Today we are heading to Arusha where we will spend the final days of this trip. This is another selection of photos from around the community, the school, the dam and our cultural centre. The community came out and sang and gave us a lovely send off. 

The Makuyuni National Park opened in January 2025 and is the park closest to the Maasai Eco Boma. This new park is only 10 minutes away from where we are staying and boasts, pumbas, zebras, elephants, giraffe and many more. Like all the parks, the animals are free to roam so you are never guaranteed what you may see. Apologies - I love giraffes and we saw so many. The park ranger and others including a camera crew joined us on our game ride, giving us an opportunity to get out of the truck and walk around, we even did a bit of a hike through the bush - grasses were taller than I am as the area reaches the tail end of the rainy season. Adrian and I were even interviewed for future park promotion.

Adrian and I, along with our friends Clamian and Josephine, were up at 3:30 am heading to Tarangire National Park for 5 am to start our hot air balloon adventure with Miracle Experience. Kudos to Josephine for being such a good sport and coming along even though she was terrified. What an amazing day. We arrived at the launch site just as the sun was rising. The team greeted us with hot coffee and cookies. The company had a tent washroom available and the safety briefing was both brief and comprehensive. What an amazing new perspective of this amazing park. Our ride was 1 hour and 17 minutes, with light breezes. We landed softly and upright. After landing we enjoyed a traditional toast and then headed to our Bushman Breakfast. the Breakfast site included a fabulous breakfast, wifi access and a phenomenal "Loo with a view". All in all a highlight experience which we plan to share with our family when they join us in 2026.

Adrian was so touched when Mama Clamian and her family welcomed into their fold. Such an extraordinary gesture.

Saturday is market day. We walked from the Eco Boma into Makuyuni to join the fun. The whole community comes out to sell, buy and most importantly to socialize. You can fine everything from electronics, clothing, fruits, vegetables, cooked meats, medicinal herbs and for the men, "Killing me Quickly". "Killing me Quickly" is the Maasai term for alcohol and the market boasts numerous tents supplying a pretty potent local version of the same.

We're building a house in the Eco Boma. One we can use a few times a year and the community can benefit from the rest of the time. We also took some interior photos of a Boma next to ours that we helped fund last year. 

On April 20 we left Nova Scotia headed back to Tanzania. So excited to be back in Makuyuni at the Maasai Eco Boma and Nashapay School. This is my first visit st the tail end of the rainy season, everything is so lush and green. Amazing to back. So much positive change in just a few months since our visit in Sept/Oct 2024.

Permaculture work continues - feeding the school and the Eco Boma.

The students learn permaculture as part of their schooling.

Handwashing station outside a classroom.

Mama's teaching guests to bead at the Boma.

Boma accommodations, surrounding gardens and trees are flourishing.

View from  and of the Cultural Centre and dining room

Work continues on more accommodations

Students hitch a ride from a passing Picky Picky...

Amazing trio of staff - Marina, Palaso and Happy!

Trio of school buses

these trees were planted to recognize volunteers, including Adrian - look how they've grown.

Friends Jeff and Irene helped repair this dam after the elephants destroyed it. thje community is so excited to have water again.

We're heading to Tanzania on Sunday. Excited to see the progress on our new home. We're building a traditional Masaai family (boma) home, 2 bedrooms, bathrooms and a deck. Here's the progress so far...

We woke up to a winter wonderland so decided to enjoy our morning coffee in the hot tub. Retirement rocks!

We had a great time at local restaurant Mateus catching up with friends, Mary-Ann, Kyle, June, Peter and Ann.