This morning we were up and ready to leave for 6:30am, we asked the lady at the lodge if our breakfast was ready to tale with us but she said that they had prepared it for us to sit down. We had melon to start followed by a cooked breakfast. They even catered for my gluteen free and made me some special pancakes instead of giving me bread which was a nice gesture! And greatly appreciated. The breakfast was delicious and set us all up for our day ahead.

We headed to the park entrance around 7:30am and saw some giraffes on our way. The entrance was around 10-15 minutes from the lodge. Luckily, being the organised person I am, I had my debit card with me, as the park didn't accept cash for the entrance fees. It was $30 for Mzungu's and 5000tsh for those who held Tanzanian passports.

All most as soon as the safari started we saw lots of animals; buffalo, zebra, antelope, elephants and giraffes, all within the first half an hour. So amazing! We drove to a nearby watering hole where a family of elephants were drinking from. We stopped about 10m away from them and watched them drinking water. It was an amazing sight, they suck the water through the trunk then empty it into their mouths. We asked if we could get closer and ended up about 5m away from the elephangs, absolutely amazing! The father kept looking at us and protected his family as they walked around our car. Arnold said that he'd never been so close to an elephant and he's done a fair few safaris. I couldn't believe how close we were to them, words can't describe how amazing it felt!

We continued our your of the park and saw some lionesses, they were sleeping under some trees and so it was difficult to get a good photo or see them properly. Unfortunately we didn't see a lion but I was more than happy with all of the other animals that we were able to see. Our safari came to an end around 12:30 as we had hired the car for 6 hours. It's rather tiri g observing animals as you con entrate so hars trying to see if you can spot anything in the distance.

We had some lunch at the lodge before heading back to Dar es Salaam. We left Mikomi around 13:15. In Morogoro Arnold stopped to visit his Aunt which caused a further issue.... We were driving down the road when The driver decided to drive through some mud, well try to, and we ended up getting stuck in the mud! Four men tried to push the car out backwards but it wasn't working. Suzi and I found it funny but had to bite our tongues as we thought it would annoy Arnold. After around half an hour a man arrived with a rope and towed us out backwards. Arnold drove to his aunts from there. We came across another mud track. Arnold put some welly into it and we literally flew across the mud. The sun roof was open and so Rich got covered in mud, it was all a funny experience! Arnold didn't stay at his aunt's very long as he wanted to get back. Again, we zoomed through the mud track, this time Rich squashed up close to me and I squashed myself into the door in hope that he wouldn't get covered in mud and luckily he didn't!

The roads here are crazy, people constantly over take, but not safely, it's like they're playing chicken with all the vehicles on the other side of the road. I couldn't watch, it kept putting my heart in my mouth! We made a pit stop for comfort and toilet. The driver took back over from here. Shortly after he started driving again, we nearly had an accident.. He was overtaking about 6 cars when a lorry appeared on the other side of the road, flashing us, and there was no space for us to pull back in, suddenly we swerved in and just missed the lorry. My heart was in my mouth and I almost saw my life flash before my eyes, it was rather scary!

Traffic back into Dar was craaaaaazy busy! We planned to meet Yael and Delia for dinner, so we picked them up on our way through as the traffic was so bad. We arrived home around 9pm. Arnold's mum and chef had prepared a feast... Steak, fish, chicken, chilli, rice, potatoes, veg, coleslaw, and so we ate in. Yael and Delia loved the food! They have been at the orphanage for four or five weeks so were more desperate for food than I was! We quickly got showered and headed out for a few drinks.

Arnold started off on the shots at Megangas which is the pub or bar we went to on my first night in Dar, and they do shots fast here! Poor Yael and Delia don't like tequila and their faces were pictures but they kept up with us all. Arnold's friend Rahim has finished fasting now and so he joined us for a few drinks. We headed to another bar, elements, had a cocktail then decided to call it a night. We headed across the road for some food. Yael and Delia had pizza, which they thoroughly enjoyed, the guys had a mixture of things and I had chips mayai with chicken! We dropped the girls back to their hotel, I gave them some paracetamol ready for tomorrow morning as I know they will definitely be feeling the hangover! We got home shortly after 4:30am! Not too much of a late night.

H