Friday was a nice day off and I took the time to do some errands and rest up, but Saturday and Sunday were all adventure.
On Saturday, we had a recreational activity sponsored by the program to visit Lake Diluti and then the Mt. Meru Game Lodge. We took an hour-long nature walk around the lake, during which we saw a giant lizard (I can't remember what it's called - but it looked like a Komodo Dragon - obviously MUCH smaller though). We also learned that it was a crater lake, which then became obvious as we looked around and noticed that the lake itself was in a gorge. We had lunch by the water and some of the group took out an old row boat for a tour on the water. After that, we went to the game lodge. Basically, the lodge puts out a ton of food in a nature reserve, which the lodge looks over. Then you sit there, have some coffee or tea, and watch all the animals as they graze. We saw lots of zebra, water bucks, ostriches, peacocks, monkeys and some other kind of storks. It was so nice to just be sitting there and taking it all in - it's funny though how you just become used to it so fast. When we first got there, we were snapping pictures like mad, but then after an hour or so, the animals are just... there. However, it doesn't make me any less excited for our Safari in the Ngorongoro Crater this Friday and Saturday!!!
On Sunday, 11 of the 19 group members signed up for a Waterfall hike. While I had certainly struggled on the hike when we went camping last weekend, this waterfall hike seemed too promising of an opportunity to pass it up. So we left around 9am, taking a dalla-dalla to the base of Mt. Meru. Then we hiked up a huge hill and into the village. We went to the guide's mother's home and had coffee and tea. One of the guys in our group noticed the goat and cow outside and asked if they were beneficiaries of Heifer International, to which we tried to stop his question thinking it was rude. But it turns out that he was spot on as, yes - they were. They had received their calf more recently, but that was where it came from. Asking more details, our guide only spoke positively of the organization, which just goes to prove even more the good work that they do.
After our tea break, we set out to go to the waterfall. We hiked to the top of the gorge, where we had to sit and wait for a bit. The Tanzanian army uses the waterfall and river area as their water source, therefore our guide had to go and give them a permission slip. He had to hike all the way down the gorge and up the other hill, and then it turned out that we had to sign to slip, so he had to come all the way back to us and then do it again. The man has endurance.
Once we had the full permission, we made our descent into the gorge. Let me tell you - it had rained the night before, making it the steepest, muddiest path. There was lots of slipping and falling, and of course lots of laughing - even trying to catch each other on video as we fell. As we finally got to the river, it was all so worth it. It was beautiful! But it certainly wasn't over yet. We then had to climb upstream, both along and through the river to reach the waterfall. Of course, my foot got stuck in quicksand, and of course, I made quite the scene. Refusing to abandon my 18,000 shilling (about $15) teva-rip off sandals I had bought in the market the day before, I dug my foot out - but broke my cheap shoe in the process. Well, that's what you get.
Hiking through the water itself was my favorite part - there were little waterfalls, ranging from around 3 feet tall to at least twenty feet - all along the way. But nothing could have compared to our final destination - after almost 4 hours of hiking, we reached THE waterfall. It. was. huge. It's so difficult to estimate - you'll just have to look at the pictures. But venturing a guess, I'd say enormous, several stories high at least. Despite the water being freezing cold, of course the guys jumped in (but couldn't stay in it long). Others climbed up the rocks to stand right under the falls. It was just one of those things you'll never forget - mother nature at its finest.
After taking it all in, we continued back downstream, and then back out of the gorge (which nearly killed me, but I survived!) We headed back to the house for a very late lunch around 3:30pm, but of the most delicious homemade food - vegetable curry, ugali, rice, spinach, and fresh cut cucumbers and bananas. We then made our way down the hill and were back by 5:00pm or so. It was by far the most fun day yet - exhausting, but incredible.
This week, we'll be visiting another field site with an organization called Terrawatu, and then we'll start working on our final projects. We have to choose one of the organizations we have visited and create a capacity building project for them. We'll spend most of the rest of our time here conducting research, putting the project together and then presenting it. I can't believe how fast time is going! Tanzania has grown on me in ways that I can't even explain - it doesn't even feel "foreign" here at all anymore... it just feels like... the way it's supposed to be. I'm sure those who have also studied abroad know that feeling as well. It'll be hard to leave when it's time to go, and I've only been here 3 weeks so far!
Hope you all are doing well, whatever your own summer adventures are :)
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