This was a particularly busy week. Knowing that we’d be off on a well-earned safari for an ‘extended’ weekend, the pace of our projects picked up: Vita wrapped up her survey on sexual health; we visited a few more sexual health NGO’s to generate the online network, one of particular note being our discovery of MRENGO – ‘Mtwara Region NGO’s’, a pre-existing network of NGO’s in Mtwara; we visited Lilungu Primary School and sat in on a PASHA-led sexual health class; my tutorials with John on managing the COTC website continued; having no internet at the COTC sent us to the internet cafe for Rute to lead a popular MedicineAfrica tutorial from a doctor in the UK...
And then - come 4am on Thursday morning - we were off.
Setting off at dawn, a dusty and arduous day-drive to Dar-es-Salaam was in order. Booking yet more bus tickets onwards to Arusha was troublesome, what with all of the slick ticket touts of Dar. The trip to Arusha, however, was a delight: comfy seats, a paved road and a longing for sleep meant the 11 hour journey sped by. We arrived, finalised our safari plans with our tour operator and went out to the famed old German boma, Via Via, for a delicious dinner. Saturday morning saw us stock up on treats from a supermarket – a rare scene from our travels in Tanzania thus far! We headed off on a safari to Lake Manyara National Park, a game reserve set amidst the beautiful escarpments of the Great Rift Valley. After camping out for a night, we headed off to the stunning Ngorongoro Crater: a spectacular volcanic caldera, filled with the world’s greatest concentration of predators for another game drive. Our drive back to Arusha saw a quick stop off at the UN International Criminal Tribunal Courts for Rwanda, a great meal and us preparing for a quick stop over at Moshi to catch a glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro and our trip onwards: back to Mtwara.
Shirwa
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