On the Wild Side

On Boxing Day, we bundled into our car bright and early. By 8:30am, we were on the way to Arusha. It took us 9 and a half hours to get there!!! BUT it was worth the trip, as we were heading for our 2nd visit to the brilliant Brackenhurst conference in Nairobi, but with a 2-night stop in Arusha on the way.

Ian joined us for the trip to Arusha. On December 27th, we all went along to Arusha's Snake Park, where the children were entertained by visiting some of the least delightful creatures we could encounter in Tanzania! Here are a few of the rather menacing wild creatures we need to be aware of and wary of when living in Africa (thankfully, these ones were all behind very thick glass!!):

The most feared and lethal of African snakes- the black mamba:

Here is the black mamba's close relative, also very dangerous if you are bitten, but less agressive than its black counterpart: this is the green mamba:

I would not wish to encounter any of these creatures in the wild and I sincerely hope I never do!!

Ben was brave enough to stand by the cage of this Egyptian puff adder:

I preferred to keep my distance from all of these creatures! However, I had to laugh when I read this sign posted on the wall near to the snakes- it must be the biggest understatement ever:

It wasn't just us from overseas and foreign places who were interested in viewing the snakes. I was fascinated to see this group of Masai who came to look around. They appeared very interested in the slithering serpents. Since I don't speak any of their Masai language, I could not tell what their reactions were, but they looked as wary as I felt!

After walking around the wild creatures of the snake park, we found even more excitement in store, as there was the offer of camel rides nearby! Esther and Ben were keen to jump on board! They had a great time riding on this rather less wild, but nevertheless very bumpy, animal!