More of Mafia Island...

Unfortunately, Ashlynn didn’t have a chance to help write these blog entries, so we’ll have to settle with some beautiful photos with no explanations.

Final words from Ashlynn: Same same, but different.

Frontier Tanzania...

When Ashlynn found out that Veronica was going to a marine conservation volunteer program over the summer, she was determined to do the same. She was too young to attend Veronica’s program, but she managed to find a program that allowed volunteers as young as 16. So, five days after Veronica left for Africa, Ashlynn did the same. I completely freaked out the night before she left when I learned that Dar es Salaam, where Ashlynn would be spending her first night in Tanzania, is one of the world’s most dangerous cities.

Luckily, Ashlynn had no problems. She was picked up by a taxi driver arranged through Frontier, the non-profit tour organizer, and taken to a youth hostel where she had her own room. The following morning, she was brought to the airport where she boarded this plane to Mafia Island, where she’d be camping for the next month.

Both girls enjoyed beautiful waterfront settings, but that’s where the similarities ended. Whereas Veronica was staying in relative luxury in a guesthouse with electricity, running water and a chef, Ashlynn was camping in a primitive camp with no electricity, running water or Internet.

She quickly adapted to pooping in a bucket and loved being offline, although she did send a few texts so we knew she was OK.

She was the youngest volunteer, but had no problem fitting in with the older volunteers or the kids from the local school.

She dove nearly daily, which she loved! In addition to obtaining her Advanced Open Water certification, she continued with her training to get her Rescue Diver and Emergency First Responder certifications—she may be the youngest in our family, but she is now the most advanced diver.

Apparently Ashlynn was very lucky when it came to food during her stay at Frontier as not only was everything naturally vegan (hard to deal with dairy products without refrigeration), but there was a lot more variety than normal since the camp leader refused to eat only beans and rice as is often the case.