News

Moving West through the Serengeti

Mar 01 2020

Sorry this post took a little longer than I expected.  We had an interesting week dealing with electricity to our house.  But, we are back!!

Also, sorry this is a LONG post with LOTS of photos and a few videos.  So brew up some coffee or tea, and enjoy!

A group of smiling students sitting together inside a bus during their travels through the Serengeti.

After leaving Dar es Salaam, our first stop was to Arusha, where we stayed for 2 nights.  We were welcomed with cool weather (BLESSINGS!!!!).

We met up with Rebecca and Paul Mosley, who are currently serving with MCC in Arusha.  They presented a slide show and lecture about all the ways MCC is partnering with local organizations to promote safety, gender equality, care for pregnant women, etc.

  • A group of students sharing a meal together around a long table at a restaurant.

     

  • People seated at tables watching a projected slideshow presentation in a room.

     

  • People seated at long tables listening to a speaker standing at the front of a room.

     

After the slideshow we drove to a place called ECHO (the acronym no longer represents what they do, but they kept the organization name).   Erwin Kinsey gave us a tour and described how ECHO partners with community members and farmers to promote better nutrition in their daily diets.  This includes education about nutrition, seed saving and promoting better farming practices, cover crops to help encourage better soil health, etc.

  • An ECHO informational slide showing photos of their programs, including youth ag-exposure, appropriate technologies, international symposia, farmer training, and seed distributions.

     

  • A man in a blue shirt holding a clipboard speaks to a group of students gathered around him outdoors.

     

  • A group of students gathered on a dirt path outdoors, listening to a guide during a tour.

     

  • A group of students standing beside an ECHO Seed Bank sign, listening to a presenter outside a building.

     

  • A woman standing in front of shelves full of stored seeds, holding a bowl of seeds in a seed bank.

     

  • A lush green garden with a variety of plants growing beside a building.

     

  • A group of people walking along a narrow garden path lined with rows of potted plants.

     

  • A pair of hands holding a broken-open clump of dark, rich soil outdoors.

     

  • A girl examining a large green leaf while standing among lush tropical plants.

     

  • A banana plant with a large purple flower and a cluster of developing green bananas.

     

  • A close-up of a large green leaf with water droplets beaded on its surface.

     

After lunch we climbed Kilima Moto (“Hot Mountain”), a crater where an active volcano once stood.

  • A group of people hiking up a grassy green hillside under a bright sky.

     

  • A scenic view of grassy green hills with people walking along a ridge in the distance.

     

  • A green volcanic crater covered in vegetation with wildflowers in the foreground.

     

  • A group of students posing with several local children on a grassy hillside with mountains in the background.

     

  • A group of students posing together on a green hillside with mountains and clouds in the background.

     

  • A large group of students and local community members, including several children, pose together on a grassy hilltop with mountains and a valley in the background.

     

  • Two smiling young men stand side by side with arms around each other's shoulders on a green hillside overlooking a valley.

     

  • Two people stand on a grassy ridge overlooking a vast green valley of farmland with mountains rising in the distance.

     

  • A person in a yellow shirt sits on a hilltop seen from behind, gazing out over a green valley and rolling hills under a cloudy sky.

     

  • A group of students and local children stand together on a grassy hillside in the Serengeti while a young woman relaxes on the grass in the foreground.

     

  • A man in a striped shirt and hat jumps joyfully into the air on a grassy hilltop overlooking the Serengeti landscape.

     

  • A woman leaps into the air with her arms raised on a grassy hill overlooking a lush, rolling green landscape.

     

  • A woman jumps with her arms outstretched on a grassy hilltop overlooking a scenic green valley.

     

Then off we went to explore the wild world of the Serengeti.  This part of the post is mostly pictures and very few words.  Really, words can barely describe the awe we felt as we made our way through this magical part of the world.

First day: Ngorongoro Crater.

  • People load luggage and bags onto the roof rack of a minibus parked along a roadside as another vehicle passes by.

     

  •  

  • Two young men, one in a purple Goshen College t-shirt, stand beside yellow safari Land Cruisers.

     

  • A group of students gathers in a circle at a shaded campsite near a dining tent.

     

  • A woman and a man sit on a wooden railing at a scenic overlook with a river and green landscape behind them.

     

  • Four people pose together at a scenic overlook with a forested valley stretching out behind them.

     

  • A group of five people, including children, poses at a scenic overlook with a river valley and green hills behind them.

     

  • The exterior of the Mambo Cafe in Ngorongoro, a wooden building with a large stylized hand logo on its front.

     

  • A mother baboon cradles her baby while sitting on the ground amid dry grass and fallen leaves.

     

  • Several baboons, including adults and a small dark-furred infant, sit together on bare reddish ground.

     

  • A wide panoramic view of the Ngorongoro Crater, a vast green plain framed by forested hills.

     

  • A wide grassy plain in the Ngorongoro Crater dotted with a distant herd of grazing animals.

     

  • A large acacia tree stands on a grassy plain near a fenced village, with mountains rising in the background.

     

  • A black bird with yellow markings on its wing perches on a thin branch against a soft green background.

     

  • A yellow safari 4x4 vehicle parked on a dirt track with a person standing beside it and a green-roofed building nearby.

     

  • A young woman in a blue shirt sits inside an open-topped safari vehicle with another passenger beside her.

     

  • A helmeted guinea fowl with spotted plumage and a blue-and-red head walks through tall green grass.

     

  • The open rear of a safari vehicle packed with duffel bags and blue luggage.

     

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

Second day: the plains of the Serengeti.  I have almost 2000 photos, but I only chose a few of my favorites.  You’re welcome.

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

Here are some videos I caught of the animals.

Giraffe eating: https://youtu.be/PVeyx8MfAY0

Elephants on the move: https://youtu.be/rLpUcqE4Cxo

Sleepy Hippos: https://youtu.be/LCfBAk8vrek

Lion hunting: https://youtu.be/VVoRTWk6rLU

As we went through the Serengeti we stopped at Olduvai, a museum and old archaeology dig-site where evidence of our original human ancestry begins.  We were actually finding human and animal bones while hiking around the site.

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

Third day: a morning game drive (photos actually included in above set), then off to Ikoma Cultural Center.

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

Fourth day: Natambisho Village.

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

Fifth Day: making our way to Musoma with a stop at the Butiama-Nyerere Museum where we got to meet the son of the late Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Madaraka Nyerere, who still lives at the former-President’s residence.

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

 

Related posts

More Study Abroad Posts
  • Study Abroad

    Final retreat in Ecuador

    Jul 30 2026

    By Hillary Harder On Sunday, July 26, our students returned to Quito from their service communities and we began our final retreat together! The afternoon was full of joyful reunions as each student arrived at our Quito home, la Casa…

  • Study Abroad

    Life on the ward

    Jul 23 2026

    By Dayanara Aguirre-Mulato During my service placement at the municipal Centro Médico in Riobamba, I had the privilege to be able to work alongside other nurses. Day to day each patient comes in to register for their appointment and I…

  • Study Abroad

    Service visits: opportunities for connection in Ecuador’s “provincias”

    Jul 19 2026

    By Hillary Harder During the Service term, leaders have the privilege of traveling to visit each student at the home and volunteer assignment where they are spending their time during the second half of SST. For us, that meant traveling…

    More Study Abroad Posts