Trek to Bihawana Village

This is our last weekend in Tanzania. We were going over many plans. From chartered flight to Arusha and Zanzibar to trekking the unknown territories nearby Dodoma. Finally we decided to go to a place called Bihawana near Dodoma. We got two vehicles for 8 people. Our master negotiator made a great deal this time. From 70 USD per person to 80000 TSH for 8 of us. It was like he brought down costs by 1/8th of total costs.
So, our adventure begins with printing maps through google, explaining our plan to Chip (he was our driver cum guide).
Half way through the trip, one of our vehicles stopped. We noticed that smoke was coming out of bonnet and the driving wheel area. The vehicle stopped in the middle of nowhere. We decided to take two trips carrying four people each, but the driver managed to get the other car started. And we did not need to do that.
We trekked through a few villages. The traditional Tanzania houses, as described by Chip are made of mud and roof made of fodder like material covered with mud again. They are barely 6 feet tall. We could see some chicken, goats, and dogs around those huts. The best part of trek was our conversation with villagers. They seemed happy to help us find our way to the foothills. We passed through maze fields, grape fields and then saw some groundnut and barley crops. Finally we found the way out of fields.

One shepherd helped us find our way. We were greeted by a bunch of monkeys, baboons may be. Our journey was becoming more interesting.
We started climbing the hill. We were 7 of us. Interestingly, 7 people from 7 different countries. And chip kept us calling us by our country names like Ms. Canada, Mr. Germany, How are you Mr. India, Where is Australia, Come on Mr. Japan. And Mr. Obama (Mr. US). Chip was Mr. Tanzania. He led the way through woods. It was a tough trek. He was fast and kept his pace through bushes and slippery trail. We witnessed different types of weeds, couple of pits where they make charcoal. Interestingly, the village people cut trees on mountain, dump them in a ditch and then burn them in absence of oxygen. This results in Charcoal which they sell for TSH 5000 a bag.
We were greeted by a drizzle of rain, a small panic moment but it didn’t last long. After pushing through the thick bushes on top of the hill, we finally found the giant rock we were eyeing for some long. Mission accomplished. We sat there for some time. View was great, and the sense of fulfillment was even better.
On our way back we witnessed some ditches with filthy looking water. Our Tanzanian friend said some village people use it for drinking water. That was hard to believe. But clean drinking water is a major problem in this country.

So, we were back to our vehicles. Chip invited us to his house for Nyoma Choma, but we had some other plans for night. We were invited to one of our Indian – Tanzanian – Canadian host for dinner. Yes all 10 of us.