Arusha with a view of Mt.Meru |
Arusha is this little city in the northern part of Tanzania, with a telescopic view of Mt.Meru. The whole region around meru is covered with volcanic ash, which reminds me that Mt.Meru is an active volcano. Arusha is famous for toursim. Most of the well known national parks like Serengeti national park, Ngorongoro crater,etc are very close. But, having lived there, one of the first few things i still remember about that beautiful place, is the smell of the coffee plantations. They don't smell anything like coffee. The coffee flower has such a sweet fragrance, that it lingers all day.
Sweet smelling coffee flowers |
Our first practice trek, started from our school St.Constantine's, the famous greek school. Though it was nick named greek school, i never really learnt greek :). We walked down the road, where either sides were lined with eucalyptus trees. Passing the trees, we stepped into a coffee plantation. The careless walk down the trail, is still such a beautiful experience. The smell and aroma in each place is so vivid and stark in my memory. We trekked down to the foothills of Mt.Meru. By the time we got there, my water bottle was empty and i was hot and thirsty. The icy cold river water from Mt.Meru was the first thing we all attacked into. Though our almost empty backpacks, became heavy as we trekked up higher to reach the foothills of the mountain, it didn't stop us from looking forward to our next practice trek with Mr.Joshi.