The Long Walk Back Home

  Here it is, the final leg of my journey.

  Tuesday 12th was a quiet day. Julian and I made sure our bags were properly packed and moved to the main floor and socialised until the late afternoon. For the evening we joined Julian's cousin, aunt and grandmother for a meal out and toasted our farewell in style. It was a lovely end to our South African journey and made us both more eager to return to this exceptional country.

   At the time of writing this I am sitting in Cape Town Int., awaiting the call to board my flight back home. I am spending the time enjoying some pancakes and thinking over my first grand adventure.

  Two and a half months have past since I said goodbye to my family at Luton Parkway and set off for the great unknown. Flying out of London Gatwick to Kilimanjaro Int. feels like a lifetime ago, even though I remember it as if it happened yesterday. From first meeting Eliphas, our team coordinator, and introducing myself to a bunch of strangers to hugging them all, saying our goodbyes feels like no time at all. I don't believe that I have ever grown more attached to people in such a short space of time as I did with my friends in Tanzania. They were a wonderful group who never left anyone behind and worked the 200% to help the community we were part of.

  Being in and amongst a rural Tanzanian village was a wake up call to how different the world can be. I witnessed a whole community, whose collective wealth probably amounted to the same as one family's back in England, live lives that were not only working but also jovial and full of spark. It certainly gave me a new perspective on life and what's really important to me. I have also learnt the joy of hard work when you're with people who make it seem far less difficult when they are around. 

  If you guys are reading this (I hope you are!) then thank you so much for an incredibly beautiful adventure. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

  After such a ride in Tanzania the voyage around South Africa was a change that was vastly different to the prior. Reuniting with my best friend, Julian, after 2 months apart was something special. Heaven only knows how we're going to cope when I vanish off to university! Together we took in as much of Cape Town as we were able to, from Table Mountain, Robben Island, Kirstenbosch, Stellenbosch and so much more. It was another chance to meet new people and we've made some friends along the way that made our trip that much more enjoyable.

  Now I must return to England. It's a sad day but at the same time I'm glad to be going home. It has been such an adventure that I cannot wait to tell everyone about in person. To everyone who has kept up with my blog, thank you for sharing in my adventure and when I vanish off to another mysterious land I hope that you will join me again.

  Here comes the flipside. See you next time I toss the coin.

Cape Town Adventures

  Another week, another blog post.

  Tech tip of the week: avoid massive international bills by buying local SIMs.

  Tuesday 5th was the day Julian and I made the voyage to visit Robben Island, the famous Apartheid prison of political prisoners. We received a tour of the island from one of the former prisoners who told us all about life in the prison and how things have changed. It was a humbling experience walking the same halls as some of South Africa's most prominent leaders.

  Wednesday 6th saw us take a day to relax and socialise. Beginning with a trip to the cinema to watch the latest marvel film, Guardians of the Galaxy. An almighty lunch followed which we had to nurse as we walked around the shopping mall nearby. Just when we though we were home safe, two lovely ladies, who were staying at Green Elephant with us, invited us to dinner. We accepted and managed to eat our way through another immense meal! (First a pizza, then a T-bone steak, we had massive food babies after that!) We made some friends, however, so it was worth it.

  Thursday 7th went as planned with a day tour of the Cape Peninsula. Our duo was joined by a multitude of folks from across the various backpackers in Cape Town so we had plenty of people to chat to and get to know. A day filled with seal islands, penguins, dogs called nuisance and the most south-western point of Africa, concluded with a wonderful Green Elephant pizza night! Plenty of beautiful pizzas and even more pleasant company to round off the day. 

  Friday 8th was a day of great tourism nonsense. Julian and I enjoyed a full day in Cape Town's company gardens. We visited a number of the museums nearby and wandered through the gardens, enjoying the pleasant view. Lunch was my introduction to proper South African Nandos. It was absolutely splendid, if a little more spicy than usual (mild isn't that mild here apparently.)

