ETA

Traffic has been much better than thought so we are looking at arriving at school for 9pm!

Everyone is ringing home too to ensure the message has been passed on.

See you soon!

We have landed!

We have landed and are on the coach home!

With it being Friday afternoon I will hold out on an ETA back at Retford until we are a bit further along the journey but it won't be this side of 9pm!

Mr L

5th August - Istanbul

We have arrived safely in Istanbul and our flight to Heathrow is in 1 1/2 hours.

Will update again once we are out of Heathrow and on the bus later this afternoon.

4th August

So our journey is coming to an end. We are back in Moshi after a 9 hour bus journey! We have about 6 hours until we need to leave for the airport so we will get a shower, have some tea then be on our way!

Kilimanjaro Airport is about 1 hour away, and we fly at 2 10am.

It has been an incredible month filled with hard work, lots of travel and new experiences. There have been so many laughs for one reason or another and I know I'm not alone when I say I'm sad to be leaving!

Every single person has contributed hugely to the team and towards the positive experience we have had. They can all be incredibly proud of themselves for their achievements over the last 4 weeks, they have been amazing ambassadors for both Camps International and for our school. Everyone has left a real impression on many of the local people and all of the Camps staff we have met on our way, with us having had lots of compliments on the behaviour, conduct and attitude of our group wherever we have been.

From me it is a massive thankyou to the school for letting this trip happen, to everyone who has supported the students in their fundraising for the trip and finally to all of the students for an amazing month!

I will update as and when I can on our journey home to keep you in the loop with regard to our arrival time back in Retford, and once on the bus tomorrow evening I will make sure anyone who can't get in touch with home can do so to let you know our ETA.

See you all soon!

Mr L

3rd August

It's our last day at Camp Tanga and our penultimate day on Tanzania.

For me the 4 weeks have flown and we have had such a great time! It has been brilliant!

We have spent the day relaxing in camp, with a lot of us choosing to lay on the beach for much of the day.

All of our bags are packed ready for an early departure to Moshi tomorrow morning.

Tonight we will be having a campfire and barbecue on the beach which hopefully will round the trip off perfectly!

I will update when we are back in Moshi late afternoon tomorrow!

Badai (See you soon!)

2nd August

This morning we had a 7am breakfast and were on the bus to project at 8am. Our job today was to plaster the walls (African style using mud and water!) of a house that is being built for a local lady and her family. Lunch was brought to us by the staff at camp then we continued after lunch.

We are back at camp now and relaxing before tea!

Tomorrow will be effectively our laat day in Tanzania as Thursday will be spent travelling back to Moshi then we fly in the early hours of Friday morning.

We will have a day in camp tomorrow relaxing on the beach and playing games before our final meal...a barbecue on the beach with all of the PADI staff!

See you all soon!

1st August

Time for a well needed rest day today! We had breakfast first thing and most people sat in the sun for a while and others played volleyball and threw a rugby ball around!

After lunch has been more of the same whilst a couple of us went for one final dive with Yatin, the dive instructor to finish off a couple of skills needed to achieve the PADI Open Water Certification.

This evening we are going to play games and on the beach (when the tide goes out a bit!) and eat tea around the campfire under the stars!
Back to project work tomorrow where we will be working on Mama's house, a new home for one of the village ladies and her family!

We have had a fantastic few days diving and cannot thank the staff from Pili Pipa Dive School enough, they have been amazing!

Will update when possible tomorrow!

31st July

Today was our last day of diving and everyone has thoroughly enjoyed themselves. This morning we went out on the boat and did 2 dives then after lunch we spent half an hour filling in our log books for the dives over the last few days!

When we got back the tide was really high so we took the opportunity to have a go at playing water volleyball, which shall we say wasn't of high quality but it was great fun!!!

Tomorrow we have a rest day so we will relax in camp and on the beach. We will also have time to work with James in camp making souvenirs out of recycled flip flops!

Also, sorry about the lack of pictures...my phone decided to say no and they just won't upload anymore!

More updates tomorrow!

30th July

Today we did our first open water dives and completed a variety of skills approximately 8m underwater. We also had chance to swim around the reef and look at the variety of fish - lots of shapes, sizes and colours!

This afternoon was the final theory exam and everyone passed! Well done!!

We then had a volleyball tournament against each other and the PADI team, which sadly they won in the final 15-14!!!

Last day of diving tomorrow with 2 more open water dives, this time to a maximum of 18 metres. We will do these in the morning and then will probably have a reasonably quiet afternoon after 4 busy days!

I can't believe we only have 5 more days in Tanzania, it has certainly gone fast!

Mr L

29th July

Day 2 of scuba diving is complete! We have finished our pool dives and all 5 modules of theory which means tomorrow morning we will be doing our first 2 open water dive to a maximum depth of 12 metres. We will be diving above a coral reef so we should see a wide variety of fish!

In the afternoon we will complete the final theory exam, meaning on Sunday all that will remain is the final 2 open water dives.

Once we got back this evening we had another group game of volleyball - it is quickly becoming a favourite evening game!

Looking forward to another good day of new experiences tomorrow!

Will do my best to update tomorrow but really struggling to get signal to do so, hence another late post.