Blogs from Zanzibar City, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 8
Day 20 - Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Published: December 15th 2008Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Zanzibar City
December 1st 2008
What a day! One of the best so far! We arose really early at about 4am and had a pick breakfast before piling into 2 taxis (one car, 1 matatu) to go to the ferry port. It was a lot less scary than before and I even fell asleep! We crossed over the bay on the little ferry without having to get out of the cars and were then dropped at the terminal for the ferry to Zanzibar. I saw all sorts of things being taken to the island - 1000 chicks in 10 cardboard boxees all madly chirping away, a guy carring a full sized wardrobe on his back, a bed and some footstools. Soon we were on our way and I fell asleep. I woke about an hour later when it got a bit ... read more
October 30th 2008
Hello all am currently in Rwanda but gonna do two blogs cos has been so long and I guess not many of you will be bothered to read 1 long one so if I do two u can read it wen uz are bored. So I will start were I left off, that nite after I done my last blog I went on a nite safari which was cool we had a crazy driver who sped around in the dark with only a torch for a light which was really cool, he was going at least 30/40mph off road was a lot of fun clearing bumps, but was worth as when we had only a few minutes left to get out the park we spotted a leopard walking along, it was well worth the back breaking ... read more
Gragras Visit to deepest, darkest Africa
Published: October 27th 2008Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Zanzibar City
October 24th 2008
Murray’s parents have spent 3 weeks with us. We spent the first week looking around Nairobi, with a day trip to the edge of the Rift Valley escarpment with its breathtaking view and then on to Nakuru National Park for rhinos and flamingoes. The second week we spent in Zanzibar, Tanzania. We started by exploring Stone Town’s maze of streets and stalls, and taking photos of the intricately carved doors. We stayed at St Monica’s guest house, adjacent to an Anglican church built on the site of the slave market at the time the slave trade was abolished in 1870’s. It was very emotional to be shown around the church and see the prison chambers underneath the hostel. We then moved to a small hotel at Pongwe beach on the east coast. The location was superb, ... read more
October 22nd 2008
A few of the group, me included left Nungwi early in the morning so that we could visit the agricultural villages of Kizimbani and Kindichi on the way. Driving through the island we have always been aware of the variety of flora and fauna but until today did not know what any of it actually was. The various plants and trees that carpet the island turned out to be a real feast for the senses. A huge variety of spices are grown here on the island such as cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, turmeric, vanilla and curry leaves. Alongside these bananas, bread fruit, star fruit and coconuts thrive. Everywhere we looked there was another little surprise. Our guide around the two spice farms we visited was very knowledgeable and told us all about how each spice ... read more
Into the heart of the dark continent
Published: October 17th 2008Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Zanzibar City
October 15th 2008
Hi everyone from Zanzibar, Tanzania. As expected, internet connections are few and far between in East Africa, and when you get your hands on one, it is usually rather slow :-( We have been going at a real breakneck speed for the last two weeks since our tour with Absolute Africa started. This is the only leg of our world tour that we are doing via package and we are still getting to grips with group travel, and the speed at which the tour is running. We were really surprised on day 1 to find our truck roll up completely empty, and just us two waiting at the hotel for collection! We had the whole 28 seater truck to ourselves for the first 3 days, until we picked up one more person. It was not until ... read more
September 27th 2008
Well, as predicted I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on the computer. So I can't possibly explain everything that I've been up to, but I can give you the general idea. I spent two weeks with my homestay family in Stone Town. They were really nice, but spoke very minimal English (although it was great they spoke any at all) so communication was hard, but I think we managed fine most of the time. There were a couple of funny incidents though. Once, during dinner, i decided to question if something had potatoes in it, but after I spoke they looked at me strangely and I didn't understand until they told me the word I had used for potatoes- "viatu"- actually meant shoes (apparently "viazi" means potatoes). Oops. But that wasn't the ... read more
September 12th 2008
of Africa. Barack Obama is the most popular person in Africa, and so we thought we should mention a little bit about what people over here think about him, given the heated political battle back home. There are actually fairly few American tourists in Tanzania at the moment, and so, whenever anyone finds out where we're from, we're frequently asked, incredulously, if we think Obama can win. The people here are VERY excited. This we were expecting. But we were not expecting Obama to generate so much goodwill toward America even before the election. The people here are simply excited that an African man would even have the opportunity to become president of our country. In other words, the fact that he's gotten as far as he has means all the world to them - whether ... read more
September 11th 2008
Sorry for the delay since our last post - we have had a difficult time finding internet for the past few days. On September 9, we descended into Ngorongoro Crater for our last day of wildlife viewing in Tanzania. We saw some very large herds of resident wildebeest and zebra, as well as hippos, elephants, lions, gazelle, hyenas, etc. - basically everything but giraffes. We also managed to see a black rhino! Apparently they had had a difficult time spotting rhinos for several days because of the cold weather, but the rhinos were back out grazing in the warmer weather. It was funny seeing the rhinos because our tour guide said that rhinos in Tanzania are protected more than our president! Apparently there are about 18 black rhinos left in the crater, and the rangers get ... read more
Adventures on the other side of the Equator
Published: September 9th 2008Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Zanzibar City
September 9th 2008
I acknowledge that I have been extremely tardy on adding an entry to this blog. Unfortunately, I've been tied up most of the time, enjoying the constant 25 degree or hotter weather and beach time. Most of the good stuff Shanda has already told you about, the swimming with dolphins, the sunset cruises and fabulous beach weather. Don't worry though, I have put in my time at the hospital. I am getting exposed to a lot, blood and pus mostly, but these are memories to last me a lifetime. Since there's no CT for hundreds of miles and you never know when the patients x-ray was actually taken, it leaves you rather shaken to think about how the patients manage to get out of hospital at all. Femoral fracture repairs are done under spinal block, and ... read more
