Africa

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Jan 31
Day 16 
Today we picked up the new passangers 15 we had 2 no show. They all seem very nice. We waited for a while for the 2 to show up but we had to push on. We headed for Masai Mara which took about 4 hours. We took smaller vans and one land curuiser, half way through Kathy heard from the outer 2 passagenrs so they got the third van to catch up with us. Anyway we finally got to our camp site had some lunch then headed out for a game drive. The scenery was absolutely amazing. It was what I expected plains with one tree popping up here or there. We came across many gazells caribus and buffalo then we saw a magnificant elephant. But what made the day was when we saw a pack of lion sleeping in the grass. Unfortunately they were hard to see because of the tall grass however later on when we were leaveing the park Jackson our drive spotted 2 lion and in a water hole and a small thomson gazell and here baby. The lions darted behind the bush and next thing we saw was the lion with the baby gaziell in it's mouth. It was crazy. It then ran across the dirt road behind our truck. It was freaking awesome.  Apparently it's so rare to see a kill. We were very luck.
When we got back to camp we had a delicious dinner then hung around the campfire till we nicked off to bed. I forgotto mention our tents are very military style. Large walk in tents with a toilet in the back and a shower around back. It's really pretty sick. I'm bunking with Maydeena and Tan. 

Feb 1
Day 17
Today we had an early wake up a good breaky then headed out for game drive. We drove for quite some time before we saw anything but we did spot some more lion, giraff, and elephants. Then we drove past another safari truck that said there was a cheeta over the hill so we headed that way. We went off the dirt path driving in circles until we spotted it. It was again lying on a little hill in the shade of some grass. We basically did a drive by because your not allowed off the dirt tracks however I did get to snap a shot. We drove around a bit more before we had a pit stop at a gorgeous camp site. Then we drove to the Mara river where we had a packed lunch picknic where we had to fight off some monekeys from stealing our food. Then we had a little river walk to see some hippos and aligators. After that we b lined it back to camp only to chill out under the shade of trees until dinner time. We all were gonna hang around the camp fire and chat but it started raining a little so everyone just went off to bed. 

Feb 2
Day 18
Today we had an early game drive in hopes to see the animals in action becaue it's much cooler in the am and most of the animals hide in shade durring peak hours. Well we lucked out, we got to see a beautiful lion pride  around 4 mothers and around 8 cubs or so, ranging from a couple of months to almost a year. They were amazing. The cubs were playing/wrestling with each other. It was so adorable. We sat there for atleast a half hour in just Aww. Then we headed back to camp where we had breaky and headed back to Nairobi. Once we got to Nairobi the newbies got briefed on the tents and truck. I went and did a work out there were some weights in the back of the place so I got a decent little circut in. Then it was dinner time. We had chicken and steak BBQ. It was delicious. The gravy we had for the meats was awesome so tasty. I'm so stoked for the spice tour on Zani. 
After dinner we watched Madagascar escapee to africa from my iPod.  Then everyone nicked off to bed. 

Feb 3
Day 19
Today we headed for Tanzania to a town called Aruisha.
Wow that was a long and bumpy trip. We stopped in the center of town where there is a clock tower that apparently marks the halfway point from Cairo to Capetown. When we finally made it to Arushia we set up camp and made dinner. Which unfortunately there wasn't really enough to go around, I think the newbies dont really know how rationing food works while traveling. After dinner we packed a day pack for the Serengeti and nicked off to bed. 

