Cultural Arts Safari – Workshops

A cultural arts safari and workshops by international artist Aida Ayers. This plein air painting safari will take you from the city centre of Dar es Salaam to the wilderness of Selous National Park to the historic sites of Bagamoyo and the white beaches of Zanzibar.

Whether a beginner or a seasoned professional artist of plain air painting, this artist safari will suit your needs. Enhance your compositions, experiment with your brushwork, and learn to see and mix fresh color in breathtaking light of the African sun. Aida’s workshops emphasize subject matter, hues and values, and how to push color. A study guide will be provided as professional guide service, and visual and spiritual nourishment.

Cultural Arts Safari Alice Aida Ayers has spent the past 15 years living and working between the Americas and Africa. She holds degrees in Fine Art, and Art Education. Her professional career has involved exhibiting her work in America, Germany, Mexico, and several countries in Africa. She has served as a resident artist, guest lecturer and adjunct professor in Kenya, America and Mexico. She has contracted out as an artist in education since 1990, Aida calls herself an “arts activist”, believing that it is part of her mission to share her education, skills and knowledge in what ever venue presents itself. She is the project director of Creative Solutions Zanzibar, a non profit organization that teaches empowerment through the arts. Her personality is inspiring and will make you laugh.

www.creativesolutionszanzibar.co.tz

Departure dates

If you have already a group of at least 4 people we can organize this safari in cooperation with Aida like any other tailor made safari, on the date you prefer. The Selous NP can be difficult in the rainy season in march and april.

Price

€ 1675 p.p., with a possible prolongation of five days Zanzibar € 265 p.p. – based on 4 persons.
Single Supplement € 365 euro

Includes:

Workshops and inspiration by Aida Ayers.
Accommodation in good hotels B&B and Lodge in The Selous NP FB, with vegetarian options
All transport and transfers, taxi’s in Dar es Salaam,1st class train ticket DSM -Selous NP, domestic flight Selous-DSM, Local bus to Bagamoyo, bicycles, dhow sailing trip Bagamoyo-Zanzibar and taxis on Zanzibar.
National Park and eco fees, game drive by 4 wheel drive, boot safari, walking safari , Spicetour, Stonetown tour.

Excludes:

International Airfare
Gratuities, visa $50 us a person to purchase at airport Dar es Salaam at arrival.
Travel insurance and airport taxes.
Items of a personal nature, drinks, meals where the itinerary gives B&B. Optional activities not included in the itinerary.
Optional excursion: Half a day game drive Selous NP $50 us, p.p, 2 persons needed. Night game drive $50 us p.p.

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Day-to-day description

Day 1 : Arrive at Dar es Salaam, transfer to our hotel, BB
After settling down there will be an introduction to the programme, Tanzania and each other. Depending on arrival time we will have dinner or lunch and free time to wander through Dar es Salaam with a guide.
Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania and the main commercial and administrative city. Although it is large there are still many places especially in the Indian neighborhood where you can sit on the street watch life go by and have a nice chai(cup of tea).

Day 2 : A half day in Dar es Salaam.
After breakfast, we will visit some of Dar es Salaam’s Contemporary Art galleries and the National Museum in the Botanical Gardens. There we will explore the ethnographical collection of masks, handcrafts, weapons and musical instruments or, we will take a trip out of the city center to visit Mwenge and the world famous Makonde woodcarvers and sculptors. Carving is an integral part of their lives inspired by the legend:

“In the beginning, there was a being, not yet man… One day he took a piece of wood and shaped it with a tool into a figure. He placed the figure in the sun by his dwelling. Night fell, and when he rose again the figure was a woman and became his wife…”

After our visit we will set of to the railway station. The train leaves around 13.30hrs We will depart by train TAZARA railway- 1st class and ride through the magnificent countryside, south of Dar es Salaam to Selous National Park, the largest and most remote sanctuary in Africa .We will sleep in a scenic lodge FB, where we will arrive after 5 hours.

Day 3: Photo Safari in Selous National Park
We will begin at daybreak with breakfast, then prepare for an all day excursion partly on foot, open land rover and in a boot on the Rufiji River.

