Road to Malawi

Getting used to travelling by ourselves again took a little while to do. However, Sean and I have learned many things on our travels - such as always allow a small daily budget to get 'local transport' such as taxis. And I was very grateful for this allowance when we arrived back in Dar Es-Salaam off the Zanzibar ferry - for it was flipping hot!

We managed to find a room, which compared to our Zanzibar accommodation, was bright and airy and complete with air-con all for under $30 which in Dar is unbelievable (and necessary)!

We could have stayed there lying in the air-con for days, but were keen to start the journey to Malawi.

We got our taxi driver to pick us up later to take us to the bus station to buy our tickets to Iringa, only to find that the bus company had folded (this is the only bus company the Lonely Planet recommends for having a good safety record in Tanzania, so it's interesting that this one has folded - do the Tanzanians value shorter journeys over their own lives I wonder?). So we had to just take pot luck on companies when buying our departure ticket the next morning.

The [cheap] buses here are 5 seats across (3 on the right, 2 on the left of the aisle). That's quite a squeeze for tall folks like us! The lady next to us was small though thankfully so we managed to get by without feeling too much like we were sat on each others laps. Oh, and of course the bus was overweight and we had to wait at a Police Check for an hour and then later we had to change a tire - all normal stuff!

The journey to Iringa goes through Mikumi National Park. Now, having just paid a small fortune to see animals in the Masaai Mara and the Ngorongoro Crater I was a bit peeved to suddenly be on a $10 bus journey and passing herds of elephants, giraffes, monkeys (not collectively known as a herd I know) and antelopes! On the other hand it was so brilliant to be just on this normal bus and passing plains of these animals as you would fields of cows and sheep back home. Being the only tourists on the bus, the locals took amusement in our amazement and interest in seeing the animals.

On nearing Iringa, we started to pass hillier, rockier terrain where fields of sunflowers were growing. It was so pretty and lovely to try to spot the mud huts of the villagers amongst the towering sunflowers.

We stayed in Iringa for two nights to give ourselves a breather and also to make a few onward plans and get ourselves in order. It's a lovely little spot really - with lovely views of mountains around it. There is also a lovely little cafe that served the most amazing quiche (and food standards in Africa demands that food like this be consumed in great quantities when found).

Our next stop was Mbeya. Basically a not-much-to-say-about-it town near the border to Malawi. We stayed in a place near the bus station for convenience sake. It served the best fried chicken and chips that we've eaten yet but the door of the room housed as many cockroaches as we've eaten this dish on previous occasions. Nice. Needless to say the mosquito net was firmly tucked under the mattress and we slept with the light on after stomping as many as we saw. Oh yes, and the water in the taps was brown. So we skipped showers that day too. But the food was good at least. Oh and Sean bought 5 new pairs of undies for 75p each which was also good.

So an early start the next day and we made our way on a cramped mini-bus (dala-dala in Tanzania) to the border town. They fill mini-buses to the max over here, a normal 8 seater vehicle in the UK will seat at least 20 over here - how wasteful we British are! One vehicle change later and we arrived at the border town, and began the 2k walk to immigration. Nothing eventful really about this border except that we got the best rates ever on our money exchanges (almost the rate xe.com stated) which we were surprised about.

We had to take a 'shared taxi' to Karonga (the nearest Malawian town past the border). Again, a standard 7 seater car demanded to fit 9. We even had to drop off one lady before a police check-point, the driver paid some boy on a bike to peddle her across the check-point so we could pick her up on the other side and continue our journey. Nice.

Karonga is famous only for having discovered the 'Malawisaurus' which we didn't bother seeing (because the museum no longer holds any original bones only replicas). We stayed in a place which could have been beautiful right on the lake, but was just a bit run down and shabby.

We got a mini-bus the next day to Chitimba - again sardined into the seats. This mini-bus picked us up from the bank before going to the bus station. It then did 5 circles of the bus station touting for custom (if the customers think you're about to leave they're more likely to take your minibus over the others present). We then stopped at the post office for one lady, the rice sellers for another passenger and then finally began our journey (stopping to buy sleeping mats for others on the way of course).

