TravelStream™ news feed for member oliveramber on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/oliveramber en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:28:35 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1251053673/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1251053673/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1251053673/tpod.html Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:28:35 -0500 AFRICA - 2008/2009

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Msigisi, Tanzania

Early rise for cook group 5:15am! Go walking with girls half hour before truck leaves. Boys also walking. Yellow truck very similar to Oasis drives by which we later find out it's Colin and Co driving to Nairobi.

Picked up by truck just after 7. Drive drive drive - BORING!! Stop to collect firewood. Colin pulls up for chat. Not sure how I'm going to last the day. Sit up on the beach and play cards with Jamie, Suzy and Sarah. I lose pretty much 99% of the time. Funny.

Pull up at servo just before 12. Have lunch. `Back on the truck, on beach sunbathing. Very hot. Constantly stopping for roadworks. Drive through beautiful surrounds - forest, hills, mountains, rivers. Sun burnt fields of corn and sunflowers, dilapidated mud villages, laughing children - smiling happy people running along street waving. Very west Africa.

Continue to pass and be passed by other Oasis truck, getting flashed by the girls in the process. Charming. Boys were happy though. Stop at market place with cold beer so try Kilimanjaro and Safari. All good. Best part of day.

Pull into bush camp just gone 5. Why we couldn't drive for another 2 hours to enable us a sleep in tomorrow I've no idea. Go walking with Muz, Oliver and Jamie with beer. Make it about 10m from camp before Jamie has a flip flop blow out and we realise path going uphill... no thanks, way too strenuous. About face and return to camp to sit and finish off our beers. At a lose end as it's early, we're in the middle of nowhere and have no booze. What to do what to do. I remember a bottle of malibu in our locker so bring that out and we drink that and orange coolio till dinner.

Cook club is Mum Kate and Little Kate who dish up a lovely butternut risotto. Enjoy a few more chats before retiring to bed on 8. Suzy Q a little apprehensive as we're camping in a national park with lions. Fingers cross she doesn't have a visitor.


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Mkanyeni, Tanzania

Woke with slight hangover but pleased to have not had any ghosts come visit me in my dreams. S&M was MIA but eventually found in a young ladies room. Ooooh appears to have been a productive night for him!

Left camp at 9.30 drove into Dar Es Salam. Went on internet for half an hour followed by Subway. Back to truck for 12 when we're meant to be leave.... everyone else doens't get back till 12.30 12.45. Damn, could have spent hour on the net.

Lay on the beach sunbathing with Muz and Suzy Q. Bloody hot and soooo bored!! Try to sleep then sit up on beach working on tan whilst being cooled by breeze.

Stopped at wood carving petrol station again. Suze got spear - don't mess with our cook group as we're now all armed and dangerous! We bought two Maasai wooden statutes... yes more statutes, but these Oliver wanted. The guy started at 45,000 but we ended up getting two for 12,000 thanks to Sarah and Martin's wonderful bargaining skills. I would have settled for 25,000. Bonus.

Extremely boring afternoon drive. Was meant to be short drive but turned out a lot longer than expected.

Ended up camping at the back of a petrol station in a surprisingly nice grassed area. Better than some actual campsites. Plus it had a bar and restaurant.

Cook group was doing vegetarian so Oliver and I headed to restaurant for dinner. I had roast lamb, which was more like fried lamb and Oliver Arabian chicken... basically fried chicken. Nice to eat out just the two of us.

Sick and tired of eating cook group meals. My stomach is now refusing to eat anything it doesn't want to. You can be hungry and eat crap or you can be hungry and fed up of eating crap so prefer to just sit whilst your stomach eats itself. Nice. God damn I'm hungry.

I worked on CV and application letter which I now think are finished, YAY, so can start applying for jobs. Fingers crossed. We are really going to be up shit creek if we can't get work.

After dinner we called it a night as being eaten alive by mozzies. Had two in the tent. On top of that the pack of dogs hanging around the campsite barked the whole night. Oh and then you had people fixing a metal roof from 3am onwards!! Like hello, who the hell fixes a roof in the middle of the night. Luckily for us we had chosen the furthest spot from the building to camp... most others were right underneath. Nasty.


