And then there were eight. As the last entry left off, three members of our group departed in Arusha. So only eight of us took the 10 hour bus journey home to Dar es Salaam. We took the nice bus, Royal Coach, and were treated to three magnificent movies (please note the sarcasm): Mr. Bean, Mr. Bones, and Universal Soldier III. No, we did not see I or II, but the third part of a trilogy is always a good movie to watch on a long bus ride. Mr. Bean was by far the best movie in the group. Mr. Bones [View Full Entry]

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"Out of touch in Africa was where I wanted to be." That's what Paul Theroux writes in his book 'Dark Star Safari'. "The wish to disappear sends many travellers away. If you are thoroughly sick of being kept waiting at home or at work, travel is perfect: let other people wait for a change ..." Well, neither of these statements really fits my situation, I suppose, although I like the idea. In contrast to Theroux I obviously do not desire to be unobtainable. As promised I am trying to keep in touch by means of this blog. And (!) I do [View Full Entry]

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I'm back! Sorry it's been a little while between updates, but I haven't had a chance to even look at a computer in over a week. Lots to tell though, about the weekend and what's been keeping me busy since then. So Thursday we made our journey into Tanzania to the island of Zanzibar. Just as some brief background, Zanzibar is an old stopping point for sea trade, used heavily by Muslim nations for centuries. It also happens to boast a large amount of beach coastline, most of which is only very lightly developed. So, we went off by plane Thursday [View Full Entry]

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Etter at opphaldet i Mbulu vart avslutta litt tidlegare enn planlagt fekk eg tid til aa stikke til Zanzibar. Eg moette opp paa kaien ein halvtime foer avreise og fann ut at reservasjonen min ikkje var gyldig. Eg vart dregen med rundt overalt for aa finn billett, og midt i alt stresset vart eg massiv svindla. Eg hadde mi fumme hyre med aa foelgje med paa passet mitt og foer eg visste ordet av det hadde eg gitt fraa meg omlag det dobbelte av prisen paa billetten ogh stod med eiunvegsbillett til turistoeya. Eg nytta den foerste timen til aa fordoyge [View Full Entry]

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Stone Town, Zanzibar - Shadiest place in all of my trip If you are going to Zanzibar Island, there is no avoiding Stone Town since the airport and the ferry terminal into the island is situated there. But do yourself a favor and get out of StoneTown as soon as you get there. How can I put this: Stone Town has this way of bringing out the worst in people. The place is very shady and don't even think of doing any of your gift shopping for back home in Stone Town - its waay too expensive. The store owners start [View Full Entry]

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Hey all, For the first time in what feels like forever I have decent internet, so instead of putting together a long story blog. I'm going to load a number of photos for you all to take a peak. Since my last entry we've spent alot of time in, and around the Serengeti on safari. It was amazing. The photos I've included are a mere sample of the hundreds I've taken so far... I've also gone back and included the gorilla trek too. At the moment I'm back on Zanzibar island. We have a four day stop over here. I've spent [View Full Entry]

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Bwejuu, Zanzibar Island (East side) I liked the beaches on the East side of Zanzibar. Very quiet beaches...you get the whole beach to yourself. Especially good for a nice stroll in the afternoon around sunset. And the best part, these are quiet fishing villages so you really get to get a taste of local culture instead of getting swarmed by touristy traps in Stone Town. Any local fisherman will take you out to the coral reef from the beach for about $10 for 2 ppl. The reef is ok...its no Great Barrier Reef though. This video will really give you a [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! We survived the Serengeti (wild elephant "attack" and all) and have moved onto Zanzibar. Totally different here: more touristy, like Panama City or Destin. Hot, Hot, Hot. Humidity like down south - unlike other parts of Tanzania which were hotish days and colder nights. And they call this Winter! We flew over here today using two small planes (about 10 passengers). Even though it is so hot here, we must dress modestly due to culture and Islam influence. We are both well - no major sickness thankfully, however, it is easy to get dehydrated. Kind of like Israel in [View Full Entry]

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After 6 days