The third and final leg of our safari took us into the Ngorogoro crater.That meant a very early start with breakfast ready for 6am and departure soon afterwards. It’s quite a drive up to the crater and there’s a lot of altitude to be gained so to maximise the time in the park, sacrifices have to be made. That means sleep is less important! From the rim of the crater the whole world seems to open up before you. It’s hard to imagine that you are in fact looking down on a volcanic crater. Technically it’s a caldera as part of the crater wall collapsed many moons ago. As you approach the crater floor the road gets pretty rough in places. We were so thankful to have Josh from Joash Africa Wilderness Insight at the wheel ... read more

The first national park on our safari with Joash Africa Wilderness Insight was Tarangire, chosen as it was closest to Arusha and had the largest concentration of elephants in the world. After an early start, Josh picked us up at our hotel in Arusha and drove a couple of hours to the visitor centre at the entrance to the park. There we were able to use the facilities and wander around some of their informative displays whilst our guide sorted everything out regarding park fees. There were also some excellent stained glass windows showing the park in both wet and dry season. Soon enough we were on our way along bumpy park tracks around the baobab trees and acacias, looking for animals and birds. They were not hard to find! It was very soon into the ... read more

The train down from Porto was very comfortable. Halway towards Lisbon it clouded over and by the time we arrived at Oriente station it was raining. We negotiated the metro down to Cais de Sodré where we were able to store our bags while we waited for our friend to finish work. We got there a bit early so we popped over the road and had a quick drink in Hennesey's, an ex-pat Irish style pub with very expensive beer! The after work buzz was good though, and it's not something we often get the chance to do. Once we met up with Kev, he took us (via the Metro) to a traditional chicken grill restaurant, Restaurante Primavera. It was cheap and cheerful but an authentic Lisboa experience - just go easy on the fiery piri ... read more

Viseu was a place we had never heard of until a friend moved there to teach last year. It's taken a bit of coordinating but at long last we managed to find convenient dates and we had the pleasure of Lucy showing us around her town. Forgive the title of this blog - all will become clear soon! Set in the hills about two thirds of the way between Lisbon and Porto, Viseu is a beautiful place with stunning views all around. Yes, it's a bit on the chilly side at this time of year, but it's nothing that a decent jacket can't cope with. There are some coach trip tourists during the day but in general visitor numbers are minuscule compared to Portugal's more popular places. It's best to start at the highest point, around ... read more

Many people think Yangon/Rangoon is the capital of Myanmar/Burma. Well, it used to be but in 2005 the administrative capital of the country was moved to a brand new city, Nay Pyi Taw. But for our friend Joe, who is working there at the moment, we probably wouldn't have bothered visiting. This is especially so after reading the handful of blogs that are out there where the bloggers found a deserted city devoid of much interest to the casual traveller. After spending 4 nights there, we beg to differ! It's not difficult to see where the myth of an empty city comes from as it is incredibly vast in relation to its population, and many government and military workers divide their time between work here and family elsewhere. When you stand in the middle of a ... read more