Are you ready for this?

Exams are marked, grades are submitted, bags are packed, and we are off on a 34 day adventure through four East African countries!

Our journey began on Monday December 8, when we will take the overnight bus to Dar es Salaam. Arriving Tuesday morning, we will take the ferry to Zanzibar for a week. We plan on relaxing on the beach, soaking up the sun, going on a spice tour, visiting an island of tortoises, and meeting up with all of the other WorldTeach volunteers!

From Zanzibar, we will go to Arusha and Moshi. In Arusha, a possible camel ride to a Masai village will happen, and in Moshi, we will hike the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The next stop on our journey is Dyani Beach, Kenya. Christmas morning will be spent on the beautiful beaches of the Indian Ocean, so while I will certainly miss being home for the holidays, this will certainly be a good alternative.

Then we’ll visit Mombasa for a few days, and Marisa will be able to visit the people and places she met while studying abroad there for four months last year.

From Mombasa, we will overnight to Nairobi and head straight to Nakuru National Park for a day safari, and possible exploration of a crater and prehistoric site.

For New Year’s Eve, we’ll travel to Kisumu, Kenya on Lake Victoria, where we will meet up with three other volunteers to celebrate 2013!

Next on our itinerary is Uganda, and the first stop will be Jinja, which is the source of the Nile River and is also on Lake Victoria. What will we do there? White water raft on the Nile of course! This is certainly going to be an adventure, but you have to kick off the New Year right!

From Jinja we’ll head to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. We’re staying in a backpacker’s hostel and hopefully going to be able to trek chimpanzees in one or two of Uganda’s national parks!

With our time in Uganda well spent, we’ll head to Kigali, Rwanda for a few days. Still unsure of exactly what we’ll do in Rwanda, I’m sure we’ll find plenty of great things to do. Possibly visit genocide memorials and museums, perhaps explore a national park, or simply enjoy the wonders of such a great city!

Kigali marks the end of our adventure, and we’ll head home to Muyenzi January 11, just in time to begin a new school year!

So there you have it my friends, our East African backpacking adventure! I will certainly be posting pictures and stories about all of the exciting things that we are about to experience so stay tuned!

Are you ready for all of this?? Right, me either…….