About i-to-i What i-to-i trips and TEFL are, how and why we do what we do!
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About i-to-i What i-to-i trips and TEFL are, how and why we do what we do!
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Welcome to Tanzania! You’ll be met at the airport by a member of the team holding an i-to-i sign. It’s a 40 minute mini-bus transfer to the volunteer house while you get your first glimpse into Tanzanian life! You won’t have to search hard to see the imposing figure of Mount Kilimanjaro over your shoulder!
Once you arrive at the volunteer house in Moshi you’ll have time to relax after your journey, meet other volunteers and start to acclimatise to the lovely warm air. Why not grab yourself a cool beer and put your feet up on the balcony and watch the sun go down?
If you aren’t able to arrange a flight to get you into Kilimanjaro on your official arrival date then we’d recommend you fly in a day early. We can arrange an early airport pick-up for you including one night’s accommodation. Please call us for more information.
After breakfast it’s time for your orientation. The orientation is a crucial part of settling in to life as a ‘Mzungu’ (Westerner) in Tanzania. You’ll have the opportunity to meet the local team who will take you through what it’s going to be like at your project, do’s and don’ts, how to stay safe. This is your prime opportunity to ask any burning questions that you haven’t yet had answered. You’ll then all head into town for lunch and to get your bearings.
After the orientation you’ll have some time to unpack, relax and prepare before your first day at the project tomorrow.
Today is the day you’ve been waiting for…time to get stuck in!
A member of the team will walk with you to your project. This can take up to an hour, which you’ll probably find is one of the most enjoyable bits of your day. You’ll be walking to a chorus of shouts and songs from children, stepping over chickens and waving to adults.
You’ll be introduced to the staff at your project, who will be your daily contact. You will be at your project until lunchtime when you and your fellow volunteers will head into Moshi town centre for lunch.
You’ll have the opportunity to sample everything from pizza and chips to local dried fish and ugali so be adventurous! Your afternoons are yours to spend as you please.
Your first day is all about settling in, getting to know the staff and children and seeing how your project works.
The remainder of your week will be spent getting to know everyone at your school and establishing some form of routine with the children in your class. The first few days will most probably pass in a blur, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself to get too much done this week, just find your way around and watch others to see how it’s done!
Today is your day to spend as you please at your leisure. You can do as you will and enjoy the town of Moshi and its beautiful surroundings, or head to a local hotel and sunbathe and swim until your heart is content.
Put your boots on and get ready to plunge into the lush wilderness at the base of the highest mountain in Africa. You will spend a few hours hiking with a guide and admiring the natural beauty of the area. Even though you’re not heading to the top, you can still brag that you’ve climbed on Mount Kilimanjaro!
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.
This week you will continue your work with the beautiful children of Moshi at your volunteer project. Try out some new games, sing some lively songs and generally help the children to have fun whilst learning!
Breakfast and dinner are included.
Today you will spend the day learning about the fascinating Masai culture. You take a tour of the village and spend the night in a traditional Masai mud hut. The transfer to the village takes a few hours to reach, but don’t pack your camera away, you’ll have some amazing photos to take along the way.
Known for their hospitality, the Masai will welcome you into their lives and ensure that you have everything that you need - within reason! Please note that the mud hut can get chilly so please bring warm clothes.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.
Today you will take a short drive to the gorgeous Lake Manyara National Park and enjoy the fantastic views. With a little luck you may just have a close encounter with a number of majestic animals including tree-climbing lions, elephants and hippos.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.
Wow we’re really spoiling you on this trip! The N’Gorongoro crater is not to be missed. This unique natural crater is home to some of the most beautiful wildlife in Tanzania. You may come across rhino, leopards and cheetahs, so keep your camera to hand. Lions, antelopes, gazelles and flamingos are also often spotted in the crater.
You will have plenty of time to explore this breathtaking area before transfering back to Moshi ready to fall in to your bed.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner included.
This week you will continue your work with the children of Moshi. You will have got to know most of the children`s names by now, along with their personalities and cheeky smiles! Have fun as you enter your last week of volunteering and have the time of your life!
Breakfast and dinner are included.
Lucky you - you are off to the biggest city of Dar es Salaam! The transfer will take around 7 hours by public bus. You will stay in a hotel around 20 km north of the city centre, very close to the beach, very nice. The rest of the day is yours once you arrive in Dar es Salaam so go and check it out!
Breakfast and dinner are included.
