We journeyed across Serengeti National Park towards Mwanza. Mwanza is a regional capital bordered on the north by Lake Victoria. It's a very beautiful lake, but like most free standing bodies of water in Africa, you would not want to go swimming. Parasitic worms are very common in Africa and this lake is no exception. Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia is a disease caused by these worms. Hey, we had safely avoided the curses of African belly, Tste fly bites and malaria. We weren't planning on taking a dip any time soon. Besides it would be too hard to pronounce (spell) that disease! The approach was nevertheless very scenic, especially the unusual rock formations that lined the roads.
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| View of Lake Victoria |
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| What's the meaning of these Mwanza henge's??? |
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| Mwanza "rocks" the pastoral feel |
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| Rock or Henge? Pretty amazing! |
We drove through Mwanza City to the community of Ukiriguru. This is where the Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute (MATI) is located. Paul worked at the Institute from 1991 to 1997. During this period of time Paul was employed by Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba. He headed up a project based in Ukiriguru and likely made an average of 2-3 trips per year. It became like a second home to him and he forged many friendships that continue to this day. One such friend is Beny Mwenda and his wife Mama Mwenda who were there to greet us when we arrived. Beny had arranged for us to have access to the Guest House which is used by the Institute for visiting lecturers, project people or visiting students. It was not in use so we had full access. We arrived in our 2 vehicles and Ray and Alfa set up our tents on the large grassy lawn outside the guest house. We were excited to have the accommodation and security of a guest house after our camping experience with Cape buffalo and elephants. There were "regular" bathrooms, a kitchen, a comfortable living room and beds for those who wanted to sleep inside. The place had water, lots of it, but unfortunately there was no running water. The guest house gave a whole new dimension to the term "bare bone basics". Okay, so our definition of a guest house was a bit different from an African one. In the end it made no difference; water is water even if you have to use buckets to apply it. All part of our African experience.
On our first night Beny and his wife invited us to their home for dinner. Beny still works at the Institute although he has made numerous trips to Canada in pursuit of higher education and in support of the Institute. It was a very emotional reunion for Paul to be able to come back to Tanzania, with his family to reconnect with a very happy time in his life. Paul has been working in development since before 1991 and it was so wonderful for me and the kids to touch base with some of the fruits of his labour. We enjoyed Beny and Mama Mwenda's hospitality and made plans for the following day. Back at the guest house the kids used their creative skills to improvise the absence of critical amenities like dishes. Yup, Paul and I will take credit for their ingenuity and it was better than drinking straight from the bottle.
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| A whole new approach to drinking water. |
The next morning after breakfast prepared by Mr Delicious, Eric we began our day of exploring Paul's old stomping grounds. Paul and I went with Beny to the Institute to meet some of his former co-workers. Beny presented a power point presentation of the work they are currently working on at the training Institute. Their approach targets youth with the intention of making them productive contributors to society. Later we would go and meet some of the graduates. We also met an amazing lady that Paul has worked with and known for years, Mama Kapande. She is an amazing lady who has worked in development most of her life. She has won numerous awards both local and International and even though she is well into her 70's she is still working. She is scheduled to visit Canada this summer to attend a conference in London, Ontario. She will be presenting a paper on Early Childhood Development practises in Tanzania on behalf of the Tanzania Association of Home Economists. It is the conference of the International Federation for Home Economics.
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| MATI: Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute |
We went back to the guest house and picked up the rest of our group to continue our tour. During the next few stops we were introduced to a people who have applied the skills they have acquired through MATI towards establishing or working entrepreneurial enterprises. We saw evidence of woven baskets and cloth, amazing peanut butter, honey and wine, and pottery. What is amazing is how all these people have risen above bare subsistence living. Mama Shigella, for example, has had incredible success in designing and making pottery 'stoves'. Her design went to International engineers for assistance, and it is now a design template. She knew Paul as soon as she saw him and was very proud to show us her crafts and explain the impact MATI has had on her life and her family's standard of living. We saw the same sense of pride in all the people we met. No one was looking for hand outs. They were working their skills and in so doing were making for themselves and their families a better way of life. The school we visited was a real eye opener. Unfortunately there were no children there as it was Christmas break, but the Principal and one of the teachers came out to meet us. We listened to them speak of their school initiatives and of the successes they have had with raising attendance as well as the nutritional health of their students. Allison as a fellow teacher was able to recognise the pride they took in their students. It is humbling to see how basic the actual conditions are and yet the outcome is the same: education. Allison took down emails from Beny as she intended to establish a mentoring program between her class in the UK and this class here in Ukiriguru. The schools in this area are helped by MATI. MATI works with all the local schools to help with vegetable production for the food programs and for sale and income generation. I know I felt proud to see some of the results of Paul's work.
