The final days…
After the mamas and families escorted the girls to the school headmasters house as a central location, the girls proceeded to say farewell to their new families. They waved and hugged, and some tears were shed. We laughed together and were told we are welcome back any time. Kinihe was a fantastic host community.
After leaving the community, we hopped in our safari trucks and headed off for Ngorongoro crater. The girls were in awe of the one of a kind view from the outer ring of the crater. They thought it looked like a painting and couldn’t believe we were about to head inside to see all of the animals waiting for us. We were so lucky. We saw two pairs of lions on their honeymoon mating. We saw four rhinos (which are rare to see), warthogs, zebra, elephants, hyhenas, hippos, storks, and vultures. We had a great picnic lunch near the hippo river. We ended the day in Mto wa Mbu where we attempted to sleep in tents. Mother nature had a different idea. We quickly moved from tents to nice rooms as a big storm rolled in.
We woke up bright and early the next day to a great breakfast and headed out on to Taringere reserve. It was a bit slower of a day int terms of animal sightings but the group loved it just as much. We saw giraffes up close and personal and saw another pair of lions mating in the distance at a lodge while we sipped on cups of chai.
We came back to Arusha, where we caught a glimpse of majestic Mt Meru with snow on its peak. All of the girls got cleaned up and dressed up for our final banquet meal. We joked around and shared our favorite stories of the trip. We then had a guided reflection on our time here, and had a meaningful circle of love and appreciation before heading to bed. This morning we woke up to our last breakfast feast headed to the airport where Hussein, Raymond and I bid farewell and see you soons to the group. The girls are so excited to come home as new people and share their insights, experiences, and adventures with all of you.
It was a true pleasure to work with this group. I look forward to staying in touch. Hussein and Raymond loved working with this group as well, it was a fantastic program all around.
-Mary