Our first main Malawi destination is Livingstonia (which is high up a mountain about 15k from Chitimba. The bus dropped us off at the bottom and we began to think how to accomplish the climb up. In the drizzle. After substantial evening rains...

Here are the photos:

BT60_Road to Malawi 27 -30 March 2011

Zanzibarian Rhapsody

As those of you who know me well are aware, I am a rather big fan of Queen. The band that is, not the pleasant old lady who lives in Windsor Castle and whose primary function falls under the banner of revenue raising for the British Tourist Board. As some of you may also know, the lead singer of Queen - Freddie Mercury - was born Farokh Bulsara on September 5th 1946 on the island of Zanzibar. That, if nothing else, was a good enough reason for me to make the trip on one of the world's most insanely over-priced ferries from Dar over to Zanzibar.

Well that, and the fact that Zanzibar is supposed to be rather cool.

We'd finished our truck tour in Dar, but with Zanzibar being an optional side-trip for our companions who were continuing on with the truck, all five of us made the trip over to the legendary spice island with visions of the exotic in our minds. Overpriced though the ferry may have been ($30 for an hour and a half), it got us to the island in good time and we pulled into the port for our first look at the heart of Zanzibar - Stone Town.

It was about 50 feet from the port itself that we saw the first sign of the great man's legacy, a bar called Mercury's and I vowed to return as soon as possible.

Rita and Andre were keen to go off and do their own thing for a while, so that left the terrible trio of Jen, Krissie and I to make our way around and explore the heady colonial/swahili mix of culture and architecture that was Stone Town. That first afternoon was fairly quiet, settling into our hostel and wandering around the centre of town. The real highlight of that first day (along with most other days in Stone Town) was dinner at the night market. A fantastic open-air market of stalls selling kebabs of fish and seafood caught freshly that day, breads, meats, sugar cane juice and wonderful creations called Zanzibar pizzas - like a pancake fried, folded and filled with meat or fish mixed with egg. I ate a lot of them.

The plan was to head north to Zanzibar's fabled beaches, but before that - with a nod to Zanzibar's history as a spice island and major slave trading centre - we went on a Spice Tour, taking in first the primary sights of Stone Town (including the bustling - and quite graphic - local market and the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, built deliberately over the disturbingly dark and small old slave holding cells) and then following that with a trip out to one of the island's spice plantations.

This was followed, of course, by an obligatory stop at the house it is claimed Freddie Mercury was actually born in. Helpfully, it's even called Mercury House. There's a sign and a plaque, but it's not nearly the shrine that I expected - I think the Freddie Mercury Trust PR department is really missing a trick with this one.

After that fascinating day out, and another fantastic meal at the night market, we returned to Mercury's bar only to be disappointed - despite some Freddie/Queen memorabilia on the walls, it wasn't pumping out Another One Bites The Dust or Don't Stop Me Now, or in fact any Queen whatsoever. It was steaming hot, the beers were expensive, and it was playing chill-out lounge music. Freddie would have been spinning in his grave, if he wasn't already getting so down and debaucherous in the afterlife that he probably hasn't even noticed.

As enjoyable as Stone Town had been, it was the beaches that we were really excited about and so when the five of us arrived at Nungwe beach the next day expectations were high. Then we saw this.

Suffice it to say, we were reasonably satisfied.

And so began several days of heaven on Nungwe beach, where we swam, drank beer, snorkeled, drank beer, lazed on the beach and drank beer. The stretch of sand itself was nice enough, but the real highlight was the water - gloriously warm all day, and as clear as any I've ever seen.

