Chapter 21

TANZANIA

While I was working as a Boarding Supervisor at St Vincent’s College in Sydney, one of my Year 12 girls was Gemma Rice, a clever and conscientious student who worked hard in the hope of getting into medicine. She missed out by one mark and did science instead and in 2002 she started a school in Tanzania with 3 students, there they are on the right. I had been sponsoring a student there who was now graduating from Year 7 and I had been invited to her Graduation ceremony in 2011, to which I went.

I arrived at the gate lounge at Melbourne Airport and found some women that I knew because they were going on a cruise with the Travelling Ladies - an organisation for single women who don't like to travel alone. Last year one of my friends had gone to Africa with them and they had visited St Judes for a day, so she had helped me with the very successful morning tea that I held to raise money to buy some things that Gemma needed. This year they were all going on a 21-day Baltic cruise starting in Malta but they were flying via Dubai on Emirates so we were all on the same plane which was fun.

When I boarded, I found that I had the aisle seat in the centre section of the bulkhead row which of course was just delightful as there is extra leg room and also room to put your stuff. The flight was good and only 7 hours as we had an hour and a half stopover in Singapore - we all had to get off and we could walk all over the airport (not shut in a holding lounge the way you are in some airports) and all the shops were open even though it was midnight and all the eating places too but Emirates had fed me well so I bought nothing - but I did see my camera (exactly the same Samsung) for over $400 USD whereas we paid less than $200 at Harvey Norman in Hobart.

Back on the plane, another meal - we got four altogether - and I tried to sleep but as usual only dozed. The Travelling Ladies did little better, they were down the back but came up frequently to visit the toilet and stop and talk so it was quite a jolly evening or night as the clocks went forward 6 hours altogether. We arrived in Dubai a bit worse for wear at 6am, the others had 3 hours to wait but I had 6 and didn't dare lie down anywhere for fear I wouldn't wake up in time. So I just walked and walked - all interesting anyway as it's a magnificent airport - but there is a slight smell of smoke there as there are many smoking rooms and big signs to keep the doors closed at all times but it does seem to waft out. Many people in beautiful national dress of all kinds as well as the Arabs in the long whites or blacks depending on gender. Many prayer rooms too, all segregated just like the toilets.

My only mishap was that when I went to the washroom not long before boarding, I took off my glasses to wash my face in an effort to freshen up a bit and one lens dropped right out. I had no hope of finding the screw as I couldn't see to hunt for it and anyway it could have been anywhere so I dashed back to a sunglasses place that I had seen and asked the man in there if he could help. He found a screw that would fit and then sprayed my glasses and began to polish them - did it a bit too vigorously and snapped one arm - not the screw but just broke the whole thing so he got the sticky tape and taped it up and I put them back on - How much do I owe you? I asked. Nothing - he said - that is a blessing for you - very sweet guy.

We boarded the Nairobi flight on time but then sat for two hours on the tarmac as some wrong luggage had been loaded on the plane - it all had to be taken out and sorted and repacked. It didn't bother me but I felt very sorry for the people with kids - the couple in front of me - mother English and blond - father Kenyan, tall and very black - two beautiful kids a boy about 6 and a little girl about 1 - both like their dad and the little girl was just about walking but going crazy with being confined - eventually she fell asleep which was a mercy for all concerned.

Eventually we took off and four hours later arrived in Nairobi which is a very old and shabby airport something like Kano in Nigeria. Endless queues first for immigration then to buy a Kenyan transit visa. I worked my way up to the window and was then told `I have no transit visas - go to another window.' When I got to that window, I was told `I am leaving now - go to another window'. I didn't mind the waiting - it's Africa after all! - but I was just paranoid about that big suitcase which contained all the things I had brought for the school and I couldn't see the carousel from where I was. Eventually I got my transit visa and shot off down the stairs to the baggage area. There were 6 pieces of luggage left there and 2 of them were mine. I felt like screaming with joy but managed to restrain myself, lugged them off to Customs and was waved straight through.