  Saturday 9th saw us do our upmost to have a day relaxing on the beach. Our discovery that a rather thick and cold sea fog had enveloped the western side of Cape Town wasn't enough to dissuade our motly crew of GE backpackers from trying. All in all it was rather successful. I managed to have a brief dip in the sea, I watched others build a sand castle and, to top it all off, we helped unearth someone's lost football! As if the day wasn't exciting enough we passed by a film set for a 'Bollywood dance competition'! The things you see in Cape Town, eh? 

  God that was anti-climatic. We waited for 5 minutes, waiting for something to happen. Then the stage the actor was on moved, stayed there for 3 and then, the stage moved back down to ground AND NOTHING HAPPENED. 

  Sunday 10th was the day of our tour of the wine lands around Cape Town. We enjoyed a wide selection of various wines, ranging from Sauvignon Blancs to Sparkling Shiraz. I discovered my pallet isn't limited if I go in with an open mind and wine is now added to my stuff I quite enjoy. The areas of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek were beautiful settings for the wine tasting and made the day that much more enjoyable. Frankly we're still recovering from a day of drunking (hiccup) 

  Monday 11th saw us journey up Table Mountain! The mountain's cable car was finally back in operation after being down for maintenance for every other day of our stay in Cape Town. Despite some light cloud we cabled to the top and were rewarded with some stunning views of mountains poking through the clouds. Even though we were over 1000m up, there was very little wind to speak of and the sun warmed us quite rapidly. 

  Doing Table Mountain, as our last major tourist activity of the trip, was a fantastic finale to our adventures in Cape Town. I've been living every moment I could in this marvellous city along with Julian, who has been a stalwart ally and incredible friend all the way through my Capetonian voyages. It has made for a far better holiday than I could have ever imagined!

  Thanks...I think, begs the question what was he imagining this trip to be. Thank you for being a great companion on our first solo holiday together, an adventure filled with wine, penguins, god only knows how many Lord of the Rings quotes and a marriage deal between the two of us. Here's to the next one.

  My next blog post will arrive a little sooner than usual so the flipside shan't be too far away!

  Take care and see you all on the flipside!

Farewell Tanzania, Hello South Africa

  Another week, another blog post.

  Tech tip of the week: Good cameras are very important. Good cameras with optical zoom are even more important.

  Tuesday 29th went by with one of the nicest distractions from the looming finale, the Camps Int. Safari day. This safari had so much to see we all could hardly believe our luck! Close to 1000 Wilderbeasts, approximately 750 zebras and easily 150 elephants. I have never been so close to living The Lion King as I was during that safari!

  Wednesday 30th was broken up with small sets of goodbyes. As people's flights got closer, they were ferried away in groups at different parts of the day. All the way through the ones who remained gave them positive words to leave to and more hugs than should really be legal. The Kilimanjaro climbers and myself toasted them all safe journeys home before retiring to sleep.

  Thursday 31st has been the day. No more dodging, I left Tanzania behind and flew across Africa! My goodbyes to the Kili climbers were teary. My flights were quiet after 2 months of enjoying the company of so many fantastic people. Life isn't going to be the same now, although I feel that it has changed for the better.

  Friday 1st was the day of flight and reunion. The flights weren't long compared to the ones I took to reach Tanzania but I did endure an almighty 10 hour layover stop in Nairobi! Thank goodness for podcasts and mobile games for eating up time. I made it to Cape Town safe and sound, however, and I am now reunited with my best friend, Julian, who will be my partner in crime for this South African leg of my adventure!

Hello everyone to our long walk through the Cape of Good Hope. I'll also be recounting our adventures together, the only difference being that my stories will be funnier. 

At the time of writing (Saturday 2nd) we went on the City Sightseeing Tours that you get in every important city in Western Civilisation.

It was bloody freezing.

However we did get to see some amazing sights. The bus took us all around the Mountain, giving us some amazing shots and views of something the locals call the Table Cloth (which is pretty much when low clouds overcast the mountain, giving the effect of a table cloth.) 

We also ate at the Two Oceans Resturant, where we had the best Fish and Chips ever. Needless to say, it'll be hard going back to the stuff we have in the UK, which pales in comparison. 