It’s time for you to leave the mainland and head to the tropical island of Zanzibar. Take in the beautiful views and the fresh sea air on the ferry ride over.
Your first stop is Stone Town, one of the most historic towns in all of East Africa. You will be given a free ticket to the Stone Town museum so go and have a nice afternoon on us! You spend the night at a friendly guesthouse right in Stone Town, perfect for exploring and tasting some local delicacies.
Breakfast is included.
Zanzibar is known for its spices and you are about to find out why. Today you will head to the spice market and really get of sense of how to wheel and deal in Tanzanian. If you bargain hard you are sure to walk away with some great deals!
Breakfast is included.
Welcome to paradise! Today you will settle in to the beach lodge. You will have the day to spend as you choose. We highly recommend getting in as much quality beach time as possible and sorting those tan lines out.
Breakfast is included.
Today is a free day for you to catch up on anything you feel like doing in Zanzibar. We can’t recommend chilling out on the beach highly enough! You’ve worked hard and deserve to have some rest. You don’t have much time left on your trip, so make the most of free time.
Breakfast is included.
We hope you’ve had a lovely time in Zanzibar and that you’ll come back one day. You’re going to miss waking up to the beach and that fantastic view!
Unfortunately your time is up at the beach and it’s time to board the ferry back to the bustling city of Dar es Salaam.
Breakfast and dinner are included.
From Dar es Salaam you will board the bus back to Moshi, which takes around seven hours, so sit back and enjoy the ride. Tonight is your final night in Tanzania, can you believe it?
Breakfast and dinner are included.
Sadly the end of your trip has arrived. Board your flight with a big smile on your face, smug and safe in the knowledge that the past four weeks have been truly amazing. Spend the flight planning your next adventure.
Breakfast is included.
Please note that this trip is guaranteed to run and does not need minimum numbers
We work with a number of nurseries and kindergartens in Moshi with children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and these projects need your assistance to give them the best possible start in life.
These projects involve working with young children to help them with the basic skills in English and math that will give them hope and potential for the future. The nurseries are set up to prepare the children for primary school and provide extra care where they otherwise may not be able to access it. Eager faces will greet you every day as you use your creative skills to make the lessons more engaging and fun! Many of these projects are set up by adults in the community to try to give poor children a chance for the future.
Moshi is the closest town to Mount Kilimanjaro in the north of Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border. The town has a range of facilities including internet cafes, ATM machines, banks and other shops and restaurants.
Moshi is also the start for most treks up Mount Kili and for other safaris and tours. The projects are distributed across Moshi so you can have up to an hour’s walk or a shared taxi ride to reach them.
All too often parents cannot afford to take care of their children, especially if they are faced with a devastating combination of poverty and HIV/AIDS. This is the reason why there are so many street children and orphans in Africa with no one to care for them. By assisting at these projects you are helping to educate and entertain children who may not receive care and attention elsewhere.
Your role between Monday and Friday will be to provide a range of skills and activities, depending on your experience. You will be asked to help teach the children basic learning skills, such as the alphabet, maths and simple vocabulary. The main aim is to make learning as fun and interactive as possible so any games, songs or other fun activities you can initiate would be greatly appreciated.
The projects involving work with children are mainly in the morning so you can use your afternoon to really help other people within the community such as adult Masai or women’s groups which will be a fantastic unique cultural experience. There are also possibilities for afternoon classes with children who are struggling with their morning studies, conservation projects or even football practice with the local teams! That’s if you aren’t too hot under the African sun!
Our experience has taught us never to enter a classroom without stickers! Children around the world go mad for stickers in their workbooks and will work hard for them too!
Other useful ice-breakers are feathers, footballs, balloons, plastercine, flash cards, and also photos of you, your family, house and pets to incorporate in your lesson plans.
As Tanzania is a modest country you will need to dress conservatively at your project so remember that shorts and skirts should be to the knee or below and tops and shirts should cover the shoulders. Bikinis, short skirts and shorts, strappy tops should be left for the beaches!
When you’re volunteering in Tanzania the project you work on benefits from your help and adds to the ongoing work of others. You’ll need to apply for a Permit in order to do this; it’s a working Permit that allows you to volunteer. We’ll send you all the documents straight after booking so you know what you to do. There are a just few things you’ll need to know about the Permit when preparing your itinerary:
IMPORTANT: If you want to travel around Tanzania, go on safari, climb Kili etc please ensure that you do this BEFORE your project start date whilst you are still on a tourist visa - the tourist visa you enter the country on gives you far greater freedom in terms of where go and what you do!
