Shahi Palace, Jaisalmer, India :Monday 25th October.

We left Tanzania after the last couple of days staying with Anoek. The Emriates hot towels were well worth the two month wait and on Monday afternoon we arrived jet-lagged in Delhi. On Tuesday (Helens Birthday) we took a city tour to visit some of the sights of Dehli, including Jama Masjid, Lal Quila (the Red Fort), Humayun Tomb, Ghandi memorial and India Gate (were we asked to have our pictures taken with some Indian tourists - bizarre). In the evening we had dinner at a 26th floor revolving restaurant - taking in the views of Dehli by night. We really enjoyed Dehli, which was not as frantic as we both expected and much cleaner too. We also met some very friendly locals which made our introduction to Indian culture all the more effortless, the amazing food also helped! Our overnight train left Delhi around 6 on Wednesday evening - which we almost missed by going to new Dehli train station instead of old - then having to take a frantic rush-hour tuk-tuk across the city just in time to catch our train.

The overnight train (18 hours) was comfortable with excellent chai along the way and on Thursday lunch time we arrived in Jaisalmer, which looked like a giant sand castle popping out of the desert. We explored the fort and the winding streets and shops and arranged a camel sarafi. The 3 day safari was amazing, trotting off into the desert and spending two nights sleeping in the sand dunes under the stars. On the negative side, Helen almost got left behind in the dessert and I got head butted by a camel and we both returned very saddle sore, but like they say if it doesn’t kill you………

Kinazi Upepo, Paje, Zanzibar: Thursday 14th October.

We arrived in Zanzibar on the late ferry, which was an amazing way to arrive onto the island; the turquoise waters, white sandy beaches and the outline of Stone Town as the sun set was beautiful.
Staying 2 nights in Stone Town gave us the chance to explore in the day light the Arabesque winding streets and narrow alley ways.
On Friday morning we headed to Nungwi at the most northern point of the island and the most amazing beach of white sand (Helen described it as being like caster sugar) and green/blue clear waters. The placed we stayed was a rasta run bar /beach hut and we spent 3 days relaxing on the beach. He atmosphere was very backpacker-y with los of beach bars playing music until he early hours. We also visited Paje, |Tanzania’s kite surfing paradise on the east of the island, again it was very beautiful and we stayed in a banda under the palm trees just off the beach front.
Later today we’re heading back to Dar ready for our flight to India. We’re going to use our last few days souvenir shopping, we’ve go our eye on a bookcase made from old an dhow boat/canoe. Hopefully we’ll find one we love and that we can to ship home (well to Mother Bull’s!) ready for our return.

Moshi, Tanzania: Monday 4th October.

We returned from our 5 day safari yesterday and we’re still reeling from how amazing it was! We visited Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara on days 1 and 2. Where Tarangire was all savannah, very dry and vast, Lake Manyara was lush and green. At Tarangire we saw elephants, giraffes, zebra’s and lion’s close up and also witnessed a herd of wildebeest running towards a watering hole. Also at one point our driver, Bariki, drove us into a family of elephants which was great but a bit scary when the mummy elephant started flapping her ears and trumpeting at us!
When we got back to Moshi (foothills of Kilimanjaro), we took a guide to Marangu wich is at the gate to the national park of Kilimanjaro and where your trek up the mountain begins. We walked around the town and visited some Chagga caves (Chagga is the local tribe) and some beautiful waterfalls with another couple from S. Africa and Scotland. Really like the north of Tanzania but its really expensive - Martin will have to get the credit card out before long…

Florida Inn, Lushoto, Tanzania, Friday 24th September.

So we’ve been volunteering for 2 weeks in Lushoto now, teaching at one of the local primary schools called Kitopeni in the morning, and teaching English to adults in the evening at COCAFA which is a local tour operator in Lushoto. The guys at COCAFA are really friendly and they also run lots of community projects which means that 40% of all tour guide fees go towards local projects like teaching women to sew and set up small tailoring businesses.

The weather in Lushoto is really cold! The first few days it was cloudy and a bit miserable, the temperature was only about 18.C or so - a real contrast to Dar where it was 30. At night! We’re having to wrap up in our fleeces, trousers and socks which is nice as we’ve been cursing having to carry them for 5 weeks!

Last Wednesday morning we trekked to the Irente View Point which was about 8km away from Lushoto. Our guide was Samual (Rasta-Man) who insisted on adding an I to the end of every English word he used. Walk-i, Food-i, House-i and Tree-i.The views were amazing as we walked, everything is really lush, I imagine due to the cool climate.

Last Thursday morning we visited a local orphanage run by the Lutheran church. In the afternoons Helen and I have been leading the teaching at COCAFA, which is great. Helen had been saying for a few days that she was missing school, so the opportunity to plan and teach a lessons was enjoyable. We’ve also created a ‘website’ for the COCAFA guys, they were interested in advertising their project online so we have created a blog for them. It’s really nice to have something to see that we’ve helped the community with since we came. Check it out at www.cocafa-lushoto.blogspot.com.

Also we ate Ugali every lunchtime for 2 weeks - hell.

Florida Inn, Lushoto, Tanzania, Tuesday 14th September.

Early Tuesday morning (7th) we set out from Matema, being picked up by an express cattle truck, (express in this case meant it burned along a dirt track road at about 50mph). We clung to the back/top of the truck for about an hour before a relatively normal bus with the usual chickens and other weird sights and smells!

