Year 3's Trip to Saadani

The Year 3 students set off on a trip of many firsts; the first time to travel without family, the first time to take a river tour, the first time to engage in community service, the first time to have a roommate or to go to sleep without family close by. But what an exciting and memorable trip it was! The children set off early on Wednesday morning full of exuberance and buzzing energy for the trip ahead. Their destination? Saadani National Park. Their transportation? Two thrilling safari vehicles. Accompanying them were Mr. Muhidini, Miss Manai and Mrs. Jana. Upon arrival, the children quickly settled into their rooms at Vagabond Hotel. What a thrill it was for the children to be able to embark on the fun and sometimes challenging concept of roommates. From sharing toilets, to deciding who gets which bed, to chatting away at bedtimes even though they should be sleeping, the children had many firsts on their first ever Braeburn Residential Trip. Some highlights of our trip were our community service project at Saadani Primary School, a government school in Saadani village with about 250 primary children. The children embodied what it means to be a Responsible Citizen in tirelessly engaging with their new friends, distributing hundreds of donated gifts and playing and teaching students from Grades 1, 2, and 3. The children were a little nervous but mostly exhilarated with our river tour down Wami River. They were amazed at how magnificent the hippos were and secretly wished they could have seen a bigger crocodile! While we did not get to see any elephants, we were fortunate to spot speedy impalas, loner wildebeests, grumpy warthogs, cheeky vervet monkeys, confident baboons (that may or may not have chased one or two students and a teacher), sleepy zebras, magnificent giraffes, proud eagles, white flamingos from a distance, a ring of buffalos (very cool), and lots and lots of bugs! We thoroughly enjoyed observing a little hermit crab, impromptu dance parties, taking our historical and salt factory tours, playing at the beach, laughing during meals together, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores at a campfire and learning some awesome travel skills. We will be talking and thinking about this trip for a long while.