Jambo!

Our 2 weeks in Tanzania went quickly. Wonderful big skies, beautiful sunsets and game in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. The name ‘Serengeti’ comes from a Masai word that means ‘endless plains’. About 14700km² of National Park, and extending to the Masai Mara in the north and Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara and Tarangire to the south of it, this region is a fantastic conservation area.

The Masai are so striking in their blankets and beads, some of us just had to take a closer look at this market.

We had a pre-Zanzibar party in Dar, for Di’s birthday – Claire taught us how to make balloon animals, and the limbo dancing started...

Di & Nick

Kevin

Zanzibar was time for everyone to have a bit of a holiday from truck life, stay in hotels, explore the island and have some ‘R and R’ on the beaches. There were spice tours with the infamous Ali-T, history on the slave trade, seafood, cocktails, shopping, hammocks and beach time.

Cherie

Bob, modelling one of Ali-T's creations

And Neil, Jon and Matt joined us after successfully summiting Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro. Well done guys!

From Zanzibar, we still had a few more days exploring Tanzania, with some beautiful drives to remote areas, and a couple of lovely campsites in between.

We visited Ruaha National Park, which is another of the larger parks in Africa, and is particularly special as you don’t see many other vehicles in it.

I reckon the best lunch spot of the trip!

Fun and games on the rope bridge

Now we are in Malawi. A lovely warm welcome our first night here from Mdokera and his wife, Estine, who were so happy to have us at their campsite. Delicious home made bread, and an evening of listening to some Malawian traditional stories, learning how to play bao, and playing games with the children.

We have moved further south along the lake, where we are based for 3 days to do some snorkelling, diving, canoeing, horse-riding, chilling... whatever takes your fancy, you get the idea...

And speaking of Fancy, last night was fancy dress night here on Athena. The theme was ‘recycled’, the ration one and a half bin-liners and whatever other plastic bags you could find, with a few bits of rope and plastic thrown in. I must say, a few fashion-designers are hiding their talent – Jason even stitched his best pair of bin-bag trousers.

Jason & Cherie

And that’s what we’ll leave you with for now. Next stop: Zambia.