Monday 12 September 2011

Cairo

Watching the news for the first time in a long time and seen that British tourists have been kidnapped in Lamu! Harri, Jon, Sami and Alex were only there about a week ago, so scary times! Apparently this couple were the only ones there on the luxury resort... so all those Tana Guesthouses are the places to be then! Anyway...

We spent our last evening at Faze 3, where we had a lovely meal. For the first time in 7 weeks I had gravy! =D Sausage and mash, om nom nom. :) We watced the sun set and sat on the terrace overlooking the lake. The others all had wine but I had a splitting headache, probably from the sun, so just made the most of being able to have Mirinda Fruity, which we can't get at home. :( We all spent too much on food though, and had to scrape together loose change to pay Godfrey for the room. Jo, knowing us too well by now, had taken out an extra 20,000 because "she knew this would happen", ha ha. Good job as well, since I was 9,000 short. We hadn't expected to spend quite so much on chocolate that afternoon to bring back, oops! Cheers Mama Jo. ;) Got our last boda ride back in the dark to pack and shower, and headed to bed at about ten to eleven, with the alarm set for quarter to two! I will not miss that alarm ring tone, argh!

Godfrey took us to the airport, leaving at 2am since we were only about 15 mins away. Our flight was at half four, so we had a bit of time to get some water etc. Although security in Entebbe airport is after duty free, so they took our water off us. Well, the water out of our hands. I had a bottle of water and flammable deet in my bag, and Jo had water and chocolate milk. And there we were expecting security to be tighter on 9/11/11... Did get a bit nervous when we went to board and there was a briefcase left near us. Sami was like, "I don't wanna worry anyone, but there's a bag there! There's a bag been left!" We told security and got a move on. Sure it was fine, but it got us a bit nervous.

Slept for quite a while once we'd had breakfast on our way to Cairo. When we arrived in Cairo, we were suddenly a bit wary of time and not sure about making our way out of the airport. We were looking for somewhere to ask advice on whether we ought to leave the airport, but an egyptair man showed us to a desk that did different trips out of the airport. We paid 240 Eqyptian pounds, so about £25, for our transfer, entrance to the pyramids, a guide, and a meal voucher, but I'll get onto the meal voucher later grrrrr...

We were all in kind of disbelief that we were actually on our way to the pyramids! It was amazing seeing them and the sphynx, and a great way to spend an 8 hour transfer! We arrived at half eught in the morning and asked about doing the trip with egyptair, and within 45 minutes we were being shown out of the airport, on our way. :) We climbed down inside one of the smaller pyramids (because it was included in our ticket price), and we stopped off at a perfume place and somewhere they make papyrus on the way back. Everything seemed to be running so smoothly that Sami kept saying it was too good to be true... and there's always a dramatic story. It almost was a bit too good to be true, as we thought we were spending a night in Cairo right up until our flight time, gaaaah!

We should have bought a visa for £15, but because we went out with egyptair we didn't buy a visa but instead left our passports with them and left the airport avoiding passport control. I was a bit nervous about parting with my passport, and with every right, so it turns out! We arrived back at the airport by 2pm, and we didn't board until 4pm, to fly at 5. We went up to customer services and they sent off for someone to get our passports. Two hours later, our gate was open and we still didn't have our passports! Burger King was the only food available on our side so we sat up there with the live 9/11 memorial on in the background, just what we wanted of course. But the Burger King guys did give us discount when we had to count out our pennies, and I paid in English pounds. We eventually got our passports back at ten past four, and got to our gate three minutes before it closed! We did leave a bit late, but still! Quite stressful.

Lots of screaming kids on the flight back, but I watched Bridesmaids and laughed out loud so much ha ha. For some reason, it was still an egyptair flight but it had been changed so we were flying on bmi, which was much nicer. Didn't sleep at all though, and somehow stayed awake all the way home, where we arrived at about quarter past one in the morning, 25.5 hours after having got up to go to the airport, eurgh. Went to bed about half two, after Mum kept rewinding and pausing to show us where they were at the proms in Hyde Park on Saturday night. How was I up at half eight this morning?! Definitely on 'Team Time'.

