Mto Wa Mbu town

What a wonderful thing to be able to wake without an alarm, had the happiest child in Aanya. 

A short drive and we arrived in the town of Mto Wa Mbu. There are 120 tribes in this small town. Tanzania has approximately 125 tribes. No more camping for the next few nights so it was quick unpack and we headed out for a walk with our guide Nyama.

We headed to rice fields and then to banana plantations. I learnt of the baby bananas in the flower, so cute, they don’t eat the flowers here like they do in Sri Lanka.

Along the way we had vendors walk alongside trying to sell their wares and then little kids wanting to high five us. We were told to pretend that their high fives were so strong that it hurt. Savik was obviously very good at it as all the kids had him surrounded and holding his hands so he couldn’t move while he got high fived furiously.

Next up was the woodwork workshop, this is run by the Makonde tribe. They are a tribe that fled Mozambique due to the civil war, they are very good wood carvers. Then the markets where we ate some BaoBao fruit. A bit sour but not much taste to it otherwise. Bought some souvenirs and then headed to lunch. 

After lunch we trialled banana beer and wine, kids disliked both of them (hope that continues as they grow up). Next up was a painting studio, we learnt of the different forms of art including Tingi Tingi (I like the name and the fine artwork is lovely too). We have bought a few paintings as we are lucky to have Robyn to take them home too. As we were heading back a vendor we had talked to in a small lane found us as we had said we would buy a Tanzanian football t-shirt for Savik if he could find the shorts too, what a small town. 

Walking through the village was fun but for me the best part was our guide, she was highly entertaining and had us laughing quite a bit. 

Evening was spent in the pool, watching the large Maribu stork (one of the ugly five) take charge of the place, the grassy area was used for cartwheels and handstands and lots of origami. 

It’s our last night with our crew and we join another team for Kenya. They have been absolutely amazing and we wish they could continue on with us.