When I got outside there was a row of taxi drivers holding up name cards and one said Joan Carr. The school had organised that and I so glad to see him because by this time I was starting to feel very tired. Nairobi is a big city (3 million) with the most appalling traffic and several times we were stuck in a traffic jam for 5 minutes or more. It took about an hour to get to the Kenyan Comfort Hotel which is right in the centre of the city - I checked in and was on the 4th floor facing the street so had to sleep with the windows closed as the noise went on all night. Not traffic noise so much as people noise - they seemed to be playing some game out there like two-up because every now and then there would be a tremendous cheer.

However I didn't care about a thing - the room though shabby and old had the three essentials - a shower with hot water, a comfortable bed and a western toilet - I was in heaven! It was just so good to lie down and I slept like the dead - didn't go out to get anything to eat, just ate a muesli bar and a couple of almonds from my bag - and slept until about 2 and then dozed until 5.30 and got up, had another shower and went down to breakfast - cornflakes, toast (but the toaster didn't work so I had bread), fruit and two cups of excellent coffee to get me going. The bus station is diagonally opposite the Kenya Comfort so I walked over at 7.30 and got a window seat, all luggage was thrown up on top (how did they do that with my big heavy St Judes suitcase?) covered with a tarp and tied down. We left at 8 - a full bus, a real old rattletrap and the road is bitumen for part of the way but a good deal of it is unmade - just rocks and dust - sometimes it looked as though we were driving through a pea soup fog with all the dust.

We stopped at the Kenya/Tanzania border and had to get an exit stamp at the first and a Tanzanian visa at the second. Again, endless queues as there were several buses there at the same time as ours but at last we got through and were on our merry way again. Reached Arusha at about 2.00pm and as I left the bus, I saw a St Judes bus there (some of the St Judes school buses on the right) and one of the drivers holding up a card. They threw the luggage down and men standing below caught it - even my big heavy suitcase! Many men came up to the bus, wanted to shake hands and all saying Welcome, Welcome - it reminded me so much of the friendly Nigerians.

As soon as I arrived at the school, I was greeted by one of the office staff in charge of visitors and I was given my itinerary for the week - starting with a ride in one of the school buses to take the children home - so I just dropped my bags and went to find the bus. They are not kidding when they say the children are the poorest of the poor - unbelievable shanty towns - mud huts - open drains - but gorgeous and beautiful kids all happy and smiling.

I got up early on Thursday morning and heard the buses revving up so dashed out and asked Peter who picked me up from the bus station the previous day if I could ride with him to pick up the kids. An hour and a half over bumpy dusty roads and we came back with the bus full of happy little kids plus three staff members. The little students were absolutely charming. Every time someone got on, they would chant in unison "Good morning, Madam/Electrician/Mr. Sebastian/Visitor (depending on who was embarking)". Then the person would invariably say "Good morning, children. How are you?" And they would say "We are fine, thank you, Madam/Electrician/Mr. Sebastian/Visitor."

At 9 I was taken on a tour of the campus which included a stop off at the art room where my lovely sponsored student Sophia had just finished making a Welcome poster for me. Then up to the music room where the Standard Sevens were practicing a song and dance that they are going to do for us at tomorrow's graduation. Their teacher's name is Firstborn - go figure!

Morning tea break then and trays of plastic cups of hot tea and plates of biscuits are placed on tables all around the central lawn for students and staff alike - Anna warned me that it would be sweet and it certainly was but it was also spicy and gingery - in short delicious. I then went to a library class where I helped Standard 2 with a research project where they had to find information from books about different countries. Next, I went to the Standard 4 computing class where they had to draw a table, enter data and then format it - different fonts, styles etc. We were in the middle of that when Anna (one of the volunteers) came to the door and said she had a surprise for me. The surprise was Gemma who wanted to take me out to lunch. We went downtown to a very pleasant garden restaurant and had a good undisturbed talk which we could never have done at the school where she is in constant demand from a dozen different people at once.

