Home is where the heart is

Off we headed towards Arusha, leaving with some great memories of Serengeti & Ngorongoro in our minds.  One memory that will definately not leave us anytime soon was when we were packing up our camp the morning we left Ngorongoro.  All of a sudden Xan said quite casually to Alex - "Elephant", and pointed just past the Truck.  Sure enough, about 20 meters from us and gracefully trundling through the campsite was a huge elephant!!!

Wow!  I rushed for the camera and took the best photo's & video I could with the time I had before it walked off.  Quite stunning, and a huge wakeup call to us camping on "their" land.  We also had to empty the second fuel tank because it had jolted loose from all the bumpy roads.  Luckily Reg (Alex's dad) was there to help out with that - quite a messy job - thanks Reg!  It took most of the morning to empty it and pour as much of it into the main tank as possible, and to secure the spare tank enough to make it to Nairobi.  I'm quite impressed with Alex's newly aquired bush mechanic skills.  Reluctantly we left, but to be honest we were really looking forward to hitting some smoother roads ahead of us to Arusha.

We spent the night in Arusha and collected our Carnet de Passage that had been delivered by DHL - very impressed with their service & price!  Thanks Bjorn for collecting it and delivering it to our campsite.  We then headed off to Kenya the next morning.

The road from Arusha to Nairobi (270km) took us the whole day.  Another terrible road in Africa, but because this was our last stretch of road heading to our final destination we were in pretty good spirits.  The traffic in Nairobi was hectic.  It seems there are no rules at all.  Traffic circles were the worst.  Luckily being in a big truck seemed to be OK, I wouldn't like to be traveling on a motorbike though.  At times I had to close my eyes and just trust that Alex was taking the right gaps - traffic lights seem to be just for decoration.  After a few scenic tours through the not so nice areas of town, we finally found our way to Jungle Junction.  Aaaaaah, paradise in Nairobi.... Anyone traveling through the area really must pop in there. We felt totally at home. What a great place. There are travelers there on motorbikes, LandRovers, Trucks etc. Most doing a whole "Long Way Down/Up" experience, or some just doing a bit like us. We were so impressed with the place. The service was great, great food, great atmosphere & great stories to share amongst the other travelers. We stayed there 2 nights, while making arrangements for Max to be stored there safely until we collect and carry on with the "Part 2" of our trip in the middle of the year.

  

On our last day we thought we should end off on a good note and head off to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in the Nairobi National Park.  They look after orphan baby elephants.  They only open for 1 hour in the morning for visiting which was all the time we had because we still had to pack and clean the truck before leaving.  This was a great experience.  Kaylin especially liked it and got quite muddy when one of the baby elephants came up close to her at the fence.
We headed back to Jungle Junction to clean Max and pack.  We then got a Taxi (a real authentic one too! a minibus because that was the biggest and cheapest for all 5 of us and our luggage), and they took us to a guest house close to the airport so we could catch our flight very early the next morning.
We arrived back home today, and as I type this I am sitting back here at my kitchen table, in my lovely home with all my luxuries around me.  I have electricity at the flick of a switch, a deep hot bath at the turn of a tap, and exhausted kiddies tucked up in their own separate bedrooms.  I am quite sad to be back home, because right now this doesn't feel like home at all.  I feel like I am dreaming because 24 hours ago we were in our "home on wheels" and after 6 weeks of traveling, it seems strange that it took just 6 hours in the air to get back here.  I am sure it will hit me in a few days time, when the kids are back in the school routine and Alex gets into the swing of things at the office, but for now our hearts are still with Max in Africa.  Our plan is to fly back up to Nairobi around June to continue with our trip.  We haven't decided exactly which route we'll be heading home, possibly passing through Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia.
So that's it from us for now. Hope you enjoyed reading & looking at the pics as much as we enjoyed being there.
To be continued.....

Serengeti & Ngorongoro...

Did you know that Ngorongoro was called after the sound of cattle bells? Apparently some famous guy used to make cattle bells in this area, and the Masai used to come from miles around asking where they can get the "ngorongoro".

We haven't heard any bell noises, but we have seen some animals! My dad arrived on Monday morning by small plane after 4 plane flights, much to our and the kids excitement! We picked him up from the airstrip and headed on our first game drive. The hugest benefit to the truck is being able to head off early from the campsite on a game drive, find a decent hippo pool or migration herd, and stop for breakfast!