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| MATI grads |
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| JoJo and Jenn, soaking it all in. |
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| School's breakfast program |
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| MATI construction |
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| Peanut butter, honey and wine, oh my! |
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| Mama Shigella pottery enterprise |
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| Mama Kapande accompanies us for lunch |
We left all this evidence of Paul's good works and headed to what we all do best: eat! After our late lunch we headed to the Culture Centre where we wandered though museum exhibits and then were entertained by cultural dances; some more that others.
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| Cultural dance involving a snake |
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| Girls getting snaky. |
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| Girls taking part in traditional dance, minus the snake |
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| Cultural Centre |
This was a full day and it was late by time we returned to the guest house and our tents. We sat outside for awhile, under the stars and enjoyed each others company.
The next morning we were up early (nothing new there) and once again enjoyed breakfast prepared by Eric. It was then time to pack up and head back to Sunbright Campsite, just outside of Arusha. This was by far our favourite campsite and a perfect choice for our last night in Tanzania. The journey from Mwanza to Lake Manyara was long and tiring. We stopped for lunch, and although the trip was on mostly paved roads it was still bumpy and long. I suspect the fact that we saw few animals added to the length of the journey. Perhaps we were a little sad knowing our safari was coming to an end. Maybe we should have been in the Girls' safari vehicle cuz they managed to make the most of the long trip.
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| Drinking Games |
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| Followed by sleep |
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| More sleep |
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| And getting ready to sleep! |
We saw lots of ordinary animals along the way.
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| At least these cows kept to the shoulder |
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| Miss Goat preferred the main drag |
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| Cows and Goats,oh my! |
And we had our last glimpse of wild life. It seemed fitting that a giraffe was the first and last animal of our safari. Not surprising, we all showed the same degree of excitement!! It just never gets old.
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| Just imagine seeing this scene as you drive down the highway! |
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| Giraffe and his best friend the Acacia tree! |
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| He turns to look towards us................. |
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| But the tree is definitely more interesting |
We arrived at the Sunbright Campsite around dinner time. We were tired, but happy and satisfied safari trekkers. It was our last night of what had been an incredible experience.
Next morning we drove back to Arusha. We stopped at a touristy shop where we, and by we I mean the ladies, all bought souvenirs of our safari. Wood sculptures of giraffes, zebras and elephants, canvas oil paintings of safari animals we had seen up close and personal, jewellery, scarves and wooden bowls. There was something for everyone and now these souvenirs have special places in our homes, our friend's and family's homes and most of all in the memories they had inspired. We stopped again in Arusha to eat our last lunch prepared by Mr. Delicious, aka, Eric. Remember guys? It was a deep dish pizza-like quiche. Wow, was it good! And then it was time to say good bye to Ray, Alfa and Eric. We had arrived full circle and we were now back at Kilimanjaro Airport.
The flight back to Addis is under two hours. We had just taken off, when the pilot made a public announcement. I've flown so many Ethiopian flights over the last year and typically announcements are completely unintelligible, You can usually catch the odd word, but for the most part it's wise to just tune it out. In this instance the message was loud and clear: "Ladies and Gentlemen, on your right, Mount Kilimanjaro!". He said it so calmly, but what an absolute thrill to look out and see this magnificent vista right below us. Ammmmmaaasing and not a view any of us will soon forget. What a spectacular way to end our Terrific Tanzania Safari.
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| Ladies and Gentleman, Mount Kilimanjaro |
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| Spectacular! |
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| Thank YOU JoJo for these amazing pics |
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| It just never gets old! |