Although, something interesting happened on the train ride home. There was a rather persistent beggar who kept on asking for...what was he asking for, mate?

  Who knows Julian? Saturday 2nd was when we scouted out Cape Town in true tourist fashion. We were able to enjoy some of the historical and cultural joys from the top of the City Siteseeing Bus. After doing so much hard work in Tanzania, just being able to sit back and enjoy the big city is a pleasant delight. The only strange moment was this beggar, who I think was asking for change but his English wasn't the clearest. Just another little adventure I guess!

  Sunday 3rd saw us leisurely stroll around Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. We enjoyed a day of exploring the various plant species on display and finding the strangest names of plants. This was shortly followed with a voyage down to Fish Hoek in order to visit Luke, Julian's cousin and almost twin. (Twin?! We're complete opposites, he's blonde, I'm brown haired, he's smart, I'm charming) We had a fantastic evening chatting the world away and watching Simpsons episodes. Just another day in the rainbow nation.

  Monday 4th finally had me get a local SIM card. I'm dreading the bill back home now! We also explored the V&A waterfront for the day and enjoyed Cape Town's Aquarium. I was the child of the group today as my love for fish got the better of me today. The only downside was the persistantly heavy rain that followed us around all day. It's starting to feel like England down in SA!

  We had planned to go to Table Mountain today but there were two big factors. 1: the weather was a bit crap, and it is ill-advised going up the mountain when there's low cloud as you can't see where you're going and you could fall off (I thought the weather in South Africa was meant to be nice, every travel agent lied to me) and 2: it was closed for maintenance until the 10th, really the website should have warned us about this. 

But not to worry, we should be able to go up a day or two before our flight takes off, meaning we'll be ending the trip on a high note (both figuratively and metaphorically)

Anyway, I'll see you guys next week with more funny stuff.

  Changing from Tanzania to South Africa has been an adventure in itself. Going from a group of, at times, nearly 50 people to just myself and my best friend has been something else. Although I deeply miss everyone I said goodbye to in Tanzania, I cannot deny that being in Cape Town with my best friend is one of the best things ever.

  Take care and I'll see you all on the flipside!

A Week of Finals

  Another week, another blog post

  This whole week has been a challenge. It's been on goodbye after another, filled with 'this is the last time I'm doing X.' There hasn't been a time on this trip I haven't enjoyed. Everything from the projects to the relaxing to the people I've shared it all with and I don't think I will ever forget this experience.

  Tuesday 22nd was a day of recovery. The bus journey on Monday really took it out of us so we stayed away from work and went into town in order to collect supplies for the journey to Kilimanjaro Airport and beyond. A number of us got talking about how close the end of this Tanzanian adventure was. It's so weird how close all of us have become over such a short span of time.

  Wednesday 23rd was my last day working at the school. I put in the extra 20% and managed to complete the concrete slab covering the toilet hole! Working on the toilet hole has been a 2 month challenge which I have thoroughly enjoyed. From digging the hole, building the foundations and, finally, laying the slab. It was sad to leave it but I feel that I have left the project in a suitable state for others to come and carry on the good work.

  Thursday 24th and Friday 25th have been days of community project work. Myself and the other campers who are leaving at the end of the month have been getting involved with small projects in the local village. The activities ranged from re-learning how to cook Chipattis and Vichettis to cutting firewood alongside the women of the village. I also took part in weaving grasses in order to make items for sale, such as hats, mats, food covers and an all manner of different things. All the way through there were little children coming to to see what we were up to and playing around us. It was a wonderful two days of interacting with the local community.

  Saturday 26th saw me and the  friends I've made this trip go to one the local restaurants and have a nice, fancy meal together. We enjoyed a balcony view as we reminisced about the last two months together and began to arrange plans to see each other again someday. A great deal of travelling is going to end up happening so I can meet all the wonderful people I've met here.