We've had meals next to hippos (2 or 3 times), watching a leopard in a tree, in the midst of a zebra & wildebeest herd, and a few other slightly less active stops - it has been great, and both Kaylin & Xan have worked out how binoculars work.

On Wednesday morning we took some non-main road drives, and suspect that we went where no cars have been for a while - we were seriously bushwacking with the 8 tonne truck. Fortunately we did get stuck once in some mud, which was quite exciting without a winch and without a hope of being discovered by the normal safari guides! There are also absolutely no private cars in the reserve, so the guides will always take the better known & better condition roads for their clients - so we probably would have had some remote camping experience if we couldn't get out the mud before sunset! But luckily we managed to get out.

Remote camping is one thing, but organised camping is pretty wild here as well! The sign at the entrance to our little clearing in the bush spells out quite clearly the risks, and on Wednesday morning we left, and not 1 minute at 30kms/hour after we left we joined two other game drive vehicles watching some lions! Nice. We still have a truck and 2 kids and a father, so we're doing OK.

We have lost some truck functionality ... our fuel pump (pumping between the spare and the main tank) has burnt out twice; our geyser was bounced & bumped around so much that the pipes became disconnected, and we nearly had a bath in the back of the truck; and our spare fuel tank supports have sheared off and we'll have to drain that and carry it to Nairobi on the roofracks! Did I ever mention that a truck is a rough ride, and the roads here in the Serengeti are extremely bad? Extremely bad as in you're bouncing along at 20km/hour and then all of a sudden everything goes ballistic and you work out you were going waaaaay to fast!! Other times you bounce along the road and then you just have to stop and laugh and take a break! It is hectic!

Today I let down the tyres a lot ... happy to figure out that 5.5bar is too hard, but I'll kick myself if it makes a world of a difference - we should have then done it 7000 kms ago! Hopefully we can get the leaf springs modified in Nairobi before our next holiday back south.
The animals and timing in the Serengeti was amazing! On our drive up to our campsite in Serengeti we saw quite a few animals in the South of the park, and on our game drives we went back to hunting for the wild life (not being disappointed mind you); on our drive back south the migration herd was right next to the main road! We drove for at least 2 hours with uncountable numbers of wildebeest, zebra and buck on either side of the road. It really was indescribable, and even the photos and the video only show a hint of the frugality of nature (NOT!), the lavishness of nature.

This morning we woke up early to go on a game drive into Ngorongoro crater, and again it is beautiful. Wildebeest, zebra, rhino, hippo, lions, hyena, warthogs, buffalo, ostrich ... all in an area that's 18km across! Very cool. We organised with a local guy to come and fetch us from the campsite in his safari vehicle (all Land Cruisers, modified with pop-up tops). The decend and ascend of the crater was rather steep with a lot of sharp bends, so it was quite a relief that we were forced to hire a guide to show us around while Max rested in the campsite. It was a nice change for us all, and the kids especially loved being able to look out the roof.

Our campsite here on the rim of the crater is very nice - very organised compared to our Serengeti clearing, and a bit more space for the kids to run around and ride without us worrying about wild animals (there was an elephant yesterday evening within 100m of our truck!). We've had a great time in the park, and tomorrow we're heading to Arusha to pick up our Carnet de Passage (car's passport) for Kenya. DHL is amazing... an official document (our carnet) from Cape Town to Arusha in Tanzania for 24 hours delivery for R 350? That's nearly unbelieveable! Must also mention that the AA also was brilliant at organising our carnet all remote within a few days.

So tomorrow back to Arusha, and then we have 2 full days to get to Nairobi, find Jungle Junction (a place for MAX to sleep / hibernate with a nice waterproof tarpaulin to keep him dry), organise some luggage to bring back our useful stuff, and then flying home on Tuesday.

this is Africa baby...

