Jambo

Hey guys,

Only have 3 minutes to write anything soooo... half a classroom built! Got the roof and walls to do now. Very good fun, hard work, but fun. Saw some baboons crossing the road the other day, went to a giant market, went to an african church this morning and have eaten pretty much rice and beans for 2 weeks solid. I'm gettin a tan (at least i think i am or else it's dirt!)

love to all x

Asante Sana, Squashed Banana

Arrived!

I'm here, safe and sound. Been in Babati for the past 3 days (about 4 hours from Kilimanjaro) sorting out the project site. All very exciting. We will be building one classroom with a teachers office attached. The foundations are laid and we have to build it! The school is on the foothills of a beautiful mountain and has a farm with scary goats and chickens. The kids are on holiday but will be back next week to watch us melt under the sun. Travelled by bus back to Kilimanjaro today to pick up the volunteers tmo morning then back to Babati on Sunday.

Very hot here so therefore I am already very pink! A constant application of factor 40 sun cream just isn't enough! But hopefully a mega-tan will appear by the end....

Went down to Lake Babati yday to arrange going there for a weekend off at some point and we saw a hippo! Just chilling drinking a cold beer and we spotted a large hippo swimming about 50m away! Pretty cool. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon!

I love Konyagi - Tanzanian gin type drink. So I'm all set really. Will only get internet at weekends, if that, so will be sporadic updating for a few weeks. Don't miss me too much!

Kate x x x

Getting Organised...

Aaaaaaaaaaaah! With less than 3 weeks to go until I'm off to Tanzania I have realised I may need to start getting all my stuff together and organising myself....

I've set this up so I can update you guys at home with where I am and how I am and the odd photo or two. (I imagine I'll be one of two things when I blog, either very very excited and happy or incredibly stressed!) For those that I haven't talked non-stop to about this - I'm off for a bit to lead a group of GAP year kids around Tanzania and Southern Africa.

I'll only be gone for 3 months, it will FLY BY. So if you find yourself at a loose end please come check the blog and you'll see how I'm getting on!

Quick Itinerary - Fly out: 4th January. Fly back: 8th April

PROJECT - 6 weeks in Babati, just south of Arusha helping locals build 2 classrooms and a staffroom for the local community.  Working with Livingstone Tanzania Trust to enable all primary school kids in the district to have a place at school.  Weekends off to party and head out to the Ngorogoro Crater on Safari.

Sleeping: Concrete floor. Toilet: Hole in the ground. Showers: 4 sticks, a piece of tarpaulin and a bucket. Food: Rice and Ugali. Cute little kids: Plenty.

EXPEDITION - Fly from Tanz to Jo'burg.  Transfer to Swaziland for a 4 day trekking safari through the hills.  Bus to Maputo, Mozambique for a night before heading up the coast to Tofo Beach for 8 days scuba diving with whale sharks and manta rays (although I'm quite tempted to have surfing lessons instead...).  Then 6 days in South Africa, 4 days doing crazy things like bridge swings and abseils down waterfalls, and 2 days in Pretoria (get to go to the Apartheid museum).  Bus it across to Botswanaup to the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans to camp out.  Travel up the Okavango Delta by Mokoro (hollowed out tree trunks) and camping wild on the banks (prime hippo sleeping ground...).  Travel to Chobe and spend three days on big game safari, also camping out in the wilds.  Return from camping for a last night river cruise along the river towards where the Chobe meets the Zambezi.  Take a final bus across the border into Zambia to Livingstone and spend 3 days at Victoria Falls.  Supposedly bungee jumping, but more probably taking a helicopter or microlighting over the top.  Then chilling out, debriefing the kids and bussing it to Lusaka to flyhome.  Hopefully not all the dirt will wash off and I'll have a tan!

Anyways check back here from time to time!

Love Kate x