Our time up at Nungwe also coincided with Rita's birthday, which brought with it another highlight. We'd found our way to a local establishment called the Highlands Bar where we'd found good food and cheap beer, not to mention a friendly manager who - once he had found out that the following night was Rita's big day - insisted that we come back for a birthday bash. And what a night it was ordered - he ordered in red snapper especially, which was sublime, organised a birthday cake for Rita and then, to top it all off, got the whole staff involved in a medley of seemingly every single known recorded variation of Happy Birthday which lasted about half an hour.

Sadly, that was also the last night that Rita, Andre and Krissie were to spend with us as they were rejoining the truck in Dar the next day while Jen and I, bewitched by the island's charm, decided to stay on. It was sad to say goodbye to them - particularly to Krissie, who had become our treasured companion and drinking partner. But she will be staying in South Africa for a time after her tour ends, and so I dearly hope our paths will cross again down there.

So Jen and I spent several more days doing just what we'd done for the previous several (hint: it involved drinking beer, among other things). Our beach side bar also provided a nice moment on one night when out of the blue, in the midst of a long run of reggae music, it played Radio Ga Ga.

I remember this well, as it's the only sodding Queen song I heard for a whole week on Zanzibar.

And that was that - in a perfect world we never would have left, but we have to move on from even the most beautiful places, and so after one more night in Stone Town (and two more Zanzibar pizzas), we boarded The World's Most Expensive Ferry back to Dar where we now sit in preparation for our jaunt into western Tanzania and toward Malawi.

Freddie's little island, however, will stay with us for a long time.

Things Jennie will remember:

1) Mr Happy at the night market who wasn't so happy on our second night there. I hope that you get to visit your son soon!

2) Discovering Passion Fruit Fanta.

3) Sunset whilst swimming in the crystal clear blue warm sea.

4) Loving my first snorkeling experience!

5) Our gifts at the spice farm and the coconut tree climbing man who would sing the song that haunts Zanzibar "Jambo, jambo bwana..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRSCiIxZtEQ (hope this is a good clip!)

5) Celebrating Rita's birthday with the manager at Highlands Bar - he went to so much effort for her with fresh flowers on the table, a massive Happy Birthday medley mix, dancing and singing waitresses, cake and Masai bracelet gifts! What a guy!

6) The butchers in the Zanzibar market and them chopping up (sorry, hacking) bull heads:

7) Krissie - what a top bird! How sad to leave, but we hope to catch up in Cape Town. I have to find out if your fella's accent is really anything like your impressions of him!

Here are the photos:

BT59_Zanzibar 20 - 26 Mar 2011

Who Needs the Serengeti?

Our two days back in Nairobi were much needed. We got to restock from the local supermarket. Sean and I got to get onto Internet for the first time in weeks and importantly, Krissie got to wash her pants. Chris was obviously happy to not have to drive for a day and showed his appreciation by getting very sozzled our first night there. So much so that he took great pride in telling Krissie that she 'had great boobs'. To which Krissie replied "Thanks, I like your cap!". Comedy Gold. I think Chris passed out beside the truck that night, finally finding his way into his cab about 3am. Nice work Chris - you're a legend!

We picked up 3 new passengers the day we left Nairobi. Two Portuguese friends called Andre and Rita (which we referred to plurally as 'The Portuguese') who had just finished a year volunteering in Nairobi and were travelling before heading home and would be travelling all the way to South Africa with the truck.

And Vishal, an Indian gentleman who works as a CFO in Estonia and who was only doing 5 days (basically the Serengeti) on his way back to Estonia having just visited his family in India.

So we carried on to Arusha, and arrived at Snake Park where we ate a wonderful barbecue supplied by the house - so named because it supplies the area with anti-venoms. It also houses a large collection of snakes on site and on display. Now when you visit zoos in the UK and see the display of snakes, all labelling their home of origin, you don't worry to much cause they're all so far away. Visiting snakes on display in Tanzania when most state "lives in East Africa", "lives in Tanzania", "lives in shrubbery, trees and lakes in Tanzania" it's a very different experience altogether. I think that actually this display freaked out one of the other guests from another overland truck. We were woken by screaming at 4am. I thought it was just an animal. Sean told me it was a girl and headed out to investigate. We thought that someone had gone into her tent and was attacking her, she screamed that much. Turns out she thought there was something in her tent (we assume the 'something' was a snake cause it apparently went over her foot). Others saw some dogs run away from her tent, so personally I think (and this is because nothing was found in her tent after thorough searching) that in her sleep the dogs brushed the tent against her feet and she thought it was something inside. Either way it was rather a dramatic morning! It even topped Jake's expletive morning. Flipping dogs is all I say.

