72 hours in......

Hannah, crashed out in Nairobi airport. By the time we got fed last night, and the three hours time difference was stolen away, and we woke up at 05.00, we only managed a couple of hours sleep. The surprise appearance of several My Little Ponies who had apparently stowed away in Elsie's carry on bag saved us from a fairly crotchety arrival in Nairobi.

A 4 hour wait in Nairobi, then on to Dar es Salaam. We move through security like a well oiled machine now. Emma and the lasses all have Tanzanian passports, but I need a visa to enter Tanzania, so I join the scrum round the visa window. Next time I must definitely get organised and get one before I fly, I waited an hour in the disorganised chaos that you can only find in an African airport. At least it gave Emma a chance to gather our 8 suitcases, which had miraculously arrived intact and in total.

We normally have to do the last leg of the journey to Mwanza (north Tanzania, on Lake Victoria) by bus, but recently an Easyjet style company has started up, and by booking early I had managed to get us all on the internal flight for under £100. It seemed too good to be true. And it was. When we turned up at the check-in they said - Oh, your flight has already gone! I contested this hotly, but they said, Oh, yes, but since you booked, we've changed the schedule! No email, notification, nothing. Wit's end time again, I was on the point of throwing a fully fledged strop, Emma was getting ready to pretend he didn't know me, the guy obviously had some regard for his own safety, so he got on the phone to his boss, and they very kindly agreed to book us on the early flight tomorrow morning. There was some talk of this costing several hundreds of thousands of Tanzanian Shillings, but one look at my face must have indicated that this was not going to be an acceptable outcome, so no money changed hands. Not even the usual 'chai money' (bribe).

So, we are stuck in Dar for the night. And it's raining. We have got a hotel, which is new and clean and has air conditioning, but seems to suffer from a shortage of both towels and running water. I guess if you don't have one, you don't need the other. Reporting time tomorrow morning - 04.00!!