We arrived at Kipepeo beach resort on Saturday night. We checked into our bandas, what a relief to finally have a bed! After that we all had dinner which was our first proper cooked meal since we left on the 25th which we were all buzzing for. It was a long journey to the resort so we all needed bed early. On Sunday we had the whole day to chill on the beach, all of us went for a swim in the sea to cool off from the sunshine. The sea water was such a relaxing warm temperature no one wanted to get out. We all sat down for dinner around 6pm and enjoyed abnoter lovely meal. On Monday morning Hannah, Laura, Robert, Kayreen, Cailean and Cameron went snorkelling off an Island called Sinda. To get to the Island we went on a sailing boat, the journey was quite slow but we could see for miles along the Swahili Coast with its white beaches and wooden cabins. When we reached Sinda we walked around the Island and went through a cave and saw crabs and a variety of shells. We then got back on the boat and went out to sea to begin snorkelling. We saw starfish, sea urchain, fish, coral and even jelly fish. After snorkelling we had a picnic lunch on the Island and turned Cameron into a mermaid in the sand. We all really enjoyed the trip and would definitely recommend it to others. It was a fantastic experience. The rest of the group spent the whole day relaxing on the beach which was also lovely. Tonight was our last proper meal in country which we were all sad about. Most of us splashed out and had steaks followed by some cocktails. We looked back on our time in Tanzania and shared our most memorable moments with each other which made us all emotional and proud at how much we have achieved this trip, we all dont want to go home!

We left Mazoombo campsite at 6:30am on the bus heading to our rest and relaxation phase – Kipepeo beach resort. Due to the early start we struggled to stay awake and all had little naps along the way. We had tunes blaring on the bus from stephanies phone on the aux which put us all in such a great mood. The bus journey took 12 hours from campsite to Kipepeo which surprisingly didn’t drag too much. When we arrived at the resort we got shown to our banda’s for the first night of rest and relaxation

This morning we were woken at 4.15am ready to be picked up at 5am. The group was split into two groups to travel to Ruaha National Park for our safari day. One group were in an enclosed jeep while the other half were in an open safari vehicle – dark, windy and cold. We arrived at 7am and began our safari.  First of all we stopped at a river and saw  hippos and crocodiles basking in the water.  Once we began driving through the safari tracks we saw loads of impalas. We also saw elephants, giraffes, lions and zebras which we were all excited about! We then came across animal kill… a giraffe had been killed by lions. The lions were lying down around the giraffe aswell as vultures in the trees above. It seemed as if they were all waiting for us to leave. At around 12.30pm we stopped for some lunch.  We had bananas and bread sat on benches overlooking the stunning National Park with elephants in the distance. It was a nice break but we were all relieved to get back onto the safari vehicles for the breeze to cool us down.  We spent another few hours driving around the National Park seeing the animals. It was a great day and it was soon time to head back to Masumbo campsite. We arrived back at around 7pm and it was pitch black.  Thankfully we didnt have to cook though and we had a lovely buffet.  The staff also made us a chocolate banana cake which was a lovely sweet treat.  The owners of the campsite had their own coffee plantations so some of us tasted some coffee and even bought some. We all went to bed shortly after to be up early again.

Today we went to see the finished product at the teachers’ house. We were all amazed that the house had gone from being bricks to having walls and floors. We all felt so proud that we made such a big impact in only a number of days which will last a very long time at the school. We were all then invited by the head teacher to join some classes. We went into a Geography, Maths and Civics class. It was really interesting to see the differences and similarities between our own education and theirs. We invited some children outside to play some games. They were all so excited! We tought them how to play British Bulldog and in return they taught us a couple. We all had such a great time. It was then time to say our goodbyes. We attended a ceremony along with around 700 students, we were slightly outnumbered. They sang their school and national anthem and we sang Flower of Scotland. The headteacher thanked us for the difference we made which really reminded us of our impact. Saying goodbye was really difficult especially to the friends we made. We certainly enjoyed our project phase. We then travelled to our next camp – Masumbo in style in a safari vehicle which was a new experience for most of us. We didn’t know what to expect at the camp but we were all pleasantly surprised that it was a green campsite with proper toilet seats and warm showers. We all took advantage of this and moods were now brighter being clean.