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Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Time to go spot some badgers in the Dogons.. or rather Serengeti. Picked up by two 4x4's at the reasonable hour of 9am. Those in our truck were Sarah, Martin, Suzy Q, Linds, Little Kate and a disputed Jamie after sneaking in and grabbing Muzza's chair. Poor Muzza, but you gotta be quick in situations like this. If there was any moment for speed of a mongoose now was the time.. We sent him off to keep S&M company in the other truck.

Cars were really comfy, nice to be out of the truck and split into smaller groups. 4 hour drive to Serengeti.
First stop was a little town about half hour outside Ngorongoro Crater. Whilst waiting for our guide Victor to buy the card thing we needed to enter the Serengeti, we where suckered into buying things from the zillions of Maasai who surrounded the car. Necklaces, statues, blankets... we stuck to a Maasai blanket which we managed to get for the bargain price of 6,500 (3 quid). Brilliant.

Entered the Ngorongoro crater and made our way up to the rim. Unfortunately it was low cloud cover so views were slightly obstructed. Nevermind, will hopefully be clear when we return.

From the cool misty jungle covered crater rim, where we were at about 2,300m we drove down towards the Serengeti which, as Jamie often said, was just one big field with a few animals running about. Quite apt when Seregeti translates to endless plain.

Temperature picked up straight away and we weren't too far in when we came across two lions chilling in the grass. One male, one female with zebras roaming just beyond. Would have been great had they been hungry. Pounce kitty pounce.

After lunch we drove around for a further few hours seeing everything - masses of hungry farting hippos lounging in pools, giraffes, more lions, 6 or 7 cheetahs, wildebeest, our beloved impala and the much sought after leopard.

When we arrived it was snoozing in a tree but soon decided to put on a show by climbing down the tree and then proceeding to walk straight passed the billions trucks lined up playing leap frog in an effort to get the best view.

It literally walked right below us, not a metre from the truck. I commented that if I were the leopard I'd jump up and scratched my claws down the side scaring the crap out of everyone on board. Oliver said "no you wouldn't, you'd bite the tyre then sit there grinning" hahaaa too true.

Hyped up from seeing the leopard we headed off to one of the many bush camps within the Serengeti. As they're not fenced Suzy warned us that should we wake during the night to pee we should shine out the torch looking for eyes - if they flash green they're veggies so no worries there but if its red you run. Thankfully I slept soundly through.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset followed by a sky full of a million twinkling stars. Dinner was provided so was great just being able to sit back and relax - no cook club, no dishes, no prep... just an open fire under the stars and a few quiet beers. Lovely.

Then it was off to bed to listen to the sounds of far off animals preying to god a hungry lion didn't come a wondering during the night. Meeeeow.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259273375/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259273375/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259273375/tpod.html Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:16:51 -0500 AFRICA - 2008/2009

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Arusha, Tanzania

Next to no sleep with people banging on a metal roof at 3am. Go figure. Up at 6. The pack of dogs decide to put on little sexual performance for us with two of them getting stuck but continuing to walk around joined together whilst a third tried to get in on the action. Incest is best eh. Left camp at 7.30. Drive. Boring. Read book. Kristy unwell on beach. Linds on beach.

Starving as only had about 2 tiny pieces of mango for breakfast and have no snacks. Stop at petrol station for lunch.... try to eat some of the left over Thai green curry but stomach doesn't want to eat it so put it aside and dream of Burger King instead.

Drive through beautiful scenery - local crops of sisal, coffee and poppies line the fields edging their way up to mountains partly covered in cloud.

Get our first sight of Kilimanjaro...not as impressive as I was hoping. Maybe we're just coming from the wrong direction.

Spend the afternoon bored shitless reading, listening to music and partly falling asleep... oh why can't I sleep and have this day over with.

