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24 09 08 - 13:47
Nicola & David have been off on safari for 4 days, returning just in time for George's 30th birthday yesterday. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we took a trip up into the Arusha national park. It's only a couple of miles up the road from the school.
Nik & Dave were pretty sick of sitting in the back of a 4 wheel drive, but stood up to another day of bone shaking quite well. Natalie, the office manager at Usa is going out with a bloke who has just finished his safari guide exams. He agreed to come along on the rip & help George hunt for birds.
It was raining when we set off, which isn't perhaps the best way to start a trip in a landrover with no working windscreen wipers... It's also still suffering from dirt in the fuel blocking up the cab & causing bad running. every time we go up a steep hill, it draws the muck up from the back of the back tank. I'm going to get a new fuel filter & drain off the bottom inch or so of the tank this weekend!
As you can see it was pretty miserable in the morning, but it cleared up very quickly.
Walking safari
Emma organised a walking safari for us. This is unique to Arusha national park, as the lack of large predators means it's safe to walk through the park. You still have to be accompanied by an armed & trained ranger, just in case, as the animals are still definitely wild.
It says something about the progressive nature of Tanzania that our guide was female. Traditionally such jobs would be male-only. Not only was she extremely friendly & knowledgeable, she was armed with a shiny new AK-47!
Here are George & Emma, our intrepid bird-spotters:
After the walk, we headed up to the Momela lakes in the northern part of the park.
Here's my baby parked by a lake with hippos in it!
George celebrates her birthday in style:
"How many nutters can you fit on a bonnet?"
As the sun starts to set over the mountain:
Evening celebrations included candles
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