Gemma was working as usual at full bore, so we had to be back by 1.30 because she was addressing the Secondary school students and staff. The high school was changing over the following year to the Cambridge International curriculum, the first school in Tanzania to do so, apart from a few of the expensive private schools. She had heard via the grapevine that the secondary students were concerned about that (in actual fact it was the staff that were worried) and Gemma wanted to reassure them. She talked and answered questions for almost an hour - she is truly inspirational and a terrific role model for both students and staff. The motto for the Secondary school is `Challenge Yourself' and they are constantly encouraged to do so. I had handed over the big suitcase in the morning and Gemma wanted photos so we grabbed a few kids and decked them in caps, t-shirts and jewellery and one of the volunteers took photos - also a couple of photos of Gemma and me together which I'll treasure.

Then it was time for me to go on my first home visit. My escort was the teacher that I sponsor, Alfred Rwatamabanga, the head of the primary English department and a truly delightful man. We took with us Sophia and the largest Home Pack - I had bought four of them for the home visits - a large plastic bowl, a mosquito net, laundry bar soap, flour, sugar, salt, rice, tea, biscuits, boot polish, face cream and toothpaste - also a kanga which is the wrapper that all the women here wear (sort of like a sari).

Off we went in a taxi and after about half an hour we reached Sophia's home, a mud hut divided into 3 by curtains and the kitchen a separate mud hut with a wood fire in the middle of the floor - no bathroom of course - and got a great welcome and had to drink coca cola which I hate but choked it down cheerfully. We then formally presented the gifts which caused excitement like you wouldn't believe. That’s Alfred in the photo above with Sophia’s mother and two of Sophia’s siblings and on the left is Sophia’s mother and me wrapped in the St Judes kanga.. We took lots of photos and as were leaving Sophia's mother brought out a beautiful kanga for me - wrapped it round me hugging me and kissing me, just so grateful. I couldn't believe that she would do that when they have so little. Back home about 6 and I had dinner with the volunteers who are a very jolly and interesting lot - then fell into bed.

On the Friday, after eating lunch with the children (on the right), I helped with the testing for next year’s students which goes on for 10 weeks, every Friday afternoon. Some of the mothers have walked many miles to bring their children in the hope that they will be accepted into this school where everything is free – tuition, food, books, uniforms but the two criteria are that the children are the poorest and the brightest in the area. All this is done on donations and sponsorships with no government money. Out of about 400 who came for testing between 10 and 15 will be taken as there will be an intake of 150 children next year.

To gain a place at St Jude's, a student must:

• be currently enrolled in the specified class at a government school within Arusha;

• have not repeated a class while at school;

• be within the right age range; and

• pass the poverty criteria established during house visits.

Only one child per family is accepted into the school to enable as many families as possible to have the chance to benefit from a high quality education to which they would not otherwise have access. First they have a reading test, then if they pass that they have a written test. The staff then go out to do the home inspections to make sure that the families really are poor. Prospective students are then invited to attend a probation class at St Jude's. They are expected to attend classes for up to two weeks to ensure that they have the right attitude towards learning and the ability to cope with St Jude's curriculum. Then the real excitement begins! At the end of the process, all new students receive their very own St Jude's uniform, ready to start classes in January. The 150 new students receive shirts, trousers, ties, socks, shoes, jumpers and dresses. Sad for those who fail but they can always try again the next year and many do.

Saturday was the most amazing day, I felt as though I was living in a parallel universe as it was just so completely different from anything that has ever happened to me before. We dressed up a bit for the graduation (I actually wore a skirt and was so glad I'd taken one) and I was standing in the sun talking to some of the staff , watching the 75 students line up (some of them on the left) and waiting for the graduation to begin - supposedly 9.30 but running on African time of course - when the only other sponsor present, Laura Commins from Brisbane came running over to me and said `We're in the official party and we have to get up on stage and make a speech!' Someone was supposed to have told us yesterday but they all assumed that somebody else had done it so we quickly each cobbled together a speech and had to wait until all the official party arrived - the Director of Education, the President of the Parents' Committee, the Chairperson of the School Board and various dignitaries from Arusha. Then everyone filed in to the assembly hall where students, parents and staff were all seated already and Laura and I were escorted right to the front where we were seated at a table with our appropriate labels displayed in front of us.

