We woke up early on our last day at SEGA in order to hike in the Uluguru Mountains up to the Choma waterfalls. Breakfast was at 0530 and we left at 0615 for the trail 45 minutes away. The SEGA students joined us, so a total of 35 students, 4 teachers and 5 guides set off on a steep hike on a mountain road. It was a hot and challenging climb (not too bad thanks to our early start), and while our paces varied, we all made it. The swim was cool and refreshing. We enjoyed the water and took lots of pictures before heading back down the mountain.
We met our bus and drove back to SEGA by noon to give us a couple hours to shower, eat lunch, and finish packing. After a last picture at the lodge with our Maasai security guards, we met our SEGA hosts at the gate and had an emotional farewell.
The drive to the airport, with one stop for food and restrooms, was a 6.5 hour odyssey with more and more traffic the closer we got to Dar. The last hour or so covering the last few miles was a slow crawl through neighborhoods that were surprisingly bustling on a Sunday night. Fortunately we had allowed plenty of time and still arrived more than three hours before departure. After winding our way through the first couple layers of security, we said one last goodbye and thank you to TK, our faithful TFT tour manager with the new taco outfit. All that was left was to grab some food, board our 2355 KLM flight for Amsterdam, and then fly Delta to Boston for our noonish landing and bus back to the Cape.
While the trip has been full of surprises, it was also exactly what we hoped it would be - a deep dive into a culture very different from ours, which warmly embraced us and taught us more than we can yet comprehend. This really was the trip of a lifetime. Asante sana, SEGA! Tutaonana tena, Tanzania!
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