Letters from my fatherland: Camping at Lake Chala

In July this year, I had the wonderful opportunity to go camping to Lake Chala. It was a first for me, I hadn’t been camping in Tanzania since I left sixteen years ago and I had never been to Lake Chala. I went with several of my childhood friends, which made the trip even more enjoyable!

Lake Chala is a crater lake in a caldera at the border of Tanzania and Kenya, on the eastern edge of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The lake is not far from the town of Moshi and hence our drive there was conveniently short. The lake is fed by groundwater flows which come directly from Mount Kilimanjaro.

The deep blue colour of the water is one of the first sights to notice. Another glance at the lake and you notice the natural rim around the lake which is 100m high. That is the part that amazes me.

The surrounding rim of Lake Chala reminds me of the Ngorongoro crater.

Both of these are natural pieces of art that were formed when a large piece of land collapsed following a volcanic eruption. It is hard to say how old Lake Chala is but based on my crude research, I suspect it is at least a million years old, if not more!

My friends and I were fascinated by the natural beauty surrounding us, full of clean, fresh air and the beautiful, calm blue water! The first afternoon we got to Lake Chala, we hiked from the top of our camping site to the bottom where the water starts. We sat on the rocks with some cold drinks and watched the sun set.

It was magnificent. The crater looked huge from where I was sitting, but from my reading, I know that the lake is less than three miles in length. I think it looked huge to us because of the walls of the crater that surround the lake.

At night we sat outside and played, for hours Scrabble.

Considering how many games of Scrabble I played that weekend I should be an expert by now! We also sat around and shared some camping stories that were familiar to us from our childhood days.

Since I was at Lake Chala with childhood friends, we were able to reminisce about similar childhood trips that we had taken together.

We share more stories about trips we had taken together as children. Camping was reasonably fun. We didn’t stay in luxury camps but our tents were comfortable.

Thick woollen blankets kept us warm and cosy at night. Meals were prepared by the staff on site. We had also taken some muhogo (cassava) with us that the cooks kindly prepared for us.

Overall, we had a memorable experience. Lake Chala is a presentation of beauty and peace all in one package.

Once again, it is testimony of the goodness that exists in nature. It is a place that is not heavily visited by tourists and hence, it still has a very ‘local’ feel to it, which I highly appreciate.

The lake’s proximity to the border of Tanzania and Kenya, the Taveta border, makes it an ideal vacation spot for Tanzanians and Kenyans alike!

Best

Rupal

Rupal is a Tanzanian-Indian-American pursuing a Master’s Degree in Public Health at Boston University in Massachusetts, US. She was an intern at Pamoja Tunaweza Research Centre and Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital earlier this year. She resides in Boston, United States. She writes about her experiences in Tanzania while residing here. She welcomes comments and feedback via [email protected].