Feb 4th
Day 20
So today we made some breaky then we got fetched by the comfort safari company who was takg care of us the next few days in the Serengeti. 
Our first major stop was at the ngorongo crater and what a spectactular view that was. It was georgous. It's so large and vast it doenst appear to be a crater, it was very impressive. Then we stopped at a gorge called Oldupei. Where there was a small museum aboutthe evloution of man and tracing his orgins back to this gorge. They had a cast of mans first foot prints. It was awesome to think we all started there millions of years ago. A man gave us a nice speach about the history of the archeology of the area he explained the earth layers and how far they date back to. 
We then did a game drive towards our campsite. Unfortunatley (for some) it started raining but I was stoked because we were now mudding. Haha driving through massive puddles of mud and small streams. It was so much fun. We stopped for lunch on the rim of the gorge and had lovely packed lunch. However. there were some infamous birds there that would swoop down  and steal food from your hand much like Lbi seagulls. Haha one of the British girls Nikki had her chicken take from her hands. 
After lunch we finally made it around the crater and into the Serengeti. We got to see many giraffes, zebras many different types of antelope, buffalo and our first site of wildebeasts along the way. As we were just leaving a herd of wildebeasts Kathy noticed one of them stubling and having problems standing up.  So we backed up to watch it, It fell to it's knees then to the ground. It was quite sad because our driver was quite sure it was sick and would die shortly. But so goes th circle of life. 
A little later we got to see some massive rocks that were origionally apart of the volcano that once was ngorongo crater. We had driven a few hours time when we saw these rocks so it must have been a massive eruption. 
As our afternoon winded down our driver Elias hear word there were some lions resting in a tree. So we immediately headed there. 
All I can say is wow. What a spectial. It's like they were modeling for us and looking right at us. They were so adorable. Legs hung around a think branch, not a care in the world. There was a "y" branch in the tree and one of them had their heads right at the y it was spectactular. Then we caught wind there was a lepard in a tree near to us. So we trucked it over there. These guys apparently are much more bashful they never look at you. Sure enough our guy didn't give us much of a look either. But it still was quite the spetical. The only real draw back is that the lighting in he trees was quite poor. So we were all trying to play dr with our cameras to lighten up the shot. Hopefully we all got some good ones. 
By now light was fading and we still had to get to our camp so we had to leave the lepard and go find and set up camp. Everyone was sharing a tent so Kathy and I shared one since I'm the odd one out. We the had a delicious dinner. That started with a chicken and sweet corn soup and then a delicous steak with some veggies and potatoes. After dinner we hung out and chatted a bit but we were all quite tired after the long drives so we nicked off to bed early. 

Feb 5 th
Day 21 
Maydeena's birthday. Today we had a pretty early start we had breaky then went out on a game drive. We have been really spoiled beacuse we have seen all of the big 5 already. Lion, Elepant, Rhion, Buffalo and Lepard.   I was hopping to see another cheeta or a black rhino today but no such luck. We did get to winess some hippos mating and a very camaflagued lepard with some sort of kill with it in a tree as well as another lepaord just resting in a tree. We did also oet to see some giraffe, elephants, buffalo, and a few spiecesz of antelope as well. But all of them are quite common now.  We're on to bigger and better a back rhino perhaps or a lepard and her cubs or a chetah chase and kill. I'd love to see some lion take down a buffalo or wildebeasts. Geting a bit jaded I suppose. Well we had a nice dinner and are now on another game drive headed toward the rim of the ngorongo crater where we will camp tonight and the have a game drive in the crater tomorrow morning.
On the way out of the Serengeti we we fortunate enough to see a small family of lion sun baking on some rocks on a small hill. They were beautiful. Then a little further on we got to see an elephant herd with some babies as well. It was an awesome way to end our Serengeti trip. When we got to the camp on the Ngorongo crater we set up camp amongst the massives of people. There was a beautiful acacia tree begging to be climbed so sure enough I scaled it shortly after setting up our tent. I coinvinced the two new ozzies to climb up with me. It was pretty easy but there was a part you had to swing/smear over to large branch. Unrortunately there wasn't a good view in the tree because there were to many leaves but it was a sick tree, a perfect tree house tree. It had large branches going in every direction and the leaves were only on the end like an umbrella. 
Dinner was decent we had some spaghetti bologanses then we hung around a camp fire chatting and celebrating maydeena's birthday. 