Arrive at Snake Park to numerous other trucks, including 2 more Oasis ones. Manage to find an uncrowded area under a tree and pitch tent, grab ice cold Savanna and head off for Maasai tour. Very interesting, with lots of questions asked but usual suspects.

Taken to a museum followed by little rondavel market stalls then to a nearby village by camel. I ride on the front one with Suze asking the guide if we can go any faster so he gives me the rope, laughs and walks off. Hahahaahaa. Despite my best efforts I couldn't get the stupid beast it to run.

There are about 4.2m Maasai. The boys between the age of 15-22 are circumsized en mass, every 7 years. They cannot show any sign of fear or pain - no tears, shouts, clenched fists, sudden movement - nothing... yeah ouch. Girls are also still circumsized despite it being illegal. He simply said it was now done in secret.

After tour came back to camp to find it looking like a POW camp with a zillion tents set up everywhere. So much for our uncrowded spot. Temperature is getting cold. Kristy & Co on cook group and make a questionable Luxa. I spend my time cooking tinned meat patties for Oliver totally unaware that elsewhere he's scoffing down left over chicken and sausages, saving none for me. Not happy.

I want to go home. Once again lots of talk about home comforts. Hate all these trucks. Much preferred the West side. Travelling with the Special Bus was a breeze.

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Ramula, Western, Kenya

Up at 5:30am to go for an early morning game drive. Errrrrggghh hate early mornings. Bundled in a sleeping bag with headphones in we trundled towards Lake Nakuru National Park. If anyone has seen 'The Constant Gardener' it looks like the place where they were killed. For those of you who haven't seen it, no one gets killed, it's a great movie, go rent it.

Not far in when we came across a lioness strolling through the lush green undergrowth then passed the truck. If I were a lion I'd much prefer to call here home with its greenery, shade, lake and plentiful game, especially when compared to the dry dusty Serengeti. The lions here also climb trees... bummer if you're being chased by one and seek that as an avenue of escape.

Whilst others actively kept their eyes peeled for game I read Cosmo and admired Louboutins shoes. Oh they are beautiful. Would make an ideal birthday present I think.

Came across a mama and dada rhino grazing with their bubba so sat and watched them for a bit. Bizarre looking animals. I think god had definitely smoked way too much weed the day he created them.

In the distance shone a lake mirroring the surroundings and blazing pink from the millions and millions of flamingos that migrate there each year. After passing a herd of buffalo we made our way down to the lake where we were able to get out and go for a closer inspection of the beautiful squawking birds, all the while stepping through dried poo and carcasses. Hmmm lovely. Oh and then of course you had the wonderful feeling of being hunted by a lion. Would they chase after you if you went into the lake?? Yes, yes I think they would.

After the lake we cut back up to the lookout which offered amazing views across the park. Really stunning place and even though I wasn't too impressed with the early morning wake up call, I was very pleased to have made the effort. Whilst I remember, entry was US$60 which, luckily for us, was paid from local payment so in effect it felt free. Brilliant.

Driving back through the park we passed more rhino, seeing about 15 all up and most of them within a few metres. Also buffalo, giraffe, impala, carlos the jackel and a few other big looking animals which I don't know the name of.

Seeing some of my favourite words at the entrance gate, 'curio shop', Suze and I rushed off to investigate. Suze coming out empty handed but me getting suckered into buying postcards and some flamingo feather earrings. Yes tack I know and I'll never wear them but it beats picking up poo covered feathers from carcasses by the lake.

Leaving the NP we ventured into town where we had 1 ½ hours to go exploring. Once again I hit the internet to research jobs and see if Rwanda had emailed us letters of invitation which, thankfully they had, I just couldn't print them.

Then I ducked in to buy some food and a pair of flip flops before returning to the truck.

Luke, Clara and Little Kate have got off the truck to go exploring on their own for two weeks as they are not doing the gorillas. With Jamie and Catherine also gone it now leaves 16 on the truck which means we just about have 2 seats each. Luxury, especially when compared to the other Oasis truck who picked up 7 new recruits taking their number up to 25.

