Saturday, 28 September Elevation: 1,860 m, forest terrain (Marangu gate) Leaving Mto Wan Mbu and hitting the road, dropped off a group at Arusha airport and some us at a hotel in Arusha. The rest heading towards Nairobi. Had a weird interaction with the driver who when we asked him for a toilet stop dismissed the option flat out. We were taken aback a little but he soon realised that this might not be the right course of action and stopped at a petrol station.

Friday, 27 September Just woke up going to the loo only to realise there is a large herd of zebras right besides the tents. I pitched up on the outside edge of the other tents so at one point they were only a metre or so away. Today we changed vehicles and switched to 4x4 Toyota Land cruisers. We had 4 but one of them had a problem so their passengers had to get into the other three.

Thursday, 26 September Another interesting night in regards to the local wildlife but this time we knew what to expect. Again hienas trashed our rubbish bins, one of or fellow hikers got kinda chased round the toilet block by a hiena. It might have happened slightly differently but this is how I’m serving it and I suggest you believe it. 😉 Also the lion roars and zebras giving out weird sounds were the repeat repertoire.

Wednesday, 25 September What a night! Sleeping in the tent and surrounded by sounds of the Serengeti wildlife. At one point I had a zebra come right close to the tent. It must have been just 10 feet or so away. Then the there was a constant vocalising of the hienas who actually had a field day on the bin belonging to the other group that was in the same campsite.

Tuesday, 24 September Still being under the impression of the stunning sunset over lake Victoria the night before, we started again with an early breakfast and a couple of quick stops in town to get more supplies. We also managed to source some ice that we put in a chiller box with all our beers. The road took us slightly south towards Seronera. We then made a right into the western entrance to the Serengeti national park.

Monday, 23 September Had some technical problems with the truck last night. Just as we were getting to the resort there was a loud bang under the truck and seems it was some sort of suspension issue. They had parts in Nairobi that two guys had to get to us and the only way was by road. They were working on the repairs most of the night. Got the truck sorted out but we were about 1.

Sunday, September 22nd Started the day really early. I think I set my alarm to 4:15am. Which is basically 2:15am on my internal British clock. We had some breakfast in the hotel and packed our stuff in the bus, which is actually a modified truck. We headed out of Nairobi and towards Kisii. It’s a long drive. About 8 to 9h as the itinerary warned but we did stop a few times which helped break up the otherwise arduous journey quite a bit.

Saturday, September 21st Started the day in the skies above Africa. A long 8.5h flight to Nairobi from London. Not a wink of sleep. Clearing immigration was actually a breeze with the E-Visa which is basically a visa you get online before you travel. However it’s still quite weird they take your photo and fingerprints from BOTH hands. I had a private transfer from the airport to the hotel courtesy of the company that is organising the trip - Intrepid.

So the plan is to go by car to Heathrow T4, catch a light to Nairobi, Kenya. I am supposed to get a shuttle from the airport from the airport to a hotel in downtown Nairobi. The group I am travelling with have a meeting the following day in the same hotel. The day after we get on a private bus aka “safari truck” and go towards Kisii . We are supposed to arrive there about 9h later!

Not often would I brag about spending almost the entire day in the company of the police. Lets face it, you usually have to deal with them if you have done something wrong or something wrong has been done to you and nobody I know really wants that. But I think it was all for a common good today. A large group of mostly police volunteers organise workshops and observed ride-outs under the scheme called Bike Safe .