It is lovely to be home, my bed is so comfy, I've had cereal with real milk this morning, a hot shower last night, I'm watching the news, have had turkey ham, and basically loving the home comforts. But it's strange to be away from the people you've spent every day with for the past 7 weeks, and I definitely am going to miss the team! But Sami, Kate and I are practically neighbours next year. :) And Jo's gonna visit Leeds on her way down from Glasgow to Cambridge in a week or so. =) Looking forward to seeing everyone in Leeds. I've had such an amazing time, and the group's really made it what it's been, so thank guys, I've had the time of my life. :)

Saturday 10 September 2011

How many mzungus does it take to fill a bed?

Three, but five in a small single room. The bed is a small double, but Sami, Kate and I fit in it 'cause it was cheaper than sharing the big room the others shared before they left. We were in bed by galf 8, but spent a good hour flicking through Sami's pictures of the last 7 weeks and having a good cackle, ha ha! Their quad biking ones are amazing ha ha. Lake Nabugabo and Ssese feel like so long ago looking back at the pictures.

Jo and Annabelle camped, but it started chucking it down in the night. They came in when the lightning started, lighting up the whole room every few seconds. They slept on the floor from about quarter to four, and when Kate got up first this morning we 'upgraded'. I moved along to the middle and was upgraded to having a bit of the one pillow, and Jo got in the bed. None of us slept particularly well last night though. Kate and I have rewashed our underwear this morning that we'd hung out to dry in the night. Doubt it's gonna dry today though, as it's pretty cloudy and keeps spitting. Looks like I might be travelling home in bikini bottoms! I have actually kept a clean pair of trousers and a top so Mum and Dad don't think I smell TOO much when I get back, ha ha. Don't wanna leave, but quite excited to actually get home now. :) It's going to be really strange not seeing the people I've spent every day with for the past 7 weeks though, and I think having my own room could be quite lonely! We realised that, in our group of 4, we never ad our own bed in Kenya, ha ha.

Went out fo food in a fast food place last night, since we'd forgotten how early places stop serving food in Uganda. You'd think that 7pm is a reasonable time to go for a meal, really... We have eaten so much fast food whilst we've been away, and I was amazed not to have put on any weight in the last few weeks! I had to give my weight for my bilharzia tablets, and she said did I want to check. I said yeah, as we've eaten reeeally well since being weighed for the bungy, ha ha, and obviously not been buiding a playground any more. When she said, "No, you are right" I felt like shouting "Get in!" Ha ha. We're going out for a nice meal tonight, and will either get a few hours sleep before we leave for the airport at about 2am, or go to the airport early. Going to look up Entebbe airport now to see if there is much there.

So it's almost the end of the trip and the blog! I'll do one more post when we get home and write about the pyramids. Touch wood, everything should be fine. The foreign office just says to stay away from demonstrations, but that there are no travel restrictions, so as long as we arrive on time we should be good to go. :) See you in 35.5 hours, England! Excited for maltesers, gravy, roast potatoes, haribo, hot shower, comfy bed, clean clothes, washing machine, constant electricity and, of course, seeing everybody. :) Oh, and cheesecake. ;) Best sister ever. =D

Think we are going to go to the zoo this afternoon, once Annabelle has gone to the airport. Yeah I know we've been on safari, but we don't want to spend our last day doing nothing.

Hope Mum and Dad have an amazing night at the Last Night of the Proms in Hyde Park! :)

Friday 9 September 2011

Jinja - Kampala - Entebbe

Well the exciting news is I have bilharzia! It's a parasite from swimming in the lakes here. Not really that exciting, just had to take six massive, disgusting tablets yesterday and have to do the same in a month's time, so had better keep them safe! After that and jiggas, just need malaria now to feel like I've done Africa properly... :P We stopped off in Kampala on our way from Jinja to Entebbe to visit The Surgery and get a leaving Uganda health check.

Kate and I stayed at Tom and Carla's, which is a really nice house. Godfrey explained to the boda driver via phone where to go, and we said bye to him and Abe the following morning. Finally used our mozzy nets for one night! But they didn't quite fit so mine just hit me in the face constantly from hanging them weird. We left Tom and Carla's just nine, having had a proper repack and throwing away the last of whatever we didn't need. By the time we got to The Surgery in Kampala it was half one! It took a good 40 mins just to get down the road in Kampala to the matatu station/taxi park. I have never been anywhere so chaotic or seen so many matatus! Absolutely manic! Oh yeah! And in Jinja we were walking along, Kate in her EAP top, and a man on the street was like, "You know Tom Gill?" We just stopped and turned at the same time, ha ha. It was their friend Andrew.

