Time for a catch up....our days so long and slow wi fi....Tuesday 24th June....good night's sleep but cooler sleeping on top of the crater at 2,440 metres so no need for the nets around the bed as no mosquitoes...security had to walk us to our room last night after dinner as animals often come into the hotel grounds!! Before the crater collapsed it was thought to be 4,587 m above sea level...so much one could write but you can see in the photos....so dry down in the crater and all the rain forest up on the rim...an absolute line of green and then the dry..we only saw 3 of the big five here..the black rhino, hippos and lions....another full day of driving on African massage roads with box lunches which we sat in our vehicle and ate whilst we overlooked a lake with hippos....back to our hotel and again hot water bottles in the bed which was a bit of an over kill and our escort again to our rooms....little security in Tanzania, only to keep you safe from animals, nothing like the security in Kenya but we always felt safe...Wednesday 25th June....again on the road at 8 am and drove out of the crater park....also in Tanzania not hawkers at the park gates or at the border whereas in Kenya they drive you mad banging on the vehicle windows! Once out of the park we stopped at a village to reinflate our vehicle tyres as we were back on sealed roads until we had the turn off into Tarangire National Park...we did a game drive back on African massage roads, in the park to our lodge...another Sopa lodge...we have had these Sopa lodges all the way through Kenya and Tanzania...the lodges are a little more upmarket in Tanzania but all built in wonderful locations and you get used to having hot water for only a couple of hours and only having power for part of the day.....and so it was lunch...been very good food in both countries...lots of vegetables so I have been in pig heaven and lovely fruit.....and then another game drive after lunch.....it is interesting the parks that have lots of hyenas there are no skeletons lying around as the hyenas eat the bones too...so many poor people in both countries though....you see people living in such squalor conditions with a big flash church across the road....as we drove to Tarangire Park we passed through big open areas and more Masai villages...we are convinced the village we stopped at in the Oldavai Gorge was a show pony for tourists so we are glad we saw the real thing on the Masai Mara...we are blown away by the Masai people...they are every where in both countries and their stock is always crossing the road in front of you, even on the sealed roads...you have to be so careful...they rule!!  On the way to T Park we stopped off at a couple of gift shops and to use the lu (finally we are training our  driver in Tanzania...he is hopeless)  shops expensive but the wood carving was very interesting...rosewood, ebony and mahogany...beautiful things...T Park is 2,600 sq kms and it is elephants, elephants and more elephants and baobab trees and our cream of tartar comes from the pod (seeds in the pod) that grows on the tree.... interesting the burn offs they have...in the Serengeti the burn off had been earlier and it was strange to see long grass on one side of the track and fresh green grass on the other side...in T Park they had just done the burn off so it was scorched on one side and long grass on the other side....when the rains come the grass will spring into growth....we really have seen no spiders, few butterflies but so many beautiful colourful, big and small birds in Kenyan and Tanzania...English is the spoken language in both countries..a hang up from the British and 95% of signs, even in little villages, are in English...Thursday 26th June..Left 8 am and drove out of park to Arusha..there by midday and had lunch at a lovely hotel..Arusha is where they all go to Kilimanjaro from...this mountain has been in cloud to date so we have not seen it...but we did the next day....then a driver took us to Tanzania border...the usual landscape, corn, coffee plantations, sunflowers which we now know they use for oil....and Masai everywhere with their animals...T border very easy and then another driver took us to Kenya border which was quick and easy too but the hawkers were still there and more aggressive than ever...drove through Mt Meru crater I think it was en route to T border...can't find my paper work and so much we want to record to remember but it was a great sight, the mountain, and it is the 2nd highest mountain after Kilimanjaro..a long day as with muck up we got to our hotel at 2006 having left the Kenya border at 1536...Nairobi traffic terrible...Auckland is a doddle after Nairobi....Friday 27th up 4 am for pick up at 5 am for flight to Zanzibar....AND what a view we had of Kilimanjaro on the flight...she finally unveiled herself for us as we left....got to our hotel in Zanzibar at 11 am....did washing and then took a tour of Stone Town...what an interesting place...finished tour at 5 pm at Freddie Mercury's restaurant for dinner...we were starving as we had not had dinner the night before, or breakfast (a snack on the plane) and no lunch so it was time bottle of wine time and food! They had a revolution here in 1964 when the British left and then they had to get rid of the Sultan from Oman and then they came under Tanzanian rule...all very old here but such a history...very Portuguese and Arabic in architecture...beautiful old buildings but sadly nothing being repaired or maintained....salve trade here until 1964 ..so much history...went to the Anglican church built where the slave market was and went into the area where the slaves were held....we just loved walking the old narrow streets with all the produce, goods and the fish market...yellow tuna so cheap here...our fishermen wouldn't believe how much fish they get here...70% Muslims here so lots of veiled women and we are staying in the historic Tembo House which is a dry hotel.....Saturday 28th....9 am pick up from our hotel to go on a spice tour...en route we saw David Livingstone's house....very interesting and Queen Victoria had many visits to Zanzibar....the spice farm we went to was so interesting...learned so much about all our spices and our guide was so good...then they fed us all their various fruits....loved the custard apples and the jack fruit....we are right on the beach here and it is hot....28 to 30 degrees...time to go and walk the streets of old Stone Town again which is a World Heritage listed site as tomorrow we move to a beach resort on another part of the island.....Best Wishes.....M & F