Tanzania day 11 Sunset in Zanzibar and the happiest drummer in the world Nothing is ever simple for us. When I booked the flights from Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro and then from Arusha to Zanazibar I hadn’t known that the Gombe safari company had booked us flights to cover the first leg. I couldn’t get to even cancel just one of our booked flights let alone get any money back so we just thought we’d take the one back down. After we got here I remembered once having a flight cancelled because I hadn’t taken the first part so I contacted the airline. They messaged me saying our second flight had been suspended as we hadn’t taken the first one even though I had told them we wouldn’t be taking it and it wasn’t actually ... read more

Tanzania day 9 Ngorongoro completes the Big Five with a live sex show If the Ngorongoro crater was in Stoke they would have filled it in by now and then run out of money and left it as waste ground. Thankfully councils are more forward thinking in Tanzania and this jaw-dropping spectacle is there still. This collapsed volcano should surely be one of the natural wonders of the world just for the amount of animals and species it holds. Most animals here don’t leave because they don’t need to. The cat food has grass and water and the cats have, well, plenty of cat food. We rose at 5am not having had another elephant in the camp...or had our tent flattened by one... Coffee was ready and then breakfast ready for our 6am departure....at 6:11. Not ... read more

Tanzania day 7 Safari so goody in the Serengeti, Tanzania, Africa Have you ever had one of those dreams where you’re camping in the middle of the Serengeti and there are loads of strange animal noises outside your tent. And it’s 4am and you need a wee. And the toilets are quite a walk away and you’ve been told not to go on your own. And then there’s a lion in the toilets. And then Prince Harry turns up at breakfast. ??? No? Well up until the last two parts, that was actually true last night and the last two bits were probably brought on by the stress and pain of needing a wee in this situation. When I finally got to go it was amazing. And then you look round and there’s a herd of ... read more

Tanzania day 5 A lion cub, thieving monkeys, many elephants and a MOR peckerhead in Tanzania Sunrise isn’t always interesting and today was one of those days. The sun limped from behind the horizon, made no use of the low lying sky and plopped unceremoniously into the sky. Only the look on Claire’s face when someone played ‘Here Comes The Sun’ was worth getting up so early for. Oh and the horror when she noticed a young woman wearing socks and sandals....and then when she saw the pasty white guy who ith an Arab headscarf.... Yes, my wife is always worth watching and infinitely more interesting than a sunrise. We were looking over Lake Manyara national park though, so the view was pretty good. Our campsite is called Panorama and it certainly lives up to its ... read more

Tanzania Day 3 A flight delay, a car accident, glaring locals and going up north in Tanzania After the theft from another room last night I don’t think we were being over cautious when we took all our valuables to breakfast this morning. I’d barricaded the doors last night as well, just in case. Claire had planned to get up for the sunset but ended up getting woken by a thunderstorm instead. I heard a bit of it but was pretty dead to the world while she managed to get up and shoot some video of some interesting sheet lightening. We didn’t get up until EIGHT am! Crazy, lazy days. Breakfast was odd and I’m not even sure what two of the things on our plates were. There was coffee though that was drinkable so that’s ... read more