Come visit Tanzania
I worry that sometimes in my effort to discuss the hardships facing life here in Tanzania and the people who live it daily, that I may be discouraging people from visiting the country. That would be a shame as, Tanzania is a beautiful country and to her visitors the people are kind and gracious.
I highly recommend coming to Tanzania on vacation and not just because I would like the company. I like to sit and just take in the beauty of this amazing country. From the snow capped highest peak of Africa that is actually a set of three dormant volcano cones called "Kibo", "Mawenzi" and "Shira" to be collectively called Mt Kilimanjaro. It is a tourist favorite as it is climbable without having mountain climbing skills. The youngest person to climb it was 7 years old, however there is now an minimum age of 10 years. The oldest person to climb it was Martin Kafer at 85 along with his wife Esther who was 84 at the time. The trip up can take as long as 9 days and it is suggested to take at least 5 days for the ascent. The reason being is to allow your body to adjust to the altitude levels and lower oxygen concentrations. It is a requirement that foreigners use a guide service including local climbers that will carry the majority of equipment. Because the altitude problem is not as big on the way down, the trip down is normally much quicker than the way up.
While I love looking on Mt. Kilimanjaro, I have climbed enough things in my life so I prefer the visits to local village areas. Most people are surprised at the altitude of Tanzania and the fact there are so many mountain ranges as well as distinct valleys. In both locations I have spent time in Tanzania, you can see the mountain/hill ranges on both sides that create a distinct valley. Throughout these areas, you can see people in traditional tribal clothing based on their tribe mixed with people in more western style clothing. You will see young boys and girls with sticks herding cattle to or from water holes or open areas for grazing.
Visiting these locations you will find the kids are fascinated by you as a foreigner (pretty much regardless of your skin color but they find our differences fascinating). They love to run their hands along the hair on my arms since that is something they are not used to. They will want to touch you constantly, lay on you in some way, hold your fingers/hands as you walk. Be as gracious as you can, they are just kids and they rarely get as much attention as we will give them when visiting.
Then my next favorite locations are the national parks in Tanzania. I believe there are 16 with many being safari style animal parks. You have Tarangire, the home of the elephants; Ngorongoro, the largest unbroken caldera in the world, and of course the Serengeti plains.
Each park has some unique charteristics and sometimes specific animals. My favorite short trip combination is Tarangire on the way to Ngorongoro for half a day to see Giraffes and herds of elephants which are not in Ngorongoro. Then a full day in the crater seeing lions, hippos, herds of zebras and gnus as well as hyenas and warthogs.
The best times to visit these areas are different for what you will want to include on your trip, but in general the summers are tourist season and finding good airline prices is difficult. There is a lot of competition for tourist in country as well but during the tourist season it is much more difficult to negotiate good prices. The key element is being informed with as much information as you can get. For example one of the best hotels I have stayed at in country is the Raha Leo in Arusha. It is not a lot frills like air conditioning but it is clean, comfortable, the people who run it are great and it is a good location all with a price under $20 a night for a single (typically with the exchange rate is around $13).
If you want to come visit me and the school site in Kiruani, I would love to help you out. I would love to help you even if you don't come over on a mission trip. If you are wanting to visit for a vacation or special occasion, my network here is your network. If you want to do a vacation with a day or two visiting sites where good work is going on, I have the place for you. The new site works so much better than the old one because it is only a couple of hours from the airport instead a full day's drive.
If you want something more than a visit or even a short term mission trip, consider coming over for a month or two. We can always use help when school is in session with folks to read to the kids or possible even help teach English as a second language. The opportunities are endless, just ask me and I will see if we can put something together. By the time I leave for my visa to end, we should have a new house on site that can help with visitors (more on tiny house Tanzania part three in an upcoming blog)
I highly recommend coming to Tanzania on vacation and not just because I would like the company. I like to sit and just take in the beauty of this amazing country. From the snow capped highest peak of Africa that is actually a set of three dormant volcano cones called "Kibo", "Mawenzi" and "Shira" to be collectively called Mt Kilimanjaro. It is a tourist favorite as it is climbable without having mountain climbing skills. The youngest person to climb it was 7 years old, however there is now an minimum age of 10 years. The oldest person to climb it was Martin Kafer at 85 along with his wife Esther who was 84 at the time. The trip up can take as long as 9 days and it is suggested to take at least 5 days for the ascent. The reason being is to allow your body to adjust to the altitude levels and lower oxygen concentrations. It is a requirement that foreigners use a guide service including local climbers that will carry the majority of equipment. Because the altitude problem is not as big on the way down, the trip down is normally much quicker than the way up.
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| now that we are in rainy season, it has snowed regularly on the mountain top so it has a lot more snow cap |
While I love looking on Mt. Kilimanjaro, I have climbed enough things in my life so I prefer the visits to local village areas. Most people are surprised at the altitude of Tanzania and the fact there are so many mountain ranges as well as distinct valleys. In both locations I have spent time in Tanzania, you can see the mountain/hill ranges on both sides that create a distinct valley. Throughout these areas, you can see people in traditional tribal clothing based on their tribe mixed with people in more western style clothing. You will see young boys and girls with sticks herding cattle to or from water holes or open areas for grazing.
Visiting these locations you will find the kids are fascinated by you as a foreigner (pretty much regardless of your skin color but they find our differences fascinating). They love to run their hands along the hair on my arms since that is something they are not used to. They will want to touch you constantly, lay on you in some way, hold your fingers/hands as you walk. Be as gracious as you can, they are just kids and they rarely get as much attention as we will give them when visiting.
Then my next favorite locations are the national parks in Tanzania. I believe there are 16 with many being safari style animal parks. You have Tarangire, the home of the elephants; Ngorongoro, the largest unbroken caldera in the world, and of course the Serengeti plains.
Each park has some unique charteristics and sometimes specific animals. My favorite short trip combination is Tarangire on the way to Ngorongoro for half a day to see Giraffes and herds of elephants which are not in Ngorongoro. Then a full day in the crater seeing lions, hippos, herds of zebras and gnus as well as hyenas and warthogs.
The best times to visit these areas are different for what you will want to include on your trip, but in general the summers are tourist season and finding good airline prices is difficult. There is a lot of competition for tourist in country as well but during the tourist season it is much more difficult to negotiate good prices. The key element is being informed with as much information as you can get. For example one of the best hotels I have stayed at in country is the Raha Leo in Arusha. It is not a lot frills like air conditioning but it is clean, comfortable, the people who run it are great and it is a good location all with a price under $20 a night for a single (typically with the exchange rate is around $13).
If you want to come visit me and the school site in Kiruani, I would love to help you out. I would love to help you even if you don't come over on a mission trip. If you are wanting to visit for a vacation or special occasion, my network here is your network. If you want to do a vacation with a day or two visiting sites where good work is going on, I have the place for you. The new site works so much better than the old one because it is only a couple of hours from the airport instead a full day's drive.
If you want something more than a visit or even a short term mission trip, consider coming over for a month or two. We can always use help when school is in session with folks to read to the kids or possible even help teach English as a second language. The opportunities are endless, just ask me and I will see if we can put something together. By the time I leave for my visa to end, we should have a new house on site that can help with visitors (more on tiny house Tanzania part three in an upcoming blog)
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