We arrived into Agra early in the morning and went to the hotel for a wash and breakfast. Then we headed out to the Red Fort which was really beautiful – we had a good guide so it was really interesting too! In the afternoon we went to the Taj Mahal which was incredible! Definitely a building to be admired from the outside though… Inside where the tombs are was really dark and smelt of feet! Not a good combination! The whole area was heaving with tou...

When we arrived in Mirzapur we were able to take a shower and get some breakfast, then we were transferred to river boats where we spent the next 3 days sailing down the Ganges. It was lovely just relaxing on the boats which were very small and covered in cushions and blankets as we either used the sail or were rowed down the river. We drank lots of Masala chai (very sweet tea with spices-delicious!) and nearly froze to death spending 2 nights camping on the sand...

We flew from Zanzibar over to Dar es Salaam on the smallest plane you could imagine! We had to climb up rope ladder type steps and then when we were on the plane it was impossible to stand up straight the ceiling was so low! There was one pilot who we could see clearly and the seat next to the pilot (that had controls in front of it) was occupied by a passenger too! We flew pretty low straight over the sea to Tanzania’s coast… it only took about 20 m...

We arrived into Stone Town (the capital of Zanzibar) in the early evening and found a guesthouse to stay in… that night we wandered around the city where we found this fantastic place where there were dozens of stalls selling seafood skewers, chips, freshly squeezed bamboo juice, samosas… all sorts! The atmosphere was really lovely and we saw a Tanzanian couple there who had obviously just got married as she was still in her wedding dress! The n...

We had one night back in Mwanza and so went out for a farewell meal with some friends… unfortunately the power supply in the town was on the blink so we had to go to 3 different restaurants before finding somewhere that had lights and a cooking source! In the end we didn’t eat till very late but it was a fun night and good to see everyone again before I left for good! (Although I doubt it will be forever as I’m already madly missing the kids an...