Blogs from Tanzania, Africa - page 17

Today we head into the Ngorongoro crater, a highlight of our tour. This crater was formed millions of years ago when a volcanic mountain collapsed into itself and formed a perfect crater that has only one entrance road and a different exit road. The animals in this crater are known to be subtly different from others due to the fact they don’t always stray from this crater. We drive to the gate and eventually get into the park. Once past the gate, the bitumen finishes, and the African massage road starts. Corrugations, potholes and wonderful blind corners while climbing the mountain. We get to the lookout and there is nothing to see but cloud so keep on going. Eventually start to see some clear sky and after some time get to the second gate. This is ... read more

No breakfast details, just into the trucks and away by 0730 planned. We drive for a short time with our driver, Masha checking for tracks as we go. He seems to spot a few cat tracks but can’t be sure how old they are. Next thing, we stop. He points out a dead Impala in a tree. The only animal to do that is a leopard. Excitement builds. As we look around, a jackal comes down the track straight towards us. Pics, then the other car behind us (one of ours) spots the leopard. The jackal has brought her out of the bush. Then we spot a cub in a tree further out. Bingo. Action aplenty and only our 2 trucks to watch proceedings, bugger. Mum comes out and is almost beside the trucks and the ... read more

Woken early by a knock on the door. Wake up call. Hmmm, phone didn’t go off, old style manual call. Found out at breakfast that others got a call. Must have knocked the phone so it didn’t work. Good service. Brekky then into the bus for our short trip back to the airport. Back through the check in routine and towards customs, etc. Farewelled our tour guide, Graham. He has been really good and keeps saying we have been the best group he has ever had. We vehemently say he is talking shit but he steadfastly says he has had loads of fun and hasn’t had to work hard at all. Anyway, more hugs and kisses - and handshakes for some. Then we head through his secret security entry which is much quicker than the first ... read more

Joy. Pure, effervescent, blanketed warmth radiating from the core and filtering through open mouthed smiles and closed eyes, shining straight from the soul. Have you felt it? I'm not sure I really, truly had. Charlie had been lingering around this morning. He was worried he wouldn't be allowed to go to school.. his uniform hadn't dried in the damp air. He watched me pick weeds from the garden, an open yard intersected by a mountain path for neighbors to go up and down. Kneeling down to wash my hands, I helped him wash his too. Soap is a commodity-- I wasn't sure when he'd used It last. Music rang from my phone that I'd propped up in a pitcher for amplification. In our deep, hand washing squat, we started bouncing to the music, waving our soapy ... read more

After a week at our very private Mango Drift resort on the lovely island of Likoma in Lake Malawi, where we were the only guests for the whole week, we left with the MV Ilala which departed a few hours late so we got to spend another night sleeping on the upper deck of the ship. It was cold so we did not sleep a lot and we arrived in the middle of the night in Nkhata Bay where we got ourselves a very nice bungalow right on the lakeshore at Mayoka Village the next morning. The lake is providing such attractive surroundings that we got to spend another few days snorkelling and canoeing before we continued and traveled up north to Mzuzu. In Mzuzu the next morning we got a ride with Johan, a South ... read more