Speaking of which we've just got news that they have broken down. Not sure where but they were hoping to put their VISA's in today for Ethiopia or Sudan, not sure which. Makes for an interesting start for the newbies. Touch wood Nala continues going strong and we don't suffer the same problems.

As I write this we are driving along a bumpy dusty road towards bush camp, which I think is just outside the Ugandan border.

My parents arrive in London today so I'm hoping our tenants left the house nice and clean for them. Last thing they'll want to do is clean after a 24 hr flight. 15 more sleeps till we're back!!! 5 more sleeps till we get to play with the gorillas. Stoked.

Arriving at bush camp, nestled within a beautiful forest in a clearing, Jay received a treasure hunt left by the other truck. Go here, turn there, 15 steps that way, dig here and bingo, there buried in the forest was a bottle of Jay's favourite Spice Rum.

Those who liked it sat around the fire having a few welcomed drinks whilst others prepared dinner and set up camp. End of a very long but rather splendid day.


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Kampala, Uganda

Alarm at 5.30. Beautiful morning in forest surrounds. Lay up on beach with Sarah to border. Very bumpy road... sealed but worse than dirt, like people had been driving on it before tar set creating big waves.

Approaching border received text from parents saying flat was a bit of a tip, the tenants having not done anything they promised like getting in professional cleaner, steam cleaning carpets.... getting all their crap out of the flat by the 15th.... especially as it was now the 18th!!!

Mum said there were half buckets of water laying around, baby clothes and a big old TV amongst other stuff. Like they had just upped and left. Very strange. Definitely not what my parents wanted to walk into after a 24 hour flight. To add further drama to the situation the hot water wasn't working... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Never before have I felt so totally helpless - no phone, no internet. Martin and Sarah kindly lent me their mobile to text but it costs money to receive calls and as they only had limited credit I had to cut the call from Mum short which made me feel even worse.

Why does this have to happen now... when we're crossing the border between Kenya and Uganda of all places and my parents have decided to rent out our flat. The tenants have been brilliant, why chose now to screw us over? And the boiler? Why, the day my folks get there, does it decide to go on the blink?!! Or was it on the blink before and the tenants simply not tell us. To describe myself as being frustrated does not do it justice. Extremely pissed off gets a little closer to the mark.

Stuck at the border waiting to get into Uganda I was mobbed by about 20 men trying to sell me money, somosas, water, passport wallets. Not what I need right now.... eff off the lot of you. Such a pleasant person I am when stressed. Oliver took note and stayed as far away from me as possible, as did the rest of the truck. Wise move, very wise move.

Once through into Uganda I spent the rest of the afternoon with headphones in, music blarring, staring out the window trying to figure a way out. Surely there has to be an airport nearby. I want to go home. Me being home, I could have it all sorted in a day. Me being in Africa and my poor parents are left to deal with the shite.

As far as I recall nothing much happened in the afternoon. Everyone just kinda keeps to themselves on drive days. Stu and Suze were up on the beach sunbathing and doing situps.... Stu was, not Suze.

Rocked up at a mall in the city of Kampala around 4pm. Raced off to find internet to email my darling sister and put her on damage control. Hopefully she can contact our tenants and give them a blasting on my behalf. If not I'm sure my folks will when they go around to collect the rest of their stuff. Actually I'm not sure who they would rather approach in this situation... me or my parents. I'm thinking possibly me. Hahaha serves them right.

Was going to do a bit of shopping at Shopright but super expensive so just left it. Arrived at Red Chillies Campsite where we're staying the night to see the other Oasis truck there. We'd caught up to them after their little break down the other day which left them stranded on the road for about 6 hours.

Bar at the campground so after our rather stressful day headed straight there for beer and pool. After dinner a group headed on to an Irish bar but we decided to stay put and called it a night just after 10:30.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259275618/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259275618/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259275618/tpod.html Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:51:14 -0500 AFRICA - 2008/2009

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Nakuru, Kenya

Time to leave Nairobi, not that I actually made it into Nairobi but nevermind. Also time to say goodbye to Catherine who has finished her stint on the truck and is off to spend a few days down at Mumbasa before returning to Paris.

