The long  awaited day finally arrived and after 24 hrs travelling   with no sleep we got to our  first stop in Tanzania (Arusha) . It didn’t take long to decide to forego the first beer and soon we were in bed .

                  Peter having fun with the Massai warriors

                                          Amazing

The next morning we were up bright and early to meet with our guide and get the info on what to expect for the next week while out on the trail searching for the big 5 .( lions ,elephants ,lepards,buffao, rhino).

A  3 hour drive put us in the Lake Manyara National Park. While on route we stopped at a Masai village where we were told of the way of life and shown their homes .  A  little hut made from animal dung and straw. (Really quite water proof if you like to live in poop all the time.) The men can have many wives , all they had to do was give her father 10 cows to have a bride as young as 15 .We were told one had 45 wives and 600 offspring. I guess he was never bored!!   They had us do their famous dance and found we really can’t hop quite as high as them ,although we gave it our best shot.Hearing that they mix blood with milk twice a day for their meals didn’t entice us to stick around.

  On our way to the park we got our first look at a family of giraffes and elephants. They were right beside the road and a real treat to see. While in the park we came across many baboons and species of monkeys , one they called  the blue balled monkey and they were  true to their name. ( I think they all must have driven on African roads in a car)!

  The next morning we headed off for the Serengeti National Park , a 5 hour drive over washboard roads and mountain cliffs  at speeds up to 90 km\hr. that would make your teeth rattle . We even saw a vehicle that rolled over the side of the mountain , 100 feet down a gully. But we made it on time for supper at our first tented camp. The  amount  of zebras and wildebeest while on route were astounding . They were sometimes as far as the eye could see .

     We woke to a cool morning so we could  have an early start to try and catch the animals feeding. It was a great day to see so many animals in their natural habitats feeding on their diet of grass and kills they had just made.We were lucky to see a pride of lions returning from breakfast and climbing into a tree to sleep.  Later in the day we watched hippos in a disgustingly dirty pool, a second larger pride of lions and a lepard hunting for his supper. The animals are all so majestic and its hard to believe we are so close to them, sometimes within five feet.