We began our honeymoon at the Sportsman's Arms in Wath-in-Nidderdale - one of my favourite places in the whole world. The complimentary champagne in our bedroom went unopened and was, in fact, donated to Lorraine and Paul as a "thank you" for volunteering to take our gifts back to our house and do some clearing up there at the same time.
Slightly hungover, we set off for Manchester Airport at 11am. Through beautiful, but overcast, Greenhow Hill, Grassington and Skipton. We reached the airport in good time to check in for our 2.15 flight to Heathrow. Dad, as ever, had been our chauffeur to the airport, and we said goodbye to him and Mum, happy and excited for our first adventure as Mr and Mrs Holt.
And here I am, 2 days later, sitting at the desk on our veranda in Selous Safari Camp - writing up our adventure so far. I feel like I Karen Blixen in Out of Africa! The only noise (apart from Roy) is the singing of birds and the gentle grunting of hippos. This gentle grunting will, in a few hours, have turned into a cacophony which after a while, can drive you quite mad.Sunday 3rd July:
Selous Safari Camp is a truly magical place. I can think of nowhere better to start married life. Aside from the luxury of the tents and the wonderful food and service, it is the setting which makes it so special. Just 10 minutes from the airstrip, you arrive to a welcome party of Game Park Guides and your personal butler - with Angela and Sandra (the Camp managers) at the helm. But I digress.... and am being distracted by watching an elephant crossing the lake in front of me, with a group of impala making their way back down to the water's edge, via the path in front of our veranda.
Back to Manchester. The lady who checked us in was also due to visit Tanzania and Zanzibar in October. The couple next to us were starting a round the world trip, and due to visit there later in the year. What I like about travel to places like this, is that everybody is headed for a unique experience and adventure. Fly with Thomson to Ibiza and it's clear that most of us will: eat, drink, sunbathe. Not one person we've met yet will be doing the same holiday as we are. Another couple were going to hike for 4 days around Ngorongoro Crater and then climb "Kili".
After a one hour delay we reached Heathrow. Quick transfer to T4 and the shops... oh - after throwing a cup of tea all over Roy! I bought the pen I write this journal with. Roy bought me the Swarovski Heart. Very apt! We also got him some after shave... quite a conservative shop for me.
I didn't enjoy the flight to Dar es Salaam... couldn't sleep, had restless legs all night. We landed in Dar at 7am local time. The usual "foreign airport chaos syndrome" prevailed. So we took a little while to clear immigration, but were finally on our honeymoon proper.
Elizabeth from CC Africa met us, and suggested that we check into a hotel (at our expense) rather than go to the Slipway, as had been suggested by our UK based agent. It was Sunday (Slipway is an area of shops and cafes) and nothing would open until late. The chance of a sleep and a shower was just too good to resist so we booked into the Movenpick Royal Palm Hotel for the morning. $90 and a bit of sleep later, we had some lunch there (our first taste of the rather good African beer!) and then headed off back to Dar Airport. This time to the Domestic Terminal which consisted of a waiting hall and a pair of scales for check in. We got our small plane down to Selous at about 3pm. I was worried about the weather - it felt cloudy during the flight - however on landing at "Selous International Airport" the sun was blazing hot.
The car trip into Dar had been interesting - we passed Masai Tribespeople, "eggmen" and people selling any number of items at the traffic lights, - including a TV aerial. We had to decline. The trip to Selous Safari Camp could not have been more different. As we landed we were greeted by a welcome party of 4 giraffes in the water's edge. A jeep picked us up to take us to camp.On arrival, over a glass of fresh lime juice, Sandar explained who our Butler would be (Issa) and who our main Guide was (Bruno). Bruno told us that we would be going out for a game drive in half an hour. How exciting. Just enough time to find our stunning tent (number 13 of 13) and quickly take it all in before setting off back to "reception" to meet the others. Our partner couple for the duration of our stay are Ailsa and Justin - also on honeymoon (as are many guests here - it is July after all). The four of us, and Bruno, occupied the huge 8 seater jeep with high seats and fully open all the way round. This truly is the stuff of dreams... within minutes of leaving camp we'd seen Giraffe. Then Impala. Elephants. Warthog. Squirrels. Monkeys. Crocodile. Hippos. Loads of birds. Absolutely amazing. We stopped at the lakeside for sundowners (a tin of beer from Bruno's cool box) and were treated to a visit from a young bull elephant coming down for a drink. Bruno made us get back into the jeep quickly and quietly. We watched the elephant circling us for a good 10 minutes before he got bored and roamed off -with Bruno educating us about the family life of elephant and how the teenage males get kicked out of herd and spend years along before partnering up.
