Everything started from our donation of pencils, rubbers and sharpeners for the village of Saadani that is primarily sponsored and supported by SANA, one of the siblings of Miseni Retreat family.
Costas, Bakari, Ally, Mzee Sefu, Mama Tuma opened their arms and hosted us for more than 1,5 month in the spring of 2013.
If there is one country that we honestly loved for its diversity in our African leg, this is Tanzania. According to the stats, the Swahili culture spreads from the coast of Zanzibar Archipelago deep to DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Burundi & Uganda. For us, the Swahili culture is what makes Tanzania unique and we were fortunate enough to experience this at its full extent thanks to the family of Miseni Retreat.
SANA, Miseni Retreat, Saadani Lodges & the vilages of Gongo & Saadani are all under the same vision (and provision) of Costas Coucoulis, a charismatic philanthropist who was born and lives in Africa the last 40+ years and is extremely aware of the conservation of African nature.
We had the privilege to work with Costas, Bakari & Ally on the Maisha Safari Camp project for a while. However, our trip was “stronger” at that time and we gave up sooner than expected. In the meantime, we spent some time with Mzee Sefu and his wife, Mama Tuma and we had the chance to see what Miseni Retreat is about. These 12 days at Miseni Hill are one of the highlights of our trip so far and is also documented in our book as well.
Miseni Hill is a sacred hill for the locals and you can only walk there barefoot. The vibes of the energy are strong and you need to spend some time there in order to relax and enjoy the surroundings. The wildlife is abundant and the adjacent Saadani National Park is the only coastal NP in Africa where you can literally see elephants swim in the ocean. Plus, if you are lucky and you visit the right season, you can see dolphins in the day and lions in the night!
Miseni Retreat is located on the south edge of the Zaraninge Forest and the distance from downtown Dar es Salaam is only 125 kms through Bagamoyo.
When we were there, the Retreat was a newborn baby. Recently, we followed the news, checked Facebook & talked with some friends who are actually there and we found out that Miseni Retreat eventually opened up its doors to accommodate the first guests.
Miseni Retreat is also featured in our CHECK-INS list as an exceptional place that we have spent time during our long RTW tour and we are so happy to see that it grew up that fast.
Their moto is “Live in agreement with nature“. It couldn’t be more true & authentic.
Why dont you take a chance to experience by yourself? We would more than glad to hear back that a Pin Project friend visited Tanzania and said hello -or even better Habari za asubuhi- in our African friends.
From the bottom of our hearts, ASANTE SANA (=Thank you so much) for teaching us that life is simple with little things.
Have a look for reservations & more pics @ http://www.kijanicollection.com/ & Miseni Retreat at Facebook.
2 Comments
Elsebie · January 17, 2018 at 13:39
What a beautiful experience! Glad you guys are keeping in touch with this project.
The Pin Project · January 17, 2018 at 14:02
Thank you guys! You know better than us what Africa means.