We're feeling a little sore about the price of what it costs to drive into and stay here at Serengeti & Ngorangora (yip, we're here, made it this far, and gonna soak it all up), and after a long day on really shocking roads, I (Laura) said I would do the blog update for you all.
We headed north from Morogoro and decided to stop for the night at a little town called Sane. We parked and slept in the parking lot of the Elephant Motel which also served us a delicious supper. We're still not sure why it's call the 'Elephant' Motel, because we woke up surrounded by cute little monkeys! On our roof, trying to get into our windows even. They kids loved it of course.
We then headed towards Moshi which was only about an hour away, hoping to get a good view of Mt Kilimanjaro. We found a campsite there, but unfortunately there were too many low lying clouds, so we didn't get a glimpse of the famous huge mountain that day or even the next before we headed off. We did find a great coffee shop in town that served a great CafeLatte, milkshakes & waffles!
Last night we slept at Karatu near the gate of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We entered the park this morning (after paying a ridiculous amount to just drive through as this is the only way to get to the Serengeti). Once we got to the rim of the Crater we stopped at a viewsite and got out to enjoy the view. After getting back into the truck and driving about 20 meters down the road, we spotted 3 leopards right next to the road (excuse the pun). This was only the beginning of the sightings we would see today. Shortly afterwards we saw a female lion about 20 meters up on a hill. Other game vehicles were just driving past not noticing it, but I think because we were higher in a truck, we could see it better. I really enjoyed the brightness of the Masai people just wondering through the area with their herds of cows & goats, with just a spear for protection from wild animals. Their bright red blanket clothing, and their beaded jewellery - really brings to mind my Std.3 school project, little did I know back then that I'd be sharing a bit of their country with them.
We got to the Serengeti gate, and luckily they took Visa - boy this place is expensive. Ok, it's a bit more for us because we're in a 8 ton truck which is triple the price for some reason. They can't be putting the park fees into building nice roads, because we soon discovered that one of the ways that they control the crowds coming here is to make sure that the roads are almost unbearable! We shook and shuddered our way to the campsite, passing lots of wildlife - wildebeest, zebra's, various buck, giraffe, warthog, dungbeetle, tortouise, hippo. Now we're at our campsite, which I'm a bit nervous about...... there's no fence around us!!!! What's with that? And there's a big sign saying that no one must wander out of the campsite because wild animals might attack human beings (those words exactly!), whats to stop the wild animals from wondering through here? I did eventually pluck up the courage to get out of the truck, because the kids were already running around without a worry, so how could I be so nervous? Then we saw the impressive footprint (see photo). Mmmmm, I'll be opening the blinds and peeking out in the morning before I open the front door.
We have an exciting day tomorrow - Reg (Alex's dad) is flying in to meet us and spend the rest of our trip with us. The kids are really excited to see Grandpa. We're planning on spending another 2 nights here in Serengeti, then 2 more at the Ngorongoro Crater, and then heading towards Nairobi where we can hopefully leave Max and all fly back home.

(this is already a few days old but we've been struggling with signal - currently we're in Ngorogoro)

this is Africa baby...

We’re feeling a little sore about the price of what it costs to drive into and stay here at Serengeti & Ngorangora (yip, we’re here, made it this far, and gonna soak it all up), and after a long day on really shocking roads, I (Laura) said I would do the blog update for you all.

We headed north from Morogoro and decided to stop for the night at a little town called Sane.  We parked and slept in the parking lot of the Elephant Motel which also served us a delicious supper.  We’re still not sure why it’s call the ‘Elephant’ Motel, because we woke up surrounded by cute little monkeys!  On our roof, trying to get into our windows even.  They kids loved it of course.

We then headed towards Moshi which was only about an hour away, hoping to get a good view of Mt Kilimanjaro.  We found a campsite there, but unfortunately there were too many low lying clouds, so we didn’t get a glimpse of the famous huge mountain that day or even the next before we headed off.  We did find a great coffee shop in town that served a great CafeLatte, milkshakes & waffles!

Last night we slept at Karatu near the gate of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.  We entered the park this morning (after paying a ridiculous amount to just drive through as this is the only way to get to the Serengeti).  Once we got to the rim of the Crater we stopped at a viewsite and got out to enjoy the view.  After getting back into the truck and driving about 20 meters down the road, we spotted 3 leopards right next to the road (excuse the pun).  This was only the beginning of the sightings we would see today.  Shortly afterwards we saw a female lion about 20 meters up on a hill.  Other game vehicles were just driving past not noticing it, but I think because we were higher in a truck, we could see it better.  I really enjoyed the brightness of the Masai people just wondering through the area with their herds of cows & goats, with just a spear for protection from wild animals.  Their bright red blanket clothing, and their beaded jewellery – really brings to mind my Std.3 school project, little did I know back then that I’d be sharing a bit of their country with them.