We went to Nando's after The Surgery, but it was actually a fast food court. Major disasppointment, but it did have nice ice cream. Arrived in Entebbe about half five and went out for street food and a drink with the whole group as the restaurants were too expensive. Godfrey put a film on for us last night at the guesthouse, but it wasn't exactly the most thrilling, something about revenge of the bridesmaids I think...

Really strange saying goodbye to Harri, Jon and Alex this morning. :( It is a bit like we're just waiting to leave now we're here in Entebbe. Jo, Annabelle and Sami have gone into Kampala today. I think they might go to The Surgery, but bilharzia doesn't usually show up for 6 weeks at least, and it's only 5 since we went to Ssese. I have an extra dose for in a month's time, which is good 'cause we may also have got it from Lake Bunyoni only a few weeks ago. Eurgh, gonna have to leave and go and buy tissues soon. :( Got a cold, probably not helped by having a parasite and some other kind of infection I can't really find out what is is. More drugs, yay. Got a bit of a weird look in Nando's when I got them all out plus my doxy to have with food, ha ha! Don't worry Mum and Dad though, I'm fine!

Kate and I got up to wave the others off this morning, as did Jo, Annabelle and Sami, and we all had breakfast together before they left. We couldn't face another day in Kampala and had gone yesterday to get it out of the way, so we went to the beach this morning. We were the only ones there as we must have arrived at about 9am, although no one else came all morning. We had loooovely milkshakes! :) It was so hot though, and not being able to go in the water as we'd already had parasite checks was torture!

Really don't wanna leave! :( But excited for being home though, and THE PYRAMIDS! =D

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Mombasa - Jinja

Back in Uganda at last! :) It took 23 hours from Mombasa, setting off at 9pm and arriving just before 8pm in time to meet Jon, Alex, Harri, Sami, Tom and Carla for an Indian in Jinja. It was lovely to see everyone again and exchange stories. :) It sounds like they've had an amazing time and had loads of laughs, but Harri had a bad quad biking accident the previous day and Sami had broken a quad bike because she didn't know how to brake. So wish I could haev seen that, ha ha! Their pictues look great. :) Despite our excitement about washing, we dumped our bags, whipped out the dry shampoo, got changed and went out for dinner.

We were all excited to meet them again and sped up as we reached the Indian. However, it turns out they were not at the same Indian restaurant we went to before, oops. Probably should have checked that one... We went to an Indian that's kind of in/behind a petrol station. It's quite cool and quirky, and had really good food. Mind you, based on our standards after Lwannunda, most food has been pretty damn good, ha ha! Really was lovely to meet as a group again though. :)

After dinner Sami, Harri, Jon adn Alex went to stay in Tom and Carla newly rented house, but as we'd already checked into the Bellevue Hotel (we couldn't face another night at the Fair Way Guesthouse, especially after such a long journey!) we went back there for much anticipated showers. To our absolute delight, they were hot! =D Our first shower in 4 days (inc. long journey and a few days of camping/swimming in the sea) was well needed and felt amazing! By the time we were all showered it was midnight, and we were shattered. It was quite painful setting the alarm for half six this morning...

Tom and Carla met us at half seven so we could go back with them up to the village they're at, quite a way out of Jinja, and see the volunteers on the next project. Leaving that incredibly comfy bed and lovely pillow was not easy, but I dragged myself out of bed to give Jo and Annabelle a knock and then went back to bed for ten minutes. They were without phone; Annabelle's wasn't unlocked so they were sharing Jo's, but that got stolen out of her bag on the ferry the previous day. :( She's bought a new one here in Jinja today though, and I think we all clung extra tight to our bags after that.