Our project phase task was to finish building a teachers house we met Justin, the project co-ordinater who briefed us up about what our project involved; plastering walls, concreating the floor and painting boards for the roof. Our project got off to a slow start as marerials had to be ordered in. Once the materials arrived though we were all eager to get stuck in. We assisted the masons with mixing cement (no machind in sight) and other jobs where we were needed. We were also getting stuck into paining and completed all the 26 boards and timber needed to put the roof up. Although we felt as though we weren’t doing an awful lot, we kept reminding ourselves that we were the reason the skilled masons were there and without our group the work wouldn’t be completed. Our working days at project began at 8am and finished about 4pm. This allowed for time in the evenings to interact with some of the resident school children. It was great getting to know people our own age. We made some great friends like Irene, Lightness, Happiness and Maria who we will always remember. We also celebrated Laura’s birthday on project where we attempted to bake a cake on the open fire by steaming it in two trangea pots. It turned out very like fudge cake but it was a great treat aswell as the marshmallows we toasted on the fire.

Today we woke early to meet our bus to take us fo our next destination Luhota Secondary School – to begin the Project Phase. The bus wasn’t as luxurious as our usual transport because of the camp being a fair bit off the road. We all had to fasten our belts as tight as possible and hold on tight. We finally recahed the main road and swapped buses, thank god as we were all covered from head to toe in dust! After a while on the bus we arrived at Iringa town where we haggled with people on the markets for our food for the next few days at project. We also met with Lulu, a local Tanzanian woman and bought ingredients for a cooking class she was leading for us. After a hectic hour of shopping we were all tired so enjoyed the last part of the bus journey to Luhota Secondary School. When we arrived we were all shown around. We were all a bit apprehensive about using the toilets a.k.a squad holes for the next 5 days. We set up camp inside an old classroom and then took part in the cooking class which was really interesting. Cailean, Robert and Cameron were keen to kill the chicken we had bought on the market for dinner! It was really tasty and it was nice being cooked for.

We started our day off with flavourless porridge and a ‘brew’ as John would say, to fuel us for the day. We trekked through more absolutely stunning forests along the msosa river until we reached the waterfall where we spent an hour to cool off by having a dip. Cameron, Cailean and Robert were brave enough to stand right underneath the powerful waterfall. Afterwards we carried on trekking for half and hour and reached another small waterfall where we saw a huge python just relaxing on the rock, we were all stunned. On todays lunch menu was two stail rolls and our water which was nearly boiling from the sun, yum. We then walked all the way back to msosa camp site where we set off today, we all enojoyed a lovely warm shower, kidding it was liteally a bucket full of cold water tied up with a bit of rope.

We began by crossing the Ruaha river on a canoe which was made out of a tree trunk that locals made.  We then trekked through the Boabab Valley and saw elephant footprints and loads of crops that were grown by local women.  We passed through two villages – Msosa A and Msosa B where we interacted with local children and had a spot of lunch in the roasting hot sunshine! We carried on our trek until we reached Msosa camp site where we pitched our tents and our cooking team (Fiona, Joanna, Laura and Kayreen) prepared our first meal on an open fire which was really tasty.

We got woken up at 6:30am by Sophie (the team leader for the day). It was a struggle to get out of bed but we all managed to get packed and down for breakfast on time. After loading our main rucksacks onto the bus we got on the bus and departed the Safari Inn in Dar es Salaam. We headed to Crocodile Camp which was our first night of camping. It was a long 8 hour bus journey so we were all happy to reach the camp and strech our legs. It was still  quite warm so the heat combined with tiredness from travelling made us all lack the motivation to pitch our tents for our first night of camping.  We all found the energy from somewhere to set up camp before dark and go for dinner. It was our last night being cooked for before beginning our open fire cooking. We were spoiled with a lovely 3 course meal (soup, a buffet and fruit) and prepared ourselves for the first might of many of camping.

Hello from the challengers!

Today was our first day in Dar. We spent the day in the local markets sourcing food and equipment ready for our upcoming trekking days. The new smells were a shock to us – not quite the machair! Many of us, especially the boys, interacted with local people. They seemed to especially like Cailean for some reason. A local tried to buy our basin off us but we thought he was trying to buy Stephanie! We also went to the shopping mall and had lunch there. We are all now back in the hotel after a busy day planning and exploring. We are getting ready for a long 8 hour bus to our camp which we are all excited for.  Tomorrow we will arrive in our camp around 6pm ready for our first night of camping -wish us luck!