Moshi - Part 4 and Some Final Thoughts

 This morning we wake to rain so we have breakfast inside again. This is our last full day in Tanzania. We have a leisurely morning and when the sun comes out we move to the terrace.

We have lunch and then go down to ACTT in the afternoon. When we arrive quite a few of the staff are around. Robert is in his proper office today 😀.

Winnie and Paula both have children and we have some small toys for them. Paula is actually out this afternoon doing computer training at a school so I hand these over to Winnie.

ACTT also have a large training room where they run computer training courses. Some of these courses are for students from an NGO called Make a Difference. The next course will start in about 10 days time so there are no MAD students at the moment although a few other students are using the room.

This evening Robert was very keen to have veruga and apparently there are some people in a particular area of Moshi who cook it really well and sell it as street food. But they don’t start doing this until the shops are shut, around 7pm.

We go to a bar nearby and meet up with a couple of Robert’s friends.

However the bar is pretty noisy so the friends suggest we move to the Q Wine Hotel where they have a restaurant up on the 5th floor. The views from up here were really good and we could even see the peak of Kilimanjaro poking out from the clouds.

In the end the hotel manager convinces us that his chef can cook veruga just as well as the street sellers so we decide to eat here instead. However when the food arrives the guys say it isn’t as good as the street food and has too much chilli!! Peter enjoyed it but the rest of us didn’t think it was great.

 Anyway Robert’s friends are good company and it’s a fun evening.

So it is now our last day. It is not raining this morning so we have breakfast on the terrace. This morning we ask for French toast for a change which the young cook is happy to make.

Mid morning we head down to ACTT as we are meeting up with Alladin, the safari guide from eTrip Africa who we have used on our last few trips. He has become a good friend so it’s nice to see him again.

Alladin arrives about noon having got a lift from Arusha with a friend. We sit and chat while Robert does some work and then we all go for lunch at a local bar that Alladin likes.

After a leisurely lunch we drop Alladin in town as he has some shopping to do. It’s been nice to catch up and we will see Alladin again in October when we will return to Tanzania for a safari.

Robert drops us back at MTAD where we shower and do our final packing. Robert picks us up at 5.30pm and drives us to Kilimanjaro Airport.

Check in is very smooth and we are now sat waiting for our flight back to the U.K. via Amsterdam. 

It has been a great trip and despite a few challenges I feel it has been one of our best working with the schools. We have had some great experiences and met many lovely people. Thank you to everyone who has helped us support these schools, without you and the hard work and help of Robert at ACTT none of this would have been possible. Also thanks to everyone who has shown an interest in our trip and read my blog. That’s it til next year 😀…….

apart from a few Final Thoughts

Support to Primary Schools

We have visited 13 Primary Schools and 1 Teacher Training Centre.

Thanks to everyone who keeps supporting us we have provided 9 schools with computer equipment. This comprises 13 Full Desktop Computer Sets, 1 Desktop CPU, 2 Printers and  7 Surge protection leads. We also have some budget to cover paying the ACTT agents to do interim school visits and computer maintenance. 

Hotels

We have stayed in 13 different hotels in Tanzania. All the prices quoted were for a double room for 2 people with breakfast. The most expensive being Researchers Rest in Arusha at $110 (£86.50) followed by Tilapia Hotel in Mwanza at $106 (£83) and MTAD in Moshi at $78 (£61).  All the others were TSh 100,000 (£30) or less.  The cheapest were the Sunshine Hotel in Kahama and the White Rose Hotel in Babati which were both TSh 30,000 (£9). 

Distances Travelled

Our outward journey from Arusha to Mwanza was a total of 1,386km direct plus 185km to schools etc which makes a total of 1,571km

Split up into days it looks like this - see map and details below.

Sunday 25.2.24 Arusha to Nzega 541km total. Lunch in Singida (325km from Arusha, 216km to Nzega).

Monday 26.2.24 Nzega to Tabora 117km total.

Tuesday 27.2.24 in Tabora visiting schools 15km total.

Wednesday 28.2.24 Tabora to Kahama 155km total.

Thursday 29.2.24 Kahama to Katoro 177km plus 10Km detours to schools. 187km total.

Friday 1.3.24 Katoro to Geita 42km plus detour to Ziwani 58km = 100km total (see separate map) 

Saturday 2.3.24 Rest day

Sunday 3.3.24 Geita to Chato 115km

Monday 4.3.24 Chato to Geita 115km plus Bidi 4km = 119km

Tuesday 5.3.24 Nyakagomba 98km (see separate map)

Wednesday 6.3.24 Geita to Mwanza 124km

Our return trip Mwanza to Moshi was a total of 1,092km direct plus 84 km visiting schools etc making a total of 1,176km - see map and details below.

Monday 11.3.24 Mwanza to Bunda 156km, visit to Bernard at Nyamuswa 50km return, Bunda to Bariadi 98km plus detour to Speke Bay 14km. So 254km direct plus 64km schools etc = 318km 

Tuesday 12.3.24 Bariadi to Nzega 214km plus 15km visiting schools = 229km total

Wednesday 13.3.24 Nzega to Babati 375km. Lunch in Singida (218km from Nzega, 157km to Babati).

Thursday 14.3.24 Babati to Moshi 249km plus 5km detour to Aaron’s sister & Achmed = 254km total.