We blatantly should have put work clothes and shoes on this morning for visiting the village, and we all have pood our pants trousers and a thick layer of mud attached to the bottom of our flip-flops. Some of the holes their digging are like going through concrete! Jon, one of the volunteers, was using the iron rod and there were actually sparks flying! I reckon the kids must be in the last week of their holiday, as there were only a few kids around, listening to Charlotte's ipod. It was really nice to go and see them and, in a sense, end where we started, only obviously not in Masaka. It was hard to say bye to Ken again; he's too lovely and we'll all miss him a lot! Not that we won't miss Tom and Carla, but hopefully we'll see them in Leeds really soon. :)

The others have all gone back to Entebbe this afternoon. We bumped into Harri in Jinja, then joined Sami and Jon in Flavours for amazing warm chocolate brownie and ice cream, mmm. They set off a while before Jo and Annabelle, and Kate and I are staying another night in Jinja, in Tom and Carla's house. We don't have a clue where it is, but we have Godfrey's number and Jon said it's easier to ring him and ask him to explain it to a boda driver. We've just had a chilled afternoon walking through the touristy shops, and will probably go get our bags from the hotel and then go for a curry before going to Tom and Carla's. They won't be there, as they're staying near the school in the village (it's about 45 minutes out of Jinja so quite rural), but I think Abe and Godfrey will be there.

On our boda journey back this morning (we left just after 11am), first of all I burned my leg on the right side of the boda. Very clever, since we'd just drank the last of our water. Then we broke down because our driver ran out of fuel. Jo and Annabelle's driver was lovely though, and they came back to find us. We're pretty sure our driver was just his friend and he was like "Hey hey, these mzungus need to go to Jinja!" so he took us, ha ha! Whilst we were waiting for him to get fuel, a teacher from the school we were standing outside came out and asked us if we would come and greet his children. We were a bit confused at first, but then he explained that they had never seena mzungu. There was another man who greeted me by touching shoulder to shoulder, held onto my hand for a while and then linked my arm for a while. Bit weird. We got back on the boda and all the kids were waiting outside so we gave them a big wave as we drove off, and they all waved back. :) It was lovely to go back to a rural village after a couple of weeks on the tourist trail. I miss it already, and would love to come back.

So yeah, the trip's nearly over. :( Kate and I will join the others in Entebbe tomorrow, stopping in Kampala for a leaving Uganda health check, where they check for malaria, bilhazia (sp?) etc., as if we get anything in the UK we'll have to travel to the nearet tropical doctor. Bit worried about having to poo on demand, hence the curry tonight... ha ha. Harri, Jon, Sami and Alex fly back on Friday. How Alex is gonna manage I would love to see! He's thrown away nearly all his clothes in order to fit a bongo and a stool in his bag, but he's still got a carrier bag attached and a couple of paintings duct taped on. I'd love to see the airline accept all this as hand luggage! He has way more stuff than any of the girls now. Hilarious.

On the plus side to leaving Uganda, it looks like we should be able to casually drop in and visit the pyramids on Sunday! =D We arrive in Cairo about 9am and have an 8 hour transfer. We'll only be 18km from the pyramids and the visa and pyramid entry don't look too expensive. Exciting times! =D We are gonna be so shattered when we arrive at Heathrow, since we'll have to be at Entebbe airport at about 1am. Definitely one last part of the trip to look forward to. :) Fingers crossed we're not delayed now and that airport security isn't a nightmare on the 10th anniversary of 9/11... hopefully won't be in Cairo.

Monday 5 September 2011

Malindi - Diani Beach - Mombasa

Mombasa is hot, hot, hot!

We left Malindi on - I'm gonna have to think hard now as I've been completely losing track of the days! - Saturday? I think? Got a tuk tuk from the guesthouse to the matatu park, a matatu to Mombasa, a tuk tuk to the ferry port, a ferry across to Diani, a matatu to the nearest bus stop in Ukunda, and then a tuk tuk until we found a place to camp and hire a tent down near the beach. Phew!

Diani Beach was a lot more developed than Malindi, but equally as expensive, if not more so because we couldn't find any street food. We stayed at Diani Beach Camping and Cottages. Jo and Annabelle had their own tent, and Kate and I hired one for the two nights we stayed. It was so close to the beach we could hear the sea at night. :) We have definitely all made up for 6 weeks of not tanning over the last few days in Malindi and Diani, since we're all pretty lobstery at the moment! I've managed to get really patchy burn on my stomach (especially just where my hip strap goes on my backpack), thigh, and just underneath my bikini top, and also unfortunately just about where my backpack shoulder straps fit. Not great. Ah well, at least the bum burn has about tanned now, ha ha!

