Rivertrees Country Inn
In our time between Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti, we knew we wanted some “sitting down” days - a time to relax, reflect, and refresh. We wanted somewhere where staying would be easy: good food on the premise, nice rooms, and a quiet environment. One of my coworkers grew up in Tanzania and went had gone on a safari in the Serengeti a couple of years ago. We chatted with him for advice on our safari itinerary, and he happened to recommend the Rivertrees Country Inn, in Usa River (halfway between Kilimanjaro and Arusha). It was 100% the right spot for us.
Rivertrees was an absolutely beautiful place to stay. It sits on 10 acres that were formerly a coffee plantation. They now serve as a hotel, vegetable garden, active farm, and shared office area. There is a creek going through the property, huge 4-story trees, and walking paths, along with a variety of animals. The hotel’s secluded gardens made for the perfect environment to recover from Kilimanjaro and recuperate before embarking on our safari. The low altitude, moderate temperatures, and high humidity level were much-needed reprieve. Our bodies and lips thanked us.
Our room had a front porch where we looked out at plants and a walking path. I would wake up before Katherine, sitting out there watching the monkeys run around on a quiet morning (more info further down). The room was spacious with a king-sized bed, the bathroom had a huge bathtub basin, separate shower, and lovely natural light. The whole space just felt calm and tranquil.
Washing Machine
When planning for this trip we had tried to keep everything we were taking under 15kg33lbs. This was the constraint we had thought we would have when flying out of the Serengeti. (Little did we know that the limit was really 20kg44lbs and that it was unenforced). Given the light packing, our week on Kilimanjaro managed to make our entire wardrobe dirty. Our clothes had a layer of fine dust from the alpine desert beneath a layer of caked mud from the rainforest.
Much of our clothing is technical outdoor gear that we did not want to take the chance that it could be ruined in a hotel wash and dryer cycle. Given this, we decided to wash them ourselves in our room. Thankfully hand washing clothes in Tanzania is quite popular and the hotel had a great sink for it. Katherine was still recovering from altitude sickness on Kilimanjaro, so while she was napping I got to work with what we dubbed our “manual washing machine.”
I rinsed each garment in the sink to remove the dust and mud - which immediately turned the water a cloudy brown. After the rinse, it went into the tub to soak in a soapy mixture, also becoming brown pretty fast. After that, I was the second rinse in the sink and Katherine was our spin cycle, rolling each garment in a dry towel to get most of the moisture out. By the end, every available spot in the room had hangers air drying our clothes. Partway through Katherine went to housekeeping to request more hangers and towels - it was quite a project to explain the number of clothes we were choosing to hand wash in our room (and why). When they came to drop the hangers off, one woman said “oh, a laundry shop!” We all had a good laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
In the end, the climate was a bit too humid for the clothes to dry before we need to check out. So we did end up putting some clothes into a dryer on a low-heat cycle and aggressively monitoring each piece for when it would dry. We got to know the hotel manager, Daniel, and worked with him to figure this out - truly a huge help!
Owls
We knew Rivertrees was the right place for us when we arrived and saw the sign to reception with an owl on it (Katherine’s spirit animal is an owl). Then we got our room key to the Barred Owlets room!
On our last full day at Rivertrees, we decided to take some photos of the grounds. As we were photographing the gardens a groundskeeper stopped us. He was not able to speak and tried to explain with his hands. When that did not translate, he grabbed a stick and wrote O-W-L-S in the pathway. We were immediately excited! With great enthusiasm, he led us over to a tree containing two African wood owls! We watched them for a while and took many photos while they slept. The clicking of the camera woke them just enough for them to take a look at us, see we were not a threat before going back to sleep.
Monkeys
In the morning we woke up to black and white monkeys, vervet monkeys, and cats jumping on our roof. While I wanted to sleep in, this animal-noise alarm clock brought me to sitting on the porch each morning. From the porch, I was able to watch the monkeys up close. I got to observe them eating small bugs from the ground and off of each other. They seemed very comfortable with my presence and at one point even jumped up on the porch and walked just a few feet away from me. Once Katherine woke up, I would tell her all about their adventures.
Pharmacy
Our time so far in Tanzania was on Kilimanjaro, at a hotel, or with a guide. We joked that we had come to Tanzania and had yet to step foot in the country. Our experience with the guides was highly curated and the hotel also felt like a separate environment that could have been anywhere in the world (which was great to relax in!).
At this point in our trip, we had run out of some of the toiletries that we had brought with us and needed a re-supply. Thankfully there was a pharmacy within walking distance of Rivertrees, in the town of Usa River. This pharmacy provided a good excuse for us to leave our secluded tourist bubble. On our walk, it was apparent that we stuck out as the only white people around, clearly coming from the hotel. It was an interesting experience getting so much attention.
On the way, we passed 2 school children walking home. They said “Hello” excitedly and when we replied with “Jumbo”, they were clearly annoyed that we were speaking Swahili and they were unable to practice their English. Other school children also greeted us on their walk home from school with excitement and curiosity, which was fun.
At the pharmacy, we were able to get nearly everything we needed and we happened to be there during the weekly market - quite lively. We had a fun time poking our heads into the stall and looking at the goods. In one stall, we saw a NY Yankees hat, which is quite popular among people as they associate it with “New York” and not a baseball team. At first, the woman who owned the shop thought we wanted to buy the hat, then we explained that we are from New York. She thought that was cool and said KaribuWelcome, making us feel right at home! Overall, we felt completely safe and we continued to chuckle about the disappointed school children who wanted to practice their English.