  Sunday 27th went by far too quickly. I made my goodbyes to freinds I'd made in the village and visited Balah, one particular gentleman who lost his working goat when we were working in the village. Alongside other people in the camp, I helped to buy Balah a new goat so he would be able to buy new clothes for his infant son, Duma. It was such an experience seeing the new goat, Gemima, and knowing that we had done something to make at least one family's life better.

  Monday 28th has been tough. We made our farewells to the campers who were staying for the third month and set off for Moshi. Saying goodbye to those guys, people I've shared two months of my life with, choked me up. I'm so lucky to have met people who have made me think of Camp Tanga as my home, a place of friendship, love and trust that made me feel so safe to be in. I am not going to forget those guys any time soon.

  I wish that I was able to stay for the next month with all my new friends. At the same time I cannot wait for the next step in my journey, South Africa! Very soon Julian will be a running feature of my blog.

See you all on the flipside!

Safari, Arts and Wildlife Work

  Apologies for the delayed blog post. I have been far, far away from any wifi for quite some time. It's been incredible but I'm glad to be back to tell you all about it!

  Technology tip for the week: when going on safari, don't drown your camara so that your only way of taking photos is an iPad with no optical zoom. It's a pain in the arse when the animals aren't right next to the bus!

  Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th were safari days. The journeys were quite long ones (between 5 & 7 hours) but once we arrived into Saadani National Park it all started to become worth it. On the way in some baboons posed for pictures, a warthog was rooting around for grubs just outside a small village where we stopped for lunch and on the actual game drive we saw a great number of giraffes and a whole herd of elephants! It was something else. Lions greeted us early Sunday morning and the hippos made plenty of appearances on the river cruise. On the way back the bus broke down! At least I'm not the only one breaking stuff this trip!

  Monday 14th was a recovery day. My neck was supremely sore so I spent a day with one of the guys, Harry, who has broken his foot (kicked the floor during football.) We hopped camp and spent a day doing arts and crafts! The marine conservation program uses flip flops washed up onto the beaches to make key rings, juggling balls and other cool knick knacks. I made a fish and a juggling ball, they look totally sweet!

  Tuesday 15th was the second day of arts and crafts. This day Harry and I were joined by the rest of the groups to all mess around with the flip flops and make some things. I helped people who were stuck and admired the artwork of the resident artist, Benson. He does lots of landscape pieces and I've bought a canvas of a cheetah mother and her cubs. Camps has really stuck gold with Benson, he's such a wizard with his art.

  Wednesday 16th saw us return to the school and begin covering our toilet hole with the concrete slab. It's messy work and I managed to cover one of my feet in fresh concrete, like the sensible soul I am! The hole has really come along and everyone in the original group is so proud of it!

  Thursday 17th was a day of continuous travel. A group of us packed our bags and journeyed across Tanzania to do wildlife project work. The game reserve we're working in, Ndarakwai, is 11,000 acres large and took us a grand 10 hours to reach! Living in England hasn't prepared me for such long journeys. A 10 hour drive in England would either end in mainland Europe or the ocean! It's a real eye opener as to how massive the world is.

  Friday 18th saw us all begin work around the game reserve. The managers eased us in with Elephant Dung paper making in the morning and using animal snares to make art pieces. They were both great fun to do and we got to do them in the middle of the African bush, far away from the busy world. It was such an amazing experience.

  Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th both began with us working around a water hole, dredging the existing channels and digging new ones so the water can flow through the dry season. It was tough and muddy but oh so rewarding! On both days we had herds of Zebras, Wilderbeasts and Elands waiting expectantly to finish our work! The afternoons were spent clearing invasive plants from the reserve (Mexican Poppies, thorny little things) and visiting a Massai Boma. The Boma was such a culture shock, coming from a life with so much and seeing people living a happy and content life with hardly anything at all. It made me have a long think about what I came out here for.

  Monday 21st marks the beginning of my last 10 days in Tanzania. The majority of the time was spent on the coach back to Tanga. It gave me plenty of time to reflect on my voyage so far and I'm so glad I made the effort to save up, organise and journey into the unknown to do my bit to help others. At the same time I can't wait to start my South African portion of my adventure and return home to share my stories.