Feb 26
Day 22
We were meant to get in the road early but everone takes a long time to get ready in the am. We apparently missed some cheetas yesterday because we were late so I was tring to get people moving this am. 
We drove around the rim then down into the crater. It was a spectacular site. We came across the usual animal but were in luck, 10 mins in or so we spotted 2 male lions right by the road.  It was magnificant. They were just lying there resting then they got up and crossed the street and one began drinking from a puddle it was unreal. One of the lions looked like it was going to have a taste of one of the other land cruisers bumpers. He got super close. It was crazy. We drove around a bit more seeing a lot of flimangos wildebeasts and zebras. Then we came across a lioness resting on a grassy knoll and across from her there was anotherr makig a descent from a mountian. It was spectacular. Such a great amazing trip. Then before we stopped for a toilet break we came across a black rhino and some hyenas. The rhio was just lying in the dirt off in the distance but still amazing and the hyenas ran right along the road.   So we now we have fully completed the big 5. 
We just saw a baby wildebeast minutes after being born. He was adorable. He couldnt stand up propperly. But apparently after 15 minutes they can run full speed because they need to be able to run from preadatos. Then just after that baby we got to see another black rhino and her baby not new born but still very cute. On the way out of the crater we saw 2 more lions a male and female, think they were a couple. Haha. 
The view leaving the crater was absolutely fantastic/breath taking. When we got back to camp we packed up and were fed a delicious beef stew with rice. Then we had a 3 or so hour drive back to Arushia. When we got back we set up came then waited for dinner. Maydeena and I played cards to kill the time. Dinner was a delicous BBQ. After dinner a few of us played cards micky taught us a new game, spaish rummy. After a few hands we all nicked off to bed. I decided to clean the truck before I went to bed though. It was super muddy because it had been raining and the parkig lot was filled with mud. It took about 1/2 hour or so to clean. Then I showered and went to bed. 
I don't think I wrote the newbies names down so here goes. 
2 Ozzie sister aleshia aka leash and rashell aka Shelly, British couple tom and Zoe, other British couple Johny aka micky and jess, 2 British girils Nikki and Susie, a Canadian couple Jermey and Erin, a uk/ozzi girl Meghan, a USA/uk girl Sarah and the sweedish friends Asa (awasa) and Simon.

Feb. 7 
Day 23
Today we had our Masai walk after breaky. Which I wasnt very impressed with. The museum tour was intresting and very informaive but we had to walk along way in the mud to the village which wasn't much of a village just a few huts and some local kids. Then we walked to the school but it was Sunday so that wasn't intresting, then we walked to the snkae bite clinic which was ehh as well. Don't get me wrong it's great they have it but we just stood outside while this highly monotone woman explains a little about it. We then walked back to camp luckily before we finished the Masai men did a little dance for us which made me feel better about spending money for that activity/walk. 
We then packed up and headed to Arushia to do some shopping and make lunch. We are now on the road for Korogwe.
When we got to Korogwe we set up camp and started dinner. Then micky and I did a work out on the tennis courts alternating jumping rope and an exercise it was pretty solid. Dinner was a pretty good stew. After that most people went to bed and unfortunately not many people have been helping out with the chores so it had been tan, may and myself doing alot the Ozzie sisters have been stepping up a bit though.  But over all it's been a bit frustrating. So Maydeena and I decided to stay up to play some cards and blow off some steam. She's a really cool down to earth chick.
  
Feb 8 th
Day 24
So today we woke up early packed up and headed for Dar es Salaam. We made decent time even though there was a ton of traffic in Dar. We had some free time to get some errands done before the ferry. Then we caught our 4 pm ferry across to zani island. 
The ride was very smooth. I am apprently not meant to own a camera though because I went to take some photos of the trip when I turned on the camera my LCD screen was cracked so I can only see half the pictures and there's no window view, I hope the LCD screen doenst go all black or I'll be taking blind photos. I should have bought one of those unbreakable ones. 
Anyway 2 hours later we arrived in Stone town where we got our pasports stamped again and then walked to our hotel. Zanizibar has had electric problems for the past few months apparently the lines in the ocean need  major repairs. There are generators in the island but its only from 6-10 at night. So we checked in in the dark then went to dinner. A nice little place I had some delicious BBQ sordfish. After dinner we walked to the night food market where we ran into Simon and Asa. I decided to get some curry lobster and bread fruit both were ehh decent but nothing special. Bread fruit was like a mildly sweet plain potato. After that we went back to our room showered up and went to bed.