Although it was a lot more than we would usually pay for food, we ate dinner both nights at a lovely restaurant on the beach, called Forty Thieves, which also had amazing ice cream. :) I love how we generally tend to judge places on their toilets and food! This, by the way, also had lovely toilets, so a win win situation! :) The beach was a beautiful white sand beach, but on the first day we walked along from the other side and had to wade through a deep pile of seaweed to get past. Eurgh. It was so postcard perfect though, down the end that we spent the rest of the time at. Perfect blue sea, white sand, bit of live music with a Redd's cider, lying on the beach reading. :) Perfect. And the sea was so warm. I'd like to think going in the sea counts as a wash, since the showers at the campsite were salt water anyway. Cannot wait for a shower in Jinja when we arrive tomorrow evening... it will have been a while! :P

We arrived in Mombasa this morning, not knowing whether we were staying the night or not, and went straight to the booking office of Akamba buses. After searching for other coaches going to Uganda, we were limited to a choice of two. Akamba it is. We'll have to go on the shitty bus to Nairobi, the one we used to get from Mbale to Nakuru, with no air conditioning and broken seats etc, but from Nairobi we're transfering to the Akamba Royal. =D We should arrive in Nairobi by 5.30am, get our breakfast at wherever their bus place is with our included meal vouchers, and then be on the bus to Kampala by 7am, which will stop in Jinja. The plan is to spend a couple of days in Jinja and nip up to the next project about half an hour from there to say bye to Tom and Carla, since they never made it to Jinja to meet us thanks to their new truck breaking down straight away. Went for a look round Fort Jesus this morning too, so we could feel cultural. :P

About to look into whether it's possible for us to go into Cairo during our 8 hour transfer on Sunday without it being too expensive. That or 8 hours sleeping,r eading and eating (don't worry Mum and Dad, I will be careful of food poisoning!). Not long to go. :(

Friday 2 September 2011

Arusha - Malindi

Going to have to rush through this as we are going for dinner soon, but basically it's been another incredible week! This is our third night in Malindi, Kenya, after a hellish bus journey from Arusha, Tanzania, which lasted 11 hours and then we got a matatu from Mombasa for 2 hours. It was the bumpiest ride I have ever had, was sweltering hot, and then I had someone sitting on my armrest with their ass in my face for a couple of hours. Stopped for a loo break in the middle of nowhere and got tangled in a spiky bush. Classy. Apparently it was a national park. So I've weed in a bush in a national park. :) Glad there were no lions about!!!

Our safari in Tarangire national park, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater was absolutely amazing! We didn't book it until late the night before we wanted to go, and got it for considerably less money than a lot of people there who had booked months in advance online from wherever they're from! Nice work, team. :) I could go into so much detail if I had time, but in Tarangire we got so close to lionesses and lion cubs, thought we were about to see lions attack the zebra and watched for ages, and over the whole safari we saw all of the big 5 except rhino, which we'd seen at Lake Nakuru. :)

The Serengeti was amazing! We got up before sunrise, after camping in the national park with no fence or anything; we were told not to venture further than just outside the tent to go to the loo at night, just in case. Exciting times! We saw male lions right up close too, and the sunrise was beautiful. :) We also saw a caracel, a smaller cat which is rarely seen, a few hyenas, leaopards, and were so incredibly close to a cheetah! =D I could go on, but the photos speak for themselves I have so many! We spent the final morning at Ngorongo Crater, and were almost the only ones there for the first few hours.

I've probably missed out so much as it was such a brilliant few days! Kate did a balloon safari in the Serengeti. We're now in Malindi, and 'Italian beach resort' in Kenya. It's quite funny that all the kids yell 'ciao!' at us, haha. Yesterday we indulged ourselves by spending the afternoon at the gorgeous Lawford's Hotel. Our guesthouse costs 2.50 a night each, and we paid a tenner each to spend the afternoon at this place. But it was lush, gorgeous. Kate and I went snorkelling in the Indian Ocean this morning and then we went to the beach this afternoon, after amazing ice cream, om nom nom.

