Kenya / Tanzania

Hi all,

After we left left you last time we got an early night in anticipation of the adventures that lay ahead. The next morning we were up bright and early to meet up with our group and board our truck headed for the Masai Mara national park. It was only a 250km trip from Nairobi to the park, but the roads were, well, lets just say not exactly fantastic..... so 8 hours later we finally rolled into our campsite where we set up camp and enjoyed a delicious dinner in front of the fire. The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn and off into the park for a day of game driving. We had an amazingly lucky day, where we got up close and personal with zebras, wildebeest, elephants, cheetahs having lunch, giraffes, lions, hippos, loads of different antelopes and gazelles, buffalo, monkeys, and the highlight of the day, an uber-rare black rhino... who tolerated the presence of our truck for about 30 seconds before squaring up and deciding it was time to charge us!! Luckily our driver saw this situation developing and we were well on our way by the time he got up any speed!!

When our game drive was complete we headed for what turned out to be one of the best and most memorable experiences of the whole trip, a tour through a real life Masai village. No sky sports here folks, but plenty of houses made from wood and cow dung, yards for the animals to sleep in at night to keep them safe from the wildlife, 'local brew' made from the seeds of the sausage tree, making fire from two sticks, and traditions such as circumcising the boys at age 14...where the whole village watches and the boy must prove his strength by not making a sound..... and the male leaving the village for 3 years from 15 - 18 years of age and not returning until he has killed a male lion with just a spear....mmmm, and I thought it sucked having to do the lawns every couple of weekends!!!!

From there we were lucky enough to stop off at the local school for a nosey on our wander back to camp. That evening we were treated to a traditional masai dance in front of the fire. The next morning it was back on the road (I assure you that I use that term very, very loosely) back to Nairobi, where we were due to attend a pre-departure meeting for our main 43 day tour down to Capetown. We were lucky enough to have 4 people from our Masai Mara trip on our tour, so we knew some people already.

The next morning we met up with our group for the drive to Arusha, gateway to the Serengeti national park and the Ngorongoro crater. We set up camp for the evening and then enjoyed an evening in the campsite bar. The campsite also has its own snake park, so the next morning we had a chance to check it out. Sadly we missed the black mamba having a breakfast of guinea pig, but we did get to touch a baby crocodile, hold a baby tortoise, as well as finding out what it was like to wear a real life snake as a necklace!! From there it was into our safari jeep for the journey to the edge of the Ngorongoro crater, the spot of our camp for the night. The next morning we were up at 5am and on the road down into the crater itself for a day of game driving. The wildlife was not quite as abundant as it was in the masai mara, but we did get to see plenty, including hyena, a serval cat, 2 more black rhinos (although this time from a much safer distance), hippos, monkeys, lions with cubs, as well as loads of ostriches. After a late lunch in the crater it was off to the serengeti national park where we did a bit more game driving before heading to camp, spotting giraffes, buffalo, and lots more gazelles.... or cheetah chips as our guide called them, and the last remaining member of the big 5, the notoriously hard to spot leopard!!! That night was spent in an open campsite in the middle of the park, where we were warned (more than once) not to wander far from the tents...unless of course we fancied becoming lion food!!

After a slightly restless night due to the sounds of the wildlife around us seeming a little close for comfort, we were back on the road at 5am the next morning again in search of more cool stuff to see. Eagle eyed Arnoux spotted a pair of cheetahs in the early hours sunlight so we pulled up a pew and waited for them to get themselves some breakfast. Sadly, after watching for about an hour (which felt like a lifetime) it appeared as though these particular cats were not at all interested in the buffet of gazelles that were wandering in their vicinity, so we moved on. After a couple of pretty uneventful hours we had an amazing, super up close and personal experience with a herd of elephants, before being lucky enough to repeat the feat with a family of giraffes, and a huge herd of buffalo!! We also saw a pair of lions stalking some antelope, however nothing came of it and the antelopes in question lived to see another day...... bugger!! From there it was back to camp to put down our tents and have another late lunch before heading back to Arusha for the evening.

From Arusha the next stop was Dar es Salam, so we had 2 solid days of driving ahead of us. We easily passed the time with ipods, cards and sudoku before we finally arrived at our destination. We spent that evening on the beautiful beach watching the sun go down, before retiring to our beach side hut (we upgraded from our tent as it was crazy cheap!!) to enjoy a wildlife show of the bats and lizards that were sharing our hut with us.... luckily we were safe and sound under our mozzie net!!

When we awoke the next morning it was off to the docks to catch our ferry to our home for the next 3 nights, the island of Zanzibar. We arrived yesterday morning, and after checking into our hotel and enjoying a well earned cold shower, we had lunch by the sea. After lunch it was off to the local sports bar to watch the All Blacks first game of the 2007 rugby world cup....but sadly the local cable channel had other ideas!! Dispite there being numerous ads mentioning the fact that they were showing all 48 games live....we got to see 0 minutes of the AB's game, 17 mins of the Aussie game, and 35 mins of the England game.... all 48 games live my ass!!! Thankfully we had good company, and cold beer so it could have been a lot, lot worse!!!

This morning we were up again at sparrows fart for the coach up to the north of the island, which is where we find ourselves right now. The beach is absolutely gorgeous and only a stones throw from our front door, so we are heading there once this is finished. Tomorrow we are spending the whole day snorkelling at an atol off the coast.... should be great...even if we did manage to leave our mask and snorkel sets on the mainland.... oh well, rental gear it is!!!

Hope all is well, we apologise for the lack of photos (especially for people like Tim.... who only look at the photos) but the internet is stone age slow here, and we simply cannot upload any....

Just in case we dont get back to a computer before the 25th, HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY SHARNEE hope you have a wicked day, sorry we cant be there but we'll be thinking of you wherever we are.