Feb 9th
Day 25
Well I have slept in some hot countries and hotels and man that was the worst. I woke up a few times sweeting like mad. It was ridiculous, like sleeping in a Sauna. Anyway when we got up we tried getting some iced coffees before breaky but the restaurats power wasn't working so we had to bail so we could have breaky before we got picked up for our spice tour. 
Our tour started at the old slave market. We got a little tour around and got a briefing about how it used to work. It was terrible. They use to leave 75 slaves In a tiny basement for days to find out who was weak and who was strong.  Anyone that lived was strong and would get sold into slavery. There is now a church built over the old whipping post and the man the ended slavery is also burried in the church. After that little tour we drove to the spice farm which was more of a jungle walk.  Where this guy walked around and pointed out spices and fruits would cut a bit off for us to smell and taste. It was really cool and very informative. I wish I took notes. Haha anyway we got a delicious lucnh after we all bought tons of spices.  Then we headed up to the north beach nunjui where the rest of our group was. Its quite beautiful here there are no waves but the water is sky blue and very warm.  We just hung out on the beach all afternoon some of us played some vball with some african schol group. It was pretty fun. Then we all went to a restuant down the beach to have dinner. I had some Guac and a galic pizza both were delicious. A few of us stayed up a bit later and hung out before we all nicked off to bed. 
 
Feb 10
Day 26
Today I got up and did a work out on the beach there are some free weights outside one of the the hotels. After breaky Micky and I rented some crappy ass spearguns to go try and hunt some fish. The guns were small and rusty they barely came out of the gun. Micky was a bit tigger happy and killed a few tiny fish but did manage to kill a roco fish or something and a needle nose. I saw some big mackeral or something but wasnt able to get a shot off with the rusty thing. I did manage to get and octopus though. After a few hours we headed in and got our kill cooked up by our restaurant. A few people told us it's illegal to spear here because it's a park but some local guy rented us the gear and Kathy said she had other clients try and some other brazial guy went out. So who knows. Anyway we ate our fish which was delicious, the octopus was awesome. So we were happy. After that everyone was pretty tired since they book a snorkeling tour to the small isnald off the coast. 
I have been just chilling in my hammock all afternoon listen to music and catching up on here. Awe I love my life.
Micky and I got some people together to play vball later that avo until sunset. Then we went for a sunset swim. It was absolutely georgous. We had dinner that night at our hotel in a cool couch/laidback table. It was a very chill atmosphere. After dinner we just hung out chatted then all nicked off to bed. 

Feb 11
Day 27 
I woke up early to do a work out. The 2 Ozzie sisters were meant to meet me to go for a run. But they didn't show so I did a work out with the weights to kill some time but they never showed so I went on a run myself.  When i got back we all had breaky then played some vball again. 
We all had lunch as a group before we had to catch the taxi back to stone town.
When we went for a swim after lunch I found a pretty cool painting in the ocean. Apparently some hotel owner had some MP (military police) come in an destroy some small local shops on the beach because he didn't like them. It was very sad. There were painting and neclaces all over the beach. 
Anyway we caught the taxi back to stone town. Where the girls and I walked around and they did some shopping. There is a music festivle in town and we got to see a small but vey cool parade pass by. Later we meet everyone at African house for a drink and some appitizers. It had a large deck that over loooked the ocean so we got to see a beautiful sunset. After that we all went to the night market and ate our weight in fresh seafood.  It was divine. After dinner most everyone went back to the hotel but Maydeena, Shelly, Leash and myself stayed out to try and go to the music fest. We ran into the Brazilian guy Joe that also went spearing on he north part of the island and he gave us the bad news the tickets were much more expensive than we thought so we ended up talking to them for a while then we hung out by the night market and just chatted. Before we finally went back to the hotel. Last night with the girls. 

Feb 12 
Day 28
We had a lazy slow morning, we had a decent breaky on the top of the hotel then the girls wantted to go shopping again so I just tagged along. We met up with a few of the other paxs for lunch before we headed back to the hotel to say our sad goodbyes to the girls and catch the ferry back to Dar. 
I'm gonna miss those girls I cared about them alot Tan was like a sister and Maydeena could defiantly be a girl  I'd date her boyfriend is very lucky; but lucky for me there are 2 new Ozzie sisters that will take their place haha. They have some big shoes to fill though.  You get quite close to people when you spend 24 hours a day with them for a month. Guess I'll have to make another tip to ozz to visit them. Soon I'll have more friends there then at home. Haha
When we got to Dar we took another small fery over to a small pinisula where we set up camp and stayed the night. We went to another camp for dinner and that's where the girls went crazy dress shopping.

