On the way to Tarangire

After spending the night of the 20th July in Arusha, we were ready to head off on our safari. Rich had done a great job in planning & booking a private 10 day safari through a company called 'Access to Tanzania'. Our driver/guide was a guy called Willie, & we had our doubts about him to start with, as he seemed to be lacking a sense of humour. However he loosened up as the trip went on & proved to be an excellent guide.Our first stop was at a local school. Rach had bought over a large selection of picture books from her primary school in NZ, & these were gratefully accepted by the headmaster. He then showed us into a classroom. This was basically 4 bare concrete walls with 53 kids in the class. The kids were extremely polite and well-spoken, & enjoyed asking us questions about where we came from, and what sort of food we ate.

Next we visited a local maasi village
Then it was off to our home for the next 3 nights; Whistling Thorn Camp http://www.whistlingthorncamp.com/

Whistling thorn consists of 6 semi-permanent tents, plus a dining tent, essentially in the middle of nowhere, close to the Tarangire National Park boundary. It was an amazing place, made even more special by the fact that the Roes & the Brownes were the only guests!

The tents were comfortable & spacious with a king-size bed in each one. They even had an en suite attached to the back with a flushing loo. The maasi workers would ask you what time you wanted your shower, & when you were ready they would run off & return with buckets of hot water which they would empty into your shower tank. They would then hover outside, & when the water was finished, would ask "one more, one more?" They also regularly filled the canvas wash basins at the front of the tent with hot water for washing. A generator provided power for a few hours in the evening.

Our first night at the camp we enjoyed a couple of sun-downers (Rich had bought a duty-free bottle of zappa, essentially black sambucca!) and watched a lovely sunset from our tent veranda. We were then treated to a sumptuous 3-course meal. It was hard to believe that the food we ate was produced in a bush kitchen. It really was superb. If you ever find yourself near Tarangire I would thoroughly recommend Whistling Thorn Camp. You won't regret it!