Zanzibar to Nairobi

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After traveling back to Dar Es Salaam and staying the night on the beach again, we drove the following morning to Moshi, a town used as the base camp for many travellers going up to Kilimanjaro. We experienced our first rain there in some 35 days - putting down the tents was rather unpleasant in the morning!

We left Moshi for Arusha, a large town in the north of Tanzania. We arrived early in the afternoon at a campsite which also featured a Maasai museum (the Maasai are one of the largest tribes in Africa, and many of their people still wear traditional clothing) as well as a snake park. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the campsite.

We visited the Maasai museum the following morning with a Maasai guide who talked us through their customs (drinking cow blood, circumcising boys and girls and other nice things like that). We went from there on a short walk to a Maasai village where we were shown into their huts and they performed singing and dancing (think BBC1 clip of jumping tribal people shown in programme breaks). We saw a school which was built from a sole donor's funds and a small health center which treated mostly snake bites. We were then taken to some small huts where Maasai women sold small trinkets to tourists where I later bought some bits from. We arrived back at the campsite in time for lunch followed by the snake park. We were lucky enough to be there during feeding time, so were able to see the snakes being fed (squeamish look away) live baby chicks. Also at the park they had a number of other animals such as crocodiles, lizards, a couple of birds and some other small animals. I was able to hold a snake and a baby crocodile - not something you can say every day!

The following day we left Arusha for the Serengeti, one of the more famous national parks in Africa. We travelled via the Ngorogoro crater (more on this later), with breathtaking scenery at 2000m. The vehicles we were travelling in were 4x4 trucks seating 6 people with hatches in the roof for popping up from to get a better look. We arrived in the Serengeti in the afternoon and were able to see a number of animals before we reached our bush camp.

We left for another Serengeti game drive in the morning, which is always the best time to see animals. We were able to see a number of creatures, including two cheetahs which we hadn't seen yet on the trip, albeit from a distance. Unfortunately, due to the time of year (just after migration), there were fewer animals to see, though we still spotted a good number of creatures. The scenery of the serengeti was truly your 'typical' African image - very Lion King (the film was set in the Serengeti - we even saw some of the cast). In the afternoon we drove back to the top of Ngorogoro crater, which we would descend into the next day.

The crater, as I understand, was formed not by a meteor striking the earth, but a large ancient volcano which collapsed into itself, forming a wide rim around an area later inhabited by animals - many of which cannot leave the crater due to the steep slopes. Unfortunately, Matt had been very ill and was unable to fully enjoy the area which was rich with animals. We saw a number of groups of zebra and wildebeast, some giraffes, some lions and a black rhino (smaller than the white rhinos we had seen before). We left the crater and arrived back at the snake park in Arusha for our last night's camping.

After a somewhat sentimental packing away of the stuff back onto the truck we spent the day driving to Nairobi, our final destination. We arrived much later than expected and said our fond farewells to those on the tour. I hope to stay in touch with them - they were a great bunch.

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Photos

Wildebeast and zebra
Wildebeast and zebra in Ngorongoro crator