Another person to love and leave us for a while is Jamie who is heading down the coast to check out some of the beaches and islands with Tara. They're due to meet back up with us on the 29th so will get to see him before he flies out to KL on the 1st.

Mum and others headed off to collect Ethiopian VISA's whilst the rest of us went to Karen mall to while away an hour or two. Bit of internet, bit of shopping. Same ole same ole. Oliver and I spent a small fortune on booze for the truck party Beer Club plan to have on our final drive day to Nairobi on the 29th. Should be a good day and a nice way to say goodbye. Plus we bought Jay and Mum a little something as a thank you present.

Mum ended up going to the Dr about her foot as it is all swollen now and she can hardly walk on it. They put her on crutches. Not the most convenient things to be on when climbing on and off a truck 20 times a day!!

After a few hours drive we stopped off for lunch at a truly beautiful lookout (at an altitude of 2,400m) overlooking the Rift Valley which makes it's way down from Sudan. A breathtaking spot and wouldn't you know it.. a few curios shops as well!! Goodie. Heheheeee

Whilst Oliver went and admired the view I went and admired the various stalls packed with blankets, necklaces, wood carvings, earrings, bowls etc. Bought some much needed porcupine quills for my hair (every girl needs porcupine quills!), then a necklace which I bargained down to more than half price meaning I effectively saved more than I spent ;-)

Had a little picnic lunch down on the grass overlooking the valley which was lovely. Then got caught in yet more spending when Sarah showed me the little bowls she had just bought for a very reasonable price. Thinking they would make good presents I quickly rushed off to buy some before hopping aboard Nala and descending into the valley.

Spent the afternoon drive up on the beach reading about Posh and the Queen of Jordon so I didn't get to see any of the views but enjoyed my little catch up on gossip and fashion.

We stopped off at the town of Nakuru, a semi biggish town with internet and a market. Muz and Martin tried to convince me to buy a drum... just to annoy Oliver I think, but I was onto them so didn't succumb. Surprised they didn't buy it for him as a joke. He would have just shook his head. Bless him.

After an hour we hit the road again and headed for camp. An amazing place called Kemble Camp, quite possibly one of my favourite campsites whilst on the truck. Massive grassed camping area in beautiful gardens with volleyball, pool, table tennis, pool table, restaurant, bar and hot showers... which I didn't take advantage of, not sure why... maybe I just enjoy being a skank.

Spent the evening playing pool... me coming out the victor by beating Muzz, Oliver and Stu. Further Muzz and I doubled up to conquer team hardcore, Martin and Sarah. Good result. Unfortunately my table tennis skills had little to be desired - I couldn't even win with Oliver playing left handed!!

Following the sporting extravaganza we had a lovely meal before retiring to the tent to watch Angels & Demons... which I managed to get a ¼ of the way through before falling asleep.

Good day.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259275035/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259275035/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1259275035/tpod.html Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:46:54 -0500 AFRICA - 2008/2009

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Nairobi, Kenya

Spent the day pretty much driving. Left at 8, crossed the border around lunch then arrived in Nairobi just after 4.

The drive took us through terrain similar to Mauritania - sand everywhere causing mini dust storms in the back. Grit covered everything and made me sneeze a billion times. Was like having pepper shoved up your nose and down your throat. Not pleasant.

I read and semi slept. Couldn't get comfortable.

The border was quick and easy. For US$25 obtained a 90 day tourist VISA for Kenya. Not bad, provided they let us back in after Uganda.

Staying at a place called Karen Camp about 50 million miles out of Nairobi which is usually the case. Meant to be a big beautiful campsite but really its just a house in a large yard looking more like a truck park than campground. Does have hot showers and lounge room with TV and power supply so guess can't complain too much.

