When our time in South Africa had ended I was excited to get to Tanzania. After another full day of travel by plane, we finally made it to Kilimanjaro airport. Coming into Tanzania you can see endless plains, Norongoro Crater and most impressively, Mount Kilimanjaro. Much like I first noticed the moisture in the air in Cape Town, the first thing that hit me in Tanzania was the dryness. The air feels hot and dry, even early in the morning. We met our driver and made the hour drive into Arusha. Arusha (Veronika Sieben)
Flying all night was quickly met by a much needed nap in the lodge, Arumeru. Our room at Arumeru Lodge (Veronika Sieben)
We had our own small cottage on this peaceful property. Our room at Arumeru Lodge (Veronika Sieben)
On our first full day of exploring in Tanzania we headed back towards Moshi to make it to our coffee tour in Uru. Driving through the dusty streets of Arusha and Moshi, you notice the impressive presence of Coca-Cola and motorcycles taxis. Zipping all around you these taxis are ideal for traveling up the bumpy roads that cannot be accessed by the larger buses and so many locals choose to travel by bike. Motorcycle taxi in Moshi (Veronika Sieben)
The two most important foods in Arusha are coffee and bananas. We quickly learned that bananas are used in everything, and there is a banana for everything: dessert bananas, soup bananas, beer bananas, red bananas and kid bananas – it was bananas! These, along with other fruits and vegetables are sold right on the street. Traditional meal in Tanzania (Veronika Sieben)
Uru is located outside Moshi in the foothills of Kilimanjaro. Culturally, the coffee bean is the center of focus in Uru because it is the backbone of their economy. Village of Uru (Veronika Sieben)
Many families in this very poor region are dependent on their coffee farms. They are also very proud of their coffee. The Arabica bean of region gets its unique flavor from the Kilimanjaro soil. Coffee: from the tree to the cup (Veronika Sieben)
Our coffee tour, naturally, started and ended with a cup of coffee. Our guide for the day and one of the local farmers was Josepher or Jos for short. We walked to a local coffee farm and he took us through the entire process of making cup of coffee, from picking the bean, drying it, roasting it and enjoying the delicious cup of Joe at the end. The entrance to our host's coffee farm (Veronika Sieben) Removing the coffee beans from their husk (Veronika Sieben) Jos shows us dried coffee beans after they have sat in the sun (Veronika Sieben) Our second delicious cup of coffee of the day (Veronika Sieben)
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.