What to do
"Mother Bear" Visited Tanzanian Orphanage
The Shadows of Africa Team has a fantastic source of inspiration: our customers. Not only adventurers, but people with open hearts and great ways of thinking.
Patty and Kathleen from the USA brought one extra bag for their safari. We were surprised to find out it was full of hand-made bears. Kathleen has been a part of the community, “Mother Bear” for fourteen years and they have sent thousands of bears to different African countries.
Now her dream came true – she finally had an opportunity to give these bears to kids in person!Lesia and Julia from our team joined the ladies for the orphanage visit. They headed to Africa Amini Life, which is famous not only because of its unique lodge but because of its successful social projects such as the local hospital, school, and orphanage support.
One of the founders of Africa Amini, Austrian doctor Kornelia Wallner, met guests in the hospital and escorted them to the orphanage. She shared a story about a newborn child they’d just saved from death. Unfortunately, the mother died giving birth, but the baby was strong enough to survive. That’s why they gave her the name, Leon, which sounds close to “lion”.
It seems like these bears really have lots of a mother’s warmth that kids from the orphanage are looking for. All of them were more than excited to get their presents and started playing immediately, trying to guess their new friends’ names. Kathleen and Peggy taught the kids to sing a “Teddy Bear Song” and the kids all banded together to teach the ladies how to sing a popular local song, “Jambo”.
We are proud of our travelers who can bring additional meaning to their African journey. It’s not that hard to do something great and important in your life, you just need to be brave enough to start!
Amini Africa Maasai Lodge: A Cultural Experience with Social Benefit to Match
Bordering Arusha National Park, Africa Amini Maasai Lodge gets a huge tick of approval from the Shadows of Africa team. Not only does this lodge offer a unique experience and offer genuine interaction with the Maasai and elements of their culture but your stay also helps to support social projects run by the founders and members of the local Africa Amini Maasai Lodge community.
Healthcare in Tanzania is largely determined based on accessibility and affordability. Such barriers to healthcare are significantly exacerbated in more rural areas of the country. Recognising that healthcare was not attending to the needs of Maasai in Momella, Arusha, Doctor Cristine Wallner from Austria (founder) began to take this issue into her own hands. From its small beginnings of attending to clients under the giant fig tree, Amini Africa has expanded into a permanent hospital, and also provides access to other social services such as education and vocational skills training.
The Fig Tree and Starting Place for Africa Amini“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services”
- Article 25 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948When Dr Wallner shifted to Tanzania, her idea was to establish access to professional healthcare where there was none. Due to the isolation of Momella, people requiring treatment needed to travel hours by foot to the nearest health facility. Today, the health facilities at Momella are some of the best in the region.
Shadows of Africa recently visited Amini to get a glimpse at the work they were undertaking. Remtulla, our designated tour guide, took us around the hospital including their new operating theatre (opening in October), the school and orphanage, computer learning centre, women’s centre, library and healing centre.
Nurses RoomsIf you’re interested in getting a genuine cultural experience during your stay in Tanzania, while supporting a great cause at the same time, don’t go past Africa Amini Maasai Lodge. Check out the rest of the photos from our tour below!
Women's Centre
Healing Centre with Natural Remedies
Library
OrphanageHow to Book the Perfect African Safari Vacation
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What is Meaningful Travel?Meaningful travel is the belief that travel can be about more than just having an amazing time and taking beautiful photos.It's the belief that you can do all of these things while still leaving the place you visited a better place than it was when you arrived.It's about giving something back to the country that has amazed and moved you through volunteering at orphanages, charitable organisations, or conservation programmes.How it works
- 1 Describe your dream trip
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