We got to the Serengeti gate, and luckily they took Visa – boy this place is expensive.  Ok, it’s a bit more for us because we’re in a 8 ton truck which is triple the price for some reason.  They can’t be putting the park fees into building nice roads, because we soon discovered that one of the ways that they control the crowds coming here is to make sure that the roads are almost unbearable!  We shook and shuddered our way to the campsite, passing lots of wildlife – wildebeest, zebra’s, various buck, giraffe, warthog, dungbeetle, tortouise, hippo.  Now we’re at our campsite, which I’m a bit nervous about...... there’s no fence around us!!!!  What’s with that?  And there’s a big sign saying that no one must wander out of the campsite because wild animals might attack human beings (those words exactly!), whats to stop the wild animals from wondering through here?  I did eventually pluck up the courage to get out of the truck, because the kids were already running around without a worry, so how could I be so nervous?  Then we saw the impressive footprint (see photo).  Mmmmm, I’ll be opening the blinds and peeking out in the morning before I open the front door.

We have an exciting day tomorrow – Reg (Alex’s dad) is flying in to meet us and spend the rest of our trip with us.  The kids are really excited to see Grandpa.  We’re planning on spending another 2 nights here in Serengeti, then 2 more at the Ngorongoro Crater, and then heading towards Nairobi where we can hopefully leave Max and all fly back home.

 

 

 

slowing down in Tanzania...

Tan-ZANE-eea, or Tan-zi-NEEA ... still not sure! But its really nice here. We’re staying at an organic herbal tea & spice farm resort just outside of the town Morogoro – we were “forced” to stay here (i.e. bend my rubber arm) because the handyman fixed our fuel pump – pumping the fuel from the big tank to the small driving tank. Staying the extra night here (three meals a day, luxury rooms, swimming pool etc) was a much better prospect than sucking diesel every day for the next 2 weeks.

A few days or ago, or a few weeks ago – we can’t really remember – we left our last campsite in Karonga, Malawi and headed to the border. The lake narrows and the mountains loom the further North you drive and driving into Tanzania was really beautiful – thick lush mountainous landscapes, and everyone looks neater and more fashionably dressed, and there are many many home farms along the road. Definately looks like more economic activity than Malawi, although its hidden in the Economic Indicies of each country (which is very interesting).

The border was fairly well organised and efficient, but I guess they can afford it with the various US dollar fees, visas, car import duties and 3^rd party insurance. And 30 minutes after getting into the country, our first police road block asked persistently about something for new year ... after ignoring the question a few times, intentionally not misunderstanding what he was saying, and saying no, and asking why, and asking for a receipt, and saying no ... I eventually gave him the crumpled up 200 Malawi Kwacha in my pocket (R 10). That was irritating, and added onto the border crossing sales activities (assistance, money changing, insurance, SIM cards, money changing, assistance, SIM cards) the 250km to Morogoro was just too far. So we settled in a coffee lodge in Mbeya. And we couldn’t leave for 2 days.  Our Illy coffee beans that we stocked up with from home were running low, so this was great timing.  We camped next to the lodges tennis court, and plugged our electricity into their room used for a gym (this lodge was clearly a good find).  With all the water and electricity we could ask for we straight away got the washing machine into overdrive and did about 4 loads of washing.  We enjoyed 2 days at the lodge, the kids found a big pile of clay bricks and built themselves a little house which they enjoyed picnic’s & playtime in.  We went on a family trail run through the forest to the coffee plantation, and made friends with two of the resident dogs who joined us back to our campsite.  When it was time to leave we went to unplug our plug only to find that it had totally burnt out!  Even the socket in the wall was destroyed!  Oops!

After a late departure from the lodge we drove towards Dar es Salaam. There was a lot of truck & bus traffic (as was expected) but the roads really are a bit narrow for two trucks to pass (did we mention that we broke the driver side mirror on a large truck’s mirrors coming the other way in Malawi?)... and we had heard stories of blind rise overtaking etc. So it was a little stressful, but of course everything was fine. It’s nice not being the slowest car on the road, and its also nice not being able to drive 100km/hour.

We stopped at a town called Iringa with the recommendation of a campsite on the river.  We were pretty bummed because on our drive there our fuel pump broke, 2 of the cupboard locks broke so things were pretty scattered in the back of the truck, and driving into the campsite we broke our front door step on a rock on the side of the narrow road.  After meeting a friendly family at the campsite who were staying there for a month to learn Swahili (they work a a pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship), we decided to stay for 2 nights.  Their two kids were exactly a year younger than our two kids so they clicked straight away and fun was had by all!  After recovering well and checking the rest of our cupboard locks, we were on our way again.

