one of the math teachers toured us around the school. It was a short
visit, but we were able to visit the library, where a group of
students was being read to, observe a linguistics lesson, tour the
boarding rooms, stop in on an art class and sit in on music class,
where the kids were learning to drum and sing the Tanzanian national
anthem.
The Usa River campus was similar to the Moshono campus - nicely
constructed and, of course, full of uniformed childen with smiling
faces. The main difference is that this campus has several acres on
which to expand.
We then traveled to the Arusha airport, which is on the other side of
town. Our Kibo guide helped us with the check-in procedure and then we
waited on plastic lawn chairs and ate our boxed lunches. The plane to
Zanzibar was tiny, seating only 10 (which they stretches to 11 by
seating someone up front near the pilot). The flight afforded
spectacular views of Kilimanjaro and the pilot aborted the first
landing, which made for some excitement.
After an hour drive to the northeast coast of the island, we arrived
at The Shooting Star. The corny name caused us some concern, but we
were pleasantly surprised by the accomodations. The hotel is quite
rustic in a beachy sort of way, with the main lobby and dining area
consisting of thatch roofs over sand floors.
The real delight came when we were shown to our rooms. We were to stay
in our own white, stand-alone "castle", complete with spiral
staircase, a roof-top living space, and private pool! The first floor
had three netted four-poster beds for the kids and the second floor
consisted of a master suite. When we arrived there were even flower
petals strewn on the bed.
We climbed the second set of stairs to emerge onto the roof, where we
found a queen-sized day bed, an outdoor bathtub, and spectacular views
of the Indian Ocean and the lush green Zanzibar Island. We were
certainly well-appointed for the final, beach-vacation phase of our
trip to Africa!
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