Hello!!
We just had an amazing and exciting past few days of free travel. We started our free travel journey on Thanksgiving at the United African Alliance Community Center. The group ended up deciding to split up into two groups, a group of five and a group of seven. We all traveled from Arusha to Moshi together and stayed the night at a backpackers hostel in Moshi. The next morning, the group of five left for Tanga (Karen, Izzy, Becca, Charlotte, and Will) , where they explored caves and ruins. They got to go to the beach, and tried to go dancing, but the club was closed. The two of us (Vicki and Zoe) were in the larger group with Cliff, Taylor, Chris, Alexa and Jessie, so we don’t know much more detail on that, because we stayed in Moshi to explore the city. Vicki, Jess, Alexa, and Cliff went on a hike to Ndoro Waterfalls, where Alexa and Cliff jumped off the waterfall, and Cliff gracefully slipped and hit the water face first. It was classic. The group also got to see and hold a horned chameleon, which the waterfall guide was scared of-he was hiding behind Vicki!
That same day, Chris and Zoe stayed in Moshi to do a little more exploring, and Taylor even got to go to Arusha and see family that was there! That night, the seven of us decided to go dancing. Before we type this, we had to take a break for laughing. At the dance club, we ran into the most enthusiastic middle-aged Indian men. They had a few interesting signature moves, and one of them danced with a 1.5 liter water bottle on his head for a good 15 minutes. Classic. It was definitely one unforgettable night.
The next morning, before our departure from Kilimanjaro Backpackers, we got to see the actual mountain from the third floor of our hostel. It was beautiful! It was a good start to a long day of traveling. We caught the Dar Express bus-a luxurious coach from Moshi to Dar Es Salam, complete with air conditioning and complementary sodas and movies-for a nine hour ride to Dar! It was actually very enjoyable and comfortable! Vicki, with the role of “Cribs” (our accommodation leader), found us an amazing campsite at Makadi beach. We stayed in bandas that were raised from the sandy beach on stilts. It was like a Corona commercial! A beautiful beach with aqua blue water complete with hammocks! The next day, when most of the seven of us went back into Dar to explore, the Tanga group arrived at the campsite! The whole group went into the Indian Ocean for a reunion swim-the first time in the Indian Ocean for a lot of us! Anyways, we enjoyed two more nights at the campsite with the group, and this morning, we caught a ferry to Zanzibar! Tomorrow we start our Scuba class, so Vicki and I will do our best to keep you updated with how that goes!!! We are enjoying our last week together, and will see you all very soon! Much love!
Zoe and Vicki!!
