Andrew and I climbed Gangilonga Rock today. It's a massive granite rock face that sticks straight out of the hillside behind their house in Iringa. It took about 20 minutes to get up there and it was a little perilous at times, but Andrew took it all in stride. I tried to do the same.
Once we got up there the view was amazing. You can see pretty well all of Iringa from up there. Apparently it's a popular hang-out for the local teenage population (as are most secluded look-outs) and is covered in graffiti. I couldn't understand it, but I imagine it said something like, “So-and-so was here and had a great time!”
The rock itself ejects from the hill and is nearly flat on top, making it an excellent look-out. And it's here that the famous HeHe (pronounced Hay-Hay) Chief Mkwawa held his meetings with other tribal leaders on how to best fight the invading Germans in the 1890's. And I can see why he would meet there: the view is incredible and lets you see all of Iringa providing a serious tactical advantage. It's also on this rock that Chief Mkwawa committed suicide rather than be captured by the Germans when the colonial military finally defeated the Hehe in 1898. The Germans then took Mkwawa's skull back to Germany to display in the museum in Bremen until after WWI the British (who took control of Tanzania, then German East Africa) demanded its return to Tanzania in the treaty of Versailles!
And there's your history lesson. For those of you who know me well, you should be impressed that I've been able to hold back the history lessons this long!
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