Feb 13
Day 29
Half way
Today we had an early wake up in order to get on the road to head to Iringa. We were on the bus for about 12 hours. So when we finally made it to camp we quickly set up tents then went to have dinner, which was fully catered and delicious.  The restaurant was beautiful, we had some tasty soup app followed by roast beef with fresh veggies and potatoes from the farm. It was superb. After dinner we all went and hung out in the quaint bar for a bit where everyone had some hot chocolate and brownies. It's cold here since were at altitude. After that well all nicked off to bed. 

Feb 14 Vday
Day 30
Today we had an ealry wake up as well were supposed to have another 10 hours or so drive. But luckily we stay are staying a few days at Lake Malawi where I hope to be able to catch up on some emails and post this. 
Well there was Internet but I never got around to use it. When we got to camp we set up tents and our cooking stuff. After dinner a few of us went to the bar to play some cards and chess. One of the other tour groups was having their fancy dress party there. Which was pretty halaraious. They came over to us and chatted us up, the girls were hitting on me and gropping me, to bad they weren't very attractive. I got the line " wow you have an amazing body. Do you have a girlfriend? Me no. Do you want one?" haha classy. They were being quite risky at the bar as well. We tried to keep or distance. 

Feb 15
Day 31 
Last night I was super hot in the tent with the girls so I got out opened the windows and decided to get my hammock and sleep in that. 
We had another few hours on the road today but we had a few stops so it broke it up nicely. We stopped at a very nice market where we all got some souviners. When we got to the camp site we got set up then played some vball with the locals. Then micky and I did a bit of a work out before dinner. I was super tried because I didn't eat lunch becaue my stomach was rumbling. Dinner was pretty solid though. Patrick our driver made ketchwa for us. The ground maze root with a stew pot. We ate with our fingers as that is the tradition. 
After dinner we just hung out a bit before we all nicked off to bed.

Feb 16
Day 32
Today we had our Malawi village walk. They took us to a day care a primary school and a hospital. The day care was very cute the little kids were awesome. The primary kids were pretty nice as well. One little kid gave me his address so I gave home mine. But I heard a story today that some one did that once in the phillipinse and thy got some one to rob them. I hope that doenst happen to me. He seemed pretty inocent. 
The hospital was actually a clinic that only had 3 workers for some 20,000 people. Pretty intense. Then they gave us a nice local meal before we came back to camp. 
Shelly and I spent the avo getting our hair dead locked on the beach but man that was a crappy slow production. It took almost 3 hours and they are more like spikes than dreads but they do look prett cool. After that we had to help cook lamb for dinner we had 2 legs some ribs and some tbones, which also turned out to be a long production. I had to man the BBQ and try to keep the meat warm while everything else was cooking and we were passing out our fancy dresses. Steph got me a tiny sequins skirt and a lingerie top. It was quite hot and I got j bird mickys girlfirnd to shave my legs tonight so I was looking hot. Haha. After dinner which was pretty delicious everyone started drinking and the night got very intresting.  There was alot of dancing and caring on. The night ended in a sandy mess on all the hammocks infront of the camp. 

Feb 17
Day 33 
Today we watched  the local boys kill skin and gut our goat for our spit roast. It was pretty intense. 
After that we pretty much just hung out all day Shelly and I played some chess and just chilled. A few of us did laundry but unfortunately it rained so well see how they dry. 
So dinner was a big hit. Micky made a good rub/paste for the goat and I think everyone that ate it enjoyed it. George the local guy and I carved it up while the girls made some veggies and squash for some side dishes. Everything turned out lovely, as the british say. Haha. After dinner everyone just hung out a bit I think they were all hurting from lastnight. Micky and I played a couple games of chess I won the first he won the second.                       

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