The Gap Year Adventure....

ok well sorry for the super short blog yesterday - the photos took AGES!!

so we got back from our mid-phase break yesterday so i'll give you the run-down. It was incredible!!

On Saturday we started our trip by going to the waterfall camp where we will be spending all of next week. We spent the afternoon swimming in the waterfalls and just lazing around in the sun whilst our 3 course meal (!)yes no rice!! was cooked for us by the safari cook. The only downside to this day was that tom, dave (our expedition leader) and Mikey got their shoes stolen while they were swimming! It's just not our lucky trip i guess!

Anyway on Sunday we climed a mountain/very veyr big hill which nearly killed me! my new cheap army boots (bought due to the lack of any walking boots in Arusha) are 1 size too big and despite 3 pairs of walking socks still gave me the biggest blisters EVER - not good! That afternoon we drove to our next campsite and just spent the evening drinking - we do that quite a lot!

Monday was spent at ngoro ngoro crater on safari where we saw:

lion (lots!)
cheetah
Black rhino (we saw 7 and there are only 80 in the world!!)
ostrich
hippo
giraffe
elephant
zebra
hyaena
buffalo
monkey
gazelle
dik dik
wilderbeast
and loads of birds.

Unfortunately my camera battery had died so i had to use my phone camera so the pictures are going to be harder to get onto the computer. They are amazing photos though (the camera on my phone is almost as good as my real camera!) so ill get them up asap.

We then drove to Arusha to our next camp site and again spent the evening drinking and playing pontoon.

On Tuesday we went on a wlaking safari in Arusha national park where we saw loads and loads of giraffe - they were so close it's incredible! they are so tall and majestic - the photos i took dont do them justice! I managed to charge my camera the previous night so i had photos of this! We also saw loads of monkeys and buffalo too. We then went on a canoe safari in momella lake in the park where we saw hippo and also more bufallo along with a HUGE water python. It really was awesome thoguh i truly am incapable of rowing in a straight line!

We then left Arusha and drove to our next campsite - the hot water springs. Unfortunately by the time we arrived it was too late to do anything other than eat (yes another 3 course meal!) and sleep (i forgot to mention - we were in tents for this entire trip - it was BOILING!)

Wednesday morning we went for a walk along the river to look for crocodiles, of which we found 3 before going back to camp and spending several hours in the beautiful sperings. It was a series of gorgeous pools in a glade that was refreshingly cool whilst also being pleasantly warm. It was ace! there's photos of the pool and us in it on the other site which hopefullly should be working now.

Wednesday afternoon we spent driving back to Arusha and you got my update form yesterday and here i am now!

to view my full phots you need to go on www.facebook.com and log on using kath@56.eclipse.co.uk and the password is louise (no capitals)

on th left hand side scroll down and you will see a picture of me, click on it and you will be able to view my photos :-)

enjoy!

hope everyone is ok, say hi to nan for me

love you and miss you lots

tom says hi too!

lou

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hey everyone, i've put some photos up on here but this site was being too slow so they are all on this site:

http://www.facebook.com/p/Louise_Mason/602500397

you will need to log in th\o view them all - the e-mail address is kath@56.eclipse.co.uk and the password is louise (no capitals)

these arent all the photos - all the ones frpm the safari are on my phone as my camera battery was dead and the others i took were on a memory card that went missing in the raid :-(

hope you like these photos - as you can see my birthday was interesting!

Not got time for a full update now - the photos have taken 2 hours to upload! but ill come back online tomorrow to fill you in!

love you and miss you

lou

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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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Heeelllloooo!!! well you'll all be glad to know that tom has now been reunited with his quitar so he s a very happy boy! It was broken but seems to have been fixed with the aid of some superglue - he's playing it a lot anyway!!

Just a correction from my last entry - 'so far Tanzania IS amazing!'

it's still really really hot but at night it is a nice temperature. Curently we are staying in a house in Arusha, tomorrow we go to the Massai village where we will be living in mud huts :-D

On monday night w went out to a club which was completely empty when we got there but the 12 of us had a great time - we got on the dance floor to dodgy 80's hits whilst everyone got incredibly drunk of Conyagi (a very very very strong drink) - Maa lessons the next morning with hangovers were 'interesting'!!

Last night (Tuesday) we all went out for a meal at a place called 'Massai Camp'. We were all sat on the floor on cushions drinking and eating pizza and chips before staying up until 3am playing cards!

For the last few days we have been learning Maa - the Massai language which is incredibly hard! Starting to get there though! Tonight is our last night in Arusha so we are having a barbeque outside which will be ace.

I've never eaten this healthily in my life!! Its porridge, fruit and toast for beakfast then pasta or a bean stew for lunch and tea or some kind of meat stew. One issue being.................

I WONT BE ABLE TO EAT MEAT FOR THE NEXT 8 WEEKS!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

when we go to camp we only eat rice and vegetables (usually beans) how am i going to cope!! I need KFC!!

Sorry mum for ringing you at 6am (i forgot that Tanzania is 3 hours ahead!!)

This is the last time i'm going to be able to write on here or e-mail for the next 8 weeks as there is no internet access at camp and we wont be back in town until just before we go to Zanzibar in March :-(

I hope to have a load of e-mails waiting for me when i next log on!

I will be able to send and recieve texts though as a Mast has been put up right near the village.... just a random phone mast in the middle of the African bush!! All of the Massai tribe live in mud huts and only eat rice etec but they ALL have mobile phones around their necks... it's really surreal! They are really poor and tradional but all have mobiles!

Anyway hope everyone is good, next time i log on here i will have some pictures for you :-)

Take care

miss you all

lots of love

Lou

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