Sadly this isn't really a blog entry....as time is short and the internet speed not ideal at our hotel, so more of a quick status update.

We have just got back from our 3 day Masai Mara trip - which essentially boils down to two horrendous days of travel on the worst roads known to man (although I am assured by someone on our trip who has just gone through Ethiopia that they are pretty good comparatively speaking) and one full day of game driving in the Masai Mara reserve. The good news is the park and what we saw were so spectacular the trip was worth it all. How often can you pull you minibus up to within 1 or 2 metres of three cheetahs, or a pride of close to 10 lion....truly breathtaking! It really is an amazing savannah flowing from the Serengeti through to Kenya filled with wonderful wildlife. And to top it off this morning we took a hot air balloon ride at sunrise over the plains....and even spotted a cheetah on a kill! The experience was amazing and it was topped off with a very luxurious champagne breakfast out in the middle of the bush after the balloon was gently landed in the middle of the Masai Mara - definitely a memory to last a lifetime.

It was also interesting meeting Masai people and dancing with them - although wandering around their huts ending up with cow paddies all over ones feet isn't ideal....and clearly the flies aren't far behind when it comes to a feast like that for them. It is a really strange situation because all you want to do is swat the flies away, but the locals have got used to them and don't, so you are left wondering if by chasing the flies away you are somehow offending the locals.

We even danced with the Masai which was very Tommy Tourist but pretty fun. Men have to jump in the air and the higher you jump the better. I am not sure about white men can't jump as Sean held his own pretty well and the locals were complimentary too. I wasn't a huge fan of the ladies dancing and singing - pretty obvious from the pictures.

Masai warriors guard our campsite at night from wild animals. Very reassuring, however when you returning to your tent in the pitch dark and suddenly there is a figure standing next to you in the dark with a spear it can be quite scary. But they were awesome, and even saved us one night when our tent was infested with red ants and Sean was being eaten alive - no jokes. We spilt a fizzy drink, which we cleaned up, but clearly this was the signal to the ants who invaded under the cover of darkness. Sean woke up with something biting him - when we switched on the torch the whole tent was infested. The funniest was the Masai warrior who heard the commotion, came to investigate, and all we could hear from outside the tent was "Oh no!". They were very kind and helped us move to a new tent. Sean felt better that he wasn't a total wet as the Masai were also complaining about the pain when the ants bit them during the move.

Anyway, we head off to Tanzania (Arusha) tomorrow and then into the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater - so unlikely to be any updates for the next bit....hence this brief one to say we are both well, loving the trip, dirtier than ever and looking forward to the next adventure.