Day 36 Arusha, Snake Park Campground

Tuesday January 18^th. Left camp about 7:15 and drove northeast. En route we had our first view of Kilimanjaro, albeit from a long way away. Great to see me future destination. We meant to be in camp by about 1:00 but traffic was heavier than anticipated and we arrived about 2:30. We past through Moshi, where I will return for my Kilimanjaro journey.

Set up camp and had a quick lunch. Then some of them went back on the truck to Arusha to pick up supplies for our excursion into the Serengeti.

The rest of us stayed and explored the camp. There are a number of things to do here. John and I went to the snake zoo and saw a number of varieties of cobras and both the black and green mambas. They are both very quick, aggressive, highly venomous snakes. The green mamba has the largest fangs of any snake at four centimetres.

Then we went into the Masai cultural museum with a Masai guide. He told us all about how they lived in the past and some still do today. They are herdsmen and the eat mostly meat. The women build the homes out of sticks lashed together with bark and covered with a mixture of ash, cow dung and earth to form a mud. He also explained at length about a boy becoming a man and being circumsized at 14 or 15. He cannot cry or blink during the process and if he does he is banished and cannot marry. They used to circumsize women too, to control them, but now that is illegal. He also explained how they withdraw the blood from their cattle that they drink with milk to stop it from clotting.

The exit of the museum led directly into a market village. We went into a couple of huts and then excused ourselves to go to the bathroom.

Then we visited a small walk in clinic that is based here too. They treat various illnesses and accidents including snake bites. We found out that their is basically anti venom for two types of venom and the symptoms of the bite are quite different and easy to tell apart. One affects the nervous system and the other is more local and causes tissue damage. So you don't necessarily need to know which snake bit you.

Then we went back to the hut shops and purchased a few trinkets for ourselves and people at home.

Vernon cooked us our last meal, which was a great curry that he had served us on the first part of the trip. Then he gave us a briefing about our Serengeti safari – sounds great!