Day 11: Tarangire National Park

BANG BANG BANG.......twice in the night we had that knocking on the window of the hotel room.....At breakfast I naturally accused Adrian of another Konyagi fuelled frenzy but soon realised that a.) Everyone else had experienced the same thing and b.) It wasn't him!!

We checked out the hotel, and got picked up in two 4x4s to begin our safari adventure for the next 4 days. We stopped a couple of times on the way to the national park, once to pick up our packed lunches and water and the again to buy ourselves some treats....as we were all feeling the need for some home comforts...at a price too - £6 for two cans of pepsi and a small bar of Cadbury Fruit and Nut....so worth it though!!

We arrived at Tarangire National Park at around noon and soon began our first day on safari. The heat really hit us today as we were at a much lower altitude that we had been at Uwa School. We deeted and sun creamed ourselves up as the roof came off the 4x4s and we headed into the park...

OMG - this has got to be the best Saturday i have had in my life ever....speaking after, I think we all pretty much agreed. The great thing about safari is that every trip in every 4x4 is different. The 4x4 I was in (with Katie, Jan and Adrian) saw things that the other 4x4 (which had Harry, Kerry, Paul and Simon in) didn't just because nature is not timed...so its all about chance as to what you will see. Before lunch we had seen Wilder beasts, Zebras and Giraffes.

We stopped for lunch around 13:30 I think and went down to the picnic area where were given lunch boxes containing a burger, chicken and bread rolls....we encountered many many monkeys over lunch with one table of visitors loosing several items of lunch including a bag of crisps...it was hilarious to watch. After getting immersed in photos of the scenery, monkeys and a herd of wilder beast which we saw from a distance, it was time to set off again.

This afternoon, we were very very lucky...we managed to see a leopard (which we had been told we would be very unlikely to see), a couple of lions which we really thought were going to fight right before our eyes since they were eyeing each other up and moving in..marking their territory every chance they got. We were then also fortunate enough to get caught in the middle of a herd of elephants crossing the road within a meter of the 4x4 - we got some amazing close up photos. Words cannot describe our experiences this afternoon - it was simply fantastic - the landscapes, the animals, everything.

We left the park at around 4:30 and arrived at our next camp site which will be our home for the next few nights. This was nothing like Uwa school. The tents were great....two man, standing height and we even have power outside and lights outside too. There are proper toilets (we always get excited about that) and even warm water showers..

Katie and I were both feeling a bit ropey this evening....Katie has a nasty cough (which we did manage to get some medicine for....hopefully in will cure her and not kill her) and I have got a nasty head cold. Since we are leaving at 6:00am tomorrow for Ngorongoro National Park we headed off to bed at 9pm - the others had a couple of drinks and followed shortly after....