Dinner that evening was preceded by chef Peter coming out to announce his menu. This turned out to be a daily and very cute ritual. He was such a nice guy. Tonight, he announced Chilled Fried Banana with Chilli Sauce, Beef with Green Pepper Sauce/Corn/local creamed Spinach, followed by a dessert of Chocolate Mousse with Strawberries and coffee. We ordered wine with dinner. After dinner, everybody went straight to bed - this was at about 10.15pm. An askari (armed guard) walks you back to your tent, as the camp/park is not fenced at all, and any kind of animal could be around.
We'd left lights on in our room - resulting in the bed being covered by dead and half dead insects. We cleared those up and got into bed, exhausted. The sounds of the bush were all around us. We didn't know what most of the noises were - but there were plenty! Birds and Hippo mostly. After such a long journey and exciting start to the Safari, we nodded off quickly.
But soon, there was rustling, and then footsteps outside our tent... what could it be? The footsteps got heavier and nearer to the tent wall (effectively just a mosquito net). Roy woke me up: "That's definitely an elephant" he announced, reassuringly adding "I'm scared". So was I. I lay shivering for the best part of an hour - partly with fear and partly with cold!
Monday 4th July:
Next morning we were woken by the Askari shouting "Hello.... Hello" and leaving us a flask of coffee and some biscuits on the front veranda outside the tent (there is no door for him to knock on!). Thus followed a huge palaver of getting said coffee etc inside the tent. It was pitch dark outside and Roy was still scared from the noises of the night. So he made a mad dash in and out of the tent 4 or 5 times... bringing the flask in, then the coffee cups, then the biscuits...
Only on his last trip did he realise that there was a tray underneath it all and that one trip would have sufficed.
Time for our first "proper" game drive - with a 6am call and a 6.30am start from camp. We were lucky in that Justin and Ailsa wanted to be up and out early, too - we noticed over the week that some guests had a lie in, breakfast in camp and didn't drive out until almost 9. Not for us - we wanted to be the early birds getting all the best animal spots - including some of the nocturnal beasts.
It was dark when we woke and almost fully light as we left our tent at 6.25am. Bruno drove us round looking for animals but to be honest the first hour was fairly quiet. Had the getting up early been for nothing?
Then we started to spot things - everything we'd seen the previous evening, plus: Buffalo, Wildebeest, Baboon, Zebra, Hyena and Kudu. We went round the lake again and then, out of nowhere, came two men and a boat - they pulled up onto the lake shore.... Breakfast! Fabulous. We ate cheese frittata, sausage sandwich, fresh peach juice, papaya and homemade bread and marmalade. All this carried across from camp to our own private picnic spot.
After breakfast, Bruno announced that he was taking us "half an hour out of camp" to look for lions. We didn't see lions, but ended up in a wonderful glade like area full of watering holes with Baboon and Impala. Back to camp just in time for lunch - we'd been out for over 6 hours!
Lunch was a gourmet sit down affair with chilled Carrot and Cumin Soup, Cracked Wheat salad, Fishcakes and Cucumber/Dill/Feta, followed by Fruit Salad.
After lunch we had time for a quick siesta before our second activity of the day - a boat trip. We set off across the lake - just the two of us. Justin and Ailsa had decided to go for another drive, despite Bruno trying to persuade them otherwise (it's a hassle sorting vehicles etc. when guests don't want to go with the suggested activity plan). We went round the edges of the lake very slowly, seeing Crocs, Hippo pods, Birds along the way. It was very hot on the water at such slow speeds. After an hour or so, our driver decided to race us back and forth along the lake, really fast, which was great fun. Then we headed for the far shore. As we approached, we could see a jeep and as we got closer, realised that Justin, Ailsa and Bruno were waiting for us. We climbed out of the boat, and Bruno presented us with a bottle of bubbly and 2 glasses - for our honeymoon.
Extra special sundowners tonight then, for more than one reason. As we snacked on cashews, (they'd set out a little table with a cloth and nibbles, bless) the guys told us how they'd spotted lions on their drive! Roy was gutted! "I knew we should have gone on the drive with you - you're lucky" (Ailsa and Justin had seen lions when travelling from the airstrip to camp on their first day).Bruno got on his radio - he came back and said that the lions were still there (somewhere out near the landing strip). Justin and Ailsa kindly agreed to let us have their jeep (a 2 seater) so that we could go to see them. They would go back to camp in our boat. "Quick" said Bruno "We have to leave NOW or it will be dark before we get there". So, leaving our drinks behind, we raced off toward the spot where the lions had been seen. What an exhilarating experience, racing across the bush at high speed on narrow, windy tracks! We arrived near the airstrip at 6.15pm - sundown is 6.30pm. Bruno radioed to Andrew, another Guide, to check that the lions were still there - yes.
