Blogs from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 11
Advertisement
Our volunteering wrapped up almost a week ago now, and since then we have been doing quite a bit of traveling. Unfortunately a lot of these computers do not have USB ports (or at least none that I can see), so the pictures will have to wait until we can get them up on facebook. Last Saturday we left very early in the morning for Arusha to meet up with our Safari company. There were two other guys in our safari car; one from Texas who had just finished climbing kili, and another from Korea who could barely speak a word of English. The first day we were in Lake Manyara, and didnt see anything too crazy besides black giraffe. I've never heard of a black giraffe before, and when I saw one in the distance ... read more
Scuba Diving Off Mnemba Island, Underwater Paradise
Published: May 18th 2010Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » KendwaMay 13th The destination was Mnemba Island, very small atoll off the coast of Zanzibar. The island is and surrounding waters are part of a marine preservation and so it is ideal for scuba divers and snorkelers. We got on the boat around 9:30am and made our way up the coast to Nungwi Beach, where Nicio, Justin and our instructor Deus were to be picked up, along with our lunch for the day. It was raining cats and dogs for the pickup and the beginning of the trip, but luckily the rains don’t last long in the rainy season and by the time we made it to Mnemba it was peace and sunshine. We got our BCD’s (buoyancy control devices, the vest that holds the air tank and also inflates) ready along with our wetsuits and ... read more
May 11th Here’s a fun fact for you, did you know that Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar? True story, the late lead singer of Queen was born on the island, he still holds local legendary status with pubs named after him actually. On the morning of the 11th I woke up early to make it down to Kendwa Beach, a few clicks south of Nungwi Beach. The PADI scuba class to become fully certified in open water was meant to be a 3 day course, one full day of classes, another half day in the classes, followed by a couple confined water dives, and then the last day would be the first “real dives”. Justin and I decided to take a 2/3 course because if we had done what Nicio did (get fully certified) then it ... read more
From Stonetown to Nungwi Beach on the North Shore
Published: May 18th 2010Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » NungwiMay 10th We said our goodbyes to Xuxa, Rachael and Nico in the morning after tea and toast. It was a shame they were going to another part of the island, we had such a good time together and everyone got along well! Oh well, c’est la vie, right? After departing from the Safari Lodge, Justin, Nicio, Wendy, Cameron and I jumped in our taxi to head to the north side of the island and get some beach and snorkel time. The drive took about an hour and a half and it passed by fast. The scenery was great and it was cool to think about what the island was like six hundred years ago. We got dropped off at the Sunset Hotel and Bungalows, and we didn’t need to go any further, this place was ... read more
May 9th The ferry that would take the 8 of us to Zanzibar was to leave at 10:30 in the morning, so we were able to sleep in a bit more than normal. As a group we decided to take a couple taxis back over the bay and to the Zanzibar ferry, this was nice and quick, although a bit more expensive than going in a matatu. We waited for what seemed like an eternity to get on the ferry but the time did come. It took us about two and a half hours to get to Stonetown, the port for the island. My stomach wasn’t happy so it was nice to get some sleep on the side of the ship, with Wendy and Nico as my body guards. I was expecting Stonetown to be more ... read more
Advertisement
'Antsy' in Tanzania I have a confession to make. I'm losing the blog spirit somewhat. (You may have noticed... it's been long enough since my last installment). And really there isn't actually that much to tell. I mean I've driven around northern Tanzania, spent a few fabulous days on Zanzibar, meandered my way through southern Tanzania to 'the lake' and have now spent 3 weeks (!) in Malawi, but (and I think this is key really), I haven't actually been doing very much. In fact if you discount the standard trappings of the beach bum life-style, I've been doing more or less nothing at all - enjoyable certainly (don't think I'm complaining!), but not exactly the makings of a riveting web log. In any case, I'll give you a rough outline of my route and share ... read more
It's a hard life I tell you when you have to walk a whole 100m across the soft white sand from your hut to your hammock in order to continue your snooze. Having endured a total of 31 hours of bus journeys over only 3 days while travelling around East Africa (more on the joys of African transport to come in another blog) we felt we thoroughly deserved a week of sun, sea and disgustingly self indulgent lazing around on Zanzibar to cope with the trauma and let our bums recover from the bumpy roads and craterous potholes (the African Massage local drivers take great delight in calling it). Instead I burnt my bum to a crisp through the clouds while lounging in my hammock, but hey I had to live up to the Brit stereotype ... read more
Finally we've reached a stretch of the tour where I have time and access to t'internet (currently in Stonetown on Zanzibar, just off the coast of Tanzania). So I'll make the most of it and give you an update on week one of the trip. So far the trip has been Nairobi (Kenya), Arusha, Dar Es Salaam & Zanzibar (all Tanzania) taking about 10 days. Over the next few days we head down towards Lake Malawi. Starting out from Kenya was hectic, learning about the truck, the requirements, the stuff we need to do, the tents, the cooking equipment and, most importantly, about the fellow travellers. There are 23 passengers, a tour guide and a driver, which means there are a few spare seats in the back, but not many! Very quickly we negotiated our first ... read more
Sorry it's been sooo long! The last two weeks of my trip flew by as I did and saw so much. This entry is on my trip to Zanzibar and then I will follow-up with my trip to Northern Tanzania and my Safari adventure. I am probably going to write one more as a reflection because I am actually already home safe, but didn't want to leave you all hanging. So Zanzibar... After a few more days of volunteering, teaching english at the nursery school and playing soccer at orphanage, I was literally melting away at Bahari Beach (where I am). I can't even describe to you how hot it is here; you are literally always wet and sticky with sweat (it's great for my skin). As the weekend approached I planned to journey over to ... read more
Most safaris start with a flight, usually a Boeing from London or Amsterdam, or perhaps and Airbus. Ours started with a Czech made Let410 and ended with a similar aircraft. And instead of taking a day or a night, it took 35 minutes, a night and 90 minutes. So somethings don't change when you are going on Safari! Living in Pemba Island makes mainland Tanzania a close destination, and yet it had been some time since we had been on a Safari. And so we climbed into a Toyota Minibus and bounced through the primeval rain forest that divides the north of Pemba, and onto the tarmac 9 miles later at Konde. Here Mohameddie (known far and wide as “Eddie”) drove us sedately past the fields and villages of Pemba to Chake Chake’s airstrip. The ... read more
Sign In






