It turned out that only Vishal, Sean and I wanted to do the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater and with 3 of us it worked out too expensive for Sean and I to do. So Vishal joined another group and Sean and I were to join The Portuguese on a tour of just the crater, whilst the girls hung out in Arusha. I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't going into the Serengeti, mainly because I just wanted to spot these illusive flipping lions!

We spent one day hanging out in Arusha - again taking advantage of the availability of Internet to catch up with folks quickly (actually this was very slowly). We visited the 'clock tower' the highlight of Arusha (sponsored by Coca Cola, not very interesting at all) and popped into a local sports bar to catch up on footie news (turning out that we watched an episode of So You Think You Can Dance).

We also passed Milk & Honey... but not THE Milk & Honey... just this one (we still couldn't afford it!):

The next day we headed off on our Crater side-trip. We left after lunch and camped up in what was basically the car park of a very posh resort where the beer prices were completely out of our league. We did get served a very tasty meal though which made up for it.

An early start into the crater - again, trying to keep our chances of high of seeing lions, although it's very unlikely in the crater I was told. And it was raining that morning, so our chances seemed to be even lower! No cats like the rain.

We stopped at the main view point from where we were told you could see the whole crater. But the clouds and rain basically gave us a view of 'grey'. Oh no. Had we paid a lot of money to basically see nothing???

Regardless of drizzle, we popped the top of our jeep, passed down into the crater itself through the Masai villages on the hunt for wildlife.

And I have to say, the crater delivered some great new spots. We saw the usual (zebra, flamingo, buffalo, wildebeest, warthogs, antelope, gazelles etc) but added to them some more cheetah, hyenas, a lone elephant, the national birds of Uganda (which are beautiful crown-headed something or others), some far off distant black rhino, a great moment with a hippo rolling over and just before lunch - yes, oh yes, there they were - two lions lying in the grass! We stayed for ages willing them to stand up, but after a mere rolling over and tail flicking we figured we'd gotten the best of our lion sighting for the day.

We ate lunch by a hippo lake (in the Mara if we'd been this close we'd have been told off by the rangers, but here apparently it's ok to be this close to the water edge and the hippos) with diving birds trying to steal your lunch and part way through a herd of Zebra galloped right through all our jeeps!

All the jeeps started to depart and then suddenly our driver was anxious to get going. He was driving like a maniac and we couldn't figure out why. But then we saw all the other jeeps surrounding something and knew there was something to see. And lo and behold. There they were, the two lions from before lunch, lying bang smack in the middle of the road. Awesome! So there it was - our fourth sighting of the Big 5! I was so happy! I was practically dancing when we got back to Snake Park and met up with Krissie and Nina! And also grateful that we didn't pay double to go into the Serengeti in the end (although I hear that Vishal saw 39 lions there - but I figured, at least I'd seen them at all!).

And the weather cleared up to by the time we headed back to Arusha, such that the view of grey we'd had earlier at the viewpoint turned into this:

We picked up Matt on our way out of Arusha, the driver who was to take over from Chris in Dar (Chris has a new job as Logistics Manager for an oil company on island just off the coast of Dar). And also Timmy from Naivaisha joined us there to catch a ride down to Dar. But Vishal had already said goodbye and on the way out of Arusha, we also said goodbye to Nina. Instead of going all the way to Dar as per her original plan, she hopped out nearer to Kilimanjaro to get some hiking practise in before her scheduled climb of this mountain started. She hopped out in the rain, with us inside thinking she'd say goodbye when she'd gotten her bag. Only to find that she went into the restaurant to wait for us (which we weren't going to because it was raining and expensive). So basically she left and we didn't say goodbye, cause we thought she'd left and didn't say goodbye. Oh dear.

