Hey everyone! Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe on Vuga street, just about a block from where I've been staying at the Mauwani hotel, and it's 450 shillings every half hour (about 45 cents, FYI), but I'm going to try to make this a fast and informative entry, and to put up a few pictures as well. So, as of yesterday, I have been in Zanzibar for exactly one week. Wow. By this past Tuesday I was already feeling like I'd been here for ages. It might have had something to do with the 5 long flights and 3 [View Full Entry]

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I swear I am not intentionally doing things to make people jealous. Aiden & I had the most amazing day of all time yesterday.... swimming with dolphins. Still doesn't seem real. You know you hear of people doing this in Florida and stuff, and I always have this image of like a Sea World pool with a dolphin trainer and orange lifejackets. So my expectations were fairly low. We, with 3 others, hired a boat and snorkel gear from Kizimkaze (coolest name ever), on the southern tip of the island. The boat takes you out into the bay offshore and starts [View Full Entry]

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At the hospital the last few days.... I've been in the female medical ward, where I'm feeling a bit useful. The junior doctors like to ask my opinion, then try to argue their points, then end up going with whatever I say anyway. I suppose they are just doing their best. Had a patient come in with respiratory distress - probably asthma attack +/- pneumonia. On the ward there is no ability to give Oxygen, no nebules or inhalers, peak flow, blood gases, etc, etc. They give every asthma patient iv aminophyllin! And Ventalin po - tablets. Didn't even know they [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to our Zanzibar blog! Had to steal/copy this amazing idea from our very cool traveling friends - Anna Kate & Colin. Unfortunately the internet is quite a trek from the house, so the updates have been slow in coming. But here we are! Hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon too. Zanzibar is absolutely beautiful. Old stone buildings, narrow alleyways, amazing beach just seconds away from everywhere, seafood galore..... on and on. Very Muslim society, so conservative and kind people. Ramadan starts this week, so it will be interesting to see how things change. The house we're [View Full Entry]

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After resting for a few days after Kili, Robyn, Nathan and I decided to chill on the beach in Zanzibar for a few days. I got here three nights ago and the first thing I saw was these two kids running across the road, jumping off the road into the water below. It was quite funny. Zanzibar is a very neat place, as it has cultural influences from all over the world, Persians, Arabs, Comorians, and the Manland Tanzanians. The people are beautiful because over the generations they have become a blend of all of the people that have settled here. [View Full Entry]

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Well today we did something different. We organised a tour to go into the city centre of Zanzibar to have a look at the old town. The stone town area of Zanzibar is actually a world heritage site protected by UNESCO in 2000. But I have to say that I thought it was really a bit of a hole. It looked just like any other third world downtrodden place that I have been to, like Amman in Jordan, although to be fair it was a little bit nicer than Amman. From where we are staying it takes an hour and [View Full Entry]

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1st week of my long journey and it feels like ages since I departed for Africa. A long hop from Sydney to Jo'burg, SA, a step north to Dar Es Salem, Tanzania and jump east on ferry to Zanzibar. Firstly it was great to see Ralph after a few months apart and yes he was clean, well fed and handsome as ever (add a few more whiskers than I had ever known). Ralph and I spent three days in historic Isalmic Stone Town famous for its miriad of narrow stone foot paths, amongst historic centuries old Indian/Turkish style buildings. We spent [View Full Entry]

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Today was a bit more of a chill out day. We had arranged with the crap dive centre that we wouldn’t be going diving until the afternoon as the day before the weather was a bit icky in the morning and so cold. We have discovered in our short time here that the weather is usually very nice and sunny first thing in the morning, and then it starts to cloud over, usually raining by about lunchtime and then it clear up for the late afternoon. Very strange. This morning while we were having breakfast on the balcony we noticed [View Full Entry]

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There’s a steady rain falling over Stone Town in the morning, and I’m dodging rank-smelling puddles on my way to Mercury’s, where a taxi driver waits to whisk me away to The Palms. With my Zanzibar goodbye just days away, I suspect these next three days will be my last - and, in effect, only - bit of beach time on the island. About that fact I have few regrets. While hardly immune to the charms of palm-fringed coasts and Italians in skimpy swimsuits, the essential elements of the Zanzibari beach retreat - swimming, boozing, basking in the sun - hold [View Full Entry]

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So after the adventures of the day before you would think that I would sleep like a baby. But no. I awake at 6am Dubai time which is 5am Zanzibar time. Silly Chelle. Our room was gorgeous though with a stunning thatched roof. Shame we couldn’t keep it. We got up and had breakfast and then headed on down to the dive shop to find out about our dives for the day. The people in the dive shop were lovely (everyone here is just soooooo friendly and it is wonderful when they smile as these super white teeth just totally illuminate [View Full Entry]

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