CORK, COUNTY CORK It only took us just over an hour to fly from our local airport of Southampton to Cork in Ireland with our friends John and Charmian Cork. For many years we had planned to come to the Emerald Isle together and we had finally made it …. … After a really smooth flight enjoying some ‘Cork Gin’, with a little tonic of course we landed and were soon passing through immigration. Being the only plane at the airport this was quickly achieved which made a nice change for us. We had front row seats, well the row behind these, the front ones remained empty for the flight, but we were still last off the plane as they opened the back door and not the front one - bad planning on our part to ... read more

ARGENTINA - Buenos Aires Our ship, the Zaandam was a 785 foot Holland America cruise liner which we had chosen for our journey as it was not too large compared to many ocean liners and we had used HA before when we sailed from Alaska to Vancouver. In the early part of the 17th century, Henry Hudson set sail from Holland in a tiny ship called the ‘de Halve Maen’. His long voyage across the Atlantic heralded the beginnings of Dutch exploration and settlements in the New World heralding a long seafaring tradition between the Dutch and Americans. Our Captains for our journey around the Cape were Joost Endearing and Pieter Jan Van Maurik and there were 620 crew members to 1300 passengers. Unpacked and safely on board the Zaandam we set sail leaving Buenos Aires ... read more

LANZAROTE We have just spent a glorious week in Lanzarote visiting our friends, Sue and Jim who have visited the country many times and often stay during the cold UK months to get some winter sunshine. We flew into the capital Arrecife from our local Bournemouth airport and the flight was only three and half hours so we were soon enjoying the warm sunshine too. We had visited the island once before a few years ago and had grown to love this scenic Island. There are eight main islands forming the Canary Islands, which are an archipelago and autonomous community of Spain located on the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Morocco and the Western Sahara. The largest is Tenerife which we visited many years ago and did not have a very good impression of ... read more

LEAVING CENTRAL SERENGETI We left Tumbili Campsite in the Serenera Valley stopping to fill up at the only petrol station in this part of the Serengeti National Park. With just two pumps and a small garage, workers were busy repairing tyres and fixing wheels, mainly by hand - probably a regular source of income around here. We watched the skilled workers before filled up our safari vehicle and heading on our way. The name ‘Serengeti’ derives from the Maasai word ‘siringet’ which describes the area. It means ‘the place where the land runs on forever’ - a really apt description of this vast wilderness. It is so huge and can be geographically divided into four main areas; the Southern plains, the central Seronera Valley, the Western Corridor, and the Northern parts, extending from the Lobo Hills ... read more

LAKE MANYARA On our way to Lake Manyara we passed back through the still busy and dusty streets of Arusha and stopped by Duma’s office to collect some more supplies for the next leg of our journey. We met Duma Explorer founder, Hezron Mbise and some of the staff who made us feel very welcome. We continued our journey and stopped to buy charcoal in yet another small dusty town and whilst we waited for Rammy to try and find a supply we were bombarded with locals selling us Tanzanian football shirts or Maasai beaded bracelets. We learnt the Swahili phrase, ‘Hapana Asante’ (no thank you) very quickly but this only helped a little. We handed out small bottles of soaps and lotions I had brought with me to the women and this seemed to please ... read more