THE TALE OF MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE NINJAZ
Dear reader,
I hope this won’t be a typical piece of reading and I hope the story behind it will motivate you to be part of the next one.
I have always considered myself to be a solo traveller, of course I am not a big-time traveller like most of the people I have met but most of the time when I wanted to go for an adventure then I always considered doing it alone and, in this case, I called it “Man vs Nature”. Unfortunately for the last two years I have had very little of that.
Around mid-November a friend of mine hit me with a delegate mailer in my inbox. It was about a trip, a trip to Morogoro a place where I spent three years doing my bachelor’s degree a couple of years ago. Somewhere in my mind I asked myself, what could possibly be new on this side? But little did I know, I was about to have a very different experience if I was to jump into this trip.
Anyways, towards the end of November my friend reached out and asked me one simple question, “why aren’t you coming to this trip?” And I had no come back to the question, he went further and told me about the discount deal they had on the table for whoever signs up early. I paid the advance to get the discount, under one reservation, that if something comes up on my timetable then I may opt to use it another time. But in reality, this was a strategy written “I am not intentional about this man!!”.
Then I was added to the group and that’s when the rumble began, I knew couple of lads and friends in there, but the rest were new people. So as always, I took the back seat and dived into observation. For a whole week I saw chats I could understand very little about, but the energy, I had seen it before, the energy was nothing short of phenomenal. And for once in a long time, I wanted to experience that energy.
So, I went ahead and paid the remaining amount for the trip. And when the day came, I woke up and hopped on the bus, not fascinated about a hike, not contemplating about how steep it will be or how often I will run out of breath…. this time the fascination was the group of people I just met, some of them I knew and some of them I was about to know!
All this trip needed was my presence to the bonding, mindful walks, getting to know each other, a trip to have some nyama choma, watching the world cup, having a couple of drinks and most of all having candid conversations!
So off we went to Morogoro and just as we started the trip, the bus came to life, for those who were awake laughter was the mother tongue and even those who tried to sleep, they had to chuckle at some point. None of it was boring, none of I was offending ,all it was, was a preparation to our minds for what was going to happen in the next seventy-two hours!
As we reached Morogoro, we met the remaining part of the group and off we went to the famous Kiotani Camp, a camp site situated on 2000 acres of land, 34.6 kilometres away from Morogoro region. Kiota Campsite will give you a life away from the urban home, once you get there ask for a Chuma and Vicky and this married couple who own the site will ensure that you have an unforgettable experience. And of course if you are ever at the bar, ask for “Kichuya”, and you will get what you need!
We had our first fun night, drinks and good meals, conversations around the bone fire mixed with individual stories of what others had experienced in their previous trips.
In the next morning we had our phenomenal mindful walk, even for those who didn’t manage to sleep, the walk was still mindful. A few kilometres of stretching and meditation made the morning memorable.
The afternoon came with the promising part of the day, a short trip to the famous Mnada happening around Dakawa. Here we received a great experience of “mbuzi choma” that made me remember a famous saying that I heard back in Uni… “wape nyama wanyamaze”, indeed after a couple of rounds the crowd went silent, all that remained was sips of whisky, a couple of beers and some candid conversations.
In the evening we went back to Kiotani and deep in our hearts, we had to come to terms that it was the last night of the trip, we couldn’t extend it, but we could make the most of it and that we did. And the icing on the cake was the win by Morocco though it might seem a little irrelevant at the moment.
All in all, the last morning came, and we had the breakfast of champions surrounded by a sense of love, kindness and family hood and of course a cocktail/mocktail bar. Time flew that morning; we went from laughs to goodbyes to our hosts very quick!
The ninjaz were struggling to get people back into the bus, there was too much to hold on to…… there was a community. We finally reached Dar again, back to the traffic and mega heat, I chose to say a few goodbyes and headed off because on the end of every trip, there is some emotions involved! If you are a traveller you will agree with me.. and if you are not then check with the Ninjaz and join them for the experience.
I am no salesman of my time, I also am no fortune teller, but I am a being who experienced a sense of belonging in a three-day trip. Once home, I began contemplating writing about my experience, and two weeks later I pen down my thoughts and ask you one thing… get your phone and go to Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn app and type in Travel Ninjaz, email them through travelninjaztz@gmail.com , or call them through +255 742 959 695.
Cheers
