Out of Africa....part one

I am going to have to do this in parts or it will take longer to read than the last Harry Potter!

It began on November 1st, we flew from Heathrow to Nairobi, lovely flight, Nairobi airport mind you was a bit stressful, we were told to go to gate 6, then after queuing they told us to go to gate 11, after queuing there they told us to go back to gate 6... we finally picked up the connecting flight to Kilimanjaro, we didn't catch sight of the great mountain as it was shrouded in white clouds. We were met at the airport and drove towards The Mountain Village Hotel in Arusha for our first night, I had a Meryl Streep moment as soon as I saw the flat acacia trees, as we were driving, the warm air was comforting and the roads bumpy We arrived at our hotel, it was lovely, we had our own little hobbit hut with an amazing view, we overlooked a beautiful lake, with Kilimanjaro on one side and Mount Meru on the other.

We didn't unpack we went for lunch and then went canoeing on the lake which we learned was called Lake Deluti. Cath and I each had our own canoe, with a guide helping us paddle (they were doing the steering which was just as well if you saw us I kept paddling into the side, and Cath wasn't keen on paddling much at all. We spent over two hours canoeing around the lake while our guides pointed out birds and monitor lizards, and beautiful trees and flowers. We got out of the canoes and walked back up the hill to the hotel, sat on the lawn, drank a beer which was named Kilimanjaro and was surprisingly good, the sun warmed my face and I felt relaxed and happy. We made our way back to our little hobbit hut to get showered and ready for dinner, five courses of lovely food with a lot of wine made for a great nights sleep!

Day two began with a lovely breakfast and what was billed as a "nature walk" around Lake Deluti, by now we had met up with our travelling companions for the Safari, a lovely older couple from New York State, Larry & Esther, both retired and (as they put it) spending their kids inheritance! Anyway the "nature walk" turned into a three hour hike around the lake, climbing over tree stumps, up hills, across very narrow walkways, health and safety had not arrived in Arusha and I for one was very glad it hadn't we had such a good time clambering over trees and through bushes and the three hours went by in a flash. Larry & Esther went off to look at the local market, while I recovered at the top of the hill with another cold Kilimanjaro beer (you'll see a pattern emerging here!) After lunch we met our safari guide Kavishe and got into our lovely green landcruiser and began the trip to Tarangerie National Park where we would be spending the night, the drive itself was fabulous, we drove through coffee plantations, past banana plantations, through lovely villages, then finally drove through the gates of Tarangerie. Kavishe put the top of the landcrusiser up so we could stand up, and within two minutes we came face to face with a beautiful giraffe.

For a moment it felt like something you would see at a Disney Park, but then you realised this was their natural habitat. The jeep picked up speed, we stood looking out of the top and the amazing scenery, the warm air hit my face and all of a sudden all was well with the world.

It wasn't long before we came across a herd of elephants that were right in the road in front of us Kavishe pulled up the jeep, switched off the engine and we just watched them, I can't begin to describe how amazing it was, they really are beautiful creatures. We carried on through the park, saw antelope, zebra, wildebeest, gazelle, and not just antelopes we saw the most beautiful trees, acacia (umbrella) trees, candelabra trees and my favourite baobab trees (called the tree of life as they can live up to 2,000 years also called the upside down tree)

We saw monkeys, more giraffe, more elephants, so many types of antelope and gazelle I forget the names. Then all too soon we arrived at the Sopa lodge where we were staying for the night, I could have gone on all night watching the animals. The hotel was lovely, as we arrived, sweaty, hot, dusty and tired we were greeted with hot towels and a glass of fresh pineapple juice. We got to our room, showered off the dust, went for dinner and of course a couple of night caps,I went to bed the happiest girl in the world!

