David Wishing you 25 happy anniversary and nice trip in Zanzibar,Arusha,Ngorongoro and Dar

Geraldine I’m hoping Gary is over the worst of his fever, otherwise it won’t be a pleasant journey for him.

Geraldine 09.05.18 Up early again Gary hasn’t had a good night he is not feeling too well. We should be going to Maasai camp, hopefully Gary will be up to our journey as we will be travling 6 hours today.

Geraldine 09.05.18 Up early again Gary hasn’t had a good night he is not feeling too well. We should be going to Maasai camp, hopefully Gary will be up to our journey as we will be travling 6 hours today.

Geraldine We flew from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam went through transit and flew onto Arusha. Awaiting was our guide who then drove 3 hours to our hotel, farm of dreams. The drive here wasn’t to bad as the road is tarmac, so a smoother drive thank god. We drove through many villages to get here, saw lots of children walking home from school, they all wore uniforms some had shoes, others wore flip flops or old tattered trainers and of course there were those who had nothing on their feet. There didn’t seem to be as many people sat on the side of the roads here not like Zanzibar. And doesn’t seem as poor. They grow crops here as Zanzibar was fruit trees and herbs it was all tall trees and bushes.there is plenty of flat ground with hills in the back ground, reminds me a bit of home. We drove through the Maasai villages and market which was very busy and some strange looking characters haha. I do wonder the people walking alongside the road, where are they going or where have they been as they just seem to walk for miles, again some smartly dressed and some in tatters. Overall we have been traveling 9 hrs and are feeling quite tired now. The hotel is out of this world, it has 8 villages each having 6 lodges, our lodge is beautiful. We are the only two people staying here, can you imagine it...they said we are all here just for you and there is so many of them. Our meal was nice but we retired to bed as we were meeting our guide at 7.30 for breakfast. 08.05.18 We had breakfast this morning with our guide before setting of to safari. This road was not tarmac so another free massage. It took 1hr 30mins to get in the crater, we stopped on the way up and looked over lake Manyara, a bit further up again was a spot where you can look into the crater and if you have good eye sight you could see some herds of animals. The climbing seemed endless but once we entered the crater it was all down hill from there. We passed a big family of baboons which I couldn’t stop laughing at as they were grooming each other. The crater is 3202 sqmi and looks amazing, the animals we saw were zebras, wildebeests, lions, elephants, buffalos, gazelles, rhinos, hippopotamus, baboons, monkeys many different birds flamingos, ostrich and so many more. We stopped for our picnic by the hippopotamus pool, fascinating watching them in the water. It was really amazing seeing all the different animals, they wasn’t at all bothered with us being around, especially the lions a few of them got up and sat in the shade of our vehicles. two lions did have a roar at each other as they both wanted the same spot. Our guide took us to a more wooded area and there were lots of elephants big and small and a little baby one which kept hiding in between the legs of its mother. I could sit and watch them all day, we got up really close to them they were eating the branches from the trees. The weather was on our side today, it was very warm in the crater and seemed to get warmer as you went down. We have had another full day, and got back to our hotel about 5.45 after a few beers we went and got ready for our meal, having an early night as meeting our guide at 7.30 tomorrow, the orphanage is closed so hoping to give our gifts to the Maasai village before we set of on our 3 hr journey to the airport. We are flying from Arusha to Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam, can’t stop laughing as Gary said “bloody hell im going to be a pilot at the end of this traveling “ Just had a spider crawling up the side of my bed ahaaaaaaa! The noise that came from the kitchen this evening, well are they sure there is only the two of us because the amount of pots and pans banging around in there, sounded like they had cooked for an army.

Geraldine After 1.30 hr drive we Have arrived safely at Zanzibar airport. The driver said enjoy free massage... meaning from the bumpy road, he mustn’t of ever had a proper massage, sometimes it felt like torture. I’m wondering what condition the bottom of their vehicles are. We said bye to our guide David and driver can’t spell his name. They were both very good to have with us in Zanzibar.

Geraldine 07.05.18 The sun has his hat on this morning! Probably knows we will be leaving. The meal last night and breakfast this morning has been good food. Everything in their time. Kendwa rock is a beautiful place. there is a lot of construction going on here, and not just in our hotel. We are being picked up at 9.30 to be taken to Zanzibar airport, we shall fly to Dar es Salaam and then on to Arusha.