It was a 3-hour program but ran to nearly 4 - all speeches except for Gemma, the primary school principal and us were in Kiswahili which is the official language of Tanzania although English is always spoken in the school. But Kiswahili was used in the graduation in deference to the parents and official visitors who would not have understood otherwise. We didn't understand much but the kind primary principal who was sitting next to me leaned over and translated every time they referred to Laura and me. Then it was our turn and up the steps we went - Laura spoke first then me, and there was tumultuous clapping and cheering for us as the students all realise that they are totally dependent on sponsors and donors and everyone wanted to shake our hands and thank us. The Chairperson of the Board (a very fine Tanzanian woman) came up and gave us each beautiful presents - several pieces of African jewellery each and a length of material. Then while we stood there, she made another speech (in Kiswahili of course) and then our sponsored students came on stage and gave us more presents.

Afterwards there were the official photos and we were all - students, staff, parents and visitors - served a beautiful hot lunch which was all cooked in big boilers like washing boilers with wood fires underneath. They fed over 1000 people with rice, salads, goat stew, various vegetables - traditional African food and very delicious it was too. Then we dashed off to find our students and their parents to take more photos, there I am on the left with my sponsored student, Sophia, and on the right is the official photo of the graduates, staff and visitors. As soon as it was all over, I went on my third home visit, this time to Marcus’s sponsored student Nadia Zuberi - a beautiful little girl, very bright, terribly poor house but we had to drink a bottle of Fanta and sit and chat, then photos and presents - I took them the big home pack and very glad of it they would have been too.

As soon as I got back to the school a taxi arrived to take me on the 1-hour drive to Kilimanjaro Airport to meet Madeline who had flown over to see the school and also to go on safari with me. She arrived safely and didn't even seem that tired - when we got back to the school we went into the volunteers' kitchen where there were a dozen or so people, I introduced Maddie all round and made toast, tea and fruit for us both as I'd had no dinner either. We both slept well and were up around 6.30 and breakfasted with the others - then we went on a tour of the school and met one of the Australian volunteers who runs the Secondary school library - she showed us round her area and then pointed us in the direction of the boarding house as we both wanted to see that - she sent a guard with us so that we should not get lost as it's about a 10 minute walk through a banana plantation with a few different little tracks that could well lead us astray.

When we were about half way there we bumped into two nuns of the order that runs the boarding house and went on with them - they then handed us on to Joseph who is in charge of the boarding school teachers. He gave us the grand tour - in fact at one stage I was afraid he was going to show us every single dorm in each of the 8 buildings! That’s one of the dorms on the left. The buildings are beautiful both inside and out and immaculately clean and tidy - the boarders do all the cleaning, do their own laundry and weed the gardens which are amazingly lush and well-grown considering that the boarding houses only opened three years ago. All the boarders have extra classes both before and after school - the primary kids go home every weekend but the secondaries only one weekend in four.

Joseph kindly walked us all the way home and we cooked some pasta for lunch and sat and talked to some of the staff then had a bit of a rest – and then we walked up the road to where there is a little shop to buy some more water and get something to eat for tea, the volunteers don't cook at the weekend but tomorrow night there will be some slapup feast.

Next morning Maddie and I hopped on another bus going to the second campus which is about an hour’s drive away. I was having a great chat with a teacher who was also on the bus when he pointed out to me that there was an accident up ahead. Sure enough, a semi-trailer towing a flatbed piled with sacks of something had driven off the road and down a gully. It had spilled its load and there were people everywhere helping out. Strangely, on the back of the truck cab was printed in big letters not "King of the Road" but "Don't Panic".

We had a great time looking around the High School, that’s it on the left. The highlight for me was watching the kids rehearse their school musical. They're doing 'Joseph' and they ran through all the chorus numbers for us. It was phenomenal - they can really sing and some of them just could not keep still and were dancing as well.

