Materuni waterfalls

The traditional WaChagga house, known as msonga, was cone-shaped and made of local treated wooden frames and dry banana leaves. These houses were quite large and needed the help of other villagers to build. Family members and livestock lived together in the house.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Swahili style houses were introduced from the coast.  These were initially constructed mainly by chiefs. These houses are rectangular, with walls made of sticks and mud, and thatched roofs. Nowadays, the Swahili style is ubiquitous on Kilimanjaro and are more commonly built with cement walls and corrugated iron roofs.

Each WaChagga family lives on the same plot as their banana/coffee garden. The gardens are, for the most part, bordered with living fences that mark their boundaries.