Blogs from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa
March 1st 2012
Spice tour this morning. Lunch at the coast. Tour of Stone Town, old slave market and shopping the rest of the day. On safari shooting pictures of people now instead of animals.... read more
February 29th 2012
Made it to Zanzibar. Flew out from Sarengeti to Arusha this morning, and then Arusha to Zanzibar. Flew right near the Ngorongoro Crater. Walked the beach and swam in the pool. Tomorrow will take tour of Stone Town and Spice Tour, then a flight to Dar es Salam.... read more
February 24th 2012
This morning we transferred from Stone Town to Kendwa, which is a small town on the north coast of Zanzibar. Our hotel is right on the blindingly white beach, and although it's a budget hotel, it's still pure indulgence. Hammocks, exotic cocktails (with a daily happy hour lasting for three hours) and massages on the beach. I don't think it could be any more perfect. I won't waste anyone's time by describing the minutiae of the two days we spent at Kendwa, because there's really nothing I can say other than I spent both days swimming, sunbathing and sinking cocktails. And for the first time since the tour started, I had time to myself, time to think. Time to really look at the world around me. Sometimes I'm very conscious of the constraints that exist when ... read more
February 24th 2012
I take back every bad word I ever said, and every bad thought I ever had, about Stone Town. Well, not every single one, but most of them. It's not a bad old place, really. We went back there today and we had a couple of hours to kill before catching the ferry to the mainland. I had resolutely decided to stay inside and catch up on some blogging and banking, more to avoid being assaulted/groped/offered drugs than because my to-do list was particularly urgent. But in the end I headed out with Sarah and Rebecca to explore the Stone Town labyrinth some more and give it a second chance. We found ourselves in the shopping district, where men and women wove at looms inside dimly lit rooms, and the shop doorways were awash with colourful ... read more
Island life luxury style and Jazz festival!
Published: February 14th 2012Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Zanzibar City
February 14th 2012
Pemba Next part of this endeavour of a “backpacking” experience takes us to the beautiful Island Pemba in Tanzania. Located a scorching five hours boat ride from Dar es Salam with a brief stop on Zanzibar to cram up on fuel and more passengers Africa style i.e. the floor is equally good place to sit. Not remembering to much of the horrible accident in 2011 when 800 passengers went down with the ferry running the route from Dar to Pemba where overweight was the supposed cause of the capsizing. However after arriving to Pemba, trying to get transport to the hotel were I was to meet up with my parents and sister, only to realise they wanted as much as the charge for the boat ride to this island I got on the local bus. The ... read more
Stone Town, You Let Me Down
Published: February 22nd 2012Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Zanzibar City
February 13th 2012
It takes less than three minutes to form an opinion about someone you have just met. I believe that something similar must be true for places as well, because it didn't take long for me to decide that I didn't like Stone Town. I'm not sure what, exactly, made me decide this. It might have been the anti-tourist man who shouldered into me so violently, and deliberately, that at home he'd be arrested for common assault. It might have been the eight year old girl who ran up to me and Rebecca and groped us. It might have been the cockroach in our room. It might have been the smell of old fish and sewage that roiled through the streets and choked me when the breeze picked up. Or, I don't know, but it might even ... read more
January 13th 2012
Zanzibar was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, but our time there had some ups and downs. We arrived at about 4am after 24 hours in transit. This was the wackiest transit in our itinerary as the only way we had been able to get a flight to Zanzibar was to fly from Maputo all the way up to Addis, then back down to Dar Es Salaam, then to Zanzibar. That, coupled with the 5-hour drive from Tofo to Maputo to catch the first flight (and my stressing out about getting stopped by the police and missing our flight), meant that we were ready to crash on whatever horizontal surface was available at our hostel, called Warere Town House. We had only booked a room for the following 3 nights, thinking it wasn't worth ... read more
January 2nd 2012
First, a few housekeeping notes. Digestive functions all ok (sorry to disappoint you Gordon); malaria meds' side effects - none to speak of to date; except for one tee shirt lost somewhere on Zanzibar, all items still in hand. Attempts to tone down the blond hair have rather failed - sun too strong and hot; upside is a nice tan (already). Am still in awe of the heat; consistent mid-thirties temps and have finally become accustomed to always sweating (although the many pools and ocean we have encountered so far have helped immensely). On to Zanzibar. We flew to the island with our safari companions - Mon's sister Carol, her husband Christian and daughter Calista (all currently living in Dar), Christian's sister Christine (visiting from Paris) and Joanne, an Ottawa friend of Carol's. Our happy little ... read more
Angry ladies, overflowed roads and good time
Published: December 31st 2011Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Nungwi
December 31st 2011
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
