I wanted to send y'all a quick summary of what I'll be doing day-to-day while I'm in Tanzania since I probably won't be very good about staying in touch while I'm over there.
We arrive into the airport in Tanzania at 7:45 pm on Friday, May 17th. We go to the institution where we'll be taking classes while in Usa River (a smaller town just to the east of Arusha) to stay that night (it's called TCDC--Training Centre for Development Cooperation).
Usa River location
TCDC building
TCDC Cafeteria
The next day, Saturday, will be full of orientation and getting established in Usa, and we'll spend one more night at the TCDC compound. On Sunday, we continue with the orientation program and move into our homestays (my roommate is a graduate student named Jennifer).
Homestay Example
From Monday, May 20th until Friday, May 24th, we'll have a week of regular classes, with Kiswahili lessons and our "History of Helping" class in the mornings and local excursions in the afternoons.
Usa River Market, location of some of our local excursions
Friday afternoon, we depart for our weekend safari in the Serengeti, including descending into Ngorogoro Crater and the Olduvai Gorge. We'll spend Friday and Saturday nights in Karatu (located west of Arusha).
Ngorogoro Crater
http://www.amani-tours.com/attractions/ngorongoro_crater
Olduvai Gorge
http://xpeditiononline.com/09olduvai.html
Tanzania Serengeti
http://in2eastafrica.net/serengeti-national-park-2/
We'll return from the safari to our homestays on Sunday, May 26th. The following week, May 27th-May 31st, we'll be back in Usa with classes in the morning and excursions in the afternoon again. Saturday, June 1st, will be a free day for us to pack and prepare for our trip to Dar es Salaam and the island of Zanzibar.
On Sunday, June 2nd, we travel by bus to Dar. We spend the next day sight seeing in Dar, including going to the U.S. Embassy and the University of Dar es Salaam.
Dar location
Dar es Salaam
On Tuesday morning, we take a ferry from Dar to Stone Town, Zanzibar. Once arriving there, we'll take a tour of the city and in the evening, we'll watch a Taraab performance before dinner. Taraab is a music genre that is popular in East Africa (it comes from an Arabic word that means "having joy with music").
Stone Town location
Stone Town, Zanzibar
The next day (Wednesday, June 5th), we visit a slave market and what was the home of Tippu Tip, a local slave trader in the late 1800s. We will also visit the local non-profit Sasik. Sasik is a very successful women's co-op that creates furnishing covers and wall hangings based on Arabic designs, enabling women to earn an income and provide for their children, where they were not previously able to do so.
Home of Tippu Tip
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Africa/Tanzania/East/Zanzibar/Stone_Town/photo1200581.htm
Sasik shop in Stone Town
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sasik-ZANZIBAR/140328546062589
That night, we'll get to go on a Dhow (type of sailing boat) tour at sunset.
Sunset Dhow Tour
http://www.climbkili.com/safari-etc/zanzibar/
Over the next two days, we do further excursions around the area of Stone Town, including a visit to another women's co-op in Kidoti. The night of Friday, June 7th, we'll travel over to the east side of the island and will stay on Paje Beach at Paje Beach Bungalows. The next day, we travel from the beach into Jozani Forest. We'll spend Saturday night in the bungalows, as well.
Paje Beach
Paje Beach Bungalows
Jozani Forest
A colobus monkey in Jozani Forest
On Sunday, June 9th, we travel by ferry back to Dar. We'll go to the Tanzanian National Museum that afternoon and stay one more night in Dar before heading back to Usa River for the remainder of the trip. Once we get back to Usa on Monday, June 10th, we have a final week of morning classes and afternoon excursions, with nights in our homestays. On Saturday, June 15th, we have a send-off party with our homestay families at TCDC, and we spend our last night in Tanzania at the TCDC compound.
Sunday, June 16th is our last day in Tanzania, and we'll be at TCDC until late afternoon/early evening, when we get transported back to the airport. We begin our long series of flights back to the U.S. at 8:40 pm. After stops in Amsterdam and Minneapolis, we will (hopefully) finally touch down in OKC shortly before 10:00 pm on Monday, June 17th.
I'll do my best to stay in touch while I'm gone. There should be wifi at TCDC (we've been told it is frequently out of service, however), and I will post to this blog or to facebook or send out emails when I get the chance. I'll be thinking of y'all while I'm gone and will be looking forward to catching up with everyone once I return!
Kwa heri ya kuonana! (Goodbye until we meet again)
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