Gurue Tea Country

Gurue sits at around seven hundred metres in northern Zambezia below the granite peaks of Namuli, and the hills around it are covered in tea, planted from the 1920s and still worked, with the estate houses, factories and workers' villages from that period still standing. The combination of green terraces, waterfalls dropping off the slopes and the peaks behind makes it the most scenic agricultural landscape in the country. Some estates take visitors by arrangement.

What you actually see

• The tea terraces - plantations covering the slopes around the town.
• The estate buildings - factories and houses from the 1920s onward.
• The waterfalls - drops off the granite slopes above the plantations.
• The Namuli peaks - granite mountains rising behind the tea country.

When to go

May to September is the cooler dry season and the best for travel. The rains from November to March make the roads difficult but the hills are greenest then. Nights are cool at this altitude.

Honest expectations

Estate visits are by arrangement and there is no scheduled tour. Accommodation in Gurue is basic. The roads in from any direction are long and in poor condition.

Nearby

Mount Namuli rises above the town, and Mount Mabu is southeast.