Soon after, I spotted one of them. A beautiful adult lioness, lying relaxed on the ground. She didn't budge. As we approached, Bruno let us watch her for a moment and then we truned a corner to find Andrew's jeep and two more lions - another adult and a cub, both female. Soon, the single adult began calling to the other, and right in front of us, in the fading light of day, the adult got up and walked past our jeep. Stopping for a pee, she called the cub again and the cub got up and left. All three of them were now in the same spot. But as it was now almost dark, we left them along and headed back for camp, scaring some giraffes in the road en route. What a fantastic end to the day. We later found out that everyone in camp had seen the lions - we'd have been so annoyed to be the only two who hadn't!
Dinner was good - they are so imaginative with the food available. It is shipped in (frozen and tinned stuff) once a month and a local village grows vegetables for them. But apparently, supplies can be unpredictable! Tonight we ate Bruschetta, Sweet & Sour Pork, Baked Potato, Carrots, Sesame and Green beans. Followed by Apple Crumble. Roy was pleased, his favourite pud! We ate in tables of two - they try to mix and match the dining arrangements here each night, so sometimes you're alone, and other times with your "activity" partners.
A very early night for us - 9.30-ish when we left the dining area, but we needed the rest as we'd decided on another early start (6am "hello" call) for a bush walk.
The animals weren't quite as worrying tonight now that we'd become accustomed to them (aided by a large whisky after dinner).
Tuesday 5th July:
We met Andrea at 6.30am to start our 3 hour bush walk. He had an African armed guard with him and we were instructed to walk in single file, silently at all times. We walk in a sort of relay system so that every 15 minutes or so, the lead walker drops to the back of the line and somebody new gets chance to be at the front (well, behind the gunman!).
Apparently it is your listening skills that will alert you to danger more than anything else.
If you know what you're listening for of course...
Every 10 minutes or so we'd stop for some info on the flora, fauna and wildlife of the Selous Bush. We saw giraffe and impala from the ground but luckily no elephants!
Andrew was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the Bush. After 2 and a half hours walking and examining animal tracks and poo - highlights including Andrew putting a giraffe turd in his mouth.
We met up with Issa on the lakeside for breakfast. Andrew told us he'd been waiting for 5 or 6 years to come to the Selous. Why? We wanted to know. "Because its the Selous" he explained. Apparently in the game industry, Selous is the most prestigious park to work in, due to it's really wild and natural environment.
After the veg frittata, sausage and fruit/bread/marmalade feast, we were told that we'd be going back to camp in the boat. Expecting to be whizzed rapidly across the lake, what a surprise when they took us on a hour long tour off the lake and onto the Rufiju River itself. We saw some beautiful birds and the usual assortment of crocs and hippos. We arrived back at camp at 10.30am - early for us - and so had the luxury of lazing around until lunch and up to our 4pm Game Drive that afternoon. I slept both before and after lunch! But just sitting on the veranda at the back of the tent, there was too much happening - woodpeckers pecking, lovely bluebirds flying about and the odd impala racing up and down - to sit and read.
Lunch was Mango and Smoked Fish salad, Mushroom Quiche with Bean Salad, Tomato and Mozzarella, and Papaya Mousse.
After lunch I was having another sleep when I was woken by the sounds of birds outside. It was very hot and they were really going for it. All hot and bothered, I decided to take a shower to cool down. Bruno came to visit us to tell us that the afternoon drive would be at 4pm (slightly later than normal) because he was on "airport duty". The four of us set out, as ever mercilessly teasing Bruno about wanting to see a leopard (or le-o-pard as he called it). Once again, we saw no leopard. But we did see Waterbuck, which we hadn't seen before. Every time we had a new "spot" it was very exciting.
Bruno was also good at spotting birds, even the well hidden and well camoflauged ones like the Marsh Eagle. Tonight we also caught a fleeting glance of a Mongoose which was rare, and we hadn't seen one before. Sundowners tonight was Kili (beer) on the lakeside listening to hippo and watching storks and other waders and skimmers. It was a nice sunset (again). We also saw giraffe "necking" - like nuzzling each other - which made a nice change from seeing them staring at us and then running away.