We then went on a visit to the home of Peter Orgenes who I am also sponsoring in Year 1, a very bright and hard-working little boy. As soon as we reached his home, he pulled out his books and started doing his homework, and in fact as I am now writing this part in 2024 I can say that he is studying Computer Science at Dar es Salaam University and doing very well. That’s Peter (photo on right) with the Art teacher, Firstborn, and my daughter Madeline. Peter’s home was a one room mud hut with dirt floor, divided down the middle by a sheet with one bed behind in which all four family members (two parents, Peter and his little brother) slept.

Next day we were picked up at St. Judes by Jimmy, the safari guide. He has a comfortable Land Rover which can pop the top so we could stand up and look out without risking becoming 'lion food' as Jimmy was fond of saying. We had to drive about an hour and a half to get to the Tarangire National Park and that was interesting in itself as it's all Masai territory.

That’s a Masai boma on the right, and some of the men below. We saw many Masais in beautiful red and purple robes herding their cows or goats to the water hole which can be up to 20km away. They then let them graze for a while before herding them back again. Needless to say, they don't produce a lot of meat or milk with all that exercise but they are the Masai currency so having a lot is important.

Once we got to the park, we were thrilled to see a little herd of impala just near the gates. We got out and took photos as Jimmy fixed up the permits. However, once inside, we realised it was a fairly insignificant discovery as the park is bursting with wildlife. We had to stick to the roads and of course you can't get out of the vehicle but we saw amazing animals at close range. Zebras, wildebeest, elephants (including a new baby about a month old), baboons, lions, giraffes, vultures, ostriches, all kinds of antelope-type animals. It was incredible and Jimmy knew everything there was to know about the animals and birds. He also had very good vision and he picked up clues from the way other animals behave. For instance, he saw some animals running away so he was on the lookout for the lions which we then found. After looking at them lazing in the shade for a few minutes, we drove off to find some more at a waterhole. Upon returning to the first pride, we found they'd felled a wildebeest in that space of time and were all feeding (photo on right). Actually, two of the three we'd seen were feeding. Moments later, the third one reappeared with two cubs she'd gone to find. It was really amazing and we flattened our batteries by taking photos.

We then had a very dusty and bumpy ride to the place we were staying that night. We were feeling pretty exhausted and filthy as we approached and we had been lowering our expectations as we'd booked a budget lodge but it was wonderful to arrive at the Bougainville Lodge (left) which looks like a throwback to the colonial heydays only that it's run by Tanzanians - the best of both worlds. It's really beautiful and as we were signing in, a man appeared with three glasses of fresh cold watermelon juice. When they told us there was a pool, we nearly wept. We went to our room, changed into bathers and had an amazing swim. We went for a drink then before dinner – it was complete luxury!

The second day of the safari was really mind-blowing as we went to the Ngorongoro Crater. It is a massive, intact crater, a caldera actually, with a flat, grassy bottom where thousands of animals live. We had a really lucky day and there just seemed to be animals round every corner. We saw a jackal playing with her three cubs, we watched a cheetah stalking, chasing and missing two little gazelles, we saw lions eating a wildebeest, too many elephants, zebras, warthogs, buffalo to count, a flock of pink flamingos and we watched some hyena cubs chase them. We even came within eyeshot of a black rhino but it lay down in the grass and then we couldn't see it. It's really life and death out there and it all just happens in front of your eyes. The park is very strict about where you can go and so you can only observe from the road but an awful lot seems to take place there! There aren't all that many tourists either which seems amazing but it's not high season right now.

The third day we spent at Lake Manyara which is another conservation area. It was not as productive though not for want of trying. I think we covered every inch of road in that place and we did see a lot of baboons which it's known for, lots of elephants too, so close I thought I could touch them and great luck - a whole school of hippos out of the water which is a rare sight. One little inconvenience was that the tsetse flies nearly drove us crazy, they bite like a march fly and have no problem with either clothing or bug spray!

