We woke up at the late time of 7am today!  David and I (we were sharing a room again at Mountain Inn) took our time getting ready and strolled out for breakfast at about 8am.  After the usual round of toast and bacon we said our goodbyes to John, Anne-Marie, Amanda and Brendan as they were off to the airport as they still had three days in Zanzibar – lucky so and so’s!

Once we had finished breakfast we took a stroll to a local shop to have a look at what souvenirs were available.  I managed to buy myself two hand carved giraffes that will look great at home!

Whilst making my way back to our hotel room I bumped into James who had made his way down to Moshi to say goodbye to us all.  I really got on well with James and he gave me his address so we could keep in touch.

After our goodbyes we collected our day bags and boarded our Toyota Land Cruiser for our safari at Arusha National Park.  Frank, who was our driver for the day, drove us a breakneck speed.  On our way we passed through the heart of Masai Mara territory and saw real Tanzanian life.  The colours of the clothes worn by the Masai people were so bright and it really made them stand out.

After an hour and a half of bouncing around we reached Arusha National Park.  The temperature was very hot but there was a wonderfully clear sky – excellent conditions for a safari.

We spent a couple of hours in the back of Frank’s Land Cruiser looking at various types of Buck, Water Buffalo and Giraffe.  We made our way to a viewpoint and looked down on a crater containing all sorts of monkeys and baboons.  We enjoyed the spot so much we asked to stay there whilst we had our lunches – what a setting!

Frank altered the roof setting so that we could stand up and we spent the next four hours bouncing around and enjoying the wildlife.  The time passed really quickly and before we knew it, it was 4pm.  Frank seemed to enjoy the driving and treated it like a rally leaving us bouncing around in the back!

An hour and a half later we were back at the Mountain Inn.  David and I made our way back to our hotel room in order to have a shower.  After we had spent an hour showering and writing our diaries we went for tea.  I had a fantastic grilled pepper steak which really rounded off the day nicely.  I was having a very enjoyable end to the trip.  We said our goodbyes to Caroline as we would not be seeing her tomorrow morning.  At about 9:30 David and I went back to our room, just as it started to rain, and were asleep within seconds.  Tomorrow would be another long day.

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