Our plans for July 3rd where to continue on to Mukumi National Park and finish the rest of our 4 day safari. However, we were told we would have to go back to Dar (a 5-6 hour ride) only to change vehicles and head another 4-5 hours to Mukumi. Nora and I were trying to avoid going back to DAR so we ask our tour operator Ali, Abba, if we could stay an extra night and join the Norwegian couple that was also heading to Mukumi the following day. He said yes and we ended up getting a free night’s stay at the beautiful Hippo Camp where we stayed in a really nice safari tent right along the lake and enjoyed great meals, lots of sun and relaxation, playing pool with the guide and chef, and listening to the sounds of monkeys and hippos through out the day and night!
Since we had a whole day free we wanted to walk the 3km to the village. Mloka, is a small village with 800 people, a small school, a barber shop, a few shops, a church, a bus stand, a market, a few restaurants, a hotel (well a place visitors can sleep), a pool table along the street, and one satellite dish. Magile, our boat and walking safari guide came to the village with us. We ended up staying all day, talking to the locals, eating fresh oranges (how they peel the oranges is pretty impressive), I played soccer with some of the children, then we ended up watching some of the local boys playing an inter- village match, and before we headed back to the camp we played pool with some of the older guys in the village.
It was such a great experience that we would have never gotten if we just stuck with the 4 day safari trip. Most tours bring you into the parks/game reserves, show you animals, feed you and then shuffle you onto your next location. We were lucky enough to experience first hand a day in the life of a villager.