Charlie was given the unenviable task of reorganising everything so we could stay in this little paradise for one extra night. While all of this background goings on was happening, Darren was snorkelling and Charmaine was lazing on the white sand having a massage and a Henna tattoo. Much more lazing, strolling in the sand and drinking cocktails was done and very little else. The next day we decided to treat ourselves and head back to Stone Town with Jamie, Rachel, Ben and Anna (who were all leaving the trip at this point). We had pre booked a room at Africa [View Full Entry]

---

---

We hired a Jeep just to get away and do our own thing, it was great. After mastering the streets of Stone Town we headed east to the home of the Red Colobus monkeys. At the monkey sanctuary we were given our own guide and shown the forest, the monkeys and the mangrove swamps, it was all very interesting but we couldn’t wait till we could get out of the horrendous heat and back on the road. Further east we found the area we would be spending the next few nights and after Darren drove us up and down the beach [View Full Entry]

---

---

After a reasonably calm crossing we arrived on the island of Zanzibar in a torrential rain shower, that’s tropical Africa for you! We were bussed to the Karibu (Swahili for Welcome) Inn Hotel in the centre of Stone Town. We had only a few minutes to put our bags in the room and get downstairs ready for our Spice Tour; it is the “Spice Island“ after all! The first part of the spice tour was, well, different (for different see rubbish)! The second part of the tour was a visit to a fruit plantation was we saw among others, bananas, vanilla, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Up at 5am! I used to get paid for getting up this early, NOT paying to be up this early! The 12 hour truck journey to Dar Es Salaam warranted this early rise and it was nice to see the sunrise over the gorgeous dryness of Northern Tanzania. Once fed and watered we were on our way. Again, the roads were rough but the sites were amazing. Everyone was like a caged animal, pee stops were a welcome relief for this beast of a journey. Luckily, Darren had covertly slipped Charlie a CD compilation and for a few hours we were [View Full Entry]

---

---

We packed our bags for a 2 night safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. Our driver, Sunny, picked us up at 0700 in a 4x4. Safari-bound we endured a surprisingly smooth ride to our campsite in the Serengeti National Park, much inspection of the inside of our eyelids was had by all! Now, this was a campsite with a twist. It had no fences or boundaries. It was literally a clearing in the bush where we pitched our tents and where wild animals roamed freely. There was no running water and the toilets were holes in the ground. We could [View Full Entry]

---

---

Meserani Snake Park was a dusty campsite. Dust, dust, dust. Everywhere you go it’s there. In your hair, on your clothes in your food and just about everywhere else one can think of. We later discovered that it wasn’t just the campsite that was dusty but most of Tanzania. Red sand covers the surface of the land in which acacias and aloes thrive and animals survive. We paid a visit to the Snake Park itself where we witnessed the murder of many little chicks by various venomous snakes. During, well, just prior to a demonstration of how cute and cuddly a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today was mostly a day of administration. After getting our washing squeaky clean with a packet of Omo washing powder we took a stroll into the nearby town of Karen to catch up on life in the Western world at an internet café (not so much a café but more of a room with a few prehistoric PCs). Next it was time to embark on the Acacia overland truck for our first journey; Nairobi to Arusha in Tanzania. Crossing the Kenya/Tanzania border was a rather interesting affair with hoards of Masai women surrounding the truck trying to sell us their supposedly [View Full Entry]

---

---

We are picked up at the Hotel Boulevard by our tour company. At 0800 we loaded the minivans with our gear and were introduced to our drivers/tour guides for the 3 days (remember we said 2 days earlier? Well, we packed for 2 days, i.e. 1 night, I suppose we’ll just turn our underpants inside-out on the last day) in the Masai Mara. Simon was our driver and guide; he would prove to be an excellent guide, but a good driver? The jury is still out on that! Our first day on the Mara was spent mainly pushing our van out [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived at the Airport to find that our expected transfer was nowhere to be seen, after being harassed by touts, thieves, murderers and god knows who else, all of whom were there to take us to our hotel and who worked, allegedly, for our tour company. We managed to find a girl in the same predicament as us. Natasha had already contacted the Hotel Boulevard and someone was en-route to rescue us! 30 minutes later our taxi arrived, our elation was soon quashed when we arrived at “our hotel”, only to find that they had double booked and our names [View Full Entry]

---

---

This is it, we're at the Airport and ready to go (we think). In all truth, we are both kacking our pants! [View Full Entry]

---

---