The Selous NP lies on either side of the Rufiji River, which constantly changes course. Its’ width can vary from 50 yards to almost a mile. The river runs through a dramatic landscape of giant terminalia trees and palms. It is home to storks, ibises, herons and kingfisher birds and crocodiles. We will be able to see a great variety of the wildlife for which Africa is famous. Selous NP is the home of no less than six of Africa's giants: the African elephant, the lion, giraffe, the baobab tree, water buffalo, and hippopotamus.

After dinner it is possible to do a night safari of two hours.

Day 4 : Walking safari, travel and Workshop
Instead of walking it is also possible to do another optional half day game drive. After late lunch we depart to Dar es Salaam by plane 45 minutes, arrive in Dar es Salaam the end of the afternoon from where we take a one and a half hour private bus ride to Bagamoyo. After dinner we settle down near the beach in Bagamoyo and will have our first workshop of the tour, entitled “Art of the Diaspora”. This workshop will include a lecture, discussion and comparative study of various African arts, both traditional and contemporary. There will be also free time to begin making art. In the Bagamoyo Resort they have a fine restaurant, you eat a la carte.

Day 5: Bagamoyo Arts
Bagamoyo, a small fishing village which was for centuries a major port for traders and travelers. It hosts one of the first schools of art in Tanzania.

By cycling through the village Bagamoyo, we will experience the everyday life of Tanzanian people. We will visit the Bagamoyo School of Art, where classes are in session and inspiring young artists work with traditional and contemporary media. We will have the opportunity to meet these artists and discuss works in progress. At this point we will have free time for making art, you have the choice of working as a group or individually.

Day 6: Studio Day, Bagamoyo
This is a free day for either studio work, spending the day at the art school or just relaxing and absorbing the environment.

Day 7: Dhow Trip to Zanzibar
After breakfast we will prepare to leave Bagamoyo and sail to Zanzibar in approximately 3-5 hours by the Dhow named Marlie in Paradise see www.mip-zanzibar.nl If you don’t like sailing you also can take a ferry.
The dhow is a traditional wooden boat widely used around the coasts of Arabia and East Africa. This is a very romantic and authentic means of travel.

We will arrive in the old Stone Town of Zanzibar where we will stay in a hotel or Arabic house in the middle of lively Stonetown BB

Day 8: Stonetown
‘The street are, as they should be under such a sky, deep and winding alleys, hardly twenty feet broad, and travelers compare them to the threads of a tangled skein..”’
Richard Burton 1857, British explorer.

We will take a historic tour of the old Stonetown, ending at the palace museum garden, Where we will proceed to make art and have a simple lunch. After this art session, we will return to the hotel for a rest then head to one of the many great restaurants serving local dishes in town.

Day 9: Spice Tour- Mwangapwani Beach
During the second half of the 19th century, Zanzibar produced 90% if the worlds cloves. Along with the clove plantations we will also see and experience spices such as cardamom, nutmeg, turmeric, ginger and more.

We will have lunch on the plantation then head to the village of Mwangapwani beach. We will arrive at the compound of Creative Solutions , a local NGO, which provides art education to the community , we will sleep and eat at Aida’s place FB. You will experience real village life

Day 10: Slave Cavern Mwangapwani
Mwangapwani meaning in Arab shore, is the place where slaves were kept prior to being shipped out. We will visit the coral cavern built for the purpose of housing human cargo, as well as, a natural cave said to be used for the illegal transport of slaves after its abolishment.

After a swim, we will return to the compound of Creative Solutions where we will have dinner over an open fire and a group discussion and critique of works produced during our time together.

Day 11: Return to Dar es Salaam
by ferry, catch a taxi to the Airport and take your flight home.
Or stay for a few days more on one of the white sand beaches of Zanzibar. Brendafrica can advise you.

Each artist should bring her/his art supplies, materials in Tanzania are available, and however quality is an issue. We will take advantage of indigenous materials as much as possible. Information for what to bring along in general, please read or download the site page travel information of our website www.brendafrica.com

Please note that this itinerary is for guidance, and while every attempt will be made to abide by it, changes may become necessary due to factors outside our control, or to improve on the content, or make adjustments in the interests of the participants.

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