It was really a great experience though it consists of sitting all day in a very bumpy, dusty vehicle so I think we were both happy to arrive that night back in Arusha. We decided to spend the next day having a good look at Arusha which is a very pleasant if dusty city of about 450,000 people. The touts - called here `flycatchers' were right onto us and accompanied us for a few blocks trying to cajole us into curio shops of which there are hundreds but we eventually politely but inflexibly got rid of them by not cooperating. We had the guide book and a fair idea of the layout so found our own way to the International Rwandan War Crimes Tribunal which is a big organisation in Arusha - sadly being Friday it was a half day there so no trials in progress but we spent a pleasant couple of hours in the library for which we had to hang a special pass round our necks and in return Madeline had to surrender her driving licence for the duration of our stay. That’s a typical street in Arusha on the right.

Lunch after that in a restaurant and then off again to find a bookshop - we saw the Arusha library and asked the librarian but she had only a vague idea - ended up back at our lunchtime restaurant and asked our waiter (you dare not ask anyone on the street because they then want to take you there and be paid for it) and he pointed out the Lutheran bookshop right across the road! It proved to be excellent - more textbooks than novels but Maddie got a book called Hope for Rwanda about the genocide and what led up to it - and I got Out of Africa which I had read but wanted to read again as there's a lot in it about the Masai and that is the main tribe in this area.

On Sunday when we were looking for a place to have dinner and were walking down the road looking for a dala dala (public transport minibus) a couple pulled up in a station wagon and offered us a lift. Both were from the US and were in their sixties and had two adorable little African girls with them. They have started a home over here to facilitate the adoption by US couples of some of the 100,000 orphans in Tanzania (mainly caused by AIDS which is rife). We asked how they came to settle here and the woman said they had `fallen in love with Africa' and had been here for something like 20 years. For sure it's not a hard country to fall in love with - the people so friendly and welcoming, the children universally delightful and the climate (at least while we've been here) pleasant.

Back to our little hotel after our purchases and it had warmed up quite a bit by then so we went for a swim in the pleasant pool and then lay around reading our books in the sun - and then enjoyed a delicious dinner of `chicken in coconut with exotic spices' cooked Tanzanian style. So the day was pretty restful which we really needed because the safari, although wonderful, was tiring.

The trusty and careful (much to be said for that in Africa) taxi driver Abdul whom I had hired to take me to meet Maddie last Saturday night picked us up after a very pleasant night in the Outpost Hotel - a homely and friendly little hotel in the suburbs of Arusha.

While we were eating breakfast a young Australian came in to the open cafe area and cried out with delight when he saw that the TV was on the MCG - he's been travelling for 18 months but all his family are mad keen St Kilda supporters. When they played the anthem, he stood to attention and as soon as the game began he started giving the players advice and praise for good marks and kicks. Then it was off to the airport for us and a good flight in about an 80-seater - it took an hour to get to Zanzibar airport and then we got a taxi to our hotel in Stone Town, Tembo Hotel (right) which is right on the beach with a beautiful pool in the enclosed courtyard.

We were in a bungalow which opens straight on to the sand. On the left is the view from our front window and on the right is the sitting area right outside our bungalow. It took us no time to shed our clothes and hop into the pool - then we had fish soup and a pappadum for lunch and took off to explore. Although we were right on the beach and there were lots of kids in swimming, they say it's polluted being so close to town so we confined ourselves to the pool (below right). We end up with three days at Matemwe Beach which is supposed to be one of Zanzibar's most beautiful beaches so we'll have plenty of beach then. We had a great couple of nights there in the Tembo Hotel, staying in a bungalow furnished with very traditional Zanzibari four poster carved beds and big, heavy wardrobes.

