Tanzania
Iringa
The chief who defied an empire got his skull back in 1954; his town remembers.
Iringa remembers Chief Mkwawa: the Hehe leader who broke a German column in 1891, whose skull was taken as a trophy and returned home in 1954. The town sits windswept at 1,600 metres, granite tors above, Stone Age gorges below.
Iringa crowns the southern highlands at 1,600 metres, the seat of Chief Mkwawa's Hehe resistance against German rule; his skull, taken to Germany, came home in 1954 and rests at the Kalenga memorial. Isimila's gorge outside town litters its eroded pillars with Stone Age hand axes, the mid-year dry season suits everything the highlands offer, and the town gates Ruaha for the south-circuit safaris. Neema Crafts' deaf-run cafe and the town's chipsi mayai stalls keep the days fed.
Solo
An independent cultural traveller can use Iringa to link town, Kalenga and Isimila into one substantial heritage day.
- Chief Mkwawa's resistance broke a German column in 1891.
- His skull, taken as a trophy, was returned in 1954.
- Isimila's gorge litters Stone Age hand axes among eroded pillars.
- The town gates Ruaha and the southern safari circuit.
Chipsi mayai, the potato-and-egg street staple, works the town's stalls, ASAS Cafe included.
Neema Crafts' deaf-run cafe serves ugali na nyama choma for a social enterprise's cause.
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