Oh and there's a Mango clothes shop not 10 minutes down the road!! Whoop whoop. Happy days. As I said to Oliver with interviews approaching I need as many outfits as possible. ;-)

The other Oasis truck is here as are Af Trails, although most of them are off somewhere... not sure where. Good to see Mark though. Also here are Tucan, Africa in Focus and a few others. Busy busy.

Most are in the bar drinking up a storm whilst Sarah and I are on computers and the boys watching SA play Israel in the world cup qualifier.

Oliver and co are on cook club tonight but with rain pouring down and football on dinner keeps getting pushed further and further back. Totally understandable, although I'm STARVING!

Oliver ended up drinking with the lads and getting called aside again by Jay going "it's happened again, some people really shouldn't drink" referring to some tosser on the truck who has once again complained about something being said either by Oliver or someone else. Not sure what happened as I went to bed and nothing was mentioned thereafter. I really can't be bothered anymore. With so few days left I know who my friends are and don't want to waste time dealing with idiots I know I'll never see again once this trip is finished.

Whilst everyone else had to head into town to get Ethiopian VISAs we stayed around the campsite enjoying a full English breakfast. Or at least I did... I think Oliver was slightly too hungover to enjoy anything. Plus he had to wake up for cook group duty which is never pleasurable.

Then Jamie, Oliver and I caught a taxi to Karen shopping centre for a spot of internet and shopping. It was the mall Mango was at so I was beyond excited until I caught sight of the clothes and all excitement was lost. I now know where all the rejects get sent to. Shame.

Internet was okay albeit a little slow. Had to fill in form for Rwanda as you need a letter of invitation to go with your VISA application. We're trying to get in on our British passports as the Brits are free whereas Aussies are US$60, not quite sure how but we've obviously pissed them off somewhere along the line. Fingers crossed they recognise dual nationality.

Jamie was originally meant to be coming up to Uganda/Rwanda with us but as he's not doing the gorillas he figures there's no point so he's taking the opportunity to get off the truck and head to the coast with Tara, the young welsh lass from the other Oasis truck he's got nice and cosy with. Hope he has a great time. Be hard not to if the beaches are as nice as Zanzibar. Jealous.

Saw the truck pull up for cook group shopping so I grabbed a lift with them back to the campsite. Spent the afternoon sitting in the sun dying my hair. Trying to get it lighter but for some reason it doesn't want to. I buy blonde dye and it goes brown.... go figure. Will have to get highlights when back in London.

As it's Catherine's last night we had an evening meal at the campground. Were meant to go out for dinner but apparently all restaurants are closed on Mondays. Weird. Was a good night though - playing pool, drinking beer and eating pizza. Perfect. She's heading down to Mumbasa before flying back to Paris on the 22nd, her African travels all finished.

Won't be long till we're off the truck... just over two weeks. We get back to Nairobi on 30 June and the truck leaves on the 1st so will have a few drinks on the 30th. Jamie flies out to KL on the 1st then hopefully onto Australia. Spanner got put in his plans today when he was informed by Australia that due to being in Africa for 8 months he'd need to submit a chest x-ray with his VISA application. Gutted.

Sarah and Martin have a friends wedding to go to so they're sticking around Nairobi till the 6th then flying up to Ethiopia to meet the truck. We'll hopefully head out with them for a goodbye dinner before heading out to the airport to catch our flight. Will miss em heaps.

Our WONDERFUL WONDERFUL friend Ben has managed to get us 40kg each on both legs of our flight home. Stoked!!! Will make things so much easier. Means we no longer have to spend a fortune sending stuff home pre flight. The amount of times he's helped us out on this trip is unbelievable. Ben there will be a carton in the post for you!!! THANK YOU!

For now though it is time for bed. Knackered. Goodnight.

Oh and Mum Kate has injured her foot. She was racing Perri Perri from the other oasis truck, slipped and fell, grazing a mass out the top of her foot. Will be interesting to see what shade it turns tomorrow.

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Arusha, Tanzania

Up for an early morning game drive at 6am. Didn't see too many animals - lions, buffalo, elephant, hippos, impala same same. No more cheetahs or leopard. We're animal snobs now hardly stopping for any of them. Oh but we did see some stampeding wildebeest. Not as impressive as the scene from Lion King but still pretty cool.