The city itself is made up of little winding lanes with not a straight line in sight, that’s a typical street on the left. Food was very big there and at night we ate traditional Zanzibar pizza which is more like a stuffed pancake cooked on a barbeque. We had a fish one to begin with and finished off with a mango and banana one each - all for $7.50. Stone Town is a relic of the slave trade - it's where the slaves used to be collected for trading and then transporting to the colonies. Narrow winding streets and old buildings with ornamental wooden doors, carved and metal-studded, a typical door on the right. Much more Arab in looks and feel than African and 95% Moslem - it's how I've always imagined Morocco to be. We wandered around the streets and found a photography store run by an Indian guy whose father had started it - he sells only black and white photos, very atmospheric and all of Stone Town - we spent ages looking through them and wanted to buy dozens but settled for a couple each. Walked some more and eventually ended up back at the hotel - fell into the pool again and had a cold drink and a bit of a rest (it's hot here!) and then we were off to the famous Forodhani Gardens where every night locals set up about 70 stalls of street food - according to the guide book the best food in Zanzibar. We were plastered with bug spray - lots of mosquitos here and of course lots of malaria as well.

After our two busy days in Stone Town, we went on a spice tour which was very interesting and Maddie had cleverly negotiated for the driver to then drop us at Matemwe. The spice tour was interesting, the driver walked us round to a number of different plants so that we could see how the different spices grew - smell them in their natural state, taste some of them as his side kick climbed a palm tree, threw down a coconut then hacked the top off with a machete and gave us the juice to drink and the pulp to eat with a spoon made from the shell. We finished up with a bag made from a palm leaf with all our samples in it. Then we were taken to a native village where mats were spread on the ground in one of the houses and we sat there along with another tour group and they brought out large bowls of rice and vegetables cooked with the spices that we had sampled - delicious. Strangely, although Zanzibar is known as the Spice Islands, the only spice they export these days is cloves which brings me out in goosebumps because the smell always reminds me of the dentist.

On then to Matemwe and when we arrived, we thought we had landed in paradise. We had our own little whitewashed bungalow with thatched roof, on the right (all the buildings there are like that) and that’s our bedroom on the left. We were just a few steps from the beach which has sand like sugar, white and spotlessly clean (raked every morning) and water shading from pale green to sapphire blue. The beach is enclosed by a reef so it's actually a lagoon - you can only swim at high tide as the local women farm seaweed on frames which are exposed at low tide but there are also two beautiful pools, one higher than the other with a little waterfall between and we used to spend the morning there then go to the beach in the afternoon. Daybeds with foam mattresses all along the beach (right) and also round the pool and coffee is served on the beach at sunrise every morning. The dining and sitting areas are open on all sides with canvas blinds that they can roll down if it's windy - masses of cushions everywhere in all shades of blue green and mauve. The food was magnificent, a great deal of fresh fish - I think we both had fish for pretty well every meal.

On Tuesday night dinner was at large tables in the boma which means fort and it's like a stockade with a high fence made from thin branches and no roof - it was a wonderful curry buffet and we were entertained throughout by an African band with singing. We sat with two honeymoon couples - one from South Africa and the other from Ireland - the latter had climbed Kilimanjaro the previous week - husband Ian an engineer sadly had had altitude sickness almost from Day One - it takes 6 days - but he had battled on and finished the climb. His wife Angela is a GP - both had jobs to go to in Abu Dhabi and were happy about that. That’s the sitting area at Matemwe on the right. We had decided to extend our stay at Matemwe by one night instead of (as we thought we might do) staying a night in Dar Es Salaam. We did that on the advice of one of the volunteers at St Judes and were very glad we did as Dar is just another big city and the airport we found is miles out of the CBD anyway so we would have spent a fortune on taxis in and out.

We were lucky to get the extra night as they were almost full at Matemwe but we had to move rooms to a bungalow a bit further back from the beach, still comfortable and well equipped and built in an attractive Moorish style - but at dusk when Maddie went back there to change, she found it full of mosquitos - of course there were nets but many of them were inside the nets! She lit a mosquito coil and procured a can of Raid from the office, sprayed like mad but still there were many there who just seemed to laugh at the spray so we went to sleep with thoughts of the dreaded malaria in our heads. We worried unnecessarily as neither of us got bitten and in fact I don't think I had one insect bite in my whole three weeks in Africa. We did protect ourselves as much as possible but there just didn't seem to be many bugs of any kind - a few flies in Stone Town but not much else.

