What a star you’ve been, Kathy!
Nearly 4,800 words and 150 terrific images recording a quite wonderful adventure - thank you so much for making the time and effort to share them with us all. It was great that some readers managed to find and use the comments facility on your blog entries, and I’m sure others will find the link at the top of this posting. I wonder if readers have a favourite moment, or picture? I have a particular image of Father Deo that will certainly stay with me forever! Tony Monday 13 August Today (leo) is our last full day in Tanzania. We are returning to the Bishops Conference Centre in Dar Es Salaam where we will end our adventure before we return back to England tomorrow. It’s been and amazing, once in a lifetime experience. We’ve enjoyed every minute of it. There has been so much kindness shown to us. The people we have met have been generous even though they have little. They’ve been warm and welcoming and we’ve managed to communicate even with our very limited Swahili words that we’ve picked up. The places we have visited have been beautiful and the wildlife has been truly sensational. What memories we’ll have from this trip. And of course none of this would have been possible without Father Deo organising such a wonderful holiday (sikukuu). Thank you (Asante) Father Deo! So finally from me, I’ve hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog and it’s given you a small flavour of our adventure. Father Deo mentioned that he would be happy to do this all again in a couple of years for those who are interested. Also, I would like to thank Tony Price for loading all my photos and blog posts onto the parish Website. Many thanks Tony for your help and patience. On behalf of all the Wasafiris and myself - Goodbye (Tutaonana). Sunday 12 August After an early morning (asubuhi) start, we spent half a day touring the Mikumi National Park. Mikumi National Park is the fifth largest National Park in Tanzania - 3,245 square km and just like the Serengeti, we were lucky to see a variety of wildlife and birds and the scenery is stunning. Our first sighting were two lionesses - Mother and daughter who had killed a young buffalo. We actually missed the hunt but saw the remains of the buffalo quite close to the roadside with the lionesses waiting patiently for the onlookers to leave so they could finish eating their prey. Although it was a bloody sight it’s definitely survival of the fittest in the wild. We passed the same spot a little bit later and the carcass was swarmed by a flock of vultures who were picking over the remains...nothing goes to waste in the wild. One of the scariest moments touring the Mikumi National Park was that we got too close to an elephant who was grazing by the roadside. The elephant got cross because we to stopped to take photos. He flapped his ears and started running behind our jeep towards us. Father Deo quickly put his foot on the gas and the elephant retreated. It was both thrilling and scary at the same time! I even managed to take a photo..... After lunch (chakula cha mchana) we travelled onto Udzungwa National Park to walk up the Udzungwa Waterfalls. What a breathtaking sight! The walk up to the waterfalls is divided up into sections and the climb is not for the faint hearted. We managed to walk up to the second section which has a 70 metres high waterfall. We were treated to a spectacular view. Father Deo’s jeep was still having problems and we broke down on the way back to Mikumi. Luckily the people here are so friendly and helpful and stopped to assist. Another mechanic identified a problem with the Alternator and he began to work on this straight away. However, he needed to find some spare parts but where do you find a shop in the middle of a National Park at midnight. Thankfully the mechanic was able to locate a Nissan truck and take the part required. The mechanic in the wee hours of the morning was able to fit the parts and he was able to get the vehicle working again. Father Deo’s managed to arrive back in Mikumi around 6am and was able to get a few hours’ sleep before we head back to Dar Es Salaam. Whilst Father Deo remained with the stricken vehicle we two Wasafiris were given a lift back by two ‘Samaritans’ to The Tan-Swiss Restaurant. We were then given a lift back to the Mikumi National Park lodge by Samuel who is an Ecologist with the Park. Saturday 11 August Father Deo’s jeep continues to have electrical problems so our early start has been curtailed. But this has not stopped us seeing an array of wildlife. We had our first sighting of a snake when a green mamba slithered next to one of the Wasafiris. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of said snake as the Wasafiris made a quick exit from the spot she was sitting at. Friday 10 August And then there were only three Wasafiris left.... Our early morning departure to Mikumi National Park didn’t quite go to plan. Father Deo’s jeep had some electrical problems so he spent the morning trying to get the problems fixed. We eventually were on our way early afternoon for the long six-hour drive. On the journey down we went through Father Deo’s home town of Morogoro. This is where his mother still lives and we hope to be visiting her on Sunday. Also along the way we were treated to a beautiful sunset which provide a splendid hue to the Uluguru mountain range. It was a spectacular sight. Finally arrived at our destination. The sky is so clear and full of stars which are so lovely. Haven’t seen stars like this in a long time. Thursday 9 August We started the morning with Mass at 08:00 in the Bishops Conference Centre Chapel. Some of the Wasafiris had some last-minute gifts to buy before they departed. After brunch we headed for the airport to say farewell to the Wasafiris before they start their journey back to England. It will definitely be lot quieter without them, but I can honestly say they will be missed. It’s been great sharing our holiday with a lovely bunch of people. We have certainly bonded in the last two weeks. I have included some testimonials and comments from my fellow Wasafiris to share their thoughts with you and offer their special thanks to Father Deo:
