Last month I made a long anticipated trip to Tanzania for some sun, safari and a little bit of volunteering.  I had the best of both worlds -  I stayed with one of my closest friends Carley Andrews, who has lived in Arusha for the past four years and so had the benefit of lots of local knowledge, while also seeing things through the eyes of a "mzungu" (the local Swahili reference to "white people").   There is no doubting the collision of ideals in Africa; the staggering beauty of the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater regions against the obvious poverty that the majority of the country lives in.

I was lucky enough to spend some of my time visiting a few of the local volunteering projects.  The kids at the Ujamaa Children's Home, founded and run by Carley herself, are such bright, beautiful beings it is 

amazing to think that they have had a far from perfect beginnings to life.  Irene, Sabina and Kelvin, the three eldest children, have no living parents. Five year old twins Ally and Halima lost their mother to HIV and their father, dying from AIDS, is too ill to care for them. Ally also has HIV, but since coming to live at Ujamaa a little over a year ago and receiving proper medical care his health has improved significantly.  They all attend local school and excel academically, with nine year old Kelvin finishing last year at the top of his class! You can find more information and ways to help Ujamaa Children's home at www.ujamaachildren.com.

Another place I visited was Cradle of Love (www.cradleoflove.com), a home for babies and toddlers who have been orphaned, abandoned at birth or whose mothers have died during childbirth or from HIV, with their remaining family unable to meet the demands of caring for a newborn.  In a place that exists purely because of such tragedy, it is a surprisingly heartening experience to spend time feeding, caring for and playing with these babies. The overriding feeling is one of positivity that these children are being cared for so well, when the alternative is awful to even think about.

And no visit to Africa is complete without going on safari!  Despite it being in the midst of rainy season our group, led by our fantastic guide Sam, was lucky enough to have near perfect weather for exploring the Serengeti.  As for the animals, you name it - we saw it! A herd of 55 elephants while on a dawn game drive, a leopard hunting a wildebeest, a newborn baby giraffe with it's umbilical cord still dangling form his belly, a pride of fierce-looking but ultimately sleepy lions and an entire pool full of hippos!  Looking back through my photographs, as 'normal life' resumes and everyday tasks take over, it actually becomes more and more amazing that I was there, literally within arms' reach of an elephant.