So I've finally managed to find an internet site that actually seems to work, so an update from Africa.

So where to begin, there's been so much happening! Here's a brief snapshot.

Mt Kili was tough. I didn't make it to the top, but it was an awesome experience doing it and I met a good few people along the way who have ended up in my tour. The final ascent began at midnight so you can try and get to the top by sunrise. I only made it to 5000m before I realised I was just taking too long so decided to turn around at that point. I don't think mountains are my thing... I might stick to diving I think.

So from Kili I began the tour through Africa. We had a full truck this time, 24 people. We had some really long driving days - 10 hours in a sweaty truck isn't a huge amount of fun. But we needed to get to Rwanda in time for the gorilla visas. We stopped at Jinga along the way, where I white water rafted starting at the source of the nile. So much fun - after you got over that whole OMG I'm going to die feeling! I was sat at the back of the raft which wasn't the smartest move as I came out of the boat 4 times - the rest of the raft only came out twice. Not sure I'll be doing it again in a hurry, but definitely a fantastic experience.

So from Uganda at the source of the nile, we headed into Rwanda for the gorilla trek. Words do not do any kind of justice to the experience of seeing a family group of gorillas hang out in the forest. The group I visited had a sliverback (he was a big boy!) and 5 females and all the females had babies - they were so cute!! We spent an hour following them through the forest before heading back to the hostel. Everyone was just completely blown away by the experience. One of the guys in our group was touched by the silverback - he just kind of wandered past him and touched him on the shoulder as if to say, 'yeah, I know you're there. I'll tolerate you for a bit.' Needless to say he was a little freaked when he saw the silverback come towards him.

From Rwanda we were back in Uganda for a few nights, where we were able to see some animals for the first time. We stayed at a couple of places, Lake Nakuru where we did a game drive in the morning and saw all the pink flamingo - the ones from the movie out of Africa - then we moved on to Lake Naivasha where I did a walking safari through herds of giraffe, zebra and antelope. We got so close to them!

At Lake Naivasha we said goodbye to 8 of the guys on the tour - a little sad - and said hello to another 15 people. Craziness! We then headed back into Kenya and to the Masai Mara. In the mara we saw a whole lot more animals including lion. Just amazing. We were able to get so close to them. The photos really don't do it any justice.

And so from the mara we headed back to Nairobi again and dropped off another 7 people leaving us 23 people for the tour to Victoria Falls.

The last few days have been spent at the Ngorongoro crater, where we managed to spot a couple of cheetah - now they were impressive.

We've just finished the last couple of days driving down to Dar Es Salaam and I'm now waiting to board the ferry to Zanzibar for 4 nights of relaxation and no camping! Yay!!!

It really has been a quick recap of the last few weeks sorry about that - I'll try and be a bit more regular as long as the internet access allows.

Hope everyone is well, take care!
L x