22/6-23/6
The next couple of days were spent at the conference with some inspirational sessions hearing from doctors all over the world doing some amazing humanitarian work.
We heard from the Tanzanian Lutheran archbishop in an opening speech about how the church here is running over 140 health centres and hospitals in Tanzania.
One evening I think John and Elsie had had enough African exuberance and decided to check out the ‘evening joy’ service at the local cathedral. Turns out they were into African exuberance too which I actually enjoyed. They know how to groove!
24/6
The car didn’t start today- it had been struggling previously but today just wouldn’t start. Turned out to be the fuel intake. I was trying to ask for a new car but it became apparent they didn’t have one and we’d just have to get this one repaired. I told them we were going into the bush tomorrow and made them promise to fix it properly otherwise they’d have it in their conscience that we were stranded out there with this elderly couple!
We attended more inspirational Conference sessions whilst waiting for our car to be fixed and then in the afternoon went for a drive to the base of Mt Meru, the second highest mountain after Mt kilimanjaro. The scenery out of town was lovely and everywhere we went there was were Maasai tribesmen herders, herding goats and cattle on the plains using a stick and carrying their Masaai swords.
25/6
Today we took our hire 4wd to the Arusha National Park and saw some amazing animals. By hiring a car and just paying the park fees we had saved a fortune on tours! The best part was being able to go where you wanted and linger longer with the animals if you wanted.
We saw a massive herd of giraffes, zebras, buffaloes, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, flamingos and various types of gazelles and birds. We also saw an impressive crater with much of this area being old volcanic craters.
There was some pretty serious four wheel driving in places so I was glad to have had that experience.
26/6
Elsie woke up sick today. She has been unwell on and off for the whole trip but she had diarrhoea and vomiting this morning and couldn’t eat or drink anything. I thought she might want to stay home but it settled a little and she still came to Lake Manyara National Park.
We had some magnificent experiences with a couple of elephants and a few other animals but it was disappointing to not see the hippos and the tree climbing lions that are purported to be here. The vegetation was so dense that it was hard to see much but the elephants put on a great show for us!
27/6-28/6
Today was our last day in Africa. We drove to the village of Moshi at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro. It was meant to be a fine day so we could see the mountain but alas the weather man got it wrong. Moshi was a lovely town and we learned that this was Chaga tribe area, one of the first tribes to connect with the Lutheran church and the region had the best schooling systems in Tanzania.
We visited Courage cafe which is a beautiful cafe with delicious food and a lovely setting. But most importantly it funds the work they do here running long term safe houses for victims of human trafficking. We got to chat with the director Joel and Stephanie who are from America. We enjoyed a lovely coffee and bought a couple of gifts in their shop.
Then it was off to the airport to travel to Warsaw for next stage of our journey. The flights from Tanzania to Ethiopia to Frankfurt all went smoothly although we were quite worried about Elsie who was nearly passing out. Then ironically it all went pear shaped when we got to the German airport of Frankfurt.
It was the most horribly inefficient and confusing airport we’d been to. The security went through everything and we had to go through two securities and passport control even though it was just a connecting flight. All of this, combined with the conflicting advice we got from rude and unhelpful people who really didn’t care that we were going to miss our flight.
We ended up splitting up with John who was also getting confusing advice and directions and only got reunited at the gate after we’d missed our flight!
After much waiting in lines and firm insistence we got another flight booked for us a couple of hours later. We arranged a buggy for Elsie who could hardly walk. I was trying to organise some medical attention but was getting a bit of resistance. Anyway we eventually made it to Warsaw.
