Greetings from the Impala Hotel, Arusha!

We've been here a week now and had a pretty amazing time though it's certainly had some tricky moments. We think we've learned the names of most of the younger babies and toddlers but are probably saying them in a pretty unrecognisable way! we've started to find out how they like to be entertained, and their daily routine (well sort of - there's plenty of guesswork involved). But when we found ourselves more or less in charge one morning - that was a bit scary!

The family we are staying with are lovely and welcoming - and still trying to make sure that we put on plenty of weight during our stay in Tanzania! Last night, with a rare evening of electricity, we watched their wedding video. A 2 hour epic which deserves wider release...

The photo above was taken during our day safari to the Arusha National Park yesterday. It's a small park, but we had a great day there, with the opportunity to see giraffes, monkeys and gibbons close up, as well as wart hogs (pumba), zebra, dikdik, water buck, bush buck and buffalo. We saw flamingo, ibis and other birds whose names I've already forgotten around the lakes within the park. And as the clouds lifted, we were able to see the nearby peak of Mount Meru, and the more distant Kilimanjaro. Beautiful!

Good news ... Matt's allergies are much better thanks to the attention of Dr Julius, but bad news ... he's found a couple of new illnesses to come down with. But he was able to enjoy the safari day yesterday (slumped in his seat) while Ben and Jon rode standing with their heads poking out of the roof all the way round. Hope Matt is better this week!

Went to church in Arusha this morning and worshipped in a mix of Swahili and English, or Swenglish as it is probably known. A couple of familiar songs amongst plenty of new stuff.

We are trying to arrange for much-needeed improvements to the flooring in the children's main living area at the orphanage. Not very glamorous, but a good use of the money that our friends gave very generously. However, things go slowly ... pole pole as they say. Will take a few before/after photos if we can!

This week - back to the orphanage for 4 days, then off into the wilds of Tanzania's national parks for 6 days. Don't know if or when we'll be back online!