Lutindi Cultural Tourism Project

Northeastern Tanzania


Perched on the edge of the Usambara Mountains southeast of Lushoto is Lutindi and the Lutindi Cultural Tourism Project. Lutindi is the site of the first mental hospital in East Africa, and you can arrange a tour through the compound, visit the workshops where some residents are employed at craft making, walk in the surrounding tea plantations and gain insights into a side of local life far removed from general tourism.

There’s a simple guesthouse (per person Tsh30,000), with breakfast, lunch and dinner available (Tsh5000 to Tsh7000). Lutindi is reached via Msambiazi village, which is about 20km northwest of the town of Korogwe (which in turn is along the main Dar es Salaam–Arusha highway). To get here, take a dalla-dalla (minibus) from Korogwe for about 6km to Msambiazi village (Tsh600), from where you can catch a motorcycle taxi the remaining 8km or so to the hospital (Tsh5000 to Tsh8000). Taxis from Korogwe to Lutindi charge between Tsh35,000 and Tsh50,000. With an early start from either Moshi or Tanga, you should be in Lutindi by mid-afternoon.