Winding down

I’ve been a bit slack with the blog posts lately as I start winding down (or maybe running out of steam), sorry about that! I’ll try to make this one a good one.

Work

The last few weeks we’ve been busy with revision then exams and reports. Friday was the last day of term and all results and reports were posted on the main server. They were even there in time for me to do the proof reading and send the English versions as a pdf to the Director, currently in Britain, before school closed.  Hooray – no holiday homework for me!

Last day, as always, we had an assembly to celebrate the term’s work.  Students were given awards for achievement and endeavour, and each award came with a prize from the ‘prize cupboard’ – small stationery items and second-hand clothes had been wrapped by Miss P for each award.  She does a great job selecting appropriate things in the correct size – all the students were happy.

We also had items from the choir and the creative writing club as well as short presentations about some of the work the students were most proud of.

Now I have two weeks of term break before my final week at work, then a week of packing before flying to Namibia for three weeks then home to Australia.

 

The Choir

Showing off the dolls made in Enterprise class

Prize giving

Kilimanjaro

It will sound like my life is one long holiday but this year Easter coincided with Karume Day on April 7 so we had a five day break two weeks before the end of term. To have some respite from Arusha I went with two friends to Moshi and Marangu for four nights.

This was my first visit to Moshi, a town less than 100km from Arusha.  It has quite a different feel from Arusha – more relaxed and possibly more touristy. It is far more like Bukoba than Arusha is and so I felt very comfortable there.  It has something that Bukoba doesn’t have – a decent coffee shop with excellent sandwiches (real bread!). The Union Café is in the old Kilimanjaro Native Coffee Union building and it was nice to sit on the veranda and watch the world go past. Being Tanzania, not much was in a hurry apart from the odd car but some was very loud (no idea what was being advertised – could have been a phone company, taxes or anything in between). The coffee was locally grown Arabica and very nice!

Marangu, where we stayed is another ½ hour further east. It is at the base of Kilimanjaro and is one of the Park Gates where climbers begin their ascent. A fellow AVI and I climbed Kili to the first camp – Mandara huts and Maundi Crater Rim.  The rainforest was beautiful. We saw many interesting plants and fungi.  There were some quite beautiful orchids.  There were not many birds but we did see Pied Colobus monkeys.  

At the gate

Orchids

Pied Colobus

Violets

Maundi Crater Rim

One of several waterfall

We also did some driving tours around Marangu and Kili – anti-clockwise to Rongai Gate and clockwise to Kilema.

At Rongai Gate we stopped at Snow Caps Lodge for afternoon tea. After a 20 minute wait we were served a saucer of tea bags, a saucer of sugar, a saucer of powdered milk, three cup and a thermos of hot water! One of my companions (foolishly) decided he needed chukula (food). It was another hour before his bowl of chips appeared! Still, we were not in a hurry and it was a pleasant place to sit and chat.

A view along the road to Rongai.

Taking a pig for a drive.

Afternoon tea at Rongai.

The drive to Kilema is through beautiful rainforest gullies. At Kilema itself there is an old Roman Catholic church that in the past was a Cathedral.  There is a grotto to St Mary of Lourdes and many other buildings including Presbytery and convent, school and hospital.. It was an important site in the days of the German Catholic Missionaries.  Now it’s all looking a bit tired but it still a vital community asset.

Kilema Presbytery - now part of the school

Bell tower - St Mary of Lourdes, Kilema

Wet forest - Marangu to Kilema Road

Coming back from Kilema we saw a Hawthorn supporter who possibly didn't know they’d just beaten Geelong convincingly.

Hawks supporter

Holidays

Now the holidays are here I can relax and enjoy the company of my sister and a cousin who have come to see Tanzania.  I will enjoy showing them my favourite things in this part of the world including five National Parks!  For my cousin it will be his first view of African wildlife actually in the wild so he’ll be busy with his camera documenting it all for his family. My sister has lived in South Africa and been to Kruger and Pilanesberg NPs quite often but I’ve assured her the zebras and giraffes here are quite different so I’m sure she’ll enjoy it too.This weekend they're having a lovely time on Zanzibar.

More on that, with pics, next blog post!