Mikumi Field Trip

I had the wonderful opportunity to make a day trip to Mikumi National Park with the Form 3 students of FANAKA to see some of Tanzania’s most famous wild animals. Every year the Germans who also volunteer their time at FANAKA take the form three students on a safari in Mikumi National Park.  It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and the students. Many of the kids have never left Bunju, let alone made the arduous trip to Mikumi in a bus.

They’re enthusiasm was unbelievable as we made our way out of Bunju in the morning. The students were hollering and chanting for the first hour of the trip. There wasn’t a soul in Africa who couldn’t hear us coming down the road. The bus ride was long, nearly six hours to Mikumi. Don’t let the time fool you, the park was only about 150 miles away but in Africa there isn’t a short journey to any destination. After a short stop in Morogorro for lunch we finally made into the park later in the afternoon. We rounded up the students got them all back in the buses and made our way into the park.

Our first afternoon treated us to every animal you’d expect to see in Africa, except a lion. It was so incredible to see these animals in the wild. I am glad that I was able to get some great photographs of Elephants, hippos and the like.  After an afternoon in the park we stayed the night in a nice hotel in the town of Mikumi, the students were just ecstatic to be out of Bunju, they lived it up. Our journey home the next day was just as long ans drawn out as the day before. I was so glad that I had the opportunity to share this experience with the students of FANAKA, one that I am sure we all will never forget.

Sean Leyva

8/18/2012