Visa time

After a week at home and two trips to Dublin we have obtained our Chinese and Indian visas.

On Wednesday we are off again and have a night flight to Dubai where we will be for a few days. There we will be staying with my cousin and his family. It's strange to think that we are beginning the 2nd half and it will be good to get back into shorts!!

A week of catch up

It's weird being home for a week and we are shattered with visits here there and everywhere. It has been lovely being away from the credit crunch and political goings on back home. I managed to get my Tooth sorted, we got our booster jabs and we finally met little Ruby. Grier, Ruth-Cheryl and Craig travelled from Norway, Simon, Bronwyn and Ruby came up from Roscommon. My family meet and greet is tomorrow and we have another trip to the Chinese and Indian Embassys in Dublin to pick up our Visa's. I'm still working on loading a few more photos. So far we've taken 14000 photos and bits and pieces.

Kenya...bouncy bouncy, bouncy

The final leg of our East African adventure and we head to Nairobi, Kenya for a hotel bed, shower and civilization. 24Hour shopping, pizza, burgers and no fear of being eaten in our tents by animals.

The Great North Road as the locals call it runs from Capetown to Cairo without the need to turn off. Unfortunately Kenya hasn't quite completed their section and instead of upgrading bit by bit, the've destroyed the road from Tanzania to Nairobi leading to a very bumpy, very uncomfortable and at times very painful journey.

After 10 hours of bouncing and bruising (starting at 5:30am) we arrived in a big city.

Nairobi, the little we saw of it was a big industrial city with the usual hotels. We didn't venture far except for food and a haircut. Barbers here are not used to cutting hair similar to mine so it was not going to be quick, but nearly an hour for a short back and sides! The experience was priceless. The outcome was...... lets just say it was worth the £2 I paid and nothing more.

It was great to meet another diverse group of really interesting people.

A final meal, lots of goodbyes to new friends and Jude and I were on our own again. Burning by the pool, we managed to recollect our past 6 months, plan a bit for a next 6 and finalise the people we needed to see when home. Doctors, dentists, opticians, architects, visa people, family, etc, etc.

Our next trip is 1st April to Dubai and we can't wait. It is nice to go home and get our washing done, meet our new niece for the first time and relax in familiar surroundings.

Picture problems

OK so we've typed lots of words and have hit a snag with getting the pictures loaded. Hopefully we'll get our last Kenyan post up within the next day or two and get the pictures to go with them. Monday morning is usually a busy day for the blog (i think everyone gets into work and checks all their mails and blogs at the start of the week. If I was working I would do that.....) We shall see what happens.....

Ngorongoro Crater

Our trip to the crater was certainly good, but we had been spoilt by the experience in the Serengeti, so we had a more relaxed drive today - despite the African bees in the vehicle.

We saw quite a lot of animals, Lions, Black Rhino (the completion of our big 5), wart hogs, Elephants with really long tusks and many, many Zebras.

I think everyone on the trip is happy that this safari to the Serengeti has been at the end of the tour as all our belongings are filthy and dusty, but also the scenery and animals we have seen, no other park or nature reserve would live up to it.

We visited a Masai village and Chris got to dance with the men and certainly enjoyed the singing and skipping!!! It was very commercialised, but we did see how the Masai live and sat in their homes, they spent more time trying to sell us their wares than explain their culture etc.

Tomorrow we leave Tanzania and enter Kenya which marks the end of our trip and the start of our journey home.

I'm ready to go home for the week. Clothes need washed, I need to eat simple food which I have missed. Last week I wasn't ready, but as it's only for about 10 days and our travels haven't finished, I'm excited to see everyone again. If this was the end of our trip, I'd be dragging my heels.

6 Lions watching, 5 Cheetahs standing and a Leopard lying in a tree.

It sounds like the 12 days of Christmas, but our trip in the Serengeti was truly the icing on the cake.

Our first game drive allowed us to see 4 of the big 5! I was enchanted by the Leopard in the tree - something I have wanted to see, but didn't think I would.We also got to catch the end of the migration from the Masai Mara to the Serengeti of some of the animals, and ours was of the Wildebeest and the Zebra. It was such a special sight to see that I don't think words was describe it. The sheer volume of animals was breathtaking and our photos don't do it credit at all.

I'm also pleased Chris and I did our Safari training course, as were were told nothing by our driver about the animals etc... and to know something about their habits adds to the moment.

Our second day in the Serengeti allowed us to see some of the beautiful birds, but we also got to see another Leopard in another tree, but it was nothing like the previous day.

We drove onto the rim of the Ngorongoro crater to set up camp for the evening, before our descent in the morning into the crater itself and the night proved extremely interesting.

Not only did we get a visit from a bush pig, but a herd of Buffalo and Wildebeest came through the camp during the night. The buffalo decided to graze around our tents, but the wildebeest just passed through. It was certainly different hearing the chomping of grass right beside your head in the early hours of the morning.

Kilimanjaro.

Today was a day you would like to scrub out and start again but also store and keep in my memory...It didn't start well with 5 members of the tour group (including Chris and I) being separated from the rest while going from the ferry to the truck. One guy was 

pick-pocketed... and it took one of the locals to let us know where the truck was, we got there in the end.

It was a day to commit to memory as the scenery which we saw was again breathtaking.
Anne thought I was crazy as I was constantly waving out of the window to the people we passed, but what she didn't see were the children running along the paths waving and shouting as we went along.I was listening to some great tunes while we were going along the road and one of them was the Take That song 'Never Forget' and it's words were extremely fitting. It was the first day I didn't feel like sleeping on the truck despite the journey being over 10 hours. the time flew in and excitement increased when we saw the sign for the Kilimanjaro mountain range. The thought and excitement of seeing the snow capped mountain was constant, but we needed to wait until the next morning to see that and it was a brilliant sight.

The next day we stopped off at a place to buy some Tanzanite - when in Tanzania eh? and then headed onto our next campsite aptly named Snake Park. We just had to visit the snakes attached to the park and watched some scared chicks evade the snakes attack. Yuck!
Chris and Levi went for a camel ride which cost $1 so they couldn't pass up the opportunity, it was literally up and down a field but an experience.

The next three nights where into the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater and then we're on the home straight for our first time round the world.