What an amazing experience we’ve had. Luckily for Ged and myself, we still have a further five days to experience the delights of Tanzania. Wednesday 8 August We said goodbye to Zanzibar today and headed back to Dar Es Salaam. The flight was very short, only 20 minutes. We returned to the Bishops Conference Centre which will be the final stage of the holiday for some of the Wasafiris. They will return to England tomorrow much to their sadness on having to leave Tanzania so soon. Two of the Wasafiris remained in Zanzibar to continue their holiday partaking in scuba diving. Whilst another two (Ged and I) will continue our African adventure for another week with Father Deo. Tonight we had a special triple celebration for Father Deo’s 65th birthday, Susan’s birthday and Ged and my 25th Wedding Anniversary. Father Deo organised a wonderful dinner in the grounds of the Bishops Conference Centre and his sister Candida and his cousin Sweetie were our special guests. We were treated to some lively energetic African dancing accompanied by some fantastic music. Father Deo joined in the dancing at the very end.... he’s still got the moves! Father Deo’s sister kindly presented cakes to the people celebrating special occasions and said some lovely words.... she looks so much like Father Deo, you can definitely see the family resemblance. Tuesday 7 August After breakfast (chai ya asubuhi) today the Wasafiris split up into two groups. One group went off to explore the delights of Stone Town and go shopping in the local shops. The other group went onto Kendwa Beach resort, north of the island and just over an hour’s drive from our hotel to have a relaxing day at the beach, swim and enjoy the lovely weather. After all the travelling over the past week or so, it was a welcome break to chill out and enjoy the warm crystal-clear Indian Ocean and miles of white sandy beach. Some of us even decided to go for a jog along the beach.... trying to compensate for all the lovely food we’ve been eating! Monday 6 August Forgot to mention in my last blog post, on arrival to Zanzibar, a group of us broke into song, singing Bohemian Rhapsody in homage to the late great Freddie Mercury who was born in Zanzibar. Admittedly, our singing probably sounded awful and a bit out of tune, but I think we made Freddie proud! Today we attended Mass at St Joseph’s Cathedral in Zanzibar. Father Deo concelebrated Mass in Kiswahili. Just like the Mass the previous Sunday in the Cathedral in Dar Es Salaam it was lively and vibrant with a magnificent choir. At the very end of Mass Father Deo joined in the rejoicing with the choir by playing an instrument called a Kayamba which is made of small reeds and filled with dried seeds from flowers. He told us he used to play this instrument in his younger days. It was obvious that he still had a flare for it. We departed for lunch where we were treated to local Tanzanian food. The restaurant was basic with no table cloths on the table, but the food was very nice. Different rice dishes such as pilau and biryani, plus a range of different Tanzanian curries and potato chops (curried mince inside breaded mash potato... delicious) made up the menu. There were lots of locals eating here and not many tourists which was a sign that the food was good. We travelled onto a spice plantation to learn about the abundance of locally grown spices such as cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon etc. We were treated afterwards to fresh coconut water straight from the coconut whilst watching a very agile man called ‘Butterfly’ shimmy up a coconut tree at speed whilst entertaining us by singing various Tanzanian favourites such as ‘Jambo Bwana’ (Hello Sir). Butterfly was very entertaining and he would be a sure-fire winner of TGT aka Tanzania Got Talent. We then went onto to visit a museum showcasing the slave trade in Zanzibar. The exhibition was thought provoking because of how cruelly we treated our fellow human beings. The most shocking aspect of the exhibition was the fact that slavery still exists today! Have we not learnt anything from our history and our ancestors? After a very full and eventful day we made our way back to our hotel - The Zanzibar Beach Resort to rest before dinner. Sunday 5 August We set off after breakfast to Moshi which is the gateway to the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. We made our first stop at the seminary where Father Deo studied Theology back in 1975. This was his first visit back to the seminary so I’m sure it must have brought back fond memories. We then travelled onto Mount Kilimanjaro but disappointingly there was too much cloud cover for us to see the mountain, so we had to make do with a photo at the base of the mountain. Once again, someone who will remain nameless walked through the entrance gate to the mountain without paying the $70 entrance fee… he was very quickly ushered back by one of the porters much to his disgust! I was quite surprised to see so many people of all ages in their walking gear ready to embark on the challenging trek up the mountain together with their guides to escort them. They were accompanied by several porters who would have the task of carrying the tents, supplies of food and water plus any additional equipment needed for their ascent of the mountain (Mlima). We made our way to Arusha airport for our flight to Zanzibar but got caught up in heavy traffic. It didn’t help that traffic was stopped to let a cavalcade of cars including an ambulance through accompanied by police escort. We discovered that a government minister was involved in a car accident and was being rushed to hospital; this resulted in us missing our flight on a private plane. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait too long to be put on the next flight to Zanzibar. The added bonus for us was it was a slightly larger airplane (Ndege) than the one we were scheduled to fly on. The highlight of the day is that we did manage to see Mount Kilimanjaro after all from the plane. What a incredible sight.... Saturday 4 August |
St. Bart's 2018 Parish Safari
Follow our intrepid group of parish explorers as they travel to Tanzania, meet with Father Deo, and enjoy a wonderful safari around his native Tanzania. Safari ItineraryWhat, where and when.....
Safari GalleryWith the option to 'go large'!
Safari LexiconThe Swahili words we've learned, and their meanings.
Kathy Perkins...... travelled with the group, and was our regular parish correspondent from Tanzania. Categories
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Copyright NoticeAll words and pictures in this Blog, and in its associated Gallery, are Copyright © Kathy Perkins 2018 unless stated otherwise
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