Mwanza Lodges - Reviews and Rates

“It’s the last week,” began running through my head as soon as we returned from Ema’s village. On one hand, the stress of this trip had made some days extremely long, but on the other hand I felt like I just arrived. Wanting to spend as much time with the children, but also needing to tie up loose ends made for an extreme...

"Good morning my family," Ema came into the house after he awoke and greeted us with big hugs this morning. A few months ago, I had emailed Leah to see if Ema (one of our Maasai Askari)/ guard) from last year would still be around. I was disappointed when she informed me that he would be back in Ngorongoro Crater. Much to my delight, Ema was sti...

Although I *m very h*ppy th*t most of the children *re in prim*ry school, it h*s led to the orph*n*ge feeling very empty in the mornings. The public prim*ry schools oper*te on * h*lf d*y schedule so some of the gr*des *ttend in the morning *nd others in the *fternoon. Priv*te schools h*ve sm*ller cl*sses *nd cl*sses run full d*y. Out te*ching sc...

Last year I hoped to get a hug from Margreth before I left. Although I had made emotional and academic progress with her, she still stiffened whenever I put my arm around her. On my last day, the long awaited hug did not occur. She ran away, giggling, when I tried to embrace her. I settled for a photo of us nestled together smiling. Needless to...

Happy New Year everybody!! This will be a short blog entry, and probably the last one written here in Africa.. I'm not on safari.. I'm still in Mwanza.. To put a long story short, we had an armed robbery in our house.. They took everything I have, including my passport.. We were hit with metalpoles, and one of the girls was cut with a machete (b...

We had a beautiful journey across Rwanda to get to Tanzania (Francois didnt think so tho cos he had to sit with his backpack on top of him all the way, as well as having 4 people squashed into where 3 should be sitting). We had another gorgeous journey from teh border up to Mwanza, Tanzania's 2nd town, which sits on lake victoria, although 8 hou...

iAfter I finished my last entry, I left the internet cafe and ran into Gloria from Hands of Mercy orphanage. HOM is run by Josephat's brother and they have 50 kids living in a rented compound not far from where we are. Gloria was talking to a street kid that I had seen on my way in. She was trying to get information from him; he did have parents...

One of the things that has greatly enriched this experience for me is our Maasai guards (or askaris), in particular Ema. Even though his English is limited and my Swahili is more limited (though improving everyday), we use my Swahili book, simple phrases and gestures. We are also teaching each other our languages. When I think about it, I am qui...

We left Uganda to return to Tanzania. Our journey included an overnight ferry ride on Lake Victoira from Bukoba to Mwanza. We were too late to book First or Second Class Sleeping tickets so we had to settle for Second Class Sitting. The distinction between Second Class Sleeping and Second Class Sitting would be better described if they were name...

The Local, the Comfortable, and the Super Loo Saturday, July 5th and Saturday, July 12th When I first arrived in Mwanza, Sara told me that I could chose to live as "local" or as "comfortable' as I chose. The more time I spent in our neighborhood Buswelu, the more local life I would experience. In reality, Buswelu is not very far from Mwanza. How...