Chagga Song and Dance - now a surviving tradition
The People of Kilimanjaro
Another Land's program with two Chagga villages is our longest running program. The Chagga are from the lower slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and its misty cloud cover provides the land of the Chagga with dense
vegetation, fertile soil and numerous waterfalls. The Chagga are a Bantu, agricultural people, who are known for their banana beer, folklore, blacksmithing and
elaborate, 200-year-old, underground war
tunnels from the Chagga / Maasai war. Travelers spend about 1 to 4 days in the village immersed in daily
Chagga life.
Perks for Kilimanjaro Climbers
A stay with the Chagga is perfect for Mt. Kilimanjaro climbers, because the villages are about 7,000 feet above sea level. By staying with the Chagga before their climb, climbers are not only having a memorable experience, they are also pre-acclimatizing to the altitude. The stay is also useful for re-hydrating and recovering from
jet-lag before the climb. Our climbers who stay in the village at least one day before their climb have a remarkably better and healthier experience on the mountain.
Discover by Doing with the Chagga
- Walking tour of the villages
- Brewing banana beer
- Traditional cooking
- Medicinal healing
- Batiking
- Banana fiber art
- Chagga white-wood carving
- Blacksmithing
- Storytelling
- Homestays
- Chagga song and dance
(a fading tradition practiced by a small number of elders)
- Any other spontaneous village activity