On our way to Morogoro we stopped for a drink & a bite to eat at “the white house” which was pretty decent, and the highlight was definitely driving through the Mikumi Game Reserve. Its a bit like the N1 going straight through the Kruger Park for 50 km! With nothing different from the normal highway except a slightly lower speed limit. Laura saw the first wildlife – a baboon, and shortly after that some buck. Then it got even better as we were cruising on the trans Africa highway – a herd of giraffes, a baby elephant right next to the road, and then a small herd (4 or 6?) of elephants just off the highway. It really was fun trying to spot the game.

A few km’s after the diesel sucking adventure, we got to the town Morogoro and phoned a nice sounding lodge with green grass (thanks Lonely Planet) to ask whether we could camp. Language problems. When we arrived they insisted we stay in one of the cottages, as it was all prepared for us.  We only realised afterwards that they had mistaken us for another family that were arriving that day.  We took the opportunity though, and the situation was sorted out after the real guests had arrived and 2 more plates were set out at the dinner table that evening.  ... we’re suspecting $100 a night, and if we’re surprised it’s going to be on the upside! That’s quite a bit more than our normal R 50 per night!

The best part of all of this was how we got to the farm lodge (following the directions in the Lonely Plant)... we drove 10km out of town, then a few km’s down a track only to arrive at a little rusty metal bridge over quite a flowing river with a white sign saying “2000kg only, cross at your own risk”. We probably would have done it, but the bridge wouldn’t have been wide enough for us, let along strong enough for our 8 200 kgs. So the manager came to see us, and sent us with the handyman back into town and on the back roads ... 40 minutes later, through villages (as in right in front of their doorsteps, making sure not to take out their roofs with the truck!) through some sand and mud and bumps and turns. It was perfect, and we arrived to have dinner with the other guests who arrived shortly after us.

And then it rained, and poured! And the dog bit Xan. It was way past their bedtime, and they had managed dinner very well. Xan was a little bit too friendly with the resting grumpy old dog (we think he tried to kiss him) and the dog snapped at him. You’re never too sure whether the cry is fright or pain, but this one was both! After a minute you could see where the dogs teeth had scraped from his one cheek to the other, with a small hole in the bridge of his nose! That was obviously the end of the day for us all.

The next day (this morning) we made sure that Xan wasn’t affected, and he was very happy to be friendly to the dog again – so either he’s very brave and understands how a healthy respect works, or he’s incredibly dumb and can’t remember why hes got a little bruise & cut on his nose! (for all the other moms & grandmothers out there, the other guest at the farm who studied to be a Vet agrees that Tetanus is extremely unlikely for such a small cut. Germaline will be fine).

We’ll be leaving here tomorrow, after a gourmet breakfast of course, ready for a day of driving – Excited for what Northern Tanzania has in store for us!

welcome to Tanzania...

I've been thinking quite a lot about sustainability and the wastefulness of luxury, or should that be the luxury of wastefulness? After travelling from Senga Bay (Clifton in Africa with warm water) to Nkhata Bay a bit further north, we took a terrible terrible potholed road into the mountains and to Nyika National Park - that's about 150 kilometers at 30 km/hour! It was beautifully remote up there, cold and rainy, with buck roaming through the campsite, fresh elephant dung on the road, and a jackal posing for photo's on the way out ... but really remote! Officially the campsite was closed, which means: we don't bring water, the hot showers last about a minute and there wont be anyone else there. And we had a fantastic time.

Did you know how many liters of fresh drinking water it takes to have a short responsible & eco friendly shower? 25 liters if your hair is short, and 35 liters if its long (I beat laura by nearly 10 liters, and I promise I used conditioner!) Flushing a normal toilet is about 20 liters, rinsing your toothbrushes for a family of 4 (again responsibly) uses around 5 liters, washing the dishes around 10 liters if you do a good job. that's a whole lot of water!

One of the luxuries we're missing is a long hot shower - and by long I'm thinking 200 to 400 liters of fresh drinking water (a normal shower by wasteful luxury standards). We were obviously getting low in our 400 liter tank, and because they weren't delivering water to the campsite we had to conserve our last 90 liters ... and then it started to rain!

