Arusha, Tanzania

So we survived our first 13 hour bus journey from Dar es Salaam to Arusha on the Kilimanjaro Express...well just about!...Nina and I were nearly left stranded after the bus drove off on us during a short toilet break. Luckily we used our athletic skills to race after it and continued on our journey to Arusha.
In Arusha we visited the local primary school next door to the Rena hostel, where we sat in the staff room, met the principal and learned the childrens' dance for their graduation next week.
We then went on safari to the Serengeti National Park, and what an experience it was!! Our 'Will I Am' look alike guide, Micheal drove us to the north western part of the Park where we managed to track down four of the 'Big Five' (lions, buffaloes, leopards and elephants). We also saw giraffes, warthogs, gazelles, ostriches, hippos, antelopes, hyrax and cheetahs, to name just a few, all in their natural habitat. One of the highlights was seeing the Migration of thousands of wildebeest in an orderly fashion towards the centre of the Park. I also had my first ever camping experience, where we shared the campsites with buffaloes and zebras.
We then went to the Ngorongoro Crater which combines the crevices and vast size of the Grand Canyon and the greenery and hilly scenery of the Lake District. Here, after many hours of searching, we finally found the last member of the 'Big Five' when we discovered one of only 17 rhinoceros in the whole crater, grazing happily in the grass. This completed an unbelievable experience on safari here. It was great to be able to get up close and personal with so many animals over the four days.
We then made our way back to Arusha where we went to see Mount Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately when we got there it was misty and overcast so we couldn't see much. But at least we got to pose for some photos at the bottom and we may go back to some day to climb to the summit!
We are now on a 20 hour bus journey to Mbeya in the south of the country as we head towards Malawi. I think there'll be plenty of numb bums at the end of this, but at least we have hundreds of photos to go through from the safari. That will surely pass the time a little! Tanzania has been an amazing first stop of the trip! The rest of the countries we are visiting have a lot to live up to, to compete with it!!Read more