I know I've rushed the last few days; there's too much to write in such little time, and I need to go back for a shower and get ready for pizza times! =D Happy birthday Dad. :)

Friday 26 August 2011

Kenya and Tanzania

What a busy few days it's been since leaving Mbale on Tuesday! I'm writing this post from Arusha, Tanzania; we arrived at the border just 7 hours ago, at 6am, walking across from Kenya to Tanzania at sunrise. Yes, that's right, we've also had a whistle stop in Kenya this week! Pretty shattered now, but in a lovely hostel and just had a hot shower! Second hot shower in 5 weeks, and the only one that I could actually get at a nice temperature. Was definitely in there for a while. Never smiled so much in a shower haha!

So, on Tuesday we got on the 5pm bus to Nairobi, meaning that Jo, Annabelle, Kate and I arrived in Nakuru at 3.30am, and Jon, Alex, Harri and Sami went on for about another hour or so to Naivasha. Earlier that afternoon we'd got online and booked to stay the night in Nakuru Backpackers, quite clearly a hostel from the website. After ringing Moses, the hostel owner, several times from the petrol station where we were dropped off, he eventually said that a woman was on her way to pick us up. She arrived at about ten past 4, and was way too enthusiastic for us. We just wanted to crash, but she wanted to know all about our travels, where we were going next, and kept trying over and over again to convince us that we should go to Mombasa before Arusha, no matter how many times we explained that we were coming back to Kenya on our way back to Uganda in September.

When we pulled into the hostel and discovered it was her house, at half four in the morning, and shown to a room with two beds and told "Three can fit in that big one, yes? You have nice figures; you are not fat.", we were already a bit confused and didn't really want a full tour at that time. We met the kitten, which is nameless but the cutest thing ever, and she didn't seem to want to stop talking. We eventually got to bed at 5, and said we would get up at 10 for breakfast. Breakfast never seemed to happen, so we all showered (the shower was broken so there was no hot water; Eunice, the lady, brought a bucket of boiling water to the shower as though that would somehow work) and got ready to walk into town by 11. However, just as we were about to leave, Eunice announces that she's been waiting for us all to be ready so we could all have breakfast together. Well, bread that is. At least it was proper bread.

She insisted on escorting us into town, which was a very nice gesture and everything, but she really is quite full on! The walk into town was quite interesting and strange, though. As we'd arrived in Kenya in the dark, when we stepped outside the 'hostel' this was the first we'd seen of it in daylight. The difference between Uganda and Kenya was incredible. Kenya is so much wealthier, but apparently the difference between rich and poor is really extreme. We walked through a suburb of lovely houses, all gated and with cars, and teenagers in stylish clothes played basketball in the road. Eunice insisted on showing us inside the school she teaches in, and although it was desperately poor and she talked of all the hardships, I think we struggled to appear shocked after the Ugandan schools. This school had a shabby, dangerous-looking playground was painted in pictures and bright colours everywhere, as were the classrooms, and the most noticeable difference was in the children. They all had hair which looked styled, compare with the Ugandan children who all had their heads shaved. They all wore clean clothes, or clothes which at least looked clean; in Uganda, I only saw most of the kids in either one or two outfits throughout the whole month we were there, and most of them were filthy. I also didn't see any Kenyans without shoes; barely any of the kids in Uganda wore shoes, and if they did, they usually weren't the right size, or they sometimes only had one! The children at the poor Kenyan school get a school lunch, although Eunice said that means they often don't eat at home, and they don't all pay full school fees if they can't afford to. In Uganda, if children couldn't pay their fees (education is legally supposed to be free in Uganda), then they can't go to school. There are 'kids' who are about 16 in primary school, because you simply do each year when you can afford to, and move up when you pass. It was a poor school, but the difference in standards was incredible. Just down the road she showed us her daughter's school which, from the outside, looked like the nicest primary school I have ever seen in my life! It was quite a strange experience. When we told Eunice we'd lived in a school for a month with no electricity or running water, she couldn't get over it: "WHAT?! Not ever?! And you did not cry? You did not wish for your home country? OH MY GOD!"

