Dar Es Salaam to Malawi

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Trip Start Jan 10, 2008 Previous
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  Kande beach, Malawi
Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Jambo all!
Sorry last entry was short, At last I have no time limit to type this blog, it's pouring with rain outside but still very warm, perfect time for us to catch up and maybe some pic's - Michael is on the case.
All great and really enjoying ourselves.
The Truck
Greg this is a little FACT for you and if it doesn't make you instantly turn your computer off and board the next plane to Africa I don't know what will, 21 of us on our "truck" including the driver and guide, 4 chaps and the rest is made up of Ozzy, Swedish, Danish and UK beauties! Come on!! We can spend anything from 3 hours a day to 7 hours travelling between places so our black jack skills are coming along very nicely. Laraine I've also read Marley and me and really enjoyed it

Malawi Lakeside Abode!

. Say a big hello to the boy's for us we miss them jumping up. And if's it's any comfort as Connor lies on the kitchen table, Reilly helps himself to the left over breakfast egg shells and Murphy lies in stealthful await for the bread to be left unwittingly alone it seems labradors young or old are the same world over.
African Roads.
Well, I hesitate to call some of them Rd's. I think our vital organs have jumped, bumped and shaked themselves into slightly different positions. David, I have decided that you must have been an African driver in a previous life. It makes me smile as I sit and look around watching people lean forward and grip the seat in front with the occasional stamping down of the right foot! We seem to career full speed ahead into herds of goats, Masai cows and the odd zebras, I remain relaxed-I thank you for this David. I did however find these words casually leave my mouth "what happens if we hit a cow?" "a fine" and we continue full speed ahead. This will make you smile Michael even offered to drive if Beerman (True our guide was called Beerman) felt tired!!
Food
It's tasty and plentiful. Favorites, pineapple, mangoes, tomatoes and red onions mmm. Did manage to catch a tummy bug for 24hrs but I'm well over it now and on a positive note can only increase my gut immunity for India-oh god!

Fancy dress party - Charlie & his angels!

! Michael still proves to have the immunity of an ox avoiding the Christmas flu outbreak in the 'Back household' and now the camp tummy bug. We have tired some Ugali. It's maize paste, we rolled it up into small balls with our right hand only, it's impolite to use your left and scooped up the rest of our meal with it-tricky espically at Michael's speed of eating!
Camping
Beginning to love it. A few tense moments in the first few days of assembly, take down and middle of the night realization that all our canvas vents were open with an impending thunder/lightening storm rumbling above us, this is in the Serengeti with the sound of jackal's and hyenas sniffing close by. We debated for 5 Min's as to who was going.....I lost! Lost to the lack of contact lenses!!! I have never moved so quickly around a tent deciding early on not to look out into the blackness and to keep my imagination under strict control. Rach and Gareth I did think of you and you midnight toilet dash-BRAVE very brave.
Showers and Toilets
Leading nicely on from camping....have given up. No longer will we risk the ice cold drible, ant infested, dinosaura sized flying bug infested facilities. I feel liberated by my street urchin look and never has a bad hair day felt so good and on the positive it seems to keep the mozzies at bay

Bareback riding lake Malawi with 'Clover'

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Safari Highlights
Tarangire national park. 1 day in a private park. Fantastic scenary. Highlight was watching a huge bull elephant right next to the track cover himself in mud.
Serengeti
14,763km2. Highlight was watching a pride of about 18 lions feast on their kill-bufferlo. We were only about 30ft away and what made it extra special we watching in the dying light of the day. Roger and Carol the binoculars are FANTASTIC, Michael bearly removed them from his eyes! DAY 2 At last a leopard, completing our big 5. She had recently made her kill and we watched her drag it to the base of the tree in hope the both her and the kill would follow but she was not in performing mood. We were lucky enough to watch her scale the tree then dangle her legs over the branch-fantastic. DAY 3 Watched small pride of lions warm up in the early morning sunshine on a rocky outcrop, stretching and yawning and the younger cubs tumberling over each other-purrr-fect.
Ngorongoro Crater
We loved it. 250km2. Ngorongoro maasi word for cow-bell. Collapsed volcanoe 2.5 million yrs ago. Perminantly fresh water. We saw loads, really enjoyed the pink flamgoes, hundreds all matching along a pink highway on lake Magadi, soda lake

Michael teaches kids volleyball lake Malawi

. Saw a black rhino trudge right out in front of our truck, a lioness casually pad past our truck taking advantage of the shade it provided, we could here the sound of her huge pads hitting the sand, again fantasic. and we finished off with a bull elephant letting us known his displeasure, flapping his ears and trumpting directly at us. The hardest of us stuck it out for a pic, I couldnt zoom back far enough! 
Dar Es Salaam And Zanzibar
Largest city in Tanzania. Dodoma the capital. Dar Es Salaam means 'Haven of peace' mmmmm bustling, congested, ramshackled, hot hot hot 29 degrees at 6AM, humid, polluted, over populated, cars slow moving, stationary or abandoned looking, think that sums it up for you all! Zanzibar exactly what the postcards look like, white sand and blue sea. We took advantage and went deep sea fishing WOW loved it. I only went as the token sun bather. But Michael, having lived on dive boats and loves the sea - was sea sick for the entire 4 hours! So I stood in, catching my first ever fish. A bonito, weighing about 2-3kg's WOW! Not quite the catch that Dave had, A giant trevally about 25kg's it was a whopper.
We must go now and do the pic's, fingers crossed.
We miss you all and think of you always and really look forawrd to your messages, do bear with us!
Suzy and Michael xx

PS. Just tried to do pics - pc wpn't recogise camera at moment.

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