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The Friends of Usambara Society is a grassroots organization
composed primarily of residents of the Lushoto District, the
historic mountain heartland of the Washambaa people. The Society
began its work in the West Usambaras, but it is expanding its
activities to the eastern mountains and to the people of Korogwe and
Muheza districts.
The organization began with a little help from its friends. The
origin of the walking tours in the mountains was with the Cultural
Tourism Programme, the program for local tourism projects inspired
and reared by SNV, the Netherlands Development Agency.
In August 1995, following a survey of the tourism potential of
the Usambaras, SNV provided tour-guide training to a group of young
people who had just finished Shambalai Secondary School in Lushoto,
and the youths organized walking tours. The success of the walking
tours showed that there was certainly potential for the people of
Lushoto District to benefit from cultural tourism. In May 1996, a
workshop on tourism development in Lushoto District was held, in
which key players in the tourism sector discussed how the Usambara
Mountains could be developed further into a major tourist
attraction. Here, the idea arose for establishing the Friends of
Usambara Society to oversee and guide cultural tourism development
in the district.
Within a year, the Friends of Usambara Society was registered and
members had started carrying out activities. The overall goals of
the Society are to develop and promote tourism in the Usambaras and
to contribute to the conservation of the area's cultural and natural
resources.
When making a walking tour, tourists pay an allowance to the
guide and a small development fee [about US$ 2] to the Society. The
Society uses this money to support activities that help to conserve
the area's cultural and natural resources. So far, money has been
used to improve an irrigation system in the village of Mamboleo and
to build soil conservation terraces in the village of Tema, as well
as several school projects.
The Friends of Usambara Society is developing into a dynamic
organization that yearly launches new ideas to promote tourism and
protect the area's resources. An idea the Society is currently
working o is the possibility of organizing conferences in the
Usambara Mountains. The pleasant climate and location of the
Usambaras between Dar es Salaam and Arusha/Moshi is a good reason
for big organizations to hold meetings in the area.
By constantly renewing the tourism product and actively paying
attention to the conservation of cultural and natural resources, the
Friends of Usambara Society hopes to ensure a sustainable
development of tourism in the Usambaras.
For further information and to get a copy of the Usambara
View:
usambaras2000@yahoo.co.uk
Friends of Usambara Society
c/o the Chairman
P.O. Box 151
Lushoto, Tanga Region
Tanzania
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