A Tanzania Trip Diary, by Ms Rendall-Jones.

On Sunday 7^th July we set off from Gatwick for our 3-week adventure in Tanzania. 10 pupils, 2 teachers and our True Adventure leader were all resplendent wearing our matching True Adventure t-shirts in the departure lounge waiting for our flight!

Arriving safely in Tanzania after a long flight we spent one night in the lively, loud, hot and dusty metropolis of Dar es Salaam. Our bus wove its way through the chaos of cars, buses, tuk tuks and motorbikes to the port. There we bustled our way onto the ferry for Zanzibar. We stayed at the Karibu Hotel (Karibu means Welcome in Swahili) for 4 days and spent this time scuba diving and snorkelling off the coral reefs. The dive school, One Ocean, were superb – friendly experienced, supportive and provided a delicious lunch on their old wooden boat. This was a chance for the pupils to get their Open Water and Advanced certification, or just to enjoy diving and snorkelling, observing the multitude of colourful fish, the coral and the sea anenomies in the clear crystal water.

Then back to the Hotel Landmark in Dar es Salaam and a shopping trip to buy provisions for the next stage of our expedition – trekking in the Amani Nature Reserve – a beautiful, lush, tropical rainforest. The long journey took us from Dar es Salaam, through the farming communities and villages and finally up a winding, bumpy track with stunning views of the mountains, spice and tea plantations, immense coconut palms, coffee bushes and plenty of monkeys. We trekked through this stunning scenery for the next four days, ably led by our guides Gabriel and Rasta Muella, who pointed out the different spice crops – cinnamon, black pepper, cardamon etc – and the amazing animals. We had a night trek and saw spiders and a number of chameleons, including a giant chameleon – quite an incredible creature!

During this stay at the hostel the pupils divided into Team Cook and Team Clean, making meals and washing up for the group. This system continued throughout the expedition and they became adept at cooking and cleaning, including washing their own clothes and hanging them out on makeshift washing lines.

After the Amani Nature Reserve we went by bus to Moshi for a night in a hotel before the camping stage of our expedition. We had dinner on the top floor of the hotel which had a wonderful view of the city and a slightly misty view of Kilimanjaro.

Our next mode of transport was Toyota Landcruisers and the drivers – Maribu and Nixon – took us to spend a couple of days with the Masai, camping and experiencing their culture, including their incredibly agile dancing and bush trekking. We had a fabulous view, overlooking the Rift Valley and learned about how the Masai use plants for medicine and food. After a delicious dinner, cooked by chefs we spent the night under canvas, before a 5.30 start to the Masai village of Dodoma. There the huts, the livestock and the lifestyle of the Masai were explained by our guides and one of our pupils had the chance to milk a goat.

We left the Masai and went on to our next destination, Tarangire National Park. We went on a sunset and a sunrise safari and it was the most amazing experience. Giraffes, herds of elephants, lions, zebras, warthogs and an immense range of beautiful birds could be observed from the open top Landcruisers, with our guides giving information about them and our eagle eyed pupils spotting more and more wonderful animals. That night we camped in the safari park, where the chatter of monkeys and the roar of lions could be heard from our tents.

After the sunrise safari we came back for breakfast, then set off for our project work at Soko primary school, stopping in Moshi to buy more provisions. We arrived at nightfall and were welcomed by the friendly local people.

The 22nd of July was our first proper project day. We dug metre deep holes for banana plants, painted the newly refurbished kitchen, dug a trench for the new irrigation system, broke up concrete and played lots and lots of football with the local children and then with some of the local teenagers, who came back the next morning to give us a hand in the fields. The Soko cook who prepared lunch for the children also made delicious lunches for us but otherwise Team Cook and Team Clean swung into action again.

It was great for us to see how our fundraising had been spent and, during the assembly on the last day of the project, it was clear that the local people hugely appreciated our donations and hard work in improving life at the school.

During this part of the expedition one of the pupils, James, had his 17th birthday and we organised a surprise party with cake and happy birthday sung by the local children. Then more football!

On the last morning at Soko the pupils divided into three groups and taught Maths, English and Science to three of the classes. Then, after the very formal assembly and lunch, we recreated a primary school sports day with races such as egg and spoon, relays and a penalty shootout. Evenings were spent around the fire, star gazing and telling stories.

We left Soko very early on 27th July and spent a long day on the bus to our final destination – a beach holiday resort just outside Dar es Salaam. We had a celebratory dinner at the resort and enjoyed sleeping in beds after the nights of camping. Our final morning in Tanzania was spent on the beach, before we set off for the airport and the trip home.

I caught up with a few of the pupils when we arrived back home in the UK and asked them what they thought of the experience.

Archie felt the trip had given him more humility. He said, “Driving past villages and spending time at Soko has shed light on being grateful for everything I have. It is important to keep going no matter what.”

Luca said, “The expedition has made me more independent and being able to find out information for myself. Knowing my environment, bartering, talking to others has made me more able to take responsibility for myself.”

Will S said, “This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore the world and see how other people live.”

As staff, we were there to support the pupils, but they all took turns in being the leader for the day, finding out information, making decisions and briefing the rest of the group, with an opportunity at the end of the day to reflect on their success and ways of improving. All pupils made marked progress in their leadership skills as the expedition continued.

It was an intense, at times challenging physically and emotionally but an immensely rewarding and life changing experience.

Ms Rendall-Jones

Trip Leader