Day 14: Snake Park then Beach Beach Beach...

Well....just after the blog was written last night most of decided that as we had a long day of travelling to the Peponi Resort in Pangani (for a couple of days of sun, sea and anything else beginning with s...such as shells!!) we’d call it an early night. About 10 minutes after Harry had retired to bed we heard a squalor from her tent...”KERRRRYYYYY!....Bring a Boy......QUIIIIICK....There’s a GIIIIAAAANT Spider”. Like a flash all the boys, followed quickly by Kerry and Katie legged it over to Harry and Kerry’s tent...well, we weren’t missing out on a good laugh now were we! Harry was wrapped in her mosquito net and shrieking – pointing to where a fairly large spider was sitting on inside of the tent. Adrian (now aka Mr Konyagi) was first in the tent to rescue Harry and with a little bit of help he managed to save the day and kill the traitorous spider and save Harry.....or so we thought.....She let off another scream as this she had spotted a scorpion in the corner of her tent....after a couple of seconds Kerry decided it best that we fetch security as they are used to dealing with scorpions....good job too. They managed to get the little git out the tent and killed it but were extremely cautious and told us that even though it was tiny, it would have given quite a nasty nip...they warned us of the red scorpions and said that if we saw one of them to get far away as they can be lethal....needless to say we ALL thoroughly checked our tents that night...I must confess, I actually slept in all my clothes...no one else admitted to but I bet they did too!!

Right....Tuesday now...and we awoke without bites, however Jan had suffered a reaction from the bites the day before and couldn’t open one of his eyes this morning. It was quite funny (for us) as he looked like something out of night of the living dead! Anyway, we had breakfast and headed off at around 8am for the snake park and then to the beach at Peponi resort.

We arrived at the snake park in Arusha at about 11ish and were a bit shocked to find we had to pay as it wasn’t included in the safari price....we argued about for a bit before giving in and paying the $10. It was ok...nothing that you couldn’t see in a zoo back home but we got to see loads of poisonous snakes such as cobra, constrictor and adda’s and we even got to hold a baby croc and a baby snake....we even got Kerry to hold the snake after us all calling her a scardy cat!!

Crocodile Hunter of Tanzania

The rest of the journey was long......as we arrived at the “hotel” site just before 8pm – so nearly 10 hours of driving in all! We all managed to have a little sleep on the bus as well as play some games (yes...they did involve drinking Konyagi). We kept enticing the driver to go faster so we’d get there sooner...unfortunately.......he got stopped for speeding in the process but managed to “get off” by saying that he had not seen the sign....to be fair...we didn’t see one. We discussed what would have happened in the UK if your caught driving twice the speed limit. We were then told some great stories about how they “get off” over here in Tanzania. Our ReallyWild rep, Oscar, told us that he was stopped the other week and denied it (they had no real proof) and then there were going to take his car away...he has a wire under the dash that he could disconnect to stop it from starting (like a manual immobilizer) – he uses this a lot as if the car won’t start, they can’t take it...The other one they use a lot (in the bus) is that are taking people to the airport (even if they are not) – the police get in trouble if they delay passengers getting to the airport so this one works pretty much all the time...

The last part of the journey involved everyone getting “caught a little short” and us having to bail out the bus and pee in a bush...even the girls!!

We got to the resort and were surprised that what we thought was B&B ended up being Full-Board...result!! Just have to pay for drinks.....The little huts we were staying in are amazing. Such a different life to that we knew a week ago in Uwa School. Each hut slept two, though you could have slept our entire party in one to be honest, on suite, ceiling fans, power and a view of the Indian ocean – literally meters from our front doors....it was like the accommodation one might pick for a honeymoon really...just brilliant for a couple of days relaxing...

Katie and I got to our room and did the usual “bug check”. Katie found a little spider in the bathroom that I quickly disposed off before finding a GAINT spider in the “spare room” which about the size of a tennis ball in diameter (with legs)....Braving it up (well there was a girl present) I fought the evil spider monster with my shoe until I was victorious! Feeling I deserved a beer after my battle, we headed for the bar and met the others for dinner. Most of us either Steak or Surf and Turf and it was the best meal I had eaten in well over 2 weeks - almost as good as home cooked grub (though I am still SOOOOO looking forward to my Sunday roast at Mum and Dads’ on Sunday!!!).

Giant Spider...man eating laser shooting spider!!

Harry went to bed straight after dinner as her cough had taken a turn for the worse, while the rest of us returned to the bar for a few rounds of Killer on the Dart Board. Kerry was first out followed by Adrian, Katie and then me....Katie did kick some serious ass though (yes, she asked me to write that!). The last part of the game went on for hours and Paul just pipped Jan to the post. Aghh....bed time now!!

Nu night peeps!!