Leaving Tanzania we descend through scenic mountain passes to our lakeshore camp at Chitimba. Set on a golden sandy beach amongst banana palms and papaya trees, our accommodation for the night is surrounded by the famous Livingstonia and Nyika mountains. Left at 5:30am as it will be a very long day - 13 hours. We drive through the mountains and the 'bread basket' of Tanzania. Green, lush and prosperous - they grow potatoes, beans, cabbage, corn, bananas, pin...

Today we travel further inland and up to Iringa in the highland tea growing area. This evening our dinner is in a local Masai restaurant where we enjoy a traditional Tanzanian evening. We left Mikumi after lunch to drive to Iringa where we stayed on a delightful farm. In late again however, the huts were cute, the showers clean and water warm, heated by a wood burning stove. The food in the restaurant was from the farm and amazing. Had a couple of glasses o...

Today we leave the humid Indian Ocean coastline and our journey leads us to Mikumi National Park. We left late and thus arrived kind of late. It seemed like it was going to rain so I asked for a room. Which I will do as I do not want anymore 'camping' after Kilimanjaro and hopefully there will be rooms available wherever we camp. Good call as it poured during the night. The tents are OK but heavy and hard to assemble. There was an optional game drive in the...

Off from Kipipeo Beach outside of Dar es Saalam January 13 - I arrived at the Dar airport early because my flight had been altered - I was late to the Kigali airport and even my luggage arrived - yeah! The only unpleasant experience was my trip from the airport to the Kipipeo Beach Hotel far outside of Dar. The driver agreed on a price of $50 US then changed it once on our way because he took the 'long way around' to avoid the ferry. He kept saying 'you booti...

On Jan 9, I arrived late at night so wasn't able to see much of the country side. What I've seen thus far is a modern African country with good roads and it is so clean. The hotel is vast and it is cold here so had to have a fire in my room. Thank goodness for hot water! THe languages here are iRwandan, English and French. At least I can understand some of it! On the way to the hotel from Kigagli airport, my guide told me an amazing personal story. In 19...