We got up early, had breakfast and set off for a morning drive through Tarangerie, it was a day of amazing spots ( I think I will apologise now as the word amazing may be seriously over used) First we saw the cutest, smallest deer called a Dik Dik, they are always found in twos as they mate for life. We saw more zebra including an albino zebra, our guide told us he would be an easy target and without his properly formed stripes he would be easy to spot I tried not to think about it! Next we saw a family of warthogs, they were so ugly you just have to love them, then we came cross a huge herd of wildebeest and another herd of elephants including a few babies. We crossed a dried up river and saw a hyrax sunbathing on a rock, more dik dik, some blue monkeys and more Thompson and Grants gazelle it was brilliant.

Then the funniest thing happened, we saw a lone male ostrich right next to the side of the jeep, we took some pictures of him, and I don't know whether it was Larry's aftershave or my perfume but he took a shine to us and started following us, he followed for miles, even when we got up to 40 mph, eventually we lost him or so we thought, we stopped at a picnic site for a toilet break, and there he was again, this time though he had got between us and the jeep, and started hissing and sticking his wings up so our guide Kavishe had to try and scare him off while we ran for the jeep.

We started driving again and finally lost the ostrich, we knew why a few minutes later, the most wonderful site two lionesses lying in the grass right by the side of the road, we stopped and took some amazing close up photo's.

Then more wildebeest another beautiful candelabra tree, and some secretary birds that made me feel like I was in Jurassic park, they looked so prehistoric. Next we saw another huge herd of elephants, we stopped and watched them for ages. We saw a flame headed lizard basking in the sunshine, more elephant, more gazelle and then in the distance sitting under a tree the most beautiful cheetah we watched her as she scoured the horizon. As we drove out of the park we saw more elephant, giraffe and zebra, it had been an amazing day but it wasn't over. We left Tarangerie and began the long drive to Ngorogoro Crater,we drove through a small village and had to stop as our guide had to get a permit to go to the crater. A lot of children came up to the jeep and were waving at us so we thought, and we waved back, but they were actually writing in the air, all they wanted was a pen, I wound down the window and passed the only pen I had to a beautiful little girl, her face will stay with me always it lit up, you would swear I had given her the crown jewels.

It would be a good point to mention here that any girls out there who are thinking of going on safari and who are on the large side chest wise to bring a sports bra! Some, actually most of the roads are just dirt and stone and very bumpy and the lads get shook up pretty bad, I spent a lot of the trip with my arms folded across my chest I can tell you! We drove up the side of a mountain, bumping all the way and then Kavishe stopped the jeep, we got out at a lookout point, it overlooked the Ngorogor crater, it was one of the most beautiful sights I think I have ever seen, you try and capture it on camera, but it didn't do it justice, you just couldn't capture the vastness, or the beauty, we stood for almost twenty minutes taking in that view and knowing that each tiny black dot you could see was an animal and that in the morning we would be driving down into the crater to see them. The drive to the Serena lodge was wonderful, the scenery breathtaking to top it off we saw a herd of buffalo on the side of the road, so we had seen three of the big five already and it was only day three.

We arrived at the lodge, and were again greeted with a warm towel, and a glass of juice, it's hard to tell you how much dust you get covered with on the drives but you kind of get embarrassed to give the towels back after you have wiped your hands and face with them!

The people of Tanzania are warm, welcoming and friendly, they love it if you at least try to speak Swahili, so a Jambo (hello) or asante sana (thank you very much) is welcomed. We were taken to our room, each of the lodges merge in with it's surroundings, so you can hardly see them off the road, I couldn't help thinking that if this was the UK or USA they would have built a huge ten storey monstrosity on the side of the crater, but this lodge was made from natural wood and stone and you would never know it was there. We entered our room, and went straight out onto the balcony, we had the most outstanding view of the crater, we didn't want to waste a minute so we showered and went over to the bar area to watch the sunset, the colours were vivid, and as we were in the park there were elephants just outside the window. We ate dinner and went back to our room, on the balcony door was a huge spider eating a moth, since neither Cath nor I are the most at ease with 8 legged friends I switched off the balcony light so we couldn't see it. We decided to set our alarm early and sleep with curtains open so we could watch the sunrise........to be continued