Kenya and Tanzania

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On the road again. 1 truck, 3 crew (driver, tour guide and cook) and several passengers. We both thought we would lose weight on this tour, but with dinner such as steak with roast butternut squash and baked potatoes and bacon and eggs for breakfast are chances were slim (unlike ourselves).

Well we started our African adventure by visiting Nakuru National Park. Our adventure started with the onset of some heavy rain fall in the middle of the dry season. We accidentally drove down a road that was supposed to be closed due to deep mud ruts. Well as you can imagine we got stuck, even many hands digging knee deep in the mud did not release us. Imagine the scene- you are in the middle of an African wildlife reserve, Lions and Rhino all around with the golden rule being "DO NOT LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE" and you break down. Its getting dark and the only thing they have to help remove us is a glorified grass cutter! Our only option was to spend our first night on safari in the truck with group pee calls just before our armed guard left us for the night. All in a day of overlanding :-)
Once released the following morning we toured the park. There are thousands of Pink Flamingos here that make the edges of the lake look pink along with our first sighting of a Lioness, Black Rhino and the rare Rothschild Giraffe. Outside of the park we also ate lunch in the company of a group of Zebra.

Onto the Serengeti and the Ngorogoro crater. Here we were blessed with seeing many fantastic sights such as 3 infant lions feasting on a freshly killed Gazelle, we did not see the mother but she would have been close by keeping an ever watchful eye on things. We were spoilt for game viewing seeing many Wildebeast, Zebra, Giraffe, Elephant and more, many with young. A Lioness with two small cubs were blocking the road at one point so we stopped and watched as she walked past us brushing the side of the truck whilst the two tiny cubs kept falling over and having to run to catch up. Although these two parks are the most famous as we travelled we found there were some far more superior parks to visit (more later).

There were plenty of long days of driving to cover vast distances across Africa, one of those was to get to the port at Dar es salam. Once again getting stuck but this time in sand we were treated to permanent tents right on the beach with beautiful clear water. We also stayed here on our return from Zanzibar and watched at dusk as hundreds of white sand crabs were dashing into the surf to feed.

We headed for Zanzibar and to the northern beaches of Nuweinga. This place was fantastic, quiet unspoilt beaches and alcoves with the clearest blue water I have ever seen. We spent a few days here swimming in the sea at dusk and dawn, walking along the beach watching the women fishing in the shallow waters and bringing in their catch of Octopus and Puffa fish, sheltering from a short spell of rain with the boat builders under the palm trees and eating and drinking overlooking the water. Our best moment was hand feeding Turtles that were being cared for at a small sanctuary, and seeing all the bay turtles being hand reared until they were strong enough to be released in the same spot that they were laid.

Upon returning to Dar es salam we continued onto Malawi stopping off at a Farmhouse with some excellent local food and a Fair Trade tea plantation.

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