We kept our eyes open for Pride Rock hoping to catch sight of Simba. We were also hoping to come across a cheetah, leopard and lion have a race but unfortunately that didn't pan out. Nor did the dancing lion from Madagascar II. Or maybe it did and I was just too busy wrapping myself up in my sleeping bag to fall asleep.
Returned to camp for a delicious brunch of chicken, sausages, potatoes, veg, French toast. The works. Was wonderful!!!

Whilst leaving the Serengeti we spotted two lionesses walking through the grass and towards the truck. We stopped and had them walked right by us. Very cool but despite our best efforts and mating calls we were unable to spot any badgers or armadillos.

On the drive back Lindsay wouldn't stop listening to jingle cats - a band made up completely of cats and their little meows. Either that or Jamie kept setting her ipod to it each and every time she put it down... who knows. Could have been the badgers.

Suzy Q came out with comment of the day asking if anyone had read that book "Dinner with Mugabe" pronounced "Mug-a-bee". Funny.

Trip back was good, but long. Arrived back at Snake Park just after 4:30 I think. Hunger was kicking in as we hadn't eaten since 11 so Oliver and I headed to the bar for drinks and dinner. Turned into a rather messy evening with shots.

Discovered rumours are flying yet again. I swear its like being back in year 6 sometimes. Apparently two people weren't happy with discussions taking place around the campfire in the Serengeti. They went to Jay complaining, Jay spoke to those concerned blah blah blah. Just pathetic. If people aren't happy or don't agree with something being said why don't they just have the balls to say so instead of creating atmosphere later down the track. Ridiculous and just instils our desire to only hang out with our close friends. Ahhh really cannot wait to get off.

Anyway after all that drama Oliver's night ended with Ma's revenge. I disgusting mix of straw rum and peach rum.... both 80% and 70% respectively. Top that with Tabasco and you have yourself one very nasty drink. He broke one of the rules in the bar and had to down that as a consequence. He was in bed soon after. I stayed up till around 2 I think. Ouch.

With a slight hangover I spent our free day in Arusha with Linds, Sarah and Suze. Basically just on the internet. Applied for a few jobs so fingers crossed there. The power kept suddenly cutting out so lost numerous emails which was infuriating. Found a delicious icecream place then a faster internet. A Shoprite with no meat pies or hair dye (damn) and a street full of local taxi buses that didn't seem to want to take Suzy and I anywhere.

First one we managed to get into went in the completely wrong direction so we had to abort that mission and climb into another one... which we were then booted out of and placed in another. Ahhhh Africa Africa. How the people here have so much patience I've no idea. Ended up taking over an hour to get back to Snake Park.

Boys spent most the day glued to the TV watching rugby and cricket. I tried to have a cheeky afternoon nap but it was way too hot. Why doesn't this place have a pool!!! Went for a shower to cool off only to slip and crash to the floor slicing my hand on the way. Ouch.

On cook club so spent the evening with Sah and Suze cooking up a storm. One more cook group left!! Wooo hooooo really cannot wait to get home to be able to cook what I want, when I want. Can't touch pasta, bread, or rice anymore. Sick to death of it. Had about two mouthfuls tonight before my stomach was like... ahhh no thanks, I'm full.

Food food glorious food. When I get home it's going to be lamb roast, yorkshire pud, roast potatoes, salmon, lemon chicken, nachos, home made sausage rolls, chicken snitzchel, steaks, caesar salad, escargot, oysters, Magnums, rocket, Boost bars, bangers & mash, krispy kremes... ahhh krispy kremes donut royalty!! Straight off the plane I'm racing to that counter in Standsted! So much indulgence to be had. Can't wait can't wait can't wait!!!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1244493953/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1244493953/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oliveramber/17/1244493953/tpod.html Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:45:53 -0400 AFRICA - 2008/2009

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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Time to leave this beautiful island ;-( Shame really want to stay another few nights... weeks... months. If only it was a little cheaper.

