Morogoro town has a spectacular background of steep hillsides and 2400 m high peaks. The lower slopes are covered in a mosaic of greenery and small Waluguru villages. Towards the peaks, the mountain range is a blanket of lush rainforest in the Uluguru Nature Forest Reserve (UNFR). Unless you had good friends in Mgeta, the Uluguru Mountains were very difficult to access for hikers and researchers. The rainforest is extremely dense, and many places to steep to hike. Now we are publishing a set of maps that we hope will help make UNFR more accessible.
From long before the UNFR was established, the Waluguru have walked footpaths criss-crossing the mountain range. These paths are still in use for trade, to fetch wood in the forest, and to maintain social ties between people. In 2016 and 2017 the two local experts Salum and mzee Gimbi were engaged to map the footpaths. Salum lives at Morningside, and mzee Gimbi in Bunduki. Together they know people and have relatives around most of the mountain, and therefore know the paths well. The UNFR office also kindly contributed information about the nature forest reserve in the research phase.
The 1:50000 map shows all the footpaths mapped in the project. Pdf-version (39 Mb) or printed, contact: lkgrimsby@gmail.com
The maps above cover different areas of particular interest to hikers, and are available as pdf:
In the spirit of conviviality of Mgeta’s Friends, all the digital maps are freely distributable. The footpaths have been uploaded in OpenStreetMap, and may be downloaded for use in GPS here: http://alternativaslibres.org/en/downloads.php#Africa
The beaten path, Lukwangule Plateau.
Mgetas venner 
kongebra Dr Lk