Lake Manyara National Park and the Maasai Retreat
When Eli and I went to wake Greg this morning we were surprised to find out he had not used his mosquito net. He had bites all over his arm. When questioned about this he replied that the net seemed liked decoration and that he thought he had been booked into the bridal suite. We laughed so much we nearly cried.

We left Kilimanjaro for Arusha, passing the large UN complex where the Trials for the Rwandan genocide of 1994 are currently taking place. It was a sobering reminder of how fragile the stability of East Africa can be. After stopping at a supermarket we drove on to Lake Manyara National Park.

The rest of the day was spent leaning out of the roofs of Toyota Landcruisers spotting Wildlife. Best not to ask what Eddie filmed the Baboons doing.

Having been brought up on BBC Nature documentaries, seeing an Elephant close up in the wild felt quite familiar. Being close enough to smell them, hearing their deep growl and watching them stroll majestically past the windscreen was of course impressive. But perhaps not as surprising as the landscape - the grandeur of which seems to translate less well to film. The sheer scale of which was mind blowing.

After leaving Manyara we drove to our Lodge at the E Unoto Retreat. The drive took us down endless dirt tracks, passed lots of small Maasai settlements. The roads were filled with Maasai in their brightly coloured Red and Purple clothes... all waving cheerfully as we passed.

Later that evening there was a massive storm. Sheets of lightning lit up the sky, illuminating the imposing escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. This brought an unusual array of animals into our huts. It seemed that the day's safari was to continue into the evening. Large spiders, a giant caterpillar, families of lizards, all came to take shelter from the rain. Eli swears a Rattle Snake was outside the door... although I suspect it may have been Matt with a pair of Maracas.

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