Feb 2007

well i lot has happened since i last logged on here as im sure you all know, dont really know where to start!

So its my birthday and ive been trailing round Arusha trying to buy a pair of walking boots - completely impossible and expensive!

So much stuff was stolen in the raid, i lost the most but others lost thing such as passports.

The ring tom got me
my watch
approx 100.00 cash
ipod
ipod speakers
walking boots
binoculars
penknife
torch
solar charger
mobile phone (rachies :-( )
and my purse with all my cards and driving licence

its so damn annoying!! the good thing is we are all fine, a bit bruised and shaken but everyone is ok :-) its too dangerous for us to go back to camp so we are going to be doing some different work. Firstly we are going on safari for a week, tomorrow to ngoo ngoro crater and to a beautiful watefall camp to give us a break then we will be comming back to arusha and doing som work in the school we are supposed to be teaching at/ painting and building for 3 days then going back to waterfall camp for approx 1 wek building a camp site to encourang tourism to the area before moving to a mango plantation on the cost where we will be teaching in the local school and doing wildlife surveys. After that we will go to Zanzibar for the last week and a half.

Im really upset we have to leave the Massai as the are amazing people and they are going to lose so much from us leaving and its not their fault what happened but it is just too dangerous to stay
:-(

tonight we are going out to a club and for a meal for my birthday which should be cool.

Anyway i've got to go now, ill stay in touch - itll be about a week beofre i can e-mail again though - when we get back from safari.

love you all lots - dont worry about me or tom, we are both completely fine.

miss you

lou

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Well this is an extra blog i didnt think id be posting!! We've had to evacuate camp as it was too dangerous for the cars so we had no water! We spent last night in a hostel in Arusha which was 'interesting'. I was awoken at 3.45am by naked old German people taking photos of each other in the corridor outside our room.... not a pretty sight!

It has been torrential rain for the last 2 days which has turned camp into a swamp of mud and yes i was wearing my hat and scarf!! The temperature just drops so quickly when it starts to rain - we could see our breath!! anyway its hot and sunny today with a prefectly clear sky so we are going to go back to camp and spend the day in the school which will be ACE!

Anyway so far everything is good, pretty sick of eating rice for 2 meals per day but hanging in there with it - not much choice really! We are sleeping in mud huts on beds made of sticks which is an interesting experience!! The huts are really cool though which is great when its ridiculously hot outside!

So far we havent done too much, just been learning about the different types of birds we will have to identify when we go out walking. On Wednedsay we got up at 6am to do a 6KM Mammal transect - basically walking for 6Km looking to mammals on the way - now thats a way to wake up!

I've got some really great photos but because we left camp in a hurry i didnt have chance to bring my cable to connect it to the computer :-(

In about 3 weeks we will be having a mid-phase break where we will be having a break going on safari for a week in the serengati so i should be able to email just before or after that with some pics :-)

Tom is good - he says hi to everyone

Just been told that a parcel has arrived for me at the post office - mum's parcels have come quicker than most so just going to go pick it up :-)

Looking forward to my birthday though its going to be strange without everyone :-(

Time to go now to get going to school....

Miss you all, text me and i should be able to reply!!

love you

lou

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