Directly translated, Mto Wa Mbu means ‘The River of Mosquitos’. This town is often used as a base for Safari tours. Staying overnight in a campsite, it then gives easy access to various nearby National Parks.

BAraka Maasai Village

A common part of any tour, but a somewhat uncomfortable one, we were taken to a local Maasai Village to see the impact of our tour donations. Local women are trained as engineers who install safer ‘chimney’ style cooking fires into the hut still used by the Massai. This reduces a range of health issues. Everywhere children and animals run and we, as tourists, take photos of them.

Rafiki Art Group

Hanging on canvas walls outside near to the Banana fields, a gallery of sorts of locally painted artwork is left up for tourists to view and purchase. Framed, but with the frame easily removed and the painted rolled for transport its a good option for a souvenir but it’s not unique, you’ll see similarly produced works throughout the country, but you will at least meet this artist in this gallery.

Wood Carving

A family of wood carvers has a shop just outside the main village, working with various local kinds of wood they carve animals and people for purchase. I was unable to find a white-throated crow here or anywhere else, which, as it’s the main animal you see on Kilimanjaro, feels like a missed opportunity.

Rice Fields

Surrounding the campsite, running along the roads, the wide rice fields, with small irrigation streams sparking in the ever-present sun. Predominantly harvested by women, you can see then bent over in the fields.

Banana Fields

The biggest export from Mto Wa Mbu is Bananas, as part of exploring the town, we walked through one of the banana plantations seeing the trees in different stages of growth.

Twiga Campsite

A big campground in the middle of the town just off the road. A bar and hotel is part of the complext as well as a small convinence store.

Lunch

Fed by the local ‘Mammas’ in Mto Wa Mbu, it was a huge spread of food, cooked over fires in the open kitchen. Some deliciously spicy options.

Banana Beer

In a small square in the middle of the village, you can sit down and try the local banana beer and banana wine. One person on our tour was a big fan of the wine, despite the strength and made a pretty good dent in the bottle.