Back to camp for another shower under the stars (or was it watching the sunset on the lake, I forget?). It wasn't the usual set up for Dinner - drinks in the lovely seating area and then dinner itself. Instead, we had been invited by Sandra and Manie to the "opening party" of the other camp - which had been having some work done. In future, rather than one camp of 13 tents, 9 tents will make up the Selous Safari Camp, and 4 tents (the 4 including ours) will make up "Private Selous". We were fortunate to have had a sneak preview of how Private Selous (more exclusive and expensive) will operate. What a bargain for us!
The camp was completely full, so the main bar, which we'd never visited before, had a crowded feel to it. If you can call 30 people a crowd, that is. We had champagne and chatted to Jess and Richard, another honeymoon couple who had gone to Selous via Ras Nungwi. We shared a table with Ailsa and Justin. The party atmosphere was nice and they'd printed special menus for us.
It was a late night - partly because of the party, and partly because it was a long walk in the dark bush from Tent 1 back to Tent 13!
Our Askari got us home safe. The stars here are incredible - Angela showed us the Southern Star on the way to dinner and explained how you use it to find South. Another wonderful day over. Amongst the sounds this evening, was the noise of somebody or something peeing loudly outside our tent. Askari or Animal? I'll never know.
Wednesday 6th July:
"Hello." We'd arranged another 6am call. By 6.30am we were in the jeep and ready to go - having asked Bruno to take us out on a long drive and take a packed breakfast with us. Little did we know when we set off how exciting a morning this was going to be. Within moments of leaving the camp we'd seen a lone Hyena - he stopped and posed at the side of the road for us. Apparently it is rare to see them as they are nocturnal. It finally paid off to be the early ones out of camp. Soon after we had a Buffalo crossing the road in front of us and a couple of Warthogs running around. Then, on the lake side, we watched a hippo sniffing about waiting to go back into the water. As with most animals, they are territorial and do a poo on the lake side when they come out of the water. This lets them know where to go back in. Simple!
Another hippo nearby was grunting loudly to signal his disapproval of our guy moving into the wrong space. Eventually he got back in. We moved on.
Bruno seemed to take us much further than usual, and he had us checking trees for le-o-pard all the time. We saw the usual assortment of giraffe and impala - including two bucks fighting - and eventually stopped on quite a high area for cheese and cucumber sandwiches. Bless Bruno - the Camp doesn't usually do Take Out for breakfast so he'd got up extra early and raided the fridge. Unfortunately he'd made the sandwiches right after putting on his aftershave. Or so it seemed as I ate cheese, cucumber and eau do cologne scented breakfast!!.
As we munched, enjoying the wonderful view of open land and not a soul in sight, the radio crackled. "Bruno, Bruno". It was Issa, wanting to know what time we'd be back for breakfast! We declined! Later, Issa.
In this area we looked at and learned all about termite mounds. Then back in the jeep for more le-o-pard hunting. We passed a few cars coming the other way - unusual as we rarely saw any other vehicles out on a drive. They weren't Selous cars, but people down from Dar who'd been fly camping. Bruno was excited after speaking to the driver. "They've seen wild dogs and lion" he told us. All of a sudden, he put his foot down - "I don't want to miss the wild dogs" he explained.
Another high speed race through the bush. We drove for quite a while (outside camp boundaries, I suspect) and then, suddenly, there they were. A pack of 10 African Hunting Dogs (also known as Painter dogs). Bruno was so thrilled to see them. He said he's seen them twice since being in Selous.
Tell people that you've seen wild dogs" he urged us "They won't believe you. This is the number one spot in Africa - never mind le-o-pard." These dogs are so highly mobile that they're really hard to find. Today we were lucky to see a pack of 10, they all had a little walk about after we approached but then settled in under a tree to sleep. Bruno said they'd eaten.
Once again, Bruno had come up trumps. On our way back we met up with Ludwig's jeep - also on the way to find the dogs as Bruno had radio-ed round to the rest of camp about our spot. The two drivers stopped to discuss location and pored over the map together for a while. Eventually they decided that Ludwig would take us back to camp and that Bruno would take his jeep and group out to the dogs. 
Ludwig asked us what we wanted to see next. "Lions" was the unanimous reply, as the three lions we'd seen had been spotted again in the area, quite close to camp. Within an hour we'd found them. They were lying in the shade of trees, watching zebra, impala and giraffe on the plain before them. "They'll hunt today" Ludwig explained. They didn't move much as we sat there, but Ludwig said that one of them wasn't too pleased at him talking and disturbing them stalking, so we set off back to camp.
After lunch of Lasagne, pineapple with yogurt and nuts, we went back to our tent. Bruno still wasn't back from taking his second group out to see the dogs but we'd agreed between us that we wanted to do another drive later on. We chilled on the veranda - watching what was going on on the lake etc. Bruno came to see us at about 4 and said that we couldn't go for a drive as all the jeeps were out. Instead, he offered us a boating and fishing trip with the guy who took Prince Charles, Harry & William out in the '90's when they visited Selous. Cool!
Ailsa wasn't too sure about giong - she really wasn't happy on water with hippos around. In the end she came with us and we pootled around on the lake for 30 minutes or so. At one point we rounded a corner to see a huge lone elephant drinking on the bank. He started at us and then got a bit edgy, stamping his leg and looking like he would spray us with water. As we backed away slowly he charged off back into the bush and luckily not into the water at us!
The others saw a Monitor Lizard but I missed it. We saw lots of crocs and birds again. When we got out on to the bank to fish, there was a HUGE croc about 30 feet away, but he was "no problem" according to our Guide. After an hour fishing, Justin was the first to manage a catch - a small catfish. And that was it for the day! Not very impressive, but we had seen a baby hippo going back into the water with mum. And we boated back to camp watching the most incredible sunset. 
In fact, the sun had not fully set when we docked - the first time we'd been back before dark - so we enjoyed G&Ts in the bar.
For dinner, Angela had set up the table by the boma (camp fire). Now that we were in Private Selous and the other 9 tents were eating in the main dining area, there were only 8 of us left in camp. We had drinks round the campfire - Ailsa and Justin were missing, we found out later they'd had a private dinner on their veranda.
Tonight, Peter pulled out all the stops and fed us Battered Prawns, Garlic Steak in Pepper Sauce, Dauphinoise potato, peas and mashed Pumpkin. Pudding was Creme Caramel. All the bread here is home made and yummy!
We were in bed quite early - 10.15pm and it was our last night in the bush. At that point, I didn't realise how much I'd miss it. The usual assortment of hyena calls and hippo visits broke our sleep.
Thursday 7th July:
For our last morning we'd arranged - surprise! - a 6.30am game drive. Issa had offered to arrange hot water for our return so that we could shower before leaving. If you want to shower any other time than around 6-7pm, you have to give them 30 minutes notice, as the water for showering is heated by building a fire under your water tank at the side of the tent.
Bruno offered two choices - a drive to Mtemere Gate to see how the administration of the park worked, or a bush game drive. We opted for the game drive - when you know that lions are about and you still haven't seen a le-o-pard, you want to keep hunting. We tried some reverse psychology, saying that we didn't want to see le-o-pards today. We saw pretty much everything else - including our first sighting of Eland, a beautiful and very shy antelope. Bruno says they're tasty!
On the way back to camp we saw the lions - resting with full bellies under a tree. One of them still had a keen eye on the impala grazing nearby. I think our presence alerted the impala that lions were there as they soon got up and left, making the snorting warning noise that they do. We drove on after a few minutes longer with the lions. We'd also seen giraffe, zebra, hyena - a pack of 4 - wildebeest, Lilac Crested roller birds, buffalo, warthog, baboons, an eagle, and tiny baby elly and hippos up on land. The perfect end to it all really.
We arrived back in camp at 10.30am for breakfast. We'd never eaten breakfast in camp before and were amazed at the selection! Grapefruit, muesli, honey, yoghurt, sausage, egg, toast, tomato and hash brown.... just a small breakfast then! No sooner had we finished and Issa told us he would arrange a romantic private lunch on our veranda. We went back to the tent, showered and packed and wandered down to wave off Justin and Ailsa, who were leaving earlier than we were.
Back again to our tent, where Issa had surreptitiously set up a table and chairs on the veranda. We asked him for small portions - well it was only a couple of hours since breakfast. he brought Aubergine Fritters with sweet chilli sauce, Fish, Coleslaw and Pasta with tomato sauce. Passion fruit pot. We passed on coffee!
As we ate, 
a single - tusked elephant wandered past our veranda, minding his own business! Wonderful... you couldn't wish for a more idyllic farewell feast.
We went to pay our bills and tip our wonderful guide and butler, then spent our last hour exploring "old camp" and looking at photo albums and pictures of Prince Charles and his boys on a visit to Selous. I noticed that they got safari chairs for their fishing trip - us commoners had to stand.
Then it was time to say goodbye. Angela told me to always remember them - as if I could forget. And to "remember everything you've seen, heard, smelt and tasted here". I choked up at this stage and quickly got into the jeep. Our farewell committee waved us off and we were on our way to the airstrip at Siwandu Lake. We saw a few animals on the way of course, but not that elusive le-o-pard.
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