meet Ndege, now the manager of Mambo Viewpoint, whilst on a fact-finding mission in the Usambaras. He had ideas and an enthusiasm to develop the rural communities and his local knowledge, language etc was just what was needed to combine with Herman and Marion's experience in development. Together they found and bought the perfect piece of land, in a very poor village but complete with the jaw-dropping views needed to entice tourists to come here.
From the start, Herman and Marion let the villagers know that they weren't there to give them unconditional aid; they were there to do business with them. The lodge was built with the help of over 1000 locals (and the use of local materials) and anyone who wanted to work was given work (though generally in weekly shifts as there was so much demand!). Now almost all of the people they employ here - as guides, cooks, cleaners etc. - are from the village of Mambo. I think this has been really important as the villagers have felt involved from the start, and are invested in making sure the lodge is a success and continues to attract tourists, who bring new business and new ideas for projects. In other words, I needn't have worried about those machetes!
Another key to their success is that they're not just focusing on one area, e.g. education, as they believe that everything is inter-linked i.e focusing solely on education without also creating jobs would just lead to depopulation of the area. Therefore they've initiated a broad range of projects, such as:
- laying a new pipeline to pump water to the village, from a natural spring in the forest below
- building bridges to connect some of the smaller villages so that they can more quickly access the water pump in Mambo
- several different projects to improve facilities at the local school (2000 out of the 5000 people in Mambo village are children. They all attend the village school, but since there are not enough teachers, 1000 attend in the mornings and the other 1000 in the afternoons. Class sizes are around 150-200! Still lots to be done here!).
One of the magical things about this place is the amount of interesting guests it attracts and most people bring ideas and enthusiasm and expertise to get new projects off the ground, e.g. two guests who were trained cheese-makers taught the local women how to make fresh cheese and yoghurt, which they now use and sell at the lodge; another person with farming expertise made changes to the cows' diet to increase productivity, etc. I noticed that one of their ideas was to set up an ebay store to sell the local women's handicrafts and knew this was something I could so easily help with - if only I had more time...
In the evenings, the owners, manager and guests ate together around a big communal table, chatting and sharing new ideas for the projects. There were three volunteers there and a good mix of nationalities visiting and everyone was really interesting to talk to. After dinner we sat around the log fire chatting and then went off to bed with hot water bottles with which to brave the cold night. We were at 2000m altitude here so it was pretty "crisp".
It's no wonder so many great ideas are born here: I found the place really inspirational. I'd been suffering from a bit of writer's block/ lack of motivation with the blog (I blame all the rain in Asia!) but if anyone follows closely enough to notice when I published 6 blog posts in one weekend... that was when I was at Mambo Viewpoint! On that first day I sat outside at a table in the sunshine and, in between intermittent periods of gazing at the view, sat and wrote all day. There was a great atmosphere in the main lobby area too, with the cooks chatting and laughing as they prepared lunch, and the guides listening to music or English-language CDs as they waited for guests to get ready to go out! I felt very much at home there.
On my second day I went on a half-day hike with one of the guides. We started by walking along the cliff edge and then turned inland to return through some of the villages. The countryside was beautiful and the fields were full of people working the land. Some villagers were a little shy but others smiled and tried to chat. All of the children called out and waved of course!
I'd noticed Herman surreptitiously asking each guest what they did for a living (and then clearly ascertaining whether they could be of help!). It turned out he had a Google AdWords account so I spent a couple of hours helping him with that. I also tried to help out Ndege who is in the process of building a backpacker's lodge on the lower slopes of the cliff but perhaps more adventurously, is also building his own website for it! This is a guy who had never used a computer until 1.5 years ago. It's really slow progress for him but I was amazed at how well he'd done and happy that I could offer a bit of help. He was so pleased and excited when I showed him how to do just one simple little thing, and it made me realise I could really be of use here. (Also at one point while we were chatting he actually said "hakuna matata", which just made me want to hug him. It's funny to think that most people here have never heard of the Lion King!).
My last day came around too quickly - I wished I could have stayed longer. At breakfast I mentioned to Marion that Id love to come back some time as a volunteer and later as I was walking out to the taxi she grabbed my arm and whispered "PLEASE come back, we need people like you" which of course hit right on my soft spot and made me even more keen to return!
We took a final photo with some of the staff before hugging them goodbye. It really did feel like I arrived as a guest and left as a friend. As the car bumped away through the village where the local men raised an arm in farewell and the children ran after the car giggling and waving, I had another of my "moments". I know I found something special up there on that mountain, and now I'm already plotting how I can get back there!
But first, the journey. Costantine flagged down the bus and told the driver where I should get off and a number of hands reached down to hoist me up the huge step. It was packed and the bus jerked away as I tried to squeeze along the aisle (thankfully I'd left my big rucksack in Lushoto!). After much jostling and shouting a space was found for me in the back row and I was greeted with smiles and calls of "karibu".
