The 2 years are over!

I am writing this very last blog sitting in Nairobi airport waiting to catch my flight back to Heathrow. I am feeling very different to just under 2 years ago when I was sitting in Heathrow with lots of new people nervously waiting to start my adventures in Mwanza. I can’t believe how quickly those 2 years have gone. I have seen and done so many amazing things while I have been here and have some memories that I will never forget.  As my time is coming to the end I have been thinking about the things I will miss and the Tanzanian ways that have become very normal but am quite looking forward to not having to put up with!

There are so many incredible parts of living here that I couldn’t name them all but here are just a few ……….

•Beautiful African sunsets especially from a boat on Lake Victoria.

•Sunshine all the time! (except for the warm torrential rain!)

•Amazing places to go on holiday just a short car or plane ride away. I have had some incredible holidays and will miss having wonderful places to visit so close. Bring on the rest of the world for holidays now!

•Stoney Tangawizi – Ginger ale Tanzanian style.

•Yummy fruit

•Laid back attitude to life. Although this is mostly a good thing, when you are trying to post something at the post office or be served at the bank it could also be slightly frustrating.

There are lots of skills and things I have found out from living in Tanzania for 2 years. I am hoping that most of them I will not be using in Leeds!

I have discovered that many tasks are possible in the dark. When power cuts happen quite frequently you never know what you might be doing and when the sun goes down it really is pitch black.

I can now:

• Shower in the dark. I only got conditioner and shampoo mixed up once!

• Get dressed only by feeling for the correct clothes to put on and not look totally ridiculous. Sometimes this becomes even more skillful  when you have to avoid the geckos that  like to hide in the wardrobe.

•Insect repellent doesn’t make good perfume. I will not miss having to spray myself with delightful smelling insect repellent to stop the lovely mosquitoes biting. I don’t think my ankles and legs will ever be the same from all the bites during the 2 years. I became quite fond of my mosquito net especially when geckos dropped from bedroom ceiling in the middle of the night. I became quite skilled at smooth exit and entrance techniques!

•I definitely DON’T want to be famous. I couldn’t walk anywhere in Mwanza without at least one person say  ‘Mambo!’….Hi!  Or ‘How are you? and sometimes ‘Will you marry me?’. You might think that Tanzanian people are very friendly, which they are, but when it is only you being greeted you do feel like you are famous. On my fairly short walk home from school I once counted over 20 people that spoke to me on my way home. You couldn’t be one of a crowd being a Mzungu!

•There are lots of amusing phrases that I heard a lot which I will probably never again……..I will try not to use them!

“My leg is paining” ……….I tried my best to get my class to use the word hurting instead but it was a hard phrase to get rid of.

“Please can you on the fan”

“ Even me!”…….I will definitely be slipping this in by accident as I have not heard “Me too!” for the last 2 years.

There are so many other phrases that just became normal to hear and cause amusement.

 

There are so many things about living in Tanzania that are so unique and often amusing that I could go on and on. I have met many wonderful people, made some great friends and taught some inspiring children.  I can’t quite believe the adventures I have been on and the amazing things that I have seen in only 2 years.  My time in Mwanza has been an experience that will stay with me forever and has taught me so much. I feel it is right for me to say a fond farewell to Tanzania and get back to family and friends in England.

My Easter Escape.

A belated Happy Easter to everyone!

As my Easter holidays were my last long ones until I am back in the land of coldness. I nipped over the border to Uganda to appreciate being so close to such  beautiful and interesting countries.

 I flew to Entebbe to meet my Mum and Dad….. It was very strange being met from a 2 hour flight by my Mum and Dad. We spent the next few nights staying  in Kampala.

We visited Kira Farm that is a charity who uses the farm to give teenagers the chance to live there for a year and learn practical skills like sewing, woodwork, farming and tailoring so that they can go back to their homes with skills that can earn them money.

In Kampala, we also visited the Kasubi Tombs were the last for kings bugando (a large area of Uganda) are buried. 

We then travelled west to Kibale Forest National Park where we stayed in a lodge literally in the forest.  We could sit just outside the door of our rooms and watch Red Colobus, Black and White Colobus and L’Hoest monkeys enjoying the fruits on the trees. We were also joined by lots of beautiful birds and butterflies. I did the spotting and Mum and Dad did the identification! 

Our lodge surrounded by forest!

This was a little visitor on the wall of our room.

This family of baboons were blocking the road as we drove to t he lodge.

  

Sadly the Chimpanzees didn’t come and join us for breakfast so we had to trek into the forest where we joined them eating their breakfast of figs. We discovered that chimpanzees are very messy eaters as while we were watching them in the treetops we had to dodge the falling figs.  They also decided that the treetops were their toilet but we manage to avoid the lovely golden showers!