So our 'all change' crew and we headed down towards Dar for our next main attraction of Zanzibar. We spent one night in Bagamoyo with our first glimpse of the Tanzania coast and then the next night at Makadi Beach south of Dar where we camped literally on the beach, swam in the sea (water so warm it was like finding one of those 'pee patches' in the local swimming pool) and enjoyed beers in the sunshine.

That evening Chris had arranged for us to have dinner at his girlfriend Liz's place so that we had a true local experience. The fried chicken was wonderfully tasty! And the ugali was in perfect cake form. The ground nut sauce we had to go with it was super yummy and we celebrated Andre's birthday with some sugary iced birthday cake.

It was very sad to say goodbye to Chris that night (I got quite teary), but life moves on and so must we. For tomorrow we get the ferry across to Zanzibar and say goodbye to Tess the Truck.

Here are the photos:

BT58_Bagamoyo and Dar-Es-Salaam 18 Mar 2011

BT57_Arusha 14 - 17 Mar 2011

Safari In The Mara

The journey to the Maasai Mara was incredible bumpy.

Arriving rather bone shaken, we were to enter this national park in our truck (which Krissie had aptly named Tessa). Sean and I had been told by our guide at Lake Nakuru that it was a guarantee that I would see lions in the Mara. Lions, like Tigers, feature highly in my book, so I was going to hold him to this guarantee.

After negotiating all the Maasai sellers shouting 'everything for 1000' at the gate, in went we all in Tessa. We drove for a while spotting the usual zebra, worthogs, antelope and thompson gazellses (it's incredible how blase you become about all these creatures!) before Chris thought he could see cheetah. We later discovered that these were in fact termite mounds and not cheetah ears. However, whilst we thought they were cheetahs it made Nina's question of "Can I go to the toilet" (i.e. get out of the truck a few feet from what we thought could be cheetahs) all the more amusing.

Driving on we had our first encounter with elephants (that's the third of the Big 5). Chris quickly double-backed and drove the truck up a dirt track to get a closer look. I don't think we could have been any closer. There was one elephant with two infants and they passed up the left of our truck, crossed in front of us and hid into the trees to our right. We were so close that you could see every wrinkle and crease on their faces. It was amazing! I couldn't help but think that elephants are rather smaller than I imagine them to be, but they are just incredible to see. And how nice to see them with big tusks and their big African ears. And it just goes to show what an effort Chris went to to get us so close to the elephants when the truck got stuck in black sand (that's not its name but I can't remember its proper name) on the way back to the main road prompting Chris to get out an put down some ramps (which the truck well and truly buckled). He's a good man that Chris.

Having arrived in the Mara late afternoon, we then headed out another gate, passing herds and herd of wildebeast, buffalo, gazells, antelopes, zebra, worthogs etc on the way - even a couple more ostrich. I've done another collage for you!

We hadn't yet seen lions though. So to our camp for the night before getting up early to get back into the Mara again at 6am to try to spot some felines on the hunt!

It was an incredible sunrise over the Mara as we made our way back in. How nice to see the Acacia trees sillouhetted against the red sky. There were lots more tourists this morning than there had been the afternoon before. They were all in their pop-top jeeps. There was us in our massive truck. Hysterical! But again, Chris was on a mission and we (and only we) immediately spotted a cheetah (an actual one this time) strolling along the grasses. And that was followed not long after by another cheetah relaxing on top of a mound. This poor sod though had been found by all tourists in the park and the spectacle of 10s of jeeps surrounding it and it not batting an eye-lid was hysterical. Aparently to some Japanese tourists, the sight of us in our truck was more interesting and photo worthy than the cheetah. If only they'd have moved their bloody jeep out of the way so that we could have gotten a closer look at the cheetah!

