North and west of Njombe town the plateau rolls out in vivid green tea bushes and the silvery-leaved black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) plantations introduced by the Germans for tannin extraction. The combination is unique to this corner of Tanzania and gives the highlands their distinctive open-but-managed look.
Several of the larger estates allow informal visits — ask at the office. The Lupembe Tea Estate east of town is the biggest. Workers begin picking before dawn; the bags are weighed and the leaves trucked to the factory through the morning. Outside the picking season (which depends on the rains) the bushes are pruned and the fields look more like a green carpet than an industry.