It may seem like a strange concept to pay for your volunteer experience. You'd be right if you think you shouldn't and the truth is you actually don't! Your placement is free; it's the benefits around it that you pay for. It's important to note that i-to-i is a travel company and not a charity. We provide a professional travel service. We are responsible for finding and assessing worthwhile projects across the world, preparing you fora the volunteering experience and supporting you whilst you're there.
Here’s some more information about what your placement fee covers….
We work with hundreds of locally run partner projects around the world and are constantly sourcing new opportunities. We visit all projects to check that they are worthwhile and legitimate and we also conduct a thorough safety assessment before we'll send volunteers there. More
Almost everyone who works for i-to-i has traveled extensively or worked overseas. This means we're a goldmine of information; we're always available to offer support and guidance before, during and after your trip.
Once you book on to a project you'll receive a Welcome Pack that contains loads of general information about volunteering, about your chosen country and how to have fun and stay safe. We'll also give you advice on visas and inoculations.
It can be pretty daunting arriving in a different country for the first time - especially after a long flight! If you arrive on your project start date, there'll be a welcoming face at the airport to pick you up and take you to your accommodation.
Soon after you arrive you will attend a thorough orientation with our in-country team. This is to cover important safety and security information. You'll also get some tips about sight-seeing options for your time off and maybe even learn some of the local lingo!
Accommodation is included with all projects and meals are even included with some. We only use locally-owned and operated accommodation so that part of your placement fee is filtering back into the local economy. Most projects offer homestay, guesthouse or shared volunteer houses as standard accommodation, but some offer the chance to upgrade to a more comfortable living standard. More
Your in-country team will arrange a pick-up for you at the airport and will conduct your orientation upon arrival. All coordination teams are English speaking and are locals of your destination country. They won't be at your project every day, but will be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week if you need them. More
Aside from the local support from your in-country team you'll be given access to a 24/7 emergency phone line manned by our response team in case any problem should arise while you're overseas. We also hire crisis management professionals to be on hand in case of a situation that requires additional expert support. More
The safety and security of our volunteers is paramount. For this reason we provide ongoing crisis management and emergency response training to our local teams around the world. We also fly in our in-country coordinators to the UK regularly for thorough training to help them offer the best safety to the thousands of volunteers they support each year. More
We don't fund our projects directly from the project fee that you pay us. Instead we choose to support a number of projects every year through a grant scheme for tangible long-term initiatives. In the last 3 years we have distributed over US$250,000 to our most needy projects to help them in the great work they do.
We make no secrets of the fact that part of your placement fee is reinvested in to recruiting volunteers just like you! The volunteers recruited in one week will typically deliver over 2000 man-days of service. The difference this makes to projects overseas is immeasurable. Many of our overseas projects rely on assistance from international volunteers, so it's necessary for us to put together brochures and websites to find the people who can support them. This recruitment process is vital to ensure programs have a constant stream of reliable volunteers.
Volunteering through a company like i-to-i has a lot of intangible benefits to developing overseas communities and the individual projects that we work with. To find out more about our placements. click here
It's important that you get adequate travel insurance for your i-to-i experience and as many of you will be working this often means standard policies won’t work. The good news is that no matter where your coming from we have already found a policy to suit you.
The best time to get your insurance is when you book your project as this means you can get a fully tailored policy exclusive to i-to-i, just ask your consultant for further details at the time of booking.
EU Customers – find out more here >>
Australian customers - find out more here >>
All other customers - find out more here >>
As with insurance we advise you get these booked as early as possible to avoid high prices and to make sure you arrive on the right day. The i-to-i team is right up to date with the best deals no matter where you’re flying from; their insider knowledge could save you some time and money.
If you are arriving before your designated arrival date, we can arrange for an extra meet and greet service for you. For an extra supplement we will be there to meet you at the airport and take you to your orientation accommodation. One additional night a
The cost of this Early Pick-up service is US$ 90.00
During your stay in Moshi, we’ll put you up in a volunteer house which is located in a guarded secure area and looks out on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day! The house has capacity for around 40 people! At the Masai village you will stay in a traditional mud hut without electricity or running water.
Whilst in Dar and Zanzibar, we’ll put you up in a locally run guesthouse and a volunteer house in lovely locations, some are on a shared basis of 2 and some are on a basis of up to 7 sharing.
The Moshi volunteer house is huge. Even in our busier summer months when we tend to fill to capacity, there is still plenty of space for everyone. There’s nothing like waking up to the view of Mount Kilimanjaro from the balcony as you enjoy a morning coffee!
