Today was to be the longest driving day of the trip. This was why the alarm rang at 3.10am! Stumbling around in the pitch black trying to be quiet so as not to wake up the other campers we were all packed up and ready in the truck at 4am. And off we went. The first section was fairly non-eventful as it was in the dark pre-sunrise and most people continued sleeping. After the sun came up we passed the town of Moshi, the gateway for Mount Kilimanjaro but w...

Freddy then drove us back to Arusha stopping on the way for some sweet potatoes for his family. We had such an amazing few days! We did a spot of shopping before taking in Arusha's cultural heritage centre. There were lots of beautiful pieces of jewellery on sale with tanzanite in. This is a precious stone only found in Tanzania and is a love purple blue colour. Sadly even the cheapest items were way out of a backpacker's budget! Back at the campsite we had a we...

An early start followed with the normal wake-up routine before going to the mess hut to savour breakfast. The day was incredibly misty which kept the temperature low as we tucked into pancakes, eggs and hot coffee. After a short word of thanks and tip to the kitchen staff we were in the vehicles for the relatively short journey from the crater rim to the crater floor. And the hunt for animals began! The game drive lasted around 3 hours and after completi...

We shared our jeep with another couple from Ireland, Louise and Domhnall, and Nina from Japan. We were also introduced to our driver and guide Freddy - a Tanzanian man with a huge smile. We set off along the bumpy roads which only got bumpier as the day went on. We spotted our first giraffes along the main road before we even got near to the Ngorongoro conservation area. And I was so pleased as we were the only car that saw them. Freddy did us proud, it boded wel...

On arrival at the campsite we were given a demonstration of how to erect the tents which would be our home for the next six weeks. After the demo we put our own up and sorted out the sleeping bags and backpacks in our new space before enjoying a little free time, which we used to chat some more with the others. We had a pre-dinner meeting at 6pm when the different chores were explained to us and also which groups we were split into. For our part we had to i...