Tanzania- Arusha
We drove to Arusha, it was a long drive and tempers were flaring in the local Shoprite when we all had to buy the food for the cooking in the Serengeti. It's funny if you ask to go to the toilet in a big shopping store they take you in the stock room, give you a pat down and let you use the staff one. We have been in lots of stock rooms now but the first time in Arusha we were a little worried as there were lots of locals crowded around us asking us about England and football, bless them they made us promise that we would come back to Shoprite if we ever come back to Arusha. We eventually made it to the camp site and started to make tea, I went to go get some water from a tap for the kettle and I looked over a little wall (about waist height) and to my surprise there was a pond with lots of crocs in- I nearly died! It turned out we were staying at a camp site come snake park come Croc Farm! The camp site was really cool, it was a lot like Glastonbury with lots of hidden areas to the bar and sand on the floor and t shirts on the roof. That night larium had us doing our usual crazy tricks and I woke up in the middle of the night shouting at John for the head torch because I had to get everyone out of the tent and get ready to go, his response was that he had to go do some money transfers with Dave (a guy on the truck) on the truck so nobody could see. I then packed my bag before John asked what I was doing as it was only 12.30… I hope it is Larium or we are well cracking up!

Safari in the Serengeti

We headed to the Serengeti in little 4 x 4's, stopping on the way for some fresh pineapple! We were so impressed with the Serengeti it is very green and beautiful, as is much of Tanzania. The only problem with the Serengeti is that it's so big so you can drive for ages without seeing much. But we got really lucky as we saw a lion sitting on the side of the road- check out the pics for how close he was! We bush camped that night, the toilet (a hole in the ground) was full of spiders so I opted for the bush option and when I turned around there were 3 big Buffalos really close watching me needless to say I ran back to the camp! Also that night an elephant came trudging past our tents, it's pretty surreal. That day we got really lucky and saw a rock (not just rock but) with 5 lionesses and 11 cubs on. It was great we were very close and the only car around and they were all playing and doing different things!

Camping with the lions

We then headed to another campsite for the evening, Jenny and Jo arrived as they were only doing the Ngorongoro Crater and we were heading there the following day. That night we made a cracking Spaghetti Bolognese, swiss roll and ate toasted marshallows by the fire. Later that night we heard a commotion there was me, John, London Jen, Sam and Shannon sitting by the fire and we were watching the armed guards running towards something. Jen had said she had heard growling but we thought she was just imagining it until the armed guards shone their torches on the outskirts of the site and we saw a fully grown Lioness, we made a dash to the tent, so much for playing it cool when coming across dangerous wildlife. We didn't dare go to the toilet through the night... we have never ran so quick when the sun rose!

Ngorongoro Crater

The Ngorongoro crater is a place we're a volcano erupted approximately 2 million years ago producing a huge crater. It's a fantasic place full of wildlife, its easily the best beauty spot we have ever seen. We saw lots of wildlife: lions, cheetahs, hippos, birds and hyenas which we didn't see at the Masai Mara. At lunch time we were attacked (Jo was literally and got her hand cut) by Eagles, Kites and Monkeys for our food. They had no chance as we had eaten all the food the day before so we were all dining on cereal and tomato sauce sandwiches... life of luxury! It was a great day and quite funny as we were one space short in the car so I sat on the floor- it was really comfy as I was in the middle and got everyone's pillows! Our guide Tony was really fascinating as he was a Masai and the government took him from his village to educate him and then he got a scholarship. He still goes back to the village to visit his parents when he is not at work but for a long time his Dad wouldn't talk to him as he couldn't understand why he left the village. On a lighter note his favourite actress is Catherine Zeta Jones! Bizarre conversations but very interesting!

We stayed at a place called Masai camp that night it is definitely the best bar we have ever been in and Dale treat us all to a pizza so we didn't have to cook!

The never ending Journey to Zanzibar

It was a long drive to Dar Es Salam and we stopped en route at the Liverpool Café, it was full of Liverpool FC pictures- John was very happy until they served us a chip omelette (all the range in Tanzania) with an added spider… yak! In Dar we got a ferry over to Macardi camp site it was on the beach and had a pool- very inviting given the temperatures so we were all swimming at 8.00pm. It was Susan's birthday so every one had a good drink and the bar cooked us all a huge delicious meal and birthday cake! They played radgy charva tunes too which was class, it reminded us of the ranch back at home so we educated Roy and Jenny about the Ranch… Lots of fun!

The next day we headed to back to Dar to get the ferry to Zanzibar. It was the most humid place in the world so when we were arranging our day bags for Zanzibar it was quite a miracle we didn't kill each other! The showers at the camp site were great- huge and open aired. At one point I thought I was hallucinating when a shell was moving but there were a couple of crabs scuttling through!

We got ripped off for the first time waiting for the ferry- the little devil never came back with our 10 samosas, I trusted him after he sold me a 1 quid necklace, which is a lovely necklace contrary to John's belief. Then we jumped on the fast ferry (that took an hour longer than the slow ferry- you just stop asking why in Africa after a while!) to Zanzibar. Clearly the ferry operators didn't think the entertainment plan through very well as they played us half of Sniper 2, then Sniper 1, then Sniper 2 again- all without sound and there were lots of kids on the ferry watching people getting blown up! We would both like to reccomend sniper to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of watching them but only in the order above, with very low sound and with bloody bollywood music over the top- it will give you the true African experience. EVENTUALLY we made it to Zanzibar… bring on the beach!