Day 7: Descent to Arusha

Greetings from Arusha!

This morning, we woke up to a cloudy, rainy morning at the Mount Kilimanjaro View Lodge, and we were provided a well-deserved hot breakfast. Some of us got to know a few of our hosts overnight, especially Jackson (not Foster!), who speaks very good English.

Some of us went out on another hike around the lodge after breakfast, while the rest played games and sang verses of “Vive l’amour” for the hour. Once we were all back together at the lodge, we had a nice lunch and had the privilege of seeing some local Chagga women performing some traditional song and dance numbers.

The Chagga women perform for the Penn Glee Club.

After that, we visited a local elementary school on the mountain and shared some of our music with the students. They entertained us with their versions of “Old MacDonald” and “If you’re happy and you know it.” Once the performances were done, we donated dozens of workbooks to the sixth and seventh graders.

Members of the PGC interact with the local schoolchildren. It was quite the rewarding experience! 

Then we took our vans from the school back to Moshi to pick up our luggage before heading out to Arusha for our stay at the Ndoro Hunter’s Lodge. We were welcomed by our hosts, Daniella and Elie, before being served dinner. Once we had all had our fill, we went to our rooms in anticipation of a 5:30 AM call for breakfast before our safari.

Kwaheri (goodbye for now)!

The Penn Glee Club