One early morning...

It was an early start this morning as I forced myself out of bed at 5.30am.

The air was cool and the sky was still an inky black. I stepped out of the banda and walked up the path towards the torchlight of Rama (one of our guards). He was escorting the honeymoon couple to the restaurant, so I whispered my good mornings, and fell into step behind them. After they had had their tea, I said farewell, thanked them for their stay and headed to the beach to wait for sunrise. A wide blanket of cloud prevented the sun from appearing on the horizon and I waited silently and peacefully for the rays to break through. In the meantime I was mesmorised by the driftwood and distracted by a small troop of Vervet monkeys that had appeared and begun running and jumping in the trees. They playfully grabbed each other’s tails and happily sprung up and down on bendy branches of the pine tree. One monkey even paused on the beach to watch the sunrise before continuing, and mischievously chased its friend on the beach. The show filled me with energy and I turned back to the sea to see the sun break free from behind the cloud and warm the beautiful day.
Asante sana Tent With a View x

A New Home...

I left the laid back yet traffic filled city of Dar es Salaam and began the drive towards Saadani. After nearly a five-hour drive due to a number of stop offs and initial heavy traffic, the bustle of the city and tarmac roads were swapped for villages and beach tracks. The bush began to grow thicker and the landscape varied between African savannah and old coconut plantations.

Michael, the head of the Masai security, met me in the car park and showed me the way to the reception. The restaurant/bar/reception/entertainment area of the lodge was amazing! The building was raised up on stilts, with all wooden and natural materials used in the construction and a makuti (palm woven/thatch) roof. The sides of the building were open and allowed easy circulation of the fresh sea breeze. As it was high tide, the sea could be seen from the small terrace and the waves heard lapping the dark golden sand beach. There was a great energy in the place with cheeky vervet monkeys springing through the near-by trees. Michael gave me a quick briefing and then walked me to Banda no. 12 and my new home. I was then left to settle in for an hour or so before dinner.

I fell instantly in love with the place! 

As I looked around, I took a deep, happy breath. 

I was home.

Tent With a View

A new adventure begins with a quandary...

There’s always a mix of emotions as I leave one place and set off on a new journey to experience a new home, job or adventure. This is a perfectly natural state of mind. You’re leaving stability, routine and established friends and/or family and heading out into the unknown. For some this setting off to explore the unfamiliar can hold trepidation, fear and insecurity (again, all perfectly normal), yet for some reason, I look at things differently. For me, the feeling of not having any idea of what the future holds offers great opportunity. There are new experiences to be had, new people to be inspired by and a wonderful chance for self-development. I suppose this is one of the reasons why I keep on moving and keep on challenging myself by diving head first into new adventures!

This time, however, there has been a quandary that I have had to seriously consider. Health is one of the most important things in life and one we all have to maintain and strengthen on a daily basis. As I am about to head to East Africa, one of the main concerns is malaria. I don’t want to get it, but I also didn’t want to take pills every day for close to a year (as I’ve never been a pill popper!) I’m the kind of person who has to have a headache develop to such an unbearable pain that it debilitates me before I’ll even take an aspirin. Getting the picture?

So….what does one do? Take lots of vitamin B, use citronella soap, spray insect repellant, eat garlic, keep myself covered from dusk to dawn and hope for the best? Take homeopathic remedies which haven’t been proven to function? Or take anti-malarial prophylactics that could cause considerable side effects?

Hmmmmm... to be honest, none of the above options are ideal.
So…after weeks of deliberation and discussions and having originally decided to not go down the pill route, the day before departure, I have changed my mind.

To appease my parents, the nurse and to some extent myself, I will be taking Doxycycline and see how I get on. This way I can concentrate all my energies on throwing myself into the new job at hand and not be paranoid about the first mosquito bite received.

Any advice or experience on this matter is most welcome. I will gain a better understanding into the situation once I’ve been there for a while, so any further insight I can share, I will duly do so.

This is it…new adventure about to begin…speak to you from Tanzania!  -x-

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Who says you have to conform to society?

I don't know who said that you have to conform to society and I'm not too sure how people who are all unique and have their own ambitions and passions can possibly all want the same thing. I, for whatever reason have chosen to follow my own path. One that allows me to live an authentic existence, learning and developing from every experience and where ever possible living in the moment.

No-one is saying this choice of lifestyle is an easy one, and I do believe it is a choice, but the rewards and insight far outweigh the other option of living a life that you don't want to live. Your time is now! It's never too late. I urge everyone to open up their hearts, minds and their connection to the universe, nature and everything that surrounds us to begin a shift of consciousness and indeed awareness and begin to live a fully present existence.

How does one do this? Now that's the million dollar question. Obviously the answer is never going to be a straight forward one, but by exploring and re-living some of my travel adventures and experiences, I would like to share what I have discovered so far.  

Watch this space...

Watch this space for ramblings and insights. Every travel adventure teaches us something new. I will share my adventures, thoughts and photography and look forward to hearing your thoughts.