  The work I've done in Ndarakwai, even if it was for only a few days, has been something I wouldn't have missed for the world. Being the guests in the wildlife's domain and meeting a truly opposite culture to my own has been outstanding! It's made me so eager to go out and experience more of this incredible world we live in.

Goodwill to you all and see you on the flipside!

Week One With The Newbies

  Another week down, another blog post.

  Saturday 5th was spent celebrating one of the original crew, Eilish's birthday! We got her a cake and spent a night in jubilation at the new camp. All the new people are friendly and have meshed with the old group really well. On a different note I have managed to burn through a whole pen so far! I'm down a pen that was brand new when I started the trip. That's what I get for writing essays for journal entries!

  Sunday 6th carries on the tradition of lazy Sundays. The newbies were quite restless all day, wanting to do something. They'll learn, in time, the ways of lazy Sunday. Bryony and I managed to be roped into showing the school children, who had just arrived, where the beach was and how to get to it. We both then did no activity for the rest of the day in true Sunday spirit!

  Monday 7th was our first day working with the newbies at the school. I stuck to bricklaying in the hole (which is nearly done) and the newbies began some projects of their own. The original crew's dynamic hasn't been too badly affected by the swarm of people. We're all far too resilient for that! I have formed and maintained a dream team with two of the guys from the OG crew, Mike and Jonny, and we've got so much of the hole done ourselves now!

  Tuesday 8th has been an exercise day. Along with work, I've begun running back from the school with Jonny & Mike and doing early morning exercises with a number of people around the camp. It's hard work but that's nothing new on this African voyage! Work continued with the dream team laying in more bricks. Another member, Victoria, has joined us and aced through a lot of the middle partition of the hole by herself! She's a real trooper. 

  

  Wednesday 9th rocked me up and down quite a bit! Instead of going to the two wildlife camps I am only going to one, Ndarakwai, for a four day wildlife program. Everyone has been shaken up by the news and we all had a long talk with the managers about the change and what was going to happen instead. The new camp manager, Gladiss, has been extremely helpful about it all and is organising extra community work in the village for us to make up for the reduced wildlife work. It's not the two weeks I was expecting but it's so much better than nothing at all!

  Thursday 10th was a work day back to old school manual digging. The walls and central partition of the toilet hole have been completed! Congrats everyone who helped out with it this far! I was part of the team that now has the mission to clear away all the dirt and soil from around the hole so that we have plenty of space for moving on and beginning to work on the actual building. 

  The other teams have finished painting the inside of the classroom that I helped to re-floor. It's been a long haul for so many of our projects but I feel that we're seeing proper progress! It makes all the effort worth it when you see all that you've done.

  Friday 11th has been a day of furious preparation. A number of us at the camp have organised a second safari trip as a supplement to the one that we will be doing at the end of July. It's been frantic because we only started organising it on Thursday! All of us raced from work into Tanga town to get our money, supplies and internet before getting back to camp for a briefing with the safari organiser. We're going to be doing a jeep ride one day and a boat tour the other! I can't wait to see all the animals!

  Best wishes to all of you out there and I shall see you on the flip-side!

One Month Down

Another week, another blog post!

  First, I have made a discovery. I installed the Blogger app to my iPad before leaving for Africa and have only just found out that I can prepare blog posts when I'm offline! So my lesson to learn this week is always double check what your functions are!

  Saturday 28th was a party day. It was the one month crew's last Saturday with everyone so we had a big night to celebrate. During the afternoon a number of us wandered into the nearby village to watch a local football match. Nearby a goat had caught it's head in a rope fence so we valiantly set it free and got it back to the herd. Early evening was a collection of drinking games and a little bit of dinner to add some variety. Eventually we all hired some taxis, hit the town and danced crazy for the night. I had an absolutely cracking time!

  Sunday 29th was a slow, lazy day. I awoke to discover that I have cracked the screen of my iPad! It's only around the home button but still a total pain. I've got to stop breaking things. I kept migrating from sun to shade and back again throughout the day and joined a small venture to the beach in order to swim in the sea. It all made for a relaxing time.

