As we sit here in a restaurant in central Dar es Salaam, the bustle feels familiar yet we've never been here before. In front of me is a huge BBQ where a small local man in a blue gown is sprinkling the smoking pieces of red chicken with even more spices. To his left another tends the second grill where he turns skewers of beef between wafting the coals with a piece of cardboard. The restaurant has its fair share of tourists but mixed into the group there is an...

I'd firstly like to thank myself for the good work. Then, I'd like to thank Eleanor without whose support this would not have been possible. Then my friends, family and anyone else that's helped along the way. What am I on about? Don't you know? I'm a published author now... Well. It might only be the dive shop newsletter to you but to me it is...ok it's a dive shop newsletter but this will literally touch 10's if not 15's of people's lives and might even sel...

Woah...every bus to Dar es Salaam that went by Mwanga was full. Well, that doesn't matter when the locals decide to charge you twice the real price and use some of the profit to bribe the first non-reputable company that goes by to let you on anyway. Who needs a seat? You can always squeeze into a gap on the back seat. Great, a 9 hour journey in serious discomfort and to top it all off, the man next to me will NOT SHUT UP! Nice as he may be...I should add...it's...

Any good safari should have a four wheel drive, an English speaking guide (after all, if it isn't in English it isn't worth hearing) and lots of animals with claws. Point 1 - Check! Point 2 Check! Point 3, well, fingers crossed as we left Moshi to begin our trip. It all looked good. Then, as the four wheel drive smashed through a huge wooden shelter, just missed a massive tree and then ploughed into (and through) the concrete wall of what was meant to be our firs...

I'm sure that every blog about going on safari starts off with the (not particularly) interesting fact that 'safari' is simply the Swahili word for a trip. Evidently, Brits in the 1800's didn't really care too much about learning the African language and, when on their way to shoot some elephants or rhinos, just assumed that the locals wishing them a safe trip were specifically referring to the activity they had in mind - going in search of game. These mis-trans...