Coffee and Cascades at Materuni
On the slopes of Kilimanjaro, a waterfall walk ends with a song and a cup of coffee you roasted yourself.
The path to Materuni Falls runs through banana groves and coffee bushes, past Chagga homesteads and across small streams. The falls drop about 80 metres into a cold, fern-lined pool.
Afterwards, a family shows you how coffee is picked, hulled, roasted over a fire and pounded in a wooden mortar while everyone sings. It is the best way to begin a northern Tanzania safari.
Chagga country
The southern slopes of Kilimanjaro are home to the Chagga people, who have farmed here for centuries in dense homegardens that mix bananas, coffee, beans, vegetables and fodder under a canopy of shade trees. Channels led water from the mountain streams to the plots long before modern pipes. Walking through Materuni, you see how the forest and the farms blend into one another.
From the village to the falls
The walk to Materuni Falls takes about an hour each way from the village, on paths that cross small streams and pass through farms before entering the forested gorge. The falls drop roughly 80 metres from a cliff draped in ferns and moss into a cold plunge pool. In the rainy months the spray reaches far down the valley; in the dry season the water is lighter but the path is easier.
Swimming in the pool is possible for those who do not mind cold mountain water. Wear shoes that can get wet and bring a light jacket: the air in the gorge is cool even on hot days.
The coffee ceremony
Back in the village, a farming family takes you through the whole journey of coffee: picking ripe red cherries, removing the pulp, drying and hulling the beans, roasting them in a pan over an open fire and pounding them in a wooden mortar, often to the rhythm of a song. The coffee you drink at the end is the coffee you made. Most visitors buy a bag to take home.
Fitting Materuni into a trip
Materuni is about 45 minutes by road from Moshi, so a visit fills a relaxed day. It is a good first day after a long flight into Kilimanjaro, an acclimatisation walk before a Kilimanjaro climb, or a gentle finish after a safari. Our seven-day Kilimanjaro falls and northern Tanzania safari begins here before heading to Tarangire, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. See also our Tanzania guide.
