Day 254 Tanzania 14/7/2011, Sakina camp-site, Arusha. Shopping in the city.

Not much to report today aside from another trip into Arusha. This time we had a walk around the central market and then headed out towards a big supermarket. Finally we have found a decent shop to stock up on supplies for the road ahead.

This afternoon has mainly been spent getting the blogs up to date. Sorting through the several hundred safari photos is going to take some time. At around 5pm the camp-site was invaded by 16 youngsters from Manchester who are doing their gold Duke of Edinburgh awards. As Debs said, 'what is wrong with the Lake district' where she did hers! Fortunately they aren't a rowdy bunch so our nights sleep is unlikely to be troubled.

We pushed the boat out for dinner and had steak and chips, complete with onions and carrots. Who said you can't cook a decent meal on a single burner stove!

Once again we had a few beers with Tom and Fiona and then settled in for the night. Tomorrow we will be getting back on the road for the short journey to the Snake Park.

Day 253 Tanzania 13/7/2011, Sakina camp-site, Arusha. A trip to the city.

We had a slow start this morning, recovering from the last few days animal spotting. Breakfast was followed by a trip into the city centre to find a post office for Debs and to enquire about mobile internet. The internet in Africa seems a little sporadic, so arranging our own seems like a better option.

Instead of staying around the older part of the city, we walked towards the more modern centre. Having found a post office and enquired at an electronics store about a mobile dongle, we went to have some lunch before visiting one of the mobile phone companies.

Lunch was nice but comparatively expensive, although we were dining amongst tourists so we wouldn't have expected otherwise.

With some help from the tourist office we found the Airtel office (they had been recommended to us) and have left with a sim card loaded with 30days of internet use. Instead of having them supply the modem, we bought an unlocked one from the electronics shop. That way we can keep changing sims as we change countries.

Back at the camp-site we managed to get all of our electronic equipment charged and the internet working. Arusha is going through electricity rationing, so knowing when there will be power is a little tricky. In theory it is on all day and then followed the next day by being on all night. This seems to be a little random though, timing your hot shower to perfection is essential!

Last night a nice Irish couple Tom and Fiona checked in, so we joined them for a beer or two. It has to be said that I had to go and get the beer as the camp-site had run out. Still it was cheaper! We will be here one more day and then we head for the snake park.

Day 248 Tanzania 08/07/2011, Sakina Camp-site, Arusha. Banks, ATM's and supermarkets

We both had a good nights sleep although Debs woke up cross with me, apparently I am now being mean to her in her dreams. I would like it to be made clear, I hadn't been mean at all, but it took her a while to get over the dream!

We opted for breakfast in the restaurant this morning, mainly because the only thing that we had to eat was noodles, plus at 4000TZS (£1.60) each it wasn't worth cooking. Not only was it cheap it was also surprisingly good and as we seemed to drink 4 or 5 cups of coffee each we more than got our moneys worth.

After breakfast I asked Robert if he would phone Benjamin at 'Arunga Expeditions' to see if they would take us to a bank to get the money for the safari. Benjamin had offered this last night when we spoke, but we had declined thinking that we would go into the city anyway. This morning the idea of wandering around Arusha with over a 1,000,000TZS (£400) each in our pockets, seemed a bad one! Especially as their office was a fair walk from the city. Robert totally agreed, even looking a bit concerned that we had even considered it! About 40 minutes later and we were heading into the city with two staff members from 'Arunga Expeditions' and dropped off outside a bank.

Having failed to get the money out inside the bank, we were told that we could just keep putting our cards into the ATM until we had all of the funds. Which is what we did, although unfortunately my card has a daily transaction limit as well as a withdrawal limit. Eventually we left the bank as Tanzanian millionaires and were taken back to the camp-site. We are now fully paid up and raring to go; let's hope the animals are ready for us.

