This October, just like so many others that have past, Camp Tanzania hosted 5 Teachers and 2 members of staff from the UK office who had come out for the recce. Beauty of it all was that none of them had previous been to the land of Kilimanjaro. Tommie and the Camp Tanzania team share a little bit of the inside story…

Nothing beats seeing the highest point in Africa as soon as you jump off the plane. It was a clear day on the 24th and our gang certainly chose the best of times to arrive.

They took pictures of both Mt. Meru and Kilimanjaro as we drove from the airport to Camp Mbokomu. In this party of 7 we had 3 Teachers who will be coming out for the mountain adventure next summer and 2 for scuba. One of them joked and said he was changing to Scuba after seeing the over 4600mtrs Meru! I’m not going to name names here but X went further and faked a cough and complained of a sore throat seeing that they might still be suffering from it come next summer…Developing cold feet, I must say. Gotcha Matt!

On getting to Camp Mbokomu, the Teachers were ushered into their camp. The briefings and orientations ensued. We took them through Mbokomu School for a bit of familiarization tour. They even had a chance to get in some of the classrooms to say hello and take pictures with the School kids.

Thereafter, we walked them to our local open air market and Moshi town and visited a Hospital. St. Joseph is run by Catholic sisters and their presences reminded us of the “sister act”. The Teachers were given a tour of the facility but had their reservations about visiting the morgue. Shame we did not get to do this..hahaha!

Anyways, the next day we were on the road heading to Ndarakwai. This is our wildlife camp located in west Kilimanjaro. This camp is sandwiched between the two mountains, Kili and Meru. As a rustic and basic bush camp, Ndarakwai gives you a true African out in the wild feeling. This was evident because as soon as the Teachers arrived, they were taken on a nature walk. Accompanied by a Ranger with a rifle, the Teachers went on seeing different types of wild animals which ranged from, Elephants, warthogs, Baboons, Zebras, monkeys just to mention a few!

Back at camp there was dinner and a camp fire. Whilst the Teachers were having their dinner, I was busy stringing some questions together for the trivia.

“Who’s smarter now”…2 men and an escort was the boy’s team name while the girls team was “Spider catchers”. This name was derived from an incident that Rosie one of the Teacher’s was called in to rescue her male counterparts from being eaten alive by a “huge” spider. Guess who won. Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Next day, honey was over. The Teachers were involved in ranch maintenance and worked on a furrow that was overgrown with grass and damaged by animals. Their task was to dig out the mud so that the water flows freely and get rid of the overgrown grass and get logs and stones to strengthen the furrow’s banks.

That afternoon, we took them to a Maasai boma for a bit of a cultural experience and checking out some of the ladies jewelry and bead work. Thereafter, they went on a game drive in the ranch. Having been at the Maasai boma, seen their culture and their way of life, it was inevitable that a dance was on the cards.

We left Ndarakwai bright and early for Tanga. After a long trip of over 6 hours, we were finally at camp. It is at this camp that they were taken round Mwambani village and shown the work which was done by both Gap and School expeditions who have been through Camp Tanga.

They weren’t going to leave without having a go at seaweed farming. That afternoon they also gave a white wash to one of the traditional houses that camps have built for the less fortunate in the village and of course had an opportunity to see all the little beauties of the ocean shores…

We wrapped up the recce by going out for a group meal.

Great Team and we can’t wait to have you back students, warts and all!

The wait is finally over. Mbokomu dining Hall was officially opened and handed over to Mbokomu and Father Neville Schools a few weeks back. Tommie just sent this through and we are all very proud of him and his team who ensured the success of this HUGE project…

From this…

Correct me if I’m wrong but this particular project could easily go down as one of the most ambitious pieces of work that Camps International has ever gotten involved in. Simon, our Africa Director nicknamed it “the flight hanger” if only to drive the point home of how massive the structure was.

Its construction started in early 2008, when we experienced the worst times in Kenya’s political history; the post election violence which forced us to move our entire operation from Kenya to Tanzania. This move saw us hosting over 75 gap year students over the said period. It felt right to start something as big as we had plenty of volunteers and the schools desperately needed a multipurpose hall.

I have to be honest with you. It’s taken a lot longer than we would have liked but something of this scale and size is never easy in this part of the world. We depend on our volunteers and we don’t like to work on projects of this nature when we are not around so we had pace ourselves according to the periods we were in Moshi.

But it’s done and a lot of hard and a lot of fun over the past few years…

Despite all these setbacks, we are here today. We have managed to finish the project and this goes a long way into describing how camps are committed into delivering sustainable projects and making sure that we see through what we start.
Its opening was graced by both Stuart and Simon and a whole load of dignitaries, local authorities and parents.

Speeches ensued and it turned out to be a day full of songs and praises.

The Schools prepared songs and poems to entertain the invited guests and Parents. After exchanging pleasantries, the moment that we were all waiting for finally came: the official opening of the facility.

Hon. Lucy cutting the tape…                                 The unveiling…

Having done all that, it was time to put the Dining hall straight to use!

As much as it is for the purpose of providing the School going kids with a better facility, secure and of good standard, the Hall would also generate income for the Schools when it is rented out for corporate functions, weddings and parties.

It is with great pleasure that we at camps and the Mbokomu community at large wish to thank all Camp Tanzania volunteers who worked tirelessly towards this project. Asante Sana!

Tommie (Camp Tanzania Country Manager)

Naomi was on one of our school expeditions to Tanzania this summer she wrote to me yesterday to share her experiences of our leaders in Tanzania…It sounds like they had a fantastic time and a lot of it is due to Vicks and James so a big thank you to the pair of them. I have found a photo of Viks but you need look no further than the cover of the Camps International brochure. Here’s one of James.

James Rose (Expedition Leader)keeping the spirits up at Camp Tanga

Hey, I’m Naomi Walker, In July this year I went to Tanzania on a school expedition and it was honestly incredible! I can’t thank you enough for giving me the opportunity! My experience was life changing and that phrase is used way to often but I honestly believe it was! My team leader(s) were Victoria Gillbard and James Rose! They made the expedition incredible, we had such a brilliant time and the friends I’ve made are those for life!

The day before we got to Tanzania, Viks suggested we wrote letters to ourselves of which she would then post to us in a few months, at the time it seem random and almost stupid but I did it anyway after all TIA (this is Africa), today I received that letter and wow, it was incredible! Admittedly I started to cry but to me that just shows the amazing time I had! I wrote about our team, I wrote about the in country staff, I wrote about the projects and mainly I wrote about Vicks! I just thought I should tell you the amazing impact she had on my expedition, I honestly feel as if she helped me through everything and that she made the trip what it was, she puts her heart and soul into Africa and if one person belongs there its her! she was always there for me; as a leader and a friend and so was James! I couldn’t have wished for two better people to be there for us! Thank you so much for the experience, camps international is outstanding!xxxx

Viks doing a little dance