Friday morning started at 4:20am - definitely not my preferred wake up time. It was definitely worth it, though despite spending the entire day in a bus. On Tuesday, Sandy and Martin McCann, who are both Episcopal missionaries from the Diocese of Atlanta, invited Sarah, Magi and I to go with them to Mikumi National Park. Mikumi is located between the Uluguru mountains to the north and the Lumango mountains to the southeast and is about 3,000 square kilometers in size. To get there from Dodoma, you drive to Morogoro on the Dar Es Salaam road and then head south for about an hour. Needless to say, there was a reason we left at 4:20am. We didn’t arrive at Mikumi until about 10:30am.
I wasn’t expecting to have so many people along for the trip, but it was wonderful to get to meet some new people. Then again, most everyone we meet is new to us, but what can you do? Aside from Magi, Sarah, Sandy, Martin and myself, there were 13 other people on the trip. Four of them were visiting Sandy and Martin at Msalato Theological College, where Sandy works. The others were: Peter Sudayi, who is the brother of Mmoti from the Carpenter’s Kids staff, and his wife and their two adorable little boys Tyson and David; Elisabeth, the chemist (pharmacist) for the diocesan pharmacy; Pierre from MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship); Alan and Joanna who were visiting at MAF to explore possible future employment opportunities; and Musa our driver.
When we left Dodoma it was completely dark. The stars were out, and as soon as we got outside of town that was the only light other than the bus’s headlights. I slept for about an hour and a half, and then was awake for the rest of the trip. It was nice, actually, because I saw some things I hadn’t seen on the way in to Dodoma on Tuesday because I had fallen asleep. We stopped briefly in Morogoro for a tea/coffee, breakfast and bathroom break. I had my first chapati, which is a flat bread that kind of looks like a thick crepe. I also used my first ‘long drop’ toilet as Magi calls them. I’ll leave it to your imaginations as to why they’re called ‘long drops.’ I am greatly indebted to Kyle and Dianne for teaching me the secret to successful use of squat toilets.
We left Morogoro and headed to Mikumi, arriving at the main gate at 10:30am. After paying 24,000 TSH apiece and after picking up a guide we set off into the park. The guide explained that many of the animals had moved south because things were very dry in the park. We did see many different kinds of animals though: baboons, buffaloes, sable antelope, crocodiles, hippos, zebras, elephants, giraffes and many different types of trees and plants. We also saw the infamous tsetse fly. Several of them joined us in our bus, but I don’t think anyone was bitten. We left Mikumi in the late afternoon and headed back to Morogoro to have dinner and check into our lodging for the evening.
We stayed at the KKKT Lutheran Junior Seminary on the outskirts of Morogoro. Elisabeth and Sandy knew people at the school which is why we stayed in dorm rooms instead of staying in a hotel in town. Sarah and I shared a room that consisted of a small sitting room, a bedroom with two twin beds and a private bathroom. The single rooms all had shared bathrooms, so we were happy to have our own. We were both so exhausted that we were in bed with the lights out by about 9:20pm.
Saturday morning we had breakfast in the dining hall and then we went for a walk on the school grounds. The walk was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The area around Morogoro is very lush and green and the mountains are gorgeous. We had a great time walking around, in part because Tyson and David, who are 9 and 5 years old respectively, came along. The two of them were not really all that excited about seeing cows or looking at banana and coconut trees, but they were good sports. Once they figured out that they could see pictures on the screen of my digital camera they wanted to see every picture I took.
At about 9:30am we paid for our rooms and for breakfast- 9,000 TSH for the room and 3,000 for breakfast. That’s about $10.50 total. Then we got back on the bus and headed to a market that was set up in celebration for national farmers’ day which falls on August 8th each year. The holiday and the market are called ‘nane nane,’ which means ‘eight eight’ in reference to the eighth day of the eighth month. There wasn’t a lot going on at the market because it was the day after the official celebration, but we spent about 2 hours walking around and looking at things. Magi bought Tyson and David inflatable giraffes which were a big hit. I took pictures of the boys and their giraffes which entertained them greatly. I also took a few videos of the boys goofing around – we watched those repeatedly and apparently they were funnier with each viewing. We got back on the bus and drove for a few hours and then stopped at a roadside village market where several people on the bus got off and purchased some vegetables.
While we were waiting for people to finish shopping, Tyson, David and I amused ourselves with my camera and my Anglican prayer beads. I didn’t realize that they could be a great source of entertainment, but the boys showed me otherwise and posed for numerous pictures with the beads on their heads. David’s inflatable giraffe even got in on the fun and sported an Anglican prayer bead necklace for one photo. I suppose some might consider that sacrilegious, but to a 5 year old and a 9 year old it was a good way to pass the time.
We finally arrived back in Dodoma in the early evening and we bid our new friends goodbye. We’ll see several people again soon, as the EDNY pilgrimage group tours Msalato Theological College when it’s here and we’ll see several others at church. It’s hard to believe that I haven’t even been in Dodoma for a week yet because it feels like I’ve been here longer than I actually have. Tomorrow we’re attending the English-language service at the Cathedral so we’ll see some of our neighbors and get to meet the larger expatriate community in Dodoma.
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