So our round trip was  2,478km direct plus 294km for visits = 2,772km

If you add in the additional mileage done around Mwanza and Moshi, on this trip we have driven a total of approx 2,882km or 1,801 miles

The Weather

It has generally been warm all the time, even in the evenings we have been fine in short sleeves, only occasionally needing a jumper or cardigan. It has rained quite a bit mainly in the evenings, overnight or early morning. We have also had some heavy thunderstorms. There have been a few very hot days but overall the temperatures haven’t been unbearable. I would say we have been grateful to have air conditioning or a fan in most rooms overnight.

Money

Outside of Arusha, Moshi and Mwanza everything has been priced in Tanzanian Shillings and has had to be paid in cash. Even in the big towns card payments could not be relied on as often they had no power or internet so even here it was often easier to pay cash. Certainly bars and restaurants all priced TSh and only took cash. We used ATM’s to get cash and (with the one exception) this worked well. However having access to Mpesa to pay people was also really useful.

Air Time and Internet

This is all very cheap in Tanzania. We purchased a Tanzanian SIM card for one of our phones on arrival for about TSh 2000 (65p) including a little bit of air time and then purchased a data package of 9.8 KB valid for a month for TSh 20,000 (£6.50) and an air time package of 800 minutes all networks and 100 SMS also valid for a month for TSh 10,000 (£3.30). We had 2 phones and 2 IPads with us so we used the one phone as a hotspot for the other 3 devices. We had decent WiFi in Mwanza and Moshi so we used that when we could and so the data just lasted us.

Moshi - Part 3

 Today was Sunday and we are the only guests at MTAD. For breakfast we have individual glasses of fruit salad and the most amazing banana bread. As we eat we hear the girls singing, what a nice way to start the day. 

We spend the morning in our usual spot on the terrace. At one point we are joined by a friend who seems keen to read my diary.

He stays with us for several minutes moving around the table, the IPad and the water bottle before jumping on to Pete who then decides it’s time for him to leave.

We are going to have dinner with Robert’s family tonight, so having had a big breakfast and knowing that Mama Diana will cook up a feast later we decide to skip lunch today.

Robert picks us up about 5.30pm. We do a detour to an ATM to get some cash (no problems thank goodness ) and then do a bit of shopping before driving to Robert’s house.

We have a lovely evening with the family. Peter, their son is home from University in Dar. Robert has him working at ACTT so we have caught up with him already but it’s nice to see again. Robert’s friend, Evodi, who we know well also drops in to say Hi and to enjoy Mama Diana’s food. We spend the evening sharing photos of our son’s wedding last year and their oldest daughter’s university graduation. These family visits are always a highlight of our trips.

The next day we wake up to rain and so have breakfast inside chatting with Millie. Luckily the rain stops around mid morning and the girls quickly set about cleaning up the terrace so by about 11 we are back in our usual spot.

This morning our room is cleaned by Anastasia. She speaks good English and has left our room looking lovely. We tell Millie what a good job she has done and later Anastasia comes over to us to thank us for giving her such positive feedback. It’s lovely being part of their learning experience.

We have a light lunch and then go down to ACTT. On our way out of MTAD, we spy Jackie, Millie and Neema altogether, it’s a good opportunity for a photo.

Again it is too hot to walk so we take a bajaji. We spend the afternoon with Robert discussing various aspects of the business and making sure all our paperwork is up to date and correct.

Around 5.30pm the staff all go home and we are about to go and get some dinner with Robert when Boniface notices that the van has a puncture. Luckily there is a young lad around who helps Robert change the tyre.

We call in at a garage before going to dinner to see if they can repair the tyre. Robert pays the guy and arranges to come back after dinner to collect it. The guy says he won’t be there but will leave the tyre with the night watchman.

We go to Hugo’s for dinner. We have been here several times before on our previous trips. At weekends it can get very busy but on a Monday night it’s not too bad. We order mbuzi vitunguu (goat with onions) which is something Hugo’s does really well. It has a lovely flavour and is pretty tender.

After we have finished dinner we go back to the garage to collect the tyre. There is no sign of a night watchman or anyone else. Our tyre is just propped up against a wall so we just take it. I guess Robert will give them a call tomorrow to check if everything is ok.

Today we have decided to have a rest day, free from anything to do with our school projects or ACTT. 

As we are finishing breakfast some of the girls appear carrying plates of sandwiches to be assessed by their teacher.  Clearly sandwich making has been the first lesson of the  morning. Now this may seem obvious to many of us but Tanzanians really don’t eat sandwiches. However if the girls are going to work in hotels with foreign tourists they clearly need to know how to make a good one. 

Mid morning we decide to do the 15 minute walk down to Keys Hotel for a swim. It is quite a busy road and goes past the new entrance to Moshi Co-Operative University. It’s pretty hot but we do actually walk there, refusing a number of lifts from bajaji drivers.

When we arrive it’s actually quite overcast so have coffee on the terrace before deciding whether to pay for a swim.

Whilst drinking our coffee the weather improves so we pay and move to the pool area.

When we first arrived we noticed a group of guys down the far end of the pool. It turns out that they are 5 Russian guys who have just climbed Kilimanjaro in 3 days!!! ……getting down off the mountain this morning. 

For those who don’t know or haven’t experienced it, the end of a successful climb is a time for celebration for everyone involved. It pretty much always follows the same format. There is lots of singing and dancing, the climbers get their certificates and then give the guides and porters their tips and any gifts they have for them. This is then followed by a meal for everyone and in this case plenty of drinks……..and wow, could this lot drink!!  

By mid afternoon things had all got a bit too rowdy for us and so we decided to walk back to MTAD for a bit of peace and quiet.

This evening we decided to have the Swahili menu offered by MTAD.

All very tasty especially when accompanied by a couple of glasses of wine.