They were enjoying their breakfast so they spent most of the time in the treetops but 3 large males did climb down the tree trunks to join us on the floor. We frantically pushes through the undergrowth to follow them. I found myself at the front the line of people trying to follow them and as I got within about 3 metres of a huge male our guide was saying ‘Just keep going’. I proceeded with caution! We followed them until they got to the second course of breakfast, large bean like seeds. They looked like the size of normal monkeys in the tree tops but they looked much bigger when we were walking behind them. 

The next day the wellies were back on and waterproofs on for a walk in a swamp. 

We then travelled  south beside the spectacular Ruwenzori Mountains to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

We crossed the equator to enter the park that we explored for the morning.

A family of lions were using the road.

Staring competitions with Buffalo.

Crested Cranes the national symbol of Uganda.

Mongooses. They decided that under our safari van was a lovely warm place to run and hide.

After lunch inside the park we took a boat ride down the Kazinga Channel which links Lake Edward and Lake George, two large lake inside the National Park.

 

A large industry in this area is salt which they collect from the salt lakes. We visited Lake Katwe to see how they extract the salt. They spend hours in the water getting chunks of salt from the  bottom of the lake. We also stopped on our journey to watch a women making lovely baskets.

 

After a long drive through the border of Uganda and Tanzania we caught the over night ferry from Bukoba back to Mwanza.

We spent Easter weekend at a very beautiful and peaceful place over looking lake Victoria.  We enjoyed a  canoe ride on the lake, lovely meals with incredible views and lots of relaxing time.

Our view as we enjoyed our dinner.

We were served breakfast on the veranda just outside our rooms and were joined by lots of greedy weaver birds who like to help themselves to out leftover crumbs and butter! 

  

Unfortunately I had to  go back to work after a very relaxing weekend so I left Mum and Dad to explored the sights and sounds of Mwanza. 

I had a wonderful time on my last holiday adventure. I now only have 10 weeks to go until I fly back to England. I will be trying to appreciate all the things I love about living here including lapping up as much African sunshine as I can,

Storm, Splattering, Sun and Snorkeling.

Another half term has whizzed by which included a visit to the Coca Cola factory and sports day.  As I have worked hard for 6 weeks it must be time for a holiday!

I decided that this half term holiday I should make the most of living so close to the Indian ocean. Vicki and I headed down to Mikindani a small village near Mtwara in the South of Tanzania.  As you know by now holidays in Tanzania are not without their adventures and this week didn’t disappoint!

We flew down to Dar on the Saturday evening so we were ready to catch the early morning flight down to Mtwara. It also meant we could enjoy some delicious proper pizza and maybe some Prosecco. We got up early ready for our flight and arrived at the airport in a thunderstorm. Despite the storm the flight for Mtwara left as normal (which we were quite  impressed by!) however, as we got about half way to Mtwara the pilot announced that the weather in Mtwara was quite bad (which we has worked out as we could see the lightning quite clearly!) and there might be a possibility that we may not be able to land in Mtwara and have to head back to Dar. The Pilot did sound optimistic that the storm may pass. About 5 minutes from Mtwara the Pilot announced that we were going to circle Mtwara a few times in hope that the weather may clear up enough for us to land (in this very small airport!). As you can imagine circling in a storm wasn’t the smoothest ride. After a few circuits the weather had not changed and there wasn’t enough fuel for us to keep circling so we did a u-turn and headed back to Dar. It was beautiful and sunny in Dar when we arrived and they said they would let us know when the flight would be rescheduled. With normal excellent Tanzanian communication after 3 more hours sitting in Dar departures lounge they announced that the flight would be rescheduled until 11am the next morning. Another night in Dar which we made the most of by shopping, eating ice cream and yummy food including Lasagne. We did evenually get there only a day and a half late!                                                                                                                                                                

We stayed in a small village just North of Mtwara called Mikindani. Even though the weather was quite stormy at the beginning of the week it was a lovely old Swahili style village to wander around, watch the local fisherman and the local wildlife.

 
 

The stormy weather meant that the roads into Mtwara were quite wet. Not a problem when you are in a car but created a bit of an issue when you are on a Bajaj (a three wheeled motorbike with a covered, but not at the sides, back seat).On our way back from visiting a Mtwara market a very kind bus decided to whizz past us just at the very muddy part of the road which meant I fashioned a new orange/brown spotted range of clothes and skin!

Yes this is the road not a river we are driving along!

The weather picked up by the end of the week so we drove south down to the coast to a the beautiful Msimbati beach which we only had to share with a few cows and goats

We did a bit of snorkeling  and saw an enormous purple star fish and amazing electric blue and black striped fish, along with many other colourful fish.

We even had our very own picnic site for lunch too.

There were lots of local fisherman on the shoreline including one that had caught a puffer fish. He gutted in front of us and there was eyes and guts splurting everywhere. Our driver took some very colourful fish home for his tea.

 

We decided the local ferry looked a bit crowded so we took the plane home and actually managed to land in the correct airport this time.








It was a great week with the normal Tanzanian randomness. I feel like I have made the most of probably the last holiday for a very long while that I will swimming in the beautiful turquoise seas!