Geraldine It hasn’t really stopped raining since we have arrived, the thunder and lightening even made Gary jump, which of course made me jump haha. It’s a shame as the day started lovely and hot. Hopefully it will ease and will will have a stroll along the beach.

Geraldine We were pick up from our last hotel white sands, after a two hour trip we have arrived at Kendwa Rocks. The journey here was smooth until we hit the road made of red mud, which consisted of many holes and water from all the rain we have had. Driving along it’s hard to tell where you are or what village you are passing through. One thing that does stand out is if it’s being farmed, as some villages won’t do it as the men are too idle they depend on their relatives that have gone abroad to send money home. We are now at our resort and again you drive through a village, there is a lot of building work going on, we have had a very warm welcome and enjoying our first beer here. Unfortunately the weather has changed, the skies have opened, nevertheless we will make the most of our time here. We were hoping to do the boat cruise into the sunset it seems very unlikely we will be doing that.

Geraldine 05.08.2018 We were picked up from our hotel about 8.30 and set off on foot for our tour of the town, went to the museum and around all the back streets which is obviously a tourist route as there was little stalls trying to sell to you, local people either spoke or stared at you, our tour guide was nice and seemed to know all his history. we entered the local food market where they get their daily produce, very interesting to see all the different fruits and veg, but the amount of flies around everything was astonishing. There was someone with buckets of water that had whole chickens in, the smell was turning my stomach. As we walked along there was a smell that was getting stronger and stronger I could smell fish and meat, he asked if we would want to see the fish and meat market, I knew we wasn’t far from entering, and before I knew it I was retching and couldn’t stop I covered my mouth but thought holy s*** I’m going to throw up everywhere! There was so many people in there I didn’t know what way to run so I continued to follow the tour guide, the funny thing was he didn’t realise I was urging and retching it was noisy in there so they couldn’t hear my noise of retching which is just as well as I have wondered what they might of thought I was doing haha! when he went to enter the meat I shouted NO, we then continued around the rest of the town, met back up with our driver after the 3 hour tour. It’s out of season here so everywhere is pretty quiet. The driver took us to the spice farm which is run by the local village, luckily the weather was on our side and it hadn’t rained otherwise we would been knee deep in mud. We had a good chat with a few of the locals by the end of the tour we were ready to head to the hotel and it was about 45 min drive, we started to enter one of the villages, children were playing and seemed very happy, if you can call it a road, it was very narrow at home we wouldn’t attempt to drive on it, we were going further into the village, they said this is where we are staying, Gary looked at me and said “surely this isn’t it” actually we are staying in a very quirky place more like a home, it’s very relaxing and over looks the white sands and sea hence the name of the hotel white sands. The evening was fantastic we went to the The Rock for food and drinks, we had to take a boat across, you can imagine what I was like getting on and off as the boat rocked from the waves, everywhere here is so tranquil.

Geraldine We ventured out around stone town in the pouring rain, for some reason wether it’s because it’s humid the rain feels different and having constantly wet feet just feels the norm if that makes any sense. We found a restaurant called 6 degrees south, the food was lovely and tasty and would recommend it, we did well to come across this restaurant as on one of my searches I later found out that it was one of the top 3 places to go. Locals are friendly and helpful. We are being picked up by our driver David at 8 o’clock this morning, we will be doing the stone town tour and spice tour, then we will arriving at our next hotel by the Rock.

Geraldine Off out in stone town to find a bar and some food, and yes it’s still raining, Gary’s favourite weather.

Geraldine We are staying at the Hilton in stone town.

Geraldine The crossing over to Zanzibar was fine, went through immigration, we were then bombarded with taxi drivers trying to take our luggage, couldn’t find our driver haha, Gary went off looking for him.....minutes seemed like hours Gary was no where to be seen my only thoughts were he has gone through the gates and they wouldn’t let him back in...guess what my thoughts were correct, as my stomach starting to churn as there was no sight of Him and thinking what will be the best thing for me to do, I’m frantically looking for him then all of a sudden he pops up behind me with our driver haha who managed to get them in on the other side....phew. The drive through to our hotel was an eye opener, heavy traffic and coming at you in all directions, narrow streets that are flooded as it hasn’t stopped raining. Here’s to a good evening.