  Our camp manager, Eustace, has informed us that we will be moving to a new camp so that we don't have to share with a bunch of school children that are arriving at some point next month. We have also been told that Kenya is too unsafe to visit so we will be travelling to two game reserves in Tanzania instead. We have also got our work permit photos and $200 back!

  Monday 30th marks the final day of June and the halfway point for my adventure in Tanzania. It's felt like it's gone so fast and I've still got so much to do! The toilet hole has come along really well with us building the walls for the pit and preparing for the floor to be put in. The walls have only had 2 days of work on them and they're already reached 5ft high. I also received a message from home telling me my accommodation for university has been accepted! It's a wonderful day :)

  Tuesday 1st has been a fun start to the month. One of my tent mates, Mike, and I have had a real bro day. Everything from deep conversations to jamming to music on my iPad. He's a Yorkshire lad through and through and makes for a top tent mate. It's been such a great time making friends out here.

  Wednesday 2nd was a long hard battle to lay a single brick. We eventually got it done but it took way too long! In the evening I indulged my creative side and wrote a couple of mini stories about people in camp. I've started getting requests so my free time will be kept occupied!

  Thursday 3rd started with exercise of all things! I joined some of the others to do a morning workout and spent the rest of the day sore. A load of new arrivals have joined us today and our total has leapt ahead to an incredible 50 strong! It's a good thing we're moving to a bigger camp!

  Friday 4th saw us make our move to the new camp. It's larger than the old one and has a house for a social space. Instead of going to school we chased goats around the local village, attempting to de-worm them! Not to blow my own trumpet but my inner vet was having a field day. I was loving it!

  I've had one incredible month already and I cannot wait for what the rest of July has in store for me! The safari camp may interfere with my blog uploads but I shall do my best to find a way around it.

See you all next week (I hope!)

Return to Camp

Back in Tanga again for this blog post.

I had a wonderful rest of my holiday in Zanzibar. The rest of my time in Stone town included a tour of a community spice farm, a visit to the old slave market and a wander around the back streets to some local stalls. Quite a few people have bought Zanzibar and Tanzania football jerseys. After Stone Town we made a quick trip to the south of the island and swam with Dolphins! It was mega cool! Our last two days were spent at a beach hotel enjoying the sun and sea.

After returning to Camp we met the newest addition to our camp, Vicki. She's from England too so another ally against the Aussies! Work has been hard and demanding this week. We've all got lazy in Zanzibar and had a shock getting back to the hole.

Friday was a pleasant change. All people who are staying for 1 or 2 months got to spend a day with the mamas of the village and learn to cook! We learned to make Chipattis and Vichettis. Everyone had a cracking time.

Some people are heading home on Monday so this weekend is our farewell to them. Should be pretty top!

See you all next week.

Thank Goodness for Zanzibar Wifi!

So to begin with I was not planning to post an update today since I've gone across to Zanzibar for a brief holiday. However, thanks to so convinient hotel wifi I am able to make a post! Lucky lucky me!

Work carries on as expected. The toilet hole has been dug as deep as we can make it, measuring 7ft 6 Inches! The classroom floor has been concreted and the builder thinks it will be ready for the final smooth layer by the time we return to camp on Tuesday. All desks are repaired and in use. The head teacher has said how pleased she is with all the work we've got done in such a short time!

Last Sunday went by with me and a few other people going on a snorkelling trip to a tiny sand island off the coast. We swam amongst coral and sunbathed on the Island. I did sunbathing totally wrong and now have an uneven tan on my face... I am a sensible child!

Monday was unique because instead of working in the school we helped the local women of the village farm and harvest seaweed! We waded out at low tide to lay the lines and dodge the sea urchins (Footwear was a must!)

Wednesday was all going normally until all the staff from Camp Kenya turned up in the afternoon. The situation in Kenya has got even worse and the whole camp had to be pulled out! Texted home to make sure parents knew I was okay and had a bit of a restless night.