We then drove south through the Mara, passing a massive herd of elephants on the way. We reached the flag-stone where the Mara and the Serengetti divide and then parked up next to the river. A ranger guide took us along the side of the river so that we could spot the hippos and crocodiles. I love hippos, they really should be one of the Big 5 you know. And given the size of one of the crocs we saw, they should be a 'Big' something too! Handbag maybe? It was quite crazy to be walking along side the riverbank with all these dangerous animals in the river. We saw hippos swimming (they're flipping quick!) and doing their usual head bobbing and snorting.

But still no lions unfortunately. That guy's guarantee was not paying off. Oh well, we'll be going into the Serengetti in a few days. We'll definitely see them there.

We headed back towards the campsite and on our way had the most amazing experience. We spotted a herd of giraffe. There were 13 in total all having a drink. In the distance we could see a herd of elephants, and before we knew it the herd of elephants was passing through the herd of giraffe. Baby elephants and all. It was incredible. The elephants seemed to nod to the giraffe as if to ask 'is this ok if we pass through you?' to which the giraffe seemed to bow and part in the middle as if to reply 'no problem son'.

I've started to also take a real shine to warthogs (which of course all the locals call 'Pumbas' even though that's not swahili at all and is just a made up name). We passed some where you could really see their blond punk manes. And they have to bend down on their knees in order to eat. They're actually very cute to watch.

And the African love of football is so much so that there is even a football pitch in the Mara.

Still no lions. But regardless we still had an incredible day.

We will now head back to Nairobi and Karen Camp for a couple of days before we make our way into Tanzania.

Here are the photos:

BT55_Maasai Mara 10 - 11 Feb 2011

To Hell('s Gate) And Back

It's been said time and again that one of the key lessons in life is to always go with your first instinct. Rarely has this been more true than in our experience with Hell's Gate National Park. Arriving in Naivasha, I was inclined to pass up the $60 required to hire a bike and cycle the park, and to convince Jen to do the same, but at the last moment - and against all my instincts - changed my mind and went on in. For this, if for no other reason, I am forever a moron.

I should have known I was onto a loser when the sweltering heat and bad dirt road meant that I was knackered after riding just the 2km up to the main gate of the park. My mood didn't improve when we had to pay extra to take in the bikes we'd hired at the bottom of the climb because we weren't hiring ones from the park itself. Still, the worst was over, wasn't it? Was it bollocks. Our ultimate goal for the day was to reach Hell's Gate itself at the far end of the park, but fools that we were we decided to take a detour on the way to the intriguingly-named Obsidian Caves. Now, I like obsidian - it's black and shiny and cool. These caves were not. In fact, they weren't really even caves. There was some obsidian lying around in the dirt, but there is obsidian lying around in the dirt all over Naivasha, so I didn't need to come to these sodding "caves" to see that. And I certainly didn't need to ride as far as we did to get there. We were not amused.

So that left us with the main ride, some 14km more in searing heat and largely on slow, uncomfortable dirt and rock tracks to Hell's Gate itself. Which is a lookout over a small canyon. There was a kiosk. The views were decent and there were some interesting rock formations nearby. That was about it, though we did come virtually face-to-knee with a giraffe in the middle of the road, which was pretty cool and the undoubted highlight. And then we had to ride back. When it was even hotter.

My advice. Don't go to Hell's Gate. Just go to Hell. It will be cooler, cheaper and infinitely more enjoyable.

Thankfully, our other experiences in the Lake Naivasha area have been far more positive. Our campsite was big and lush with a good bar and located right next to the lake itself, allowing for hippo viewing during the day (when they were in the water and no threat) and hippo hearing at night (when they were on land and there was thankfully an electric fence between them and us). Naivasha has also marked a transitional time for the truck. Sadly, our two companions to date and top blokes all round, Dave and Jake, both left us - Dave to head home and Jake to continue his travels first in London and then in Peru. The loss of the lads was softened however by the gaining of Krissie, a Scottish lass who was to continue on the truck all the way to Johannesburg, and Nina, a German girl who was joining for a couple of weeks before she decided to get her extreme on and climb Mt Kilimanjaro.

