The first thing that catches you as you approach Morogoro is its strikingly beautiful location, nestled at the foot of the rugged Uluguru Mountains.  In the morning, as the sun rises above the mist and bathes the town in warm tone of orange and gold, even the bus station is momentarily graced with a certain charm.  In the town center, the passage of time is marked by the five daily calls to prayer from the mosques, and Morogoro is one of very few places on the mainland where you’ll see women wearing the black buibui veils which are so common in Zanzibar. 

The cultural mix is completed by a thriving Indian community, a sizeable group of European and American missionaries and development workers, as well as a few Maasai warriors with their braided hairstyles, hunkered down in the town’s bars in their traditional red shuka cloths, spears at hand.  The town has an instantly likable and bustling feel and an enjoyably lively nightlife too, though its lack of obvious attractions means that it receives few visitors.  Morogoro Region is Tanzania’s second largest producer of coffee, cotton, sunflower oil, millet and maize, and sisal. The town’s population is growing fast, having doubled in the last decade to almost 300,000.