Thursday was supposed to be a half day until Eliphas announced it was a full day at lunchtime. He was not very popular for the afternoon. After running back to camp and having a brief shower we all crammed into a local cab and headed to Tanga. The cab was such an adventure! It was blasting music out so we were all deaf by the time we arrived into town. Money was withdrawn and supplies were bought. Next thing we knew we were back at camp (deaf again) and packing for our long trek on Friday.

The trek was mostly uneventful. The coach ride to Dar A Salam was the longest stretch and we all slept through it. The cab from the coach to the ferry was a total rip off. We had to pay way more than we should so we're in talks with the company for a refund. I was bursting for a toilet when we were passing through customs and the terminal had no toilet! Makes no sense. So the ferry was the most incredible relief and it was smooth sailing so no feeling ill for me! We booked into our hotel, met our local guide and had dinner in a nearby resteraunt.

Today has be tourist day. We did a morning tour of a community spice fields and got to try fresh fruits straight of the plant! They were so divine! The afternoon saw us explore Stone Town in Zanzibar which has so much history I was nicely satisfied. We've returned to the hotel before dinner which will be on a sunset pier on the harbour. It's gonna be fantastic! After dinner we're going to a local club to make the most of this brief holiday!

See you all next blog post!

Internet, Broken Camaras and Deep, Deep Holes

So i'm 11 days into my Tanzania trip now. It's already been an incredible time and I'm so glad I came out here! After being rescued from Kilimanjaro by Eliphas (Mr Happy) and Sammi the bus driver I met up with other people who are at the camp with me. There are 19 of us, mostly English and Australians but we also have 2 Dutch girls staying with us too. Pretty much everyone is here for a month and all the Aussies are here for 3.

After a day of rest in a nearby hotel we made the 7 hour voyage to the Camp where we are staying. On the way we experienced vendors coming up to the bus, trying to sell us trinkets through the windows! Once we arrived we met Eustace (Boss Man) who is the camp manager, had a quick orientation and then hit the hay.

Since Tanzania is a Muslim country we are awoken each morning to the prayers over loudspeaker. We have solid beds though so no sleeping on the floor!

This is the second visit to Tanga town, the nearby major town to the camp (internet cafes FTW!) and I've changed money both times. It's crazy how many Tanzanian Shillings (TSH) you get for Pounds & Dollars. I changed $100 Saturday 7th June and received 162,000 TSH!

Saturday also got me involved in a game of football with the villagers. I know, me playing football! Africa must be rubbing off on me. That night was drinking night which got everyone very merry! One of the guys (Simon) broke a couch!

We started work on Monday 9th. There are three project we are doing at one of the local schools: Repairing desks, replacing a classroom floor and building a new block of toilets. I've dabbled in all three and enjoyed them all.

Unfortunately for me on the first day of work I managed to spill my water bottle all over my camera! RIP Kodak, you were a splendid ally. I have now resorted to using my iPad's camera instead so don't worry everyone, I will still have pictures!

We're learning Swahili with Eliphas every Monday and Thursday (Swahili is actually called Kiswahili, who knew?) and we're learning songs as well to help remember stuff. They are super cathy and keep popping up at work.

Our hole that we've been digging for the toilet block has become really, really deep! We've hit the water table at approximately 7ft down. it's deeper than I am now! On Friday 13th the guys decided shirts were overrated and went without at work. Despite doom and gloom from the others no-one was sun burnt and our pasty whit skin is no longer so pasty! Sun cream was applied copiously all day!

I'm hoping to get to the internet cafe once a week, although next week we're all heading to Zanzibar for a few days so I might have to call a rain-check on that one.

Best wishes all and see you on the flipside!

Long flights are all done!

Currently sitting in Kilimanjaro international and awaiting this early morning to pass me by before I'm picked up!

There's football on a nearby TV. Greece vs Nigeria, I think.

Toast and Armadillo juice

Currently sitting in Gatwick departure lounge and enjoying some toast for second breakfast. The cafe I'm in right now has a special drink called armadillo juice that's filled with tropical fruits like mango and guava! It's wonderful for keeping me alert. 

