report number 2

Jambo Jambo from Zanzibar (it means hello btw)

Well what a week it’s been! At the moment we are Nungwi on the North coast of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. This place is idyllic - clear blue seas and white sands, you get the picture and I’m sure you don’t want to hear any more of that :) If fact we are getting nice even tans, or going bright red after sitting in the sun for half an hour….(damn this British skin)

So far we have experienced dust, animals, agressive selling techiques, dust, heat, a 14 hour drive in a big yellow truck, dodgy toilets, more dust and we’ve learnt the art of putting up a tent.

The most memoriable experience so far has been the safari to the Nongorgoro Crater and the Serengeti. We travelled in 4x4 jeeps for many hours and through many potholes and of course dust, but it was well worth it. The Crater is believed to be where life began and it is stunning to view from the rim above. We then descended to the base where the animals are. We saw zebras, gazelles, hippos, vultures, in fact a bird called a Black Kite actually stole someone’s packed lunch! We also saw elephants, flamingos, wildebeasts and water buffalo. It was an incrediable experience to see the animals up close.

We then travelled on to the Sergengeti and camped for a night (we’ll not mention the toilets! ;) The next morning a group of baboons wandered into our camp to see if they could steal our food. The Serengeti is a much larger area, I believe it spans over Kenya and Tanzinia. It is bascially a huge flat expance of dust with areas of long grass. You have to drive a while before you see wildlife, but we were very lucky. We saw a leopard up a tree with his kill - an especially lucky find as they are so rare. There was a cheetah lying in the sun and of course lots of lions!! We saw a pack of lions watching a water bufalo wander past, said bufalo was lucky as the lions weren’t hungry! However, we saw another lion with a less fortunate animal. As we sat in the truck this lion pulled apart a dead wildebeast, it was amazing! We also a male and female lion doing what nature intends them to.

Bascially the Serengeti is full of sex and violence :)

This trip is making us realise just how much we take for granted - constant running water, flushing toilets, good roads and electricity. On the long journeys we’ve have driven through many towns, which at first we thought were just villages. Most of the shops and all of the homes were just shacks made of clay, mud and tin, it was quite a culture shock.

We’ve got a few more days in Zanzibar then it’s off to Malawi.

Bye for now

Love

Ros and Mo (off to put more aftersun on…)