The bedrooms sleep between 4-6 people of same sex volunteers and have single beds and space for your luggage. Each person has their own locker but you should bring your own padlock as these are not provided.
The house has a huge balcony area with plenty of seating; perfect for watching the sun go down with your new friends. There are lovely gardens and the unforgettable view of Mount Kilimanjaro to remind you that you are in Tanzania!
Breakfast and dinner and cooked and provided for you by the house staff. You will need to do your share of keeping your things tidy and your room clean, that’s all we ask of you.
The bathrooms have western style toilets and showers. Although there is not hot water, you won’t miss this as it is already hot weather, you’ll look forward to a cool shower.
Based on previous volunteer feedback, we recommend that you bring the following:
The house is located in a quiet residential area of Moshi and you’ll find plenty of amenities within walking distance. Moshi has ATM machines, cafés, bars, banks and internet cafes to keep you connected to the Western world.
Depending on which project you go to, you usually walk to and from your project. This can take up to one hour, but previous volunteers have said that this was the highlight of their day; they felt safe and met plenty of children along the way to keep them company!
Modern day Tanzania was formed in 1964 with the merger of Tanganyika and the island of Zanzibar. Migrating tribes from across Africa settled on the land as early as the first century BC, while Arab traders occupied the coastal regions from around the 8th century onwards. The Portuguese added to the mix when they colonised the country from the 16th century. By the 19th century, a European presence was stronger than ever; explorers, notably Stanley and Livingstone, were arriving and the country became part of the German Empire until the British took control after WW I.
Nationalist movements were gathering pace against the onslaught of European rule and by 1961 the country had gained independence with Julius Nyerere of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) at the helm. A one party system pervaded much of the century until 1995, which saw the first democratic elections in almost 20 years. Recent elections however have been wrought with contention and have succeeded in widening the gap between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Tanzania remains one of the poorest countries in the world, but it has achieved steady economic growth, aided by a rise in tourism.
Tanzania’s summer is December to March while its winter season runs from March to May, and is also the main rainy season. The heavy rains can make travel on unpaved roads and dirt tracks difficult. The rainy season hits Zanzibar in April and May. The country is hot year round with the most agreeable temperatures from June to September, averaging in the high 20°C. The most opportune time to see lions roaring and wildebeest roaming is to visit the Serengeti from January to March, or the beginning of June and mid-November, when the great migrations to and from Kenya takes place.
The mainland and Zanzibar are serviced by a stream of airlines, both domestic and private small plane operators. Air Tanzania and Precision Air fly the main domestic routes, including flights to Zanzibar (around 20 minutes flying time from Dar es Salaam), with the main flight hubs based at Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Kilimanjaro. Zan Air, Zanzibar’s airline, also flies to the mainland and to the island of Pemba. Coastal Aviation specialises in Safari trips and has a fleet of small planes varying from 3 to 12 seaters. Ferries also serve Zanzibar from Dar es Salaam. Ferry operator Azam Marine provides a daily service that takes around 2 hours, while its route from Zanzibar to Pemba takes just over an hour and runs a couple of times a week. Faster services are available from companies such as Sea Express and Flying Horse.
Bus travel is the most used form of transport but is tainted with road accidents and poor quality roads outside of the major towns. Private companies like Scandinavia Express offer air-conditioned buses that cover the major routes. Dalla dallas (minibuses) are also in abundance and often travel to more remote areas though they don’t have the best safety records. Buses only travel during daylight hours as night time bus travel is not permitted. Self-driving is not recommended. Most four-wheel drives for safaris are required to be hired with a driver and some car hire companies don’t allow for self-driving outside of Dar es Salaam.
A much safer, albeit slower, option is to ride the country’s railways. Tanzania Railways Corporations runs services from Dar es Salaam to stations throughout the country, while TAZARA covers stops en route to Zambia from Tanzania. It’s best to opt for the comfort and security of classes 1 or 2 but travellers still need to keep an eye on belongings and close windows at night.
For localised travel, crowded buses and minibuses, together with taxis, are a regular feature in towns and cities as a means of getting from A to B.
We work in partnership with hundreds of established projects that are run by local communities. The information on our website comes directly from the projects and we work with them to ensure this information is as accurate as possible. However, due to the very nature of the projects themselves the exact details of what happens on a daily basis can change with little or no notice. If you have travelled with us and have any updates to this information, please let us know.
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