In about an hour I collected 250 liters of rainwater! all this while we were recharging the batteries with a generator and managing a fire for our lunch (aah, the modern man) .. (i did use a bit of petrol for the fire, just because the jerry can was open - that's not very sustainable!) It was really fun being self sufficient, and I definately want to start collecting rain water at home, and considering the 12V solar power conversion. I have never comprehended how much energy a full time geyser wastes!! Again, the luxury of 24/7 availability of water as hot as you want it no matter when you want it. Our little gas geyser in the truck heats up 25 liters of water to hot within about 2 minutes of turning it on.

Back to the travel experiences ... we had a recommendation of a place full of potential and a little run-down near Nkhata Bay so we pulled in there and had some supper and a sleep, but we knew when we pulled in that we wouldn't stay for long the next day. Some people seem to have the knack of getting "lost in Africa" and we were happy to find a more ambitious campsite the next day. We did however have our first bump into two elderly (post retirement age anyhow) German ladies, each in their own 1970's (maybe 1980's) landrovers - imported from Germany and they were on their annual Africa holiday. Of course being landrovers there were some issues, but we stayed at the same campsite as them last night (4 days or so after we met them) and they had made a plan to get around the alternator problems ... hardcore!

We found a great place in Nkhata Bay the following evening, and enjoyed a great Balcony / wooden deck high above the lake in amongst the trees. In 24 hours we spent R50 on camping, and R 600 on restaurant food - nice, but I must say with hindsight, "overpriced". We'd do it again! The Central parts of the lake are much steeper shores and more rocky than the beachy south - something we didn't really think about too much, so the  swimming was definately less of a highlight. Very beautiful though. Here's a picture of Kaylin & Xan contemplating what careers they should have when they get back home.

And then there was Nyika, another one of our trip highlights so far. A random National Park with a closed campsite, 200 km on a bumpy road with no-one else around (except for that Swiss couple in a hilux double cab taking a career break and deciding whether to go to Australia or South Africa for their next season of life). After the heat and mosquitoes of Mozambique and normal Malawi, to get into the cool air of the mountains was really fantastic - the kids had one of their best sleeps ever and we got to sleep with our duvet again! We had a few walks in the grass, one where we came across a mommy buck lying in the grass being protected by the daddy buck, and after she had run off we nearly stepped on her baby buck - which scampered off in the other direction. I trust that they'll get together again shortly! 

We also celebrated rainwater and my birthday - the baking of the cake, or should I say the licking of the icing bowls was definately a highlight for the kids, and the most frustrating part of the trip so far (for Kaylin) has been Xan constantly telling me what my birthday presents would be! Of course I was suprised on the day, what else could I have been! The day has added to my good family experiences.

After Nyika we headed back down the bumpy road (with a few mud video stops which has made the truck look hardcore) and we slept at Karonga showing a little bit of earthquake damage, but suprisingly well recovered. The lake definately wasn't a feature and the highlight was talking to two different groups of travellers coming back South about their experiences (2 couples on 3 BMW bikes kind of regretting going to the artificial luxury of Zanzibar, and two families in Landcruisers regretting travelling so hard, and not staying 2 nights in any place except on Christmas day in Serengeti!)

So we're definately decided to stay away from Dar es Salaam & Zanzibar (for the traffic which sounds a bit like Lagos, Nigeria (we can do without that) and because the underwater power cable to Zanzibar broke, and when they plugged it back in, the surge fried most of the appliances on the island!) and we'll be heading North to Arusha and the Northern areas (Serengeti, Ngorogoro, Kilimanjaro etc). That means that we have a lot of time and we really dont have to drive hard anymore! So we were planning on driving 400 km today, but stopped after 200km in Mbeye. We're staying on a coffee plantation and there is a really nice lodge here - one of those places that looks expensive, but isn't, and the small things (like coffee ice cream, and a nice pool and restaurant) tell you that someone has thought about it and is making something of the place. we booked in for 2 nights already, and we're sleeping behind the tennis courts and just outside a really nice set of ablutions (and 200 - 400 liter hot showers!)

So that's it for now, we're in Tanzania, and our plan is still to organise a Carnet de Passage for the truck through the AA (but the forms on their website are down) to leave the truck in Nairobi for a few months, which will save us a long hard landcruiser style drive back home, and we have all the time in the world to enjoy this beautiful country where we've never been before! the luxury of time. 

Have a good sleep tonight (or tomorrow night) to catch up from last night, and get a good start to 2010! May God's plans be obvious to those who seek Him! Catch you later!