After another stopover in Dar, we made our way to Marangu which is one of the gateway towns to Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa at 5896m tall - something I'd like to climb one day - but not on the this trip! It was in the clouds when we arrived but the next morning we could see it beautifully - you'd hope so at 6 in the morning! It was stunning, covered in snow.

Our next stop was the Twiga camp at Mto Wa Mbu. Half an hour after arriving, some of the group went on a village walk. 15 minutes later the heavens opened and the monsoon rains started. Oh my God, I've never seen rain fall so quickly. We ran to put the fly sheets on our tents after which I looked like I'd just stepped out of the shower fully clothed. When it started to ease off, Daniela and I waded our way through ankle-deep muddy water to salvage our tent which was, in fact, swimming by that point and my sleeping bag was getting wetter by the minute. Ok, this is not my idea of fun. Camping I can do - but only in fair weather. We rescued all of our stuff and then started on everyone else's and managed to salvage most stuff to at least a damp state. Upgrade!! I gave up o the camping lark and got a room with Kian and Kyle which ended up being very funny as they gave me the single bed and they shared the double bed. Not long after we switched off the lights, there was a weird yelping sound which I chose to ignore. The story the next morning was that Kyle (in his sleep) had reached over and grabbed Kian's arm with both hands. and pulled it towards him. Kian had said "Yes, can I help you?" and Kyle had got such a shock he had cried out. Apparently he thought Kian was his pillow - hmmm......

Our next 3 days were AWESOME - no other words for it. We went to the Ngorongoro Crater which is about 20km wide so one of the largest calderas in the world. It was very impressive and we saw 4 of the Big 5 - lions, loads of buffalo, elephants and a black rhino (but he was way in the distance). Our jeep got a flat wheel so we all had to get out while the driver changed it (not advisable in the middle of the bush!). It was such a fabulous place and, as usual, the photos do none of it justice. Our funniest moment that day was at lunchtime when we stopped by a watering hole. Most of us had finished our lunch but Kian had one sandwich left. As he was unwrapping it from the foil, about 8 huge birds swooped down. We all scattered as we thought they were going to attack us but no, they were going for Kian. They snatched the sandwich out of his hand, along with the foil and left him with a tiny graze to his finger (which we never heard the end of all day!!). It was hilarious though.

We then drove to the Serengeti which, at 14,763 square kms, is Tanzania's largest and most famous national park. There were just hoards and hoards of zebra and wildebeest which were stunning to see. As we were driving along (at full speed as we needed to get to our campsite by a certain time), Kyle suddenly said he was convinced he had seen lions. We backed up and sure enough, there were a few in the bushes, just by the side of the road. As we sat and watched, a few of them came out and made their way to another bush, walking right past our jeep, then more appeared, then more, then the mother - we saw about 7 and they were fantastic!

That evening was a bit scary. We had been told not to leave our tents during the night to go to the loo or anything as there were no fences around the camp so wild animals are free to roam everywhere. Just before dinner, someone shouted 'elephants!' and we saw about 15-20 elephants (all shapes and sizes) just quietly passing us, about 20m away - amazing. During the night, I hardly slept as I could hear roars, grunts, elephant trumpets, snuffles, you name it - and it all sounded so close. At one point I sat up and just at that point, I watched a hyena pass in front of our tent (what?!) and then another came past and brushed the tent - I was terrified! Daniela woke up and then said she wanted to come closer to me. I fell asleep but she did say the next morning that she hadn't realised how close she had moved until she could feel my breath on her cheek so she retreated a bit!!! One of the guys had braved getting up in the night and right by the toilet block there was a buffalo - scary!

So, armed with no sleep, we headed out for an early game drive - marvellous!! Not long into it, we came across a load of jeeps and the one in front of us said they had just seen a leopard come down from a tree. We sat and stared for ages and kept getting glimpses of its ears and back but it was very frustrating. Then, all of a sudden (and you had to be looking in the right direction - and I was!), we saw a reedbuck leap in the air and then get brought down by the leopard. Oh my God, a kill!! Ok, not in full view but good enough. We watched it drag it through the long grass although you could only really see bits of its legs. We sat for another 20-15 minutes and then, unbelievably, it emerged out of the grass, walked towards all of the trucks and proceeded to strut along the bloody road. We couldn't believe our eyes. What a beautiful and stunning creature. It spent at least half an hour on the road and all the jeeps were following it - it was fabulous to watch. We ended up leaving it there but it was still on the road at that point. Awesome thing to witness.

We saw a lot of everything that day but after seeing the leopard, we were desperate for a cheetah. No such luck although we did almost see a lion kill which was just great. We spotted one lion and then another 2 crouched quite far away from eachother but strategically positioned around a herd of zebra. The zebra knew they were there as the stallion kept standing facing the lions to show the rest of the zebra where they were - it was fascinating to observe. One lion was acting as a decoy while the others crept round, so low on the ground that we kept losing them. It was so exciting - we were willing the zebra to walk into the trap and willing the lions to pounce but they eventually gave up after about 30 minutes as they obviously decided it was a lost cause. I can't remember the exact stat but it's something like only 40% of lion hunts are successful and they waste so much energy trying to catch stuff that they try to only pounce when they know it's a sure thing. What an experience. We drove a bit further to where the lions had headed and then saw a huge male - could it get any better?!

Oh yes it could! As we were driving back to the camp at around dusk, we saw a lot of trucks. Instinct told us it was a cheetah. Nope - it was 3!! A mother and her 2 older cubs - fabulous! They sat or a while and then started walking towards the road. Then, in one giant leap, the mother flew across the road in front of all the jeeps. Stunning!!!! What a perfect end to a perfect day.

That night was less active when it came to animal noises although the stars were absolutely stunning. Myself, Kian and Kyle had to get up stupidly early as were being picked up at 5.15am for a balloon ride - something I have always wanted to do and thought to hell with the extortionate expense! We met Jason, our pilot, and, unlike every other balloon ride I've done, we had to climb sideways into the basket so we were lying horizontally with our heads sticking out. Kian and I were in the same compartment (a very tight squeeze!) and Kyle was alone in the bit below us. We set off very gently and then watched the sunrise as we soared higher and higher. It was stunning - and so peaceful. We didn't see anything spectacular on the flight but we saw lots of antelope, ostriches, buffalo, warthogs etc. It was all so beautiful and the acacia trees and shadows (including those of the balloon) were stunning. We were in the air for around an hour and, after a bumpy landing, we had a couple of glasses of champers (well, sparkling wine anyway!). We then travelled around 20 minutes to the breakfast venue which was lovely - nicely laid tables and very smart waiters!! And so the free flowing bubbles started. We had to drink a lot as we were stuck on a table with a few oldies who were a bit annoying but the bubbles definitely helped! We had around 8 glasses with brekkie (which was a proper full English and fresh tropical fruits). We then asked if we could take a bottle with us and they said only what was left on the table. Kian and I then acted like total pikeys and siphoned all of the dregs into one bottle (classy eh?!). We then drank some of it on the way back to the rest of the group and the rest on our jeep. There's a great trilogy of photos (when I can manage to get them uploaded!!) of us looking all normal, sensible and happy, then drunk and singing (we we sang the entire score of the Sound of Music - don't ask me why as it has nothing to do with a safari!!) and then Kian and I passed out and almost dribbling - nice!!

We then headed to our last stop on this leg, Arusha, which was just near the border and had our final meal as a group. Very sad to say goodbye to this group as we've been together for 6 weeks and they've been great!!