Blogs from Nungwi, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa

Days 30-37: White sands and snorkelling in Zanzibar, African slave trade history, game driving in the Serengeti and the surreal Ngorongoro Crater Jambo everyone, Apologies again for those who have been waiting for the next post we know it’s been awhile… T.I.A. Rocking up to our accommodation in Zanzibar in our van with little to no expectations we strolled into what you could only describe as paradise. The whiteness and softness of the sand was stunning, not to mention the breathtakingly turquoise colour of the sparkling water in which little local boats floated close to the shore. The sun was shining strongly (Simon keeps questioning whether the sun is really this hot in Australia- the answer that I’m sure his mum Chris would agree with at the moment, is yes). We enjoyed a lovely ... read more

GREEDY TRAFFIC COPS HARMING ZANZIBAREAN ECONOMY! In Africa we take graft or bribes for granted. It’s an everyday thing that people just accept- It sometimes helps get things done... but other times... people just become plain greedy. My experience of the level of greed reached a NEW low when I realized how BAD the problem is in Zanzibar. It’s chasing away potential investors and harming the good image of this island. In my opinion these cops are a threat to the economy. What has generally been accepted as “normal behavior” has reached epidemic proportions on the roads of Zanzibar... traffic cops are no longer people interested in keeping the peace and protecting tourists and travelers on the road... they are becoming the PROBLEM... indeed they have be... read more

We got up for breakfast in the hotel before meeting our snorkel group – the boat was sooo rickety and stated it had a maximum of 25 people. Regardless, we counted 38 people plus four crew on our boat – we went so slowly. We watched all the other boats passing us. Africa again!!! We got to the snorkelling area two hours later and loved the experience. We seen lots of different fish and they all swam really close to us. All too soon, it was time to head back, stopping off at a different beach for lunch of rice, fish and bananas, basic but still nice. After our snorkelling trip we spent time at the restaurant with the rest of our group and went out for dinner to say goodbye to some of the members ... read more

Today Chris and I went in search of the internet café, this resulted in quite a long walk exploring the area but no internet was found. We ended up using the internet café next to the resort which was REALLY slow and we didn’t’ get to do much apart from reading some emails. We also spent time on the beach, read some, relaxed a bit and ate lunch. For dinner, we decided to splash out and head to one of the nicer restaurants that we had seen. Dinner came to less than £20 but for us that was a treat. We both had the fisherman’s baskets which was lobster, prawns, fish and calamari – very nice! We then went and sat around the campfire with some of the group before heading to bed.... read more

This morning we did a history tour of Stone Town, learning about the slave trade in particular. Lots of men were taken from Zanzibar as slaves to middle eastern countries. We seen the dungeons where they were kept for up to three days without food or water, just to test the strength of the man. The dungeons were not big at all, yet they would cram 70 men into one and 50 into the other. We also learnt about Dr Livingstone who is credited with helping to finally abolish the slave trade, there had been people before who had tried to achieve this but it was his negotiations with scholars at Oxford and Cambridge that ruled that the slave trade must be stopped. After our history tour, it was time to head north towards Nungwi which ... read more

After amazing time in Stone Town we headed to one of the nicest beaches in Zanzibar – Nungwi beach. On the way to Nungwi we passed many different villages and the locals were admiring us in the same way like we admired them. The road was quite good and calm to Nungwi compared what we are used to but actually we were expecting something different when we finally arrived to the beach resort. The car stopped on a super bad road and the surrounding invite us for a view that we didn’t expect for a resort area – many sheds which hasn’t be renovated for many years and still under constructor, the grass was uncut and the chickens walked around our tiny huts. But in the grass hats were quite clean and comfortable compare what we ... read more

Hi folks. Just a quick update from the stunning island of Zanzibar. Clear blue seas and sunshine. Possibly my favourite beaches ever. Anyway, we have been travelling down from nairobi overland. Can't quite believe how many different kinds of scenery there have been. First we travelled down to arusha in Tanznia. By the sounds of it, a good time to get out of Kenya following the troubles with Somalia. We went on safari to the Ngoro Goro crater; a caldera with its own ecosystem. Then we went to the serengetti and saw the big five in one day. Inlcuding lions in trees and leapard cubs. Unfortunatley wrong time for the wilderbeast migration. Can't really complain. We then travelled down through dar es salaam to the ferry and then accross to Zanzibar. For anyone thinking about it, ... read more

Hey Guys, It’s hard to believe it has already being a month of me traveling. Tonight is my last night in Tanzania, very bitter sweet after the past month. I have being up to quite a lot since my last Blog, here goes the update. I have ventured into Stone town two more times since I last blogged. Stone town is amazing and truthfully a lot more urban compared to the rest of Zanzibar, nice to eat different foods once in awhile. One of the days we went on a spice tour, which is around 20km away from town. How you get to these tours is basically just by asking a taxi driver to take you. Almost every cabbie has some kind of family that works for or lives on a spice farm, so they take ... read more

Day 76, “Domingo”, May 15th, thankfully our LAM flight was on schedule to fly to Tanzania. We arrived in Dar es Salam just in time to catch a small plane and arrive in Zanzibar at sunset. We got settled at the Africa House Hotel on the beachfront in historic Stone town. We loved the charm of the hotel that was restored from ruins in an eclectic African and Arabic style that reflects the diversity of Zanzibar. We enjoyed an intimate dinner in the hotel bar before turning in. Day 77, Monday, May 16th, we came to understand why May is low season in Zanzibar. It poured rain most of the day. We dodged the downpour as we explored the narrow streets and museums giving into being soaked but kept warm by the tropical humidity. Zanzibar has ... read more