So it was with Krissie that Jen and I joined Timmy Bloom, a local legend and mate of Chris, for an exploration of the lovely Green Crater Lake. To call Timmy an inspiration would be under-rating him - he walks with the aid of crutches, but is a tour guide and entrepreneur who is hugely active in Naivasha life, has worked in the slums of Nairobi to improve the lot of the local kids, has run for mayor and is now aiming to climb Mt Kenya for charity. Our day out at Green Crater Lake was lovely - all on foot and right up close with a lot of animals, particularly giraffes, while the scenery was great too.

There were no big predators or even the mythic "Big 5", but that didn't overly bother me. This obsession everyone in Africa seems to have with with ticking off the Big 5 (Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo) is a little bit lost on me. Who decides on what the Big 5 are? And does seeing them mean you're having a better time than people who aren't? Buffaloes are a Big 5 animal, and are impressive enough for sure, but I'm not nearly as interested in or enraptured by them as I am by such things as cheetahs, hippos or giraffes for example, none of which are part of the exclusive Big 5 crowd. I really want to see lions and leopards on this trip, but I want to see them because they are beautiful, fascinating creatures, not because they'll help me tick off a checklist. Meh, anyway. Rant over. *steps down from soapbox*

The day concluded with a boat cruise across yet another, smaller, lake in the region. This lake is noteworthy for being the home to both a large colony of flamingos and to dozens of hippos. Watching the flamingos take off and land in their thousands across the lake was a glorious sight while as for the hippos - well, I just sodding love the bastards. Big, round, cute (but incredibly dangerous!) grey and pink masses lazing and swimming and flipping in the water all day. They're bloody fantastic things - I reckon if one had to come back as an animal, you could do a lot worse than to come back as a hippo.

Our final stop in the rift valley was at Longonot, a huge crater mountain rising monolithically up from the valley floor and offering intrepid hikers (and me) the chance to climb it for some spectacular views. And spectacular they most certainly were. The hike up took an hour or so, just enough to get our sweat on and feel utterly out of breath (or was that just me?) but the vistas over the crater itself and across the rift valley beyond more than made up for it. We had the full compliment with us for this one - Nina came along, presumably to get some hiking practice in for her upcoming Kilimanjaro trek, and even Chris took time out from his work on the truck to join us.

And so that ended our rift valley adventures. Next up we continue west toward one of the big ticket items of Kenya - and indeed all of Africa - the Maasai Mara.

But seriously, give Hell's Gate a miss.

Things Jennie will remember:

1) Timmy Bloom - what a star! He wants to be the first person on crutches to climb Mount Kenya (in 2012). If anyone can think of a cool name for this expedition - something that is catchy and will help with sponsorship etc - then please do email me your suggestions... come on, I know there are some creative types amongst you readers!

2) That hippos make a sound rather like Jabba The Hut

3) Jake and Dave - fantastic lads! We'll miss you!

4) I'll remember that I wish to forget Hell's Gate... although the part with the giraffe standing right in front of us on the road was pretty cool.

5) Thinking how amazing it was to be standing in the middle of all those giraffes at Green Crater, and then thinking how that kicked the ass off the giraffe experience at Hell's Gate, and then realising that I could now forget Hell's Gate altogether.

6) Did I mention that I wish to forget Hell's Gate?

7) Our camp fire chicken stew - yum yum!

8) The flamingos taking off over our heads on the lake - they have to do this comedy run on the water before they become airborne and it's very funny to watch!

9) Hippos are awesome and very pink.

10) Our local pub night 'last supper' with the boys - so much goat!

11) All the Colobus monkeys swinging from the trees above our tents each night

Here are the photos:

BT53_Naivasha 6 - 8 Mar 2011

BT54_Longonot 9 Mar 2011