Last night we got back from our first 'true safari'! It was such a massive success and we are already thinking about the adaptations we will be making to our amazing new car (new for us, it's actually 30 years old! - I should do a post on this!) that will enhance the safari experience for the whole family and anyone who comes to visit us here!

So we had planned to join on a trip being organised by an amazing woman here in Tanzania. She is a super fit, hollistically and medicinely balanced, nutrition knowledge rich genuinely kind person! She and her wonderful family including her husband and two kids slightly older than Izzy organised a trip to climb 'Ash Cone' which is on Mt. Meru. It would have been an 8 hour hike round trip from the camp site and the idea would be that we would do two groups. One group would go and leave their kids with the others at camp, and then we'd swap. It was an amazing plan with everything that could possibly be controlled organised and allocated. The one thing no one could control was the weather which unfortunately made us all re-think! With everything already organised we decided to change the location rather than cancel the trip completely and ended up in Randelin WMA (wildlife management area - instead of a national park. Guess I should do another post on this too!)

So with all of our kit still in a container, somewhere over the ocean, we hired a land cruiser from 'Shaw Safaris' which was fully equipped with EVERYTHING we would need and then some! It was amazing, complete with rooftop tents which was obviously new for all of us and a lot of fun! We arrived in convoy with our friends and spent the first half hour scouting the site for the best place to set up. This is important when it's so hot; shade, space, thorns, thistles and wildlife all need to be considered. Once that was done, we unpacked the cars of food and other bits and pieces and head towards the fire away from the tetse flies, bees and mosquitos!

The next morning after some coffee and some breakfast for the kids we set out on the first game drive. As this was a WMA area and not a national park, the rules are slightly different and you are allowed to drive around while people are sitting on the roof. So up we went to tackle the tetse flies and keep our eyes out for animals! The first things we see are warthogs, and impala. Lots of them! The warthogs I found so funny and I think after watching them run with their blonde hair and funny faces they might be on my top three favourite animals! Then, out of nowhere, I look to. my right from the rooftop and see a stunning giraffe!!!! I told the group and we waited. According to the pro safari-ers we were with... "there are always double the amout of giraffe around that you initially see". Sure enough, more came out of the trees and we watched as they went about their day - just beautiful and what an incrdible start!

With expectations high, we moved on to see zebras, a buffalo or two, lots of different birds including the 'roller' which was pretty cool and some other birds of prey. Then as we start to consider making our way back to camp we saw another safari car off the road with a camera poking out towards a nearby tree. We moved closer and saw a dead warthog in the tree, it belonged to a Leopard!! that was in the next tree! Now normally you only see a bit of a leopard on safari; a tail, or paw maybe but this one was not shy at all! He climbed up the front face of the huge Baobab tree and strolled along its branches parading in front of us. We stayed with it a while when the leopard wanted to be left we agreed to come back in the morning and see if he was there. We arrived back in camp after the first drive really only missing the elephants. We had seen the butt of one, but it dissappeared quickly clearly not wanting to be found. We did a game drive in the afternoon but it was entirely altered by sick kids and one-year-olds that didn't want to be in the car as well as torrential rain that made it difficult to see anything anyway. We drove high for some views, got a family photo in the rain and then returned to camp.

That evening more people arrived so it was a lovely full camp-site with about 25 people including kids, give or take. It was lovely, we had a camp-fire, some amazing food, great drinks and incredible company. Victor and I (who had been arguing about life and packing and all the things needed to be done etc) found ourselves in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of people that were full of these amazing stories knowledge and banter (which I have been missing like crazy). We exchanged a couple of looks across over the camp-fire which acknowledged to each other how lucky we both felt and that we would never regret the decision to come and live here.

We had to leave early than everyone else but for a good reason - Victor would be leaving for a safari (work), to the DRC!! He would spend time with some tourists also doing a lot of conservation including the relocation of 4 female gorrillas! An amazing opportunity and just more conformation that we are where we are meant to be -- for now!