Sunday 4th May 2008

While the rest of our fellow travellers headed north to Nungwi, we hired a car and drove ourselves down to the southern tip of Zanzibar to swim with the dolphins. This being my first attempt at driving in a 3^rd world country, was pretty good all things considered. After travelling in the completely wrong direction for 10kms, we turned around and just as I was getting over my embarrassment at my sense of direction, a man on a bicycle did a sudden U-turn straight across the front of our car, I skidded several metres before screeching to a halt, oh, I’d say, 12 cms from his panic-stricken face. A kilometre further along found us inexplicably on the wrong side of the median strip heading into oncoming traffic. It took me a while to realise what was going on so I quickly stopped abusing the other drivers and jumped the median strip back to the correct side all of us wondering how that had just happened. There are no signposts telling you where to go. Miraculously we made it to our destination and were flagged down by a boat man who offered to take us out. Gino bartered him down to $50 for the 6 of us so off we went.

After our outboard was replaced by a working one, we were off, but any delusions of us playing with friendly dolphins who love tourists were quickly shattered as we started our dolphin hunt. It felt more like a scene from Moby Dick. “Thar she blows” and off we’d go chasing the poor hapless dolphins who were clearly trying to escape from us. As soon as we got close the skipper would yell “Jump in” and we’d all jump in and swim like crazy to get as close as we could before they swam like crazy to get away. Then we’d climb back into the boat and give chase again. Gino got seasick, Maddi reckoned her snorkel had a hole in it, Elijah didn’t even see one ‘cause he was too slow and Kaz is so buoyant she couldn’t get her feet under the water enough to propel herself along. She thought the sound of her flippers slapping the water sounded like a dying fish flapping around and might attract sharks, so she stayed in the boat with green Gino. Mahalia & I on the other hand had a great time and nearly touched a mother and her calf.

We then headed north and stopped at a forest in the middle of Zanzibar where the rare Red Colobus monkeys live. There are only 2500 of them and they are found nowhere else but here. They were everywhere, and unlike the dolphins, they loved having their photos taken. Another ½ hour back to Stonetown to pick up our laundry and we headed up to Nungwi on the northern tip of the island to meet up with our travel buddies. Fortunately there were no more road incidents except that we managed to get lost in Nungwi, a tiny little town. How can that happen? We eventually checked in to our resort for the next few days and discovered that contrary to advice we’d been given, they don’t take credit card. Had a nice dinner with everyone and met a beautiful Muslim couple from Oman, Mohammed & Hoodah before heading off for the most comfortable night’s sleep so far on the tour. Pete

Saturday 3^rd May 2008

Dad got up and went for a 50min run with 3 other guys at 6am. When he was released from hospital we set off for the 2 hour ferry ride to ZANZIBAR! We arrived and checked into the Karibu Hotel in Stone town. We walked around exploring this amazing old town with Gino and got lost in the labyrinth of streets and alleyways. This place was the Eastern African centre for the slave trade. Slaves were taken from here to the Middle East and India.

After making our way back to the hotel we all stopped off at the bustling night fish market for dinner (lobster, octopus, prawns, fish and Zanzibar pizzas which are actually a lot more like an omelette than a pizza), all cooked on BBQs by a myriad of street vendors. It was a long day so we all went back to the hotel. It was a good day. Maddi & Pete xox
PS: I LOVE ZANZIBAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maddi

Friday 2^nd May 2008

Another all-dayer in the truck. The scenery was amazing. We arrived in Dar Es Salam and after a quick cuppa headed to our CAMP RIGHT ON THE BEACH! Everyone ran into the crystal clear water and got simultaneously stung by little jellyfish (nothing serious – we stayed in the water). Our tents were set up right on the beach. Awesome! Pete

Thursday 1^st May 2008

We got to sleep in till 7am this morning!! YAY! Our aim was to get from Arusha to Dar Es Salam which will take 2 days of driving. First we had a quick stop off at the cultural heritage museum where you could buy stuff, we just looked around, but we didn’t buy anything. Then we went to town for a couple of hours just doing what we wanted while Moses our cook bought some food for dinner. We left the town at mid-day and drove off with the bargains we managed to get from town. At about 2pm we stopped off at the side of the road for lunch and then carried on until we reached the camp at about 5pm. It was raining so we all decided to get dorms. Have to get up at 6am tomorrow so we are going to have dinner and go to bed. Xxx. Maddi
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CAN’T WAIT TILL ZANZIBAR IN A COUPLE OF DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday 30^th April 2008

Another early start for another game drive in the Serengeti. This time we saw more hippos, giraffes, a family of baboons (one was an acrobatic baby) and lions with their cubs. This morning before we left, we prayed that God would show us a leopard and our prayers were answered. Our guide said he only sees about 7 at the most in a year because they are so shy. He was lying in a sausage tree and he dashed into the bushes when one of the cars made a noise. After that we saw thousands of Wildebeest slowly migrating north towards Kenya. We also saw a female and HUGE male lion together right on the side of the road. You could tell they had just eaten something because they had blood on their paws. Finally we saw something else very exciting, a pair of cheetahs. It was an amazing game drive. Elijah.

