Moshi: Materuni Waterfall Hike & Chemka Hot Springs Day Trip

4.98

(219 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

“Pole pole, hakuna haraka,” our guide Joseph grinned as we shuffled behind him through the banana shambas near Materuni. I think he was talking to me — I’d already slipped once on the muddy path, distracted by the smell of roasting coffee beans somewhere nearby. The air up here at 2500 meters is cooler than Moshi, but still thick with green — everything feels alive. We passed kids waving from behind avocado trees, and Joseph kept pointing out which plants were for medicine or cooking. I tried to remember the Kiswahili names but honestly, they slipped away as soon as he said them.

The waterfall itself — Materuni — is loud in a way that gets into your chest before you even see it. You hear it first, then suddenly there’s this curtain of water just dropping out of nowhere, misting your face if you get close enough (which we did). I sat on a rock for a while just watching it crash down, shoes off, toes in the cold spray. Lunch was simple but good: rice, beans, something spicy that Joseph called “kachumbari.” We ate under a tin roof with chickens pecking around our feet. I didn’t expect to laugh so much over soda and chips mayai — Tanzanian omelette fries are weirdly addictive.

After lunch we piled back into the van for what Joseph called “the African massage” — which turned out to mean forty minutes of bumpy roads toward Chemka Hot Springs. It’s not really hot-hot, more like bathwater warm and crazy clear. There were locals splashing around and someone had rigged up a rope swing over the blue water. I tried it once (not graceful), then floated under the trees listening to birds and distant music from someone’s phone. If you want barbecue they’ll grill it right there while you swim; we stuck with sodas and just let the sun dry us off.

I keep thinking about that moment at Chemka when everything felt slow and easy — no rush to leave, no pressure to do anything except float. If you’re looking for a day trip from Moshi that mixes hiking with lazy swimming (and some real Tanzanian food), this one’s honest about what it is: beautiful places, friendly people, nothing too fancy. And yeah… bring shoes you don’t mind getting muddy.