This afternoon we set about finding a supermarket to try and replenish our supplies that have dwindled since Nairobi. Despite Robert's insistence, we couldn't find the supermarket near the camp ground and ended up on a very crowded matata heading back towards the city. Unless we find a much better one in the coming days we would have to say that Tanzanian supermarkets are not a patch on Kenyan ones. Nevertheless we managed to get some supplies and more importantly picked up some water for our safari. With bags of shopping and a couple of 5 litre water bottles in our arms we couldn't face another matata ride and opted for the more expensive, but easier taxi back to the camp. The rest of the day has been spent packing up our gear, chatting to Robert and suffering the disaster of my Kindle going wrong. Fortunately my Kindle has risen Lazarus like from the ashes, which is just as well or Debs would have had to put up with whinging on an epic scale!

Dinner and a few beers have rounded off the day nicely, roll on tomorrow.

Day 247 Tanzania 07/07/2011, free camp near Mt Meru – Sakina camp Arusha. 21.59miles/34.84km, 2hr16minutes, Av 9.4mph.

Free camping always makes me a little nervous, but here I have to confess to being even more so. Whether it was my imagination running wild, but I am convinced that I heard someone pacing up and down outside the tent at about midnight. I distinctly remember the sound of them running away when I stirred. Every sound of rocks sliding down the quarry walls had me convinced we were surrounded by animals. All the time I was just hoping I didn't need the toilet! Debs obviously was so exhausted that she slept through!

With morning came no Masai staring at us and no sign of any animals, except a pair of large birds nesting on the rock face which probably accounted for the falling rocks during the night. I really must get a grip, because finding camp grounds in these huge countries is not always going to be possible!

Having packed up quickly we rejoined the road and immediately started to struggle. The road we were on didn't seem that hilly, but we just couldn't seem to get going. What didn't help was the fact that all of the locals we encountered only seemed interested in asking us for money. This is clearly one of the downsides of cycle touring, everyone seems to associate us with the tourists racing past in their buses and 4X4's. They seem convinced that it is our responsibility to give them the money that they don't get from the other tourists. Despite the fact that unlike most people, we are spending money in the local community.

It would be unfair to say that everyone we met along the way was the same, but it was certainly quite a large proportion. When some children started throwing stones at us, while an adult woman who was with them watched on, we started to despair. Another lad who was nearby did gesture at them to stop, to which we shouted our gratitude, only to have him ask us for money. This is all in stark contrast to our earlier experience in Tanzania.

Eventually the road started to level out and our progress improved, despite one of the stiffest headwinds we have yet encountered. Fortunately the demands for money stopped as well and we had a bit of a return to the friendly greetings we had received before.

In a bit of a cheeky moment a young Masai on a bike drafted us both on a hill to avoid the now even stronger headwind. When Debs started to drop back he overtook her and latched onto my back wheel until I pulled over to wait for Debs. He gave me a wave, shouted thanks and headed on his way.

The rest of the journey to the camp-site was pretty straightforward, the wind never dropped and the dust it brought was fairly unpleasant but we arrived outside almost by accident. We hadn't been expecting to get to the site so soon, it was just as well that we saw the sign or we would have ridden straight past.

It may be a bit out of the city but our first impressions of Sakina camp-site, are that we will be quite happy here. Our host Robert is great and the food and drinks are all really reasonable. Later this evening we should be meeting with a guide from an affiliated safari company to discuss the possibility of a 4/5 day safari. It is going to be fairly expensive, but we had always planned to do at least one while we were in Africa.

With a little help from the camp-site chef Regina, we took a matata (minibus) into the city and she took us to an ATM where we could use our Mastercards (no fees, hoorah!). The journey back was a little more fraught as we were travelling solo and the bus was packed, but we managed to get them to stop in roughly the right place. At least we now know what we are doing, as the walk to town from the camp-site is a long one. Plus at only about 25p for a return journey on the minibus, it seems silly to walk.

Dinner this evening was good and there was plenty of food. Shortly after we had eaten the manager Benjamin from 'Arunga Expeditions and Safaris' arrived and we decided to book a 4 day 3 night safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. Debs had earlier put her travel consultant cap on and phoned several companies to check their itineraries and prices. The daily price of $170 per day that we had been quoted, had seemed reasonable and all reviews of the company that we had found on the internet had been positive. The safari is leaving the day after tomorrow and currently we will be a party of four/four and a half, Toad is obviously coming! All we have to do now is find a bank that will let us take enough money out to pay for the trip!