Once in town, she kept trying to arrange our safari for us. We decided to spent another night at hers and go to Lake Nakuru the following morning, not accepting her offer of a taxi and safari but going with an actual tour company! That night we bought our tea from the supermarket: spaghetti and chilli sauce. Eunice's daughter, Florence, ate some with us, but it was a lot hotter than we'd anticipated and we were all struggling! Florence, who is in year 7 at primary school, and I think aged 12 (she is going to boarding school soon), claimed to like this 'muzungu food' a loot, but did have to dash off to grab a cup of water! Shortly afterwards poor Kate made the discovery that undigested spaghetti wasn't the nicest thing to come back up with sun stroke.

We awoke at 6am the next morning, barely making it to 8.30pm that night after our bus journey. and were picked up at 6.30 to go to Lake Nakuru National Park! =D It was brilliant. We saw antelope, baboons, giraffes, black and white rhino (our driver said he had never seen back and white rhino so close to each other before, and that we were lucky to even see rhino and giraffes), impala ("Papa Bambi!" - Durham reference), flamingos, pelicans, zebra, and I've probably missed some. Didn't see any big cats, although apparently there are some there. Will hopefully see them and elephants in the Serengeti! The baboons are always fun to watch, even in zoos, but these were so cute! The babies looked like they were posing for us as they tried to balance on plants, haha. Although one mother was dragging a dead baby which looked like it had been run over. :( Also saw a dead zebra lying in the water. Sad times. The masses and masses of flamingos and pelicans looked amazing though, and I can't wait for our next safari! We're going to look into doing a sunrise balloon safari over the Serengeti, which would be amazing, but we need to look into prices and things.

So we arrived back from our safari and chilled out for a bit before going back into town yesterday evening. We'd hoped that leaving Eunice's house would mean leaving Eunice, but oh no. She said that she wanted to make sure that we were safe, so would see us onto our bus. This was 5pm and our bus was due to leave at 11.30pm. Our hearts sank! She came to town with us, tried to find internet for us before we gave up and just called this place from The Lonely Planet (so glad we did; our bus meant we didn't have to pay for a night's accommodation so splashed out on a ten dollar each dorm for the night - well worth it and well needed!), and then escorted us to a place to eat. Guava was amazing, to her credit, and I actually swooned over my lamb and mash! Despite the lack of any gravy, it was still amazing and I couldn't stop grinning the whole way through. They had no cheesecake left; probably a good job, or I think I might have fainted I'd have been so happy, haha! It was very western, but we didn't care. She didn't sit with us to eat, but she did wait in the bar until we left. Cool as we are, we whipped out head torches (well I did) and sat reading for the next few hours. Kate slept on the sofa, and eventually we headed off to then coach station, accompanied by Eunice, of course... Apparently we refused a lift from her friend, the Kenyan president's daughter. Not convinced, but okay.

She did finally leave then, which was a good job because our bus didn't arrive until ten past one. After watching badly dubbed soaps that are so awful they're hilarious on the little TV in the waiting room, I fell properly asleep to a dream about having everyone's passports. Annabelle woke me when the bus arrived and was checking I had all our tickets... that explains that one. We were sat at the back, and Jo's face fell: they'd been on the back row on the way from Mbale and it had been so bumpy they'd barely spent any time actually in their seats. I wasn't thrown about so much, but my chair was broken. This journey, however, was much more comfortable, and I'm sure we'll go with Kampala Coaches again. :) It amused me though, 'cause the man next to me looked quite tough and grumpy when we got on, and we didn't speak at all. However, I woke up an hour or so later wondering why my arm felt so heavy, and he was curled up like a baby with his head on my arm. He woke up, looked a bit embarrassed an moved to face the window, but within ten minutes he'd somehow moved back again. I didn't want to move and wake him up, but I was glad we stopped when we did as I was getting a dead arm! Haha.

Crossed the Tanzanian border at sunrise this morning, but took ages to get visas. Held our whole bus up as we were the only muzungus and had to wait for an hour and a half. Three countries in three and a half days! Couldn't believe, however, when we got to the hostel here and someone had come to find us. "Is Jo here? Someone I don't know asked me to meet you from the bus and arrange safari..." Rate confused, then Kate asked, "Was her name Eunice?" The man was like "yes, yes, Eunice!" Oh my days, she practically stalked us to Tanzania!