As Shem said, this was the day we’ve all been waiting for.. the day we presented our directed research to the community. We had breakfast at 7:30 and began getting our campus ready for our visitors. We prepared the dining hall to become a community presentation building. We set up a large canopy and helped set out tables and chairs for dining. We didn’t even recognize the place. The presentation began at 10:40 and my group (the Invasive Plant/Grassland group of the Ngorongoro Crater) was first up. All 11 of us presented our findings as a group, and were asked a few questions at the end. We were happy to have the presentation out of the way and have the ability to relax and watch our peers present their findings. After we finished presenting, we went straight to lunch time. While eating, I saw my homestay father sitting underneath the large pavilion. When I finished, I grabbed the pictures that we had printed for him and his family, and then went to talk to him.

After everyone left, it felt like a bittersweet moment. After community presentations, there was nothing left, as far as class work and research went. The next few days had been reserved for relaxing, packing and getting out to enjoy ourselves in the local community one more time.

Thursday, December 4

Originally, we were supposed to go to Lake Manyara National Park, the first park we visited where we experienced a lot of our first wildlife sightings, to complete our game drives during this journey; however, there were issues with permits for all of the agencies affiliated with the government. There wouldn’t be many animals in LMNP anyways since most migrate because we are in the rainy season, but it would’ve been nice to finish where we started, and others who went there during DR saw a large monitor and a python, which I would have loved to have seen. Since we were unable to visit any of the national parks or conservancies, we went to Burunge WMA. It was nearly a 2 hour drive. We didn’t see much, but it was beautiful and green. There were common zebra and wildebeest, and in a separate part of the management area, we saw giraffes and a waterbuck lying amongst the trees. The last time that we saw any of those animals before we left go ho home.. until next time!

Friday, December 5

Today was dedicated to program evaluations which took no more than 15 minutes.. So, we had a non-program day in Karatu! Of course, it was bound to be a ‘classy’ day, it being our last day in town. To begin, we walked from Rhotia to Karatu using back roads that we’ve never been on before. It was a pretty and entertaining walk. I’d wish that we had done it sooner. In Karatu, we went to Carnivore and had a few drinks and I ordered some chipsi mayai. Afterwards, four of us walked to the Roof Top bar for a drink. It’s incredibly cheap there. On the way back, some kids flagged us down to play some soccer with them. So, we quick played some soccer, but not even a full game. They were great kids. On the walk back to Happy Days, I stepped on an Acacia thorn, which then left me limping around for the next three days because of the toxins that Acacias contain. At Happy Days, we hung out until 6 PM, some watched the soccer game on tv until we left. When we were back at camp, we went to our mail boxes to collect the sheet with our final grades on them. I did really well, even on the finals, which had me worried! After dinner, a lot of us ended up having a giant cuddle puddle which involved a lot of crying, because most would be leaving in 2 days. 

Saturday, December 6

We spent our day packing our things up and resting in our beds. We also had a final meeting with everyone on campus to give feedback on the program and to say goodbye through a few words that we shared. At dinner, we had a huge goat roast celebration. It was a nice last dinner with the entire group. 

Sunday, December 7

This morning, we had a sunrise hike at 5:20 AM. We came down around 7:00. We ate our last meal as a group together, breakfast and packed our lunches for the day. We had one last birthday celebration, but in the morning this time for Erik’s birthday. Group 1 left after 9. I had some quick sobbing time with my bandamates in our banda before they left, so it was sad but we pulled it together. When everyone left and two cars came back, 1/2 of us made our way to Flamingo Lodge and 1/2 of us went to the large Karatu Market (happens 25th and 7th of every month). I went to Flamingo Lodge to relax by the pool, since I was out of money. Heidi, Natalie, Erin, Cate, Liza and I laid in the shade and talked. We decided we wanted to go looking for cheese for grilled cheese, but the other car found found some. Natalie, Heidi and I took pictures of campus. Then I played cribbage for the first time. At dinner time, all of us sat at the same table, where we had our delicious grilled cheeses. In the evening, we moved our beds to the dining hall porch where we watched a movie (Easy A) projected onto the white wall.

Monday, December 8

I woke up in the morning around 5:30 because it was noisy. But when I finally got up around 6, everyone else was waking up. I hopped up and looked across the lawn, where there were Lady and her two kittens playing. It was really sweet. She jumped all over them and rolled around with them in the grass. I said goodbye to her and her kittens, then went and said goodbye to the new mama kitty with her three kittens. I couldn’t find her, but her kittens were there laying together sleeping in a ball. I really hope all of the cats make it. I finished some packing and loaded my suitcases into the car. We said our final goodbyes to Kiri and the staff. I said goodbye to Patrica, a cook twice. She told me a few weeks ago that I reminded her of her little sister- my laugh mostly. It was weird saying goodbye to everyone and everything, including the views that the landscape offered, especially during the rainy season where everything is green and beautiful. We went on our way to Arusha, where we stopped at a market area for food and drinks. I had an iced mocha latte at the coffee shop and two tacos from a Mexican restaurant. It was actually really good. On our way to Kilimanjaro International Airport, I searched the sky for Mount Kilimanjaro, but where it should have been easily seen was covered with clouds. I was really sad that I never saw it. Either way, I plan to come back and climb it someday, hopefully. At the airport, we said goodbye to the Kilimanjaro climbing group and Gayle who was going home to Zimbabwe. We had about 7-8 hours at the airport, because our flight didn’t take off until 9:40 PM. By the time we left, it was nearing 10. I got a window seat! We had a stopover in Dar es Salam. The guy who boarded the plane moved to the seat in front of me since his tv wasn’t working. So, I had two entire seats to myself on the 11-12 hour flight. I even made a new friend,Daniel. He was from South Africa, but was flying to France. His dad happened to own a safari company in Tanzania. The plane ride was nice since I had two entire seats to myself, even though I didn’t sleep much. I had a nice relaxing night, which did involve free drinks.

When we got to Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam where I used my credit card for the first time in over three months, so that was weird, but oh so convenient. I bought some of those bourbon caramel waffles that they served us on the plane. Amsterdam is in the Netherlands, situated next to Germany. We only had about two hours until we boarded, so I was upset that I did not really get the opportunity to explore the airport. Apparently, the airport had a ton to do, and I was sad I didn’t get to experience it. I did however get to see the Casino in the airport, so that was exciting. We had a little over 8 hours to go, we flew over the Atlantic ocean for a majority of it. The plane ride was an experience in itself and it happened to be on of my favorite parts of the trip. When I arrived in New York, I was ex static. It was so weird to be home, but almost relieving to be there since it had been so long since I saw everyone. I’ll continue New York on my next post..!