I think "bone-shaker" is the only way to appropriately describe this bus. We were travelling on mostly unmade roads and it lurched and spluttered along, threatening to bounce me off of my seat on several occasions. Nevertheless I loved the journey. The scenery was spectacular and we passed through several small, picturesque villages which offered a nice glimpse of local life. Out in this remote area the dusty roads must see very little traffic and small children would often run out when they saw the bus, waving frantically. Whilst most people took no notice, I of course waved enthusiastically back, which got them even more excited. I guess they see even fewer white people than they do buses!
Finally after two hours we stopped at Mambo Junction and the bus driver gestured for me to get off. It was a further 3km to the lodge and the owner had told me to call when I was nearby, but my phone was out of signal, so I decided to just start walking. A group of elderly village men were walking just ahead of me and they turned and asked if I was going to Mambo Viewpoint and said they'd show me the way. After we'd all shaken hands and exchanged greetings we attempted to converse a bit, but their English was about as limited as my Swahili! Still, they seemed to like it when I threw out the 10 or so random words I'd learnt by this point. We passed women walking the other way, with branches and buckets balanced on their heads and schoolchildren who called out and waved when they saw me.
It was only after walking with the men for about 10 minutes that I noticed that each one of them was carrying a machete. I dropped back a couple of paces as I tried to figure out if I'd just made a terrible error of judgement, but the fact that all the village women and children knew the men reassured me, and before long a taxi pulled up with some other guests heading to the lodge, and I jumped in. Just as well, as it was still quite a way away!
I knew that the owners of the lodge, Herman and Marion, were Dutch, so I was a bit surprised when five big African guys came out to welcome us as the car pulled up, shaking us each warmly by the hand and making introductions. Now, knowing more about the project I think it's actually perfect this way. This really is all about the local community and Herman and Marion are like the worker bees in the background, pulling it all together.
Mambo Viewpoint is an eco-lodge, not a luxury hotel, so it's simple and homely, but has been designed with a lot of thought and originality. I loved it instantly.
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| Mambo Viewpoint |
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| My bedroom for 3 nights |
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| The little shapes on top of the cliff, on the right, are the Mambo Viewpoint buildings |
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| A place to sit and admire the view over the valley below |
- laying a new pipeline to pump water to the village, from a natural spring in the forest below
- building bridges to connect some of the smaller villages so that they can more quickly access the water pump in Mambo
- several different projects to improve facilities at the local school (2000 out of the 5000 people in Mambo village are children. They all attend the village school, but since there are not enough teachers, 1000 attend in the mornings and the other 1000 in the afternoons. Class sizes are around 150-200! Still lots to be done here!).
One of the magical things about this place is the amount of interesting guests it attracts and most people bring ideas and enthusiasm and expertise to get new projects off the ground, e.g. two guests who were trained cheese-makers taught the local women how to make fresh cheese and yoghurt, which they now use and sell at the lodge; another person with farming expertise made changes to the cows' diet to increase productivity, etc. I noticed that one of their ideas was to set up an ebay store to sell the local women's handicrafts and knew this was something I could so easily help with - if only I had more time...
In the evenings, the owners, manager and guests ate together around a big communal table, chatting and sharing new ideas for the projects. There were three volunteers there and a good mix of nationalities visiting and everyone was really interesting to talk to. After dinner we sat around the log fire chatting and then went off to bed with hot water bottles with which to brave the cold night. We were at 2000m altitude here so it was pretty "crisp".
It's no wonder so many great ideas are born here: I found the place really inspirational. I'd been suffering from a bit of writer's block/ lack of motivation with the blog (I blame all the rain in Asia!) but if anyone follows closely enough to notice when I published 6 blog posts in one weekend... that was when I was at Mambo Viewpoint! On that first day I sat outside at a table in the sunshine and, in between intermittent periods of gazing at the view, sat and wrote all day. There was a great atmosphere in the main lobby area too, with the cooks chatting and laughing as they prepared lunch, and the guides listening to music or English-language CDs as they waited for guests to get ready to go out! I felt very much at home there.
On my second day I went on a half-day hike with one of the guides. We started by walking along the cliff edge and then turned inland to return through some of the villages. The countryside was beautiful and the fields were full of people working the land. Some villagers were a little shy but others smiled and tried to chat. All of the children called out and waved of course!
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| Setting off along the cliff top... |
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| One of the small villages - definitely no other tourists around here! |
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| My guide, Andrew, with some of the village children |
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| A woman working in the fields |
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| This little boy was off to the water pump to collect water for his family (a one-hour journey) |
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| Beautiful and so peaceful |
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| The Butcher's shop, in Mambo village |
My last day came around too quickly - I wished I could have stayed longer. At breakfast I mentioned to Marion that Id love to come back some time as a volunteer and later as I was walking out to the taxi she grabbed my arm and whispered "PLEASE come back, we need people like you" which of course hit right on my soft spot and made me even more keen to return!
We took a final photo with some of the staff before hugging them goodbye. It really did feel like I arrived as a guest and left as a friend. As the car bumped away through the village where the local men raised an arm in farewell and the children ran after the car giggling and waving, I had another of my "moments". I know I found something special up there on that mountain, and now I'm already plotting how I can get back there!
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| Goodbye photo, including Ndege on the bottom left and Marion on the top right |
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