With the ferry leaving at 3pm we spent our last day in Stone Town browsing the various lanes and shops but trying to stay away from the souvenir shops which I found to be extorionately overpriced. Problem with everything being in US$... nothing is ever under US$1 but rather closer to US$20. Rip!

Nice town but glad we decided to head straight up to the beaches. Went to a bar/restaurant recommended to us by the lads... needless to say we were surprised to find they didn't serve alcohol and a nice refreshing beer was out of the question.

With Oliver staying in the restaurant to write his diary I was able to leave my rather heavy bags and head off for a wonder unimpeded.

Walking you were constantly approached by people trying to sell things, getting in your way, not leaving you alone. Very Marrakech or India.

A dude kept hassling me for money - basically I had bought some spices and gave the money to the man who sold them to me, as one would usually expect, he was saying it was his money and I had not paid it. Blahdie blahdie blah. I just kept smiling and ignoring him. Eventually he got the picture and left me alone... only to hassle me again 20 minutes later.

Not wanting to go too far for fear of getting lost I walked up the main drag before returning to the restaurant. Slightly frustrated at having not bought anything I was pleasantly surprised when Sarah suggest a little lane I had by passed, full of brightly coloured shawls, wood carvings, bags and pottery. Had a slight Moroccan/Fes feel to it and was a place bargains could be found so after having bought about 20 million scarves I skipped back to the restaurant happy, picked up Oliver and shot off to the bar "Mercury" for lunch..

Mercury is a bar/restaurant dedicated to Freddie Mercury who was born on Zanzibar. Never knew that. Actually I don't know much about Queen except Bohemian Rapsody, wouldn't have a clue who else was in the band. Lunch was divine, as were the Savannas which, as always, were going down a treat.

From there it was onto the ferry and back to Dar... bye bye Zanzibar :-(

Long journey back with 1 ½ hr ferry, 15-20 min walk, 5 min ferry and finally a 5 min tuk tuk ride to the campsite. Not being able to find a tuk tuk or taxi Linds, Ania, Kelvin and others opted to walk back. Not 50m from the camp turnoff Linds was attacked by a guy trying to steal her bag. Quite an amazing thing to happen considering she was walking in the middle surrounded by 3 guys and other girls.

He ended up pulling Linds into the ditch and hitting her with a piece of sugar cane.... which she says hurts like hell. Poor thing. Behind them was an elderly local who came running up abusing the shite out of the attacker until he fled. Poor Linds, she bruises like hell anyway can't imagine what her arms and legs are going to be like in a few days. At least he didn't get her bag. She headed to the bar for a much needed drink after that.

They have signs up all over the camp saying things like "Inside Safe, Outside Not Safe", "No walking beyond this point" etc etc. Hard to believe someone could be attacked walking so close to the campsite whilst in the company of 5 other people, who said it all just happened so quick by the time they went to act it was all over. The lads feeling really bad.

Probably a good thing we're leaving here tomorrow, despite its apparent beauty.

Oh and whilst we were away Jay had grand plans for doing lots of work on the truck, accounts etc etc. Turns out two white water rafting boys he knows came down from Jinja, Uganda for a few days and it turned into quite a messy affair. His bar tab alone was US$580!! OUCH!!!

And we had these guys come in doing all sorts of acrobatics around the pool which was really cool. Back flips, towers of 5 people balancing on hands, heads, knees. Amazing the strength they possess. Kept us entertained for a good half hour.

With Jay more than just a little drunk it was shots all round so stayed up for a bit witnessing the carnage before calling it a night. Except when we did retire to the tent it was so damn hot neither of us could sleep so we got up and headed back to the bar, bringing everyone else with us.

Our first night in Dar we had positioned our tent right in front of a huge 24 hr light. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice we chose a different spot... seemingly good until I got out the camera to take a photo and notice we were nestled up next to a head stone!! Great! I'm camping on the skull of a dead man. Sure my dreams will be pleasant tonight. Probably a good thing we did return to the bar!!

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