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!

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