Christmas Time - Rhinos and Wine
We left organising what to do over Christmas a bit late - in the end we could either go on an animal safari and stay in tents or we could go to a national park (renown for it's beauty rather than its abundance of wildlife) and stay in luxury - we opted for the latter!
However - when we saw the price we were horrified - $195 dollars each per night!! There was no way we could afford that! The kind lady on the other end of the e-mail said that as we had been working in Tanzania she would give us resident fees - just $80 - much better, so we booked!
Christmas Eve arrived and we made our way with our millions of bags to the bus station. Sitting on the bus (waiting for it to leave!) we started to talk about the place we were going to and realised we didn't really know anything about it, we hadn't seen any pictures or heard any recommendations - fear started to set in!
After an hour of sitting on the bus in the bus station the bus finally began the one and a half our journey. We arrived almost five hours later!!! Thanks to blow outs, shoddy spare tyres, Adam changing the wheel and the bus driver running off because he was scared of the bus full of furious passengers! My favourite comment of the journey was when an African lady turned to Adam and said 'what are we to do. Mzungu - you drive!!!'
We eventually reached our destination and our car was waiting to pick us up. A car with just the two of us in is quite a novelty so we enjoyed the journey - that is until the driver said 'you can see the camps tents from here'. At the word tents Adam and I exchanged horrified glances - tents! we'd been promised luxury!! Tales of rip off scams and 'I'll give you special price' started running through our heads - Christmas in a standard three man tent - not my idea of luxury!!
However - we needn't have worried. As we pulled up at the camp 6 men rushed out to greet us - some carrying drinks, others cold towels, others to fetch our bags and some just to say welcome, welcome, welcome over and over again. We were shown to our tent which was in fact very luxurious with proper beds, running water and Adam's personal favourite - a writing table. The highlight though was the outdoor, hot, open air shower - truly fantastic. As we had arrived quite late we were asked to just wash and then come back to the dining tent for a late lunch. The dining tent consisted of a huge dining table, laid with china and silver ware, gorgeous cushions to relax on after dinner and an old working gramaphone to listen to. It really was like stepping back in time.
We soon realised that the other four tents were in fact empty and so we had the undivided attention of the eight staff who waited on us hand and foot. They literally did everything from fetching our drinks to doing our laundry and from accompanying us on walks in the surrounding wilderness to serenading us on local instruments while we sat around the campfire with pre dinner g & t's (one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had!). Nothing was too much trouble.
I'm sure you'll all be pleased to find out that we awoke on Christmas morning to the worst rain we have ever heard! Luckily though by late morning the rain had stopped and we were able to go and see wild dog and rhino sancturies - with the accompanyment of our transportable bar! The picture shows Adam with his first beer of the day standing next to our rather mud splattered car! Boxing day was scorching though - HA HA!!
We had an absolutely fantastic (but very different!) Christmas which was made even better when we received calls and texts from friends and family back home! We replied to everyone but apparently lots of our texts get 'lost' somewhere on route, so sorry to those of you who didn't receive them!
After an amazing Christmas we were then subjected to an eight hour journey in a moving sauna - Tanzanian's call it a luxury bus! THE LOCALS WERE CONFUSED WHEN I WALKED AROUND IN JUST MY TOWEL, TRYING TO THROW WATER ON THE COALS (GUESS WHO'S WRITING IN CAPITALS??!!) We're now in Dar es Salaam waiting for my little sister to join us (can't wait to see her!) in the morning before we head over to Zanzibar for New Year.
Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and we wish you all a very happy New Year! HOHOHO!!
Ellie and ADAM xxxx
However - when we saw the price we were horrified - $195 dollars each per night!! There was no way we could afford that! The kind lady on the other end of the e-mail said that as we had been working in Tanzania she would give us resident fees - just $80 - much better, so we booked!
Christmas Eve arrived and we made our way with our millions of bags to the bus station. Sitting on the bus (waiting for it to leave!) we started to talk about the place we were going to and realised we didn't really know anything about it, we hadn't seen any pictures or heard any recommendations - fear started to set in!
After an hour of sitting on the bus in the bus station the bus finally began the one and a half our journey. We arrived almost five hours later!!! Thanks to blow outs, shoddy spare tyres, Adam changing the wheel and the bus driver running off because he was scared of the bus full of furious passengers! My favourite comment of the journey was when an African lady turned to Adam and said 'what are we to do. Mzungu - you drive!!!'
We eventually reached our destination and our car was waiting to pick us up. A car with just the two of us in is quite a novelty so we enjoyed the journey - that is until the driver said 'you can see the camps tents from here'. At the word tents Adam and I exchanged horrified glances - tents! we'd been promised luxury!! Tales of rip off scams and 'I'll give you special price' started running through our heads - Christmas in a standard three man tent - not my idea of luxury!!
However - we needn't have worried. As we pulled up at the camp 6 men rushed out to greet us - some carrying drinks, others cold towels, others to fetch our bags and some just to say welcome, welcome, welcome over and over again. We were shown to our tent which was in fact very luxurious with proper beds, running water and Adam's personal favourite - a writing table. The highlight though was the outdoor, hot, open air shower - truly fantastic. As we had arrived quite late we were asked to just wash and then come back to the dining tent for a late lunch. The dining tent consisted of a huge dining table, laid with china and silver ware, gorgeous cushions to relax on after dinner and an old working gramaphone to listen to. It really was like stepping back in time.We soon realised that the other four tents were in fact empty and so we had the undivided attention of the eight staff who waited on us hand and foot. They literally did everything from fetching our drinks to doing our laundry and from accompanying us on walks in the surrounding wilderness to serenading us on local instruments while we sat around the campfire with pre dinner g & t's (one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had!). Nothing was too much trouble.
I'm sure you'll all be pleased to find out that we awoke on Christmas morning to the worst rain we have ever heard! Luckily though by late morning the rain had stopped and we were able to go and see wild dog and rhino sancturies - with the accompanyment of our transportable bar! The picture shows Adam with his first beer of the day standing next to our rather mud splattered car! Boxing day was scorching though - HA HA!!
We had an absolutely fantastic (but very different!) Christmas which was made even better when we received calls and texts from friends and family back home! We replied to everyone but apparently lots of our texts get 'lost' somewhere on route, so sorry to those of you who didn't receive them!After an amazing Christmas we were then subjected to an eight hour journey in a moving sauna - Tanzanian's call it a luxury bus! THE LOCALS WERE CONFUSED WHEN I WALKED AROUND IN JUST MY TOWEL, TRYING TO THROW WATER ON THE COALS (GUESS WHO'S WRITING IN CAPITALS??!!) We're now in Dar es Salaam waiting for my little sister to join us (can't wait to see her!) in the morning before we head over to Zanzibar for New Year.
Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and we wish you all a very happy New Year! HOHOHO!!
Ellie and ADAM xxxx
posted by Ellie and Adam at
7:55 AM
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