We stayed in Mbeya for a few nights and even found a pizza restaurant which we visited on our second day there. After 3 weeks of rice and beans and chipsi-myeye, it was amazing! Then we had yet another 6am bus journey to Dar Es Salaam, scheduled to be another epic 12 hours. Once in Dar the disappointment of being rejected from the fully booked and very scabby YMCA, didn’t last long as we bumped into Anoek from VAP and familiar face for Helen. Anoek kindly invited us to stay which was very kind. At dinner that evening we met people from the project and discovered we would leave for Lushoto on Sunday morning, giving us a few days in Dar.

Anoek stepped up as the hostess, to show us some of the sights of Dar, and we must admit it was nice to be looked after, not having to worry about which bus to take, who had the passports or where/what to eat next - god it’s a hard life! We visited the Slipway, which gave us a totally different view of Dar, very western and modern indeed. It also provided us with a rare opportunity for some retail therapy, getting new books to read for all those long journeys.

On Saturday we headed across the bay on the ferry to the island of Kigamboni, to spend the afternoon at the beach. It was amazingly busy and there was almost a Glastonbury headliner style crush in the scramble to get tickets for the ferry. The beach was packed for the end of Ramadan celebrations and there was an amazing atmosphere as people partied up and down the beach dancing, drumming and cheering. Again we saw another side of Dar, beautiful beach resort in a stark contrast to the dusty, chaotic city centre.

The bus journey to Lushoto was pretty spectacular heading up into the Usambara Mountains; very lush and green in stark contrast to the dry and arid south. We checked into our home for the next 2 weeks, a pub come guest house in Lushoto. On Monday we had a walk around the town including a visit to the COCAFA centre where we are volunteering to teach English to tour guides. Later that afternoon we went to a political rally where Tanzania’s president Kikwete was due to speak, only it went dark and he never turned up! However we did see him the following day and after his speech as he drove past us, he waved to us, although both Helen and I forgot to wave back!

Matema Lake Shore Resort, Matema, Tanzania. Monday 6th September.

On Friday morning we headed for the bus station primed to negotiate a decent price for our bus journey to Mbeya. After some hostile negotiation at one of the ticket offices, we decided to board a bus leaving for Kyela promised to be leaving in 15 minutes, about an hour later our bus conductor ended up in a fight with another bus conductor over passengers, forcing our departure from the bus station. We had tickets to Kyela but had to change buses in Tukuyu, on arrival in Kyela we where quickly swept up by a small Dalla-Dalla with the promise of reaching Matema, a very very bumpy ride later we arrived in Ipinda where we had to get off the bus. A helpful Tanzanian man showed us to the next mode of transport, the back of a pick-up truck, along with maybe 10-15 other people, some kind of wooden structure, a couple of bikes and plenty of luggage. About 1km down the dirt track one of the front tyres popped, within a second a crane had driven past and saved the day colleting all the passengers and load. Again another promise of a drop off in Matema was again dashed, as we had another change of vehicle, this time to a cattle truck which we rode in the back of, with the now obligatory chicken as well. Finally 6 modes of transport and 10 hours later we arrived in Matema.

Once we had checked into our beach front room, it was clear from the view that the journey had been well worth it. The crystal clear waters of Lake Nyasa (Malawi) expanded out in front of us to the horizon, with misty forested mountains providing the backdrop.

On Sunday we took a guided trip/trek through the jungle (a forest with snakes and monkeys constitutes a jungle in my eyes) to a waterfall, where we swam in the freezing cold fresh water. That evening we went to watch the local football team play against some local rivals. The majority of the rest of the time we spent chilling on the beach by the lake.

New Millennium Inn, Mbeya, Tanzania. Thursday 2nd September.

After a few days chilling by the pool at the resort in Kilwa and a travelling in a dhow to visit the ruins at Kilwa Kisiwani, we got the 6am bus to Mtwara which is close to the Mozambique border. By late afternoon we arrived at Mtwara, staying at a place by the sea run by the German Nanny McPhee and relaxed for a few days before starting our long journey across the southern highlands of Tanzania.

Mtwara to Masasi took 6 hours, then Masasi to Tunduru was another 7 hours including two bus breakdowns! We arrived in Tunduru expecting to stay only several hours before another 5am start to transit onward. However a fully booked bus postponed our plans by 24 hours and we had to spend another night at the ropey guest house by the bus station. Tunduru was described in the book as having a “wild west” feel which we quickly understood why and being the only Mzungu’s (white person) we were pointed and stared at whenever we left the guesthouse!

Tunduru to Songea, was another 5am start and 8 hours later we arrived at Songea, Another bus station guesthouse later and we where back on the bus at 6am, headed for Mbeya.

Sogea to Mbeya took us up into the mountains a through the coldest place in Tanzania, Njombe, a small town where I froze my knackers off, having set off in in shorts and vest! Mbeya, is quite a pleasant, chilled place to stay with everything on our doorstep. We did plan to have another early start to Matema, but we made a executive decision at 6am to stay in bed and have another night in Mbeya before heading to Matema and Lake Nyasa. I think the restaurant serving curry and spag bol as well as the Indian run shop selling cuppa soup and harribo, influenced our decision to stay an extra day!