I passed through check in and security with no event. Although, my hold luggage did have to go into oversized baggage which is an experience!

Here's hoping the rest of my journey is as smooth!

Up, up and away

It's finally here. I'm all packed, my boarding pass is printed off and my train tickets to Gatwick are ready and waiting. By this time tomorrow I will be on my flight into Kilimanjaro international airport to begin my adventure of a lifetime.

Butterflies in the stomach doesn't come close to how I'm feeling right now! It's going to be so strange being on my own for so much stuff. At the same time it's exhilarating and so glad I'm going to do it!

This blog will probably run weekly updates as and when I'm able to reach internet access out there. But I'll keep records of my adventures and each update will have lots of stories (I hope!)

See you on the flip-side!

Imminent Arrival

So, I now have only 6 days before I fly out. It's wonderfully exciting and quite scary at the same time! All the last bits are being done and dusted. Pretty soon I'll have to start packing before jetting off into the great unknown!

From what I've gathered, internet is a rather rare commodity where I'm headed. So this should become a weekly blog as I hunt down Internet cafes to let you all know how I'm doing.

Sudden Change!

Oh goodness! Change is crazy, scary and weird when you're in the middle of it.

So, recent tensions at the Kenyan-Somalian border and in Kenyan major cities has lead to the FCO declaring that only essential travel is advised in and around Mombasa. Because of this decision Camps International has cancelled all excursions out to Kenya, including mine.

They have, thankfully, given me a 2 month placement in Tanzania instead. This came with a day of frantically trying to sort out flights so I didn't arrive into the wrong airport! On top of that I was trying to enjoy the new Godzilla film as well (which was worth a watch, much recommendations).

STA were very helpful with giving me my options for flying into Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and I have secured my flights with minimal change, apart from the country change of course!

Even with this setback jumping on me out of the blue I feel really excited to be flying out to Africa, even if it's  not exactly where I initially planned to go. 

In sight of the start line

It is now one month before I fly out to Kenya and begin my mighty, 2 month expedition. I cannot believe how exciting it is to be so close when I only stared preparing this last September! There are also almost no more outstanding costs I have to pay which means everything I earn in this last month is free for me to spend and use out on my adventures.

Speaking of money, I have been investigating methods of getting my money out to Kenya so I can use it and the results were not what I was expecting. The sterling cash card I had intended to use is a MasterCard brand rather than a Visa, making it almost useless in the areas I am going to visit. I was also told by Camps International to avoid using travellers cheques. With my situation a credit card is not an option, although maybe when another adventure comes around I'll get to explore that possibility.

With all that happening I have chosen to order a small amount of cash to start me off and then use my debit card and take the extra fees on the chin. Besides it'll be nearly £1500 before I reach £30 in fees so it's not that bad.

Good gosh I'm really excited!

It Has Returned!

My Passport is back!I It has returned safe and sound with a fancy Visa stamped into it which gets me one step closer to Kenya. 

Who knew that sending away your passport could be so nerve racking?

At least now I can be relived to have it back home.

Hasta la Visa

And so my Visa application is away! With luck there will be no disasters and the High Commission will approve of me.

A new first for me. Postal Orders, Visa forms and Return envelopes so my passport can come home! Here's hoping my passport has a smooth journey that ends back home!

Blog Makeover!

And so, my blog has a shiny new coat of paint thanks to fellow companion on this marvellous adventure. Julian and I will be meeting up in South Africa towards the end of my epic voyage so he shall be appearing in my posts every so often. Hope that the new layout is okay for you all!

Last Payment, Malaria and Anti Mozzi Trousers

So this shall now be my blog for updating the world about my 69 Day excursion out of my home continent! I'm going to use the events leading up to my departure as practice for when I head out. So as of today I paid off the last part of my Camps International Payment and am now exclusively saving for spending money and South Africa stuff. It's now only April and May before I go! I've also got my Malarone Tablets and a massive set of special clothing for the journey, including special anti-mosquito trousers which have zips to make them into shorts!