Tuesday 29^th April 2008

This morning we woke up at 5am again (I can’t believe I’m actually getting used it) because the gates to the Ngorongoro Crater open at 6. We were in Toyata Landcruisers with open roofs so we could stand up to look at the animals. We had to drive all the way up a steep muddy road to the top of the crater rim where the view of the crater at sunrise was awesome. It is about 12kms across which we worked out using Maddi’s maths formula for the area of a circle because the guide said the crater was about 100sqkms ( ). Handing over to Elijah for the good stuff. Pete.

I felt really excited when we left for our game drive. We saw zebras, elephants with massive tusks, water buffalo, ostriches, vervet monkeys, heaps of hippos wallowing in the swamps, hyenas (one was eating some meat from a gazelle or something), topis, a kori bustard, wildebeest, a family of warthogs, thousands of flamingos, a pride of female lions with their cubs (the males don’t hang around unless its mating season), and a dead hippo floating in a lake.

Then we headed out of the crater and into the Serengeti, another national park. We saw tall, lanky giraffes (they can’t go into the crater because it’s too steep), more zebras (my favourite animal), another pride of female lions with their cubs and this time we saw a huge male lion alone on a mound of dirt, more hyenas and more big fat elephants but these ones nearly charged us (I actually wanted them to charge). Then we went to our campsite and set up our tents for the night and ate spaghetti in the Serengeti. I had to take a bottle to bed in case I had to go to the toilet at night because there were lions, hyenas and buffalos around the camp. It was really exciting! Elijah.

Monday 28^th April 2008

Today we head to the Serengeti! First though, we spent a couple of hours walking around Arusha. Elijah and I eventually found an internet cafe but only had a few minutes before we had to head back to the truck. We camp tonight at the Ngorongoro camp ready for the most anticipated game drive of the whole tour, the Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti. Meanwhile, we enjoyed a traditional African cultural dance and acrobatic display over dinner. The acrobatics were unbelievable. Pete

Sunday 27^th April 2008

This morning we received the sad news that little Wil Bradshaw had lost his battle with cancer. We are totally gutted. We said goodbye to some of our fellow safariers and hello to a bunch of new ones this morning including our new guide Malou from South Africa. We crossed the border into Tanzania bound for Arusha, the town people come to to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. Nice campsite “Snake Park”. Spent the whole day in the truck in a reflective state somewhat melancholically. We loved Wil. May he rest in peace.

Saturday 26^th April 2008

Drove back to Nairobi and stayed in town to buy some much needed raincoats and visit the Masi market. It is also our new friend Gino’s birthday so we all went to a beautiful Italian restaurant to celebrate. We slept in a dorm room with the dodgiest beds not that we’re complaining, it’s better than an Indian train station!

Friday 25^th April 2008

Mum Maddi & I slept on the bus last night which felt like sleeping on a plank of wood. Still, we got to sleep in because we didn’t have to pack up tents. The reason why we slept on the bus was not because we didn’t want to take down tents in the morning, but because the camp site we are staying at is situated in the middle of a national park with no fences around... which means that lions, hyenas and destructive baboons can attack any time they feel hungry. Needless to say we didn’t drink anything before bed and Elijah even took an empty bottle into his & dad’s tent just in case nature called. We got up early and went for another 3 hour game drive around the lake and went up to a beautiful lookout where we saw a family of hyraxes and a family of baboons. We also walked right on the lake and saw heaps of pink flamingos. Next was a mother & baby black rhino, more giraffe, zebras and a herd of water buffalo. We have just arrived at our new campsite at Lake Naivasha a little stiff from the car trip. We chilled out, washed clothes and Cathy taught us how to twirl pois. Love you all... Mahalia

Thursday 24^th April 2008

Today we got to sleep-in until 8 o’clock and left at nine for Lake Nakuru National Park. Yippee!!! We went on a game drive for three hours. We saw 23 white rhinos (There are only 28 white rhinos in the park. They are actually “wide” rhinos ‘cause their mouth is wide for eating grass, but the Dutch word for wide sounds like white so the name stuck. Then they thought they’d stick with the theme and call the other type of rhino the black rhino even though they’re the same colour. The black rhino has a mouth that’s more like a beak for eating leaves off branches. There are 44 black rhino’s in the park – didn’t see any of those), lots of buffalo, zebras, giraffe, black & white colobus monkeys and baboons (some of them were holding babies) and a huge hippo walking through the bush. Just had a yummy dinner and are now going to bed. Mahalia