On Thursday morning we reluctantly packed up and checked out of paradise and a taxi took us into the airport at Stone Town where we flew in a little 15-seater plane to Dar Es Salaam airport which took about 20 minutes. We had a couple of hours to wait in Dar so had some lunch and then boarded. After we showed our boarding passes, Maddie was sent in one direction to walk across the hot windy tarmac while I was sent down the passage in the wake of the first-class passengers. When Maddie protested and asked to be allowed to accompany her mother, she was sternly told that only I could go that way `... because she is a bibi' (old grandmother)!

We sat in the plane for 2 hours and 45 minutes before it took off. We were told it was a problem with the fuel computers. As that had happened to me on my way to Nairobi we were quite resigned and we had each watched a whole movie before we actually took off - and after that it was about 5 hours to Dubai and there was a time change in there as well so we actually arrived in Dubai about 2.30am but we were met by an Emirates rep who gave us a folder of information and then organised transport to our hotel which was an Emirates hotel - nothing flash, about a 3-star but clean and comfortable and we fell into bed exhausted about 3.30am having already arranged with the desk staff for a pickup for a tour of the city at 10.30 the following morning.

Our driver was Pakistani and his name was Harris (or probably Haras) and he was very helpful and knowledgeable. There were 5 other people in his minivan and he gave us a very good tour of Dubai especially the extremely rich residential part along the coast - all the time regaling us with interesting facts about life in the UAE. He told us about a fellow tour guide who had had a party of Australians at the beach during Ramadan - they were eating and drinking and a policeman approached them and said Did they not know that eating and drinking in public during Ramadan is against the law? They didn't as they had arrived the previous night but their guide had not told them that and was fined 10,000 dirhams on the spot and was lucky not to lose his guide's licence.

Haras apologised for not being able to take us to the museum which was closed because it was Friday but he stopped at a couple of magnificent galleries and gave us 25 minutes in each to run round admiring all the beautiful carpets, wall hangings, silver and glass – it was like Aladdin's cave - you just didn't know what to look at first. Then we went to see the Burj Al Arab hotel which is the second highest in the world at 321 metres (one in Korea is 9 metres taller) - a 7-star hotel with no rooms, only suites - each of which has its own chef and butler. On the left you can see Madeline and me on Jumeirah Beach with the Burj Al Arab in the background. You can't go in that hotel without a booking but Maddie my little wheeler and dealer negotiated with Haras to take us there in the evening for cocktails and snacks and he agreed to make the reservation.

Then we drove through the extraordinary man-made island housing development called The Palm (right). It consists of a trunk which is all apartment blocks, 16 fronds on which are town houses or villas (mainly movie stars and tennis champions) and a crescent which you get to by an undersea tunnel which is all hotels. Currently another similar development is being built called The World - all islands the shape of the continents. Amazing.

Haras then dropped us at the huge Dubai Mall (left) where we were happy to spend the afternoon browsing the wonders of the world at Tiffany's, Gucci and the rest with all the other fabulously rich citizens of the world. Attached to the mall is the Burj Khalifa which at 828 metres is the world's tallest building. We wanted to go up to the observation floor but it was over $100US for a ticket and we jibbed at that, having just spent our last US dollars on our evening cocktails!

At about 4.30 Haras collected us at the Dubai Mall and took us with a couple from Lagos who were in town for a conference to that amazing hotel (left and right). We had our drinks and snacks in a beautiful cocktail lounge while watching the sun set and being dazzled by gold plated doors, massive crystal chandeliers, a musical fountain in the 180 metre high atrium etc. We were dropped back at our hotel after all that, feeling that we had made the most of a day in Dubai.

I might never get there again but I will certainly never forget that extraordinary place.

At 6.50am we were picked up again by Emirates and driven to Dubai airport which is very impressive for its check-in system - you self-check on a machine then place your luggage on a belt beside the machine which weighs it and spits out a luggage label which you stick on and then whisks it away to be loaded. An attendant helped us and forgot to give me back my boarding pass. By the time we reached the gate for our passport check when I realised that I didn't have it, my boarding pass was there - it beat us to it!

Home after an amazing three weeks.