We were lucky enough to be invited out for an afternoon with our Tanzanian friends on Sunday. We headed out west on the Nairobi Rd and then due west towards the Serengeti to Maasai country. Mt Meru is always in our sites rising out of the more arid grasslands or open grazing land to the west of Arusha. We seem to leave behind the lush coffee and banana plantations as the landscape changes dramatically within 30 km.

Our friends, Helene and Jasper, are quite fond of the Snake Park and Maasai cultural centre. So we head out stopping for lunch in a forested park area. It's great to travel with locals because you would never know this was a restaurant serving game food. We sat in the garden area and we serenaded by a large array of birds. It was peaceful and quiet and the food was delicious. We were treated to a meal of Eland, fried potatoes, ugali (corn meal that is cooked like grits or porridge) and salads. The Eland (antelope) was delicious.

The Maasai herders seem to wander perilously close to the road as drive further into the dry regions west of Arusha. The day is hot but dry and the riverbeds are all dried beds. There hardly seems enough for any animal to graze in this short rain season. The variation in rainfall is remarkable for such a short distance.

Helene is clearly in her element at the snake park. We have a guided tour of the pythons, black mumbas, red pythons, crocodiles and turtles. This snake park has the antidote for most of the poisonous snakes, if you are lucky enough to make in on time, as well as a medical clinic and educational centre. In many cases what starts out as a tourist attraction gets some funding for something else and becomes many things. Our guide is very knowledgeable about the neur-toxins and time it takes for the poisons to work. he is also able to tell us the habitat and feeding rituals of the snakes. It is quite an interesting tour .

As well as being a snake park, there are camel rides provided by the uncharacteristically gleeful Maasai herder. Oona and Helene decide to go for a ride and the ever present Mt Meru is the backdrop.

We visit one of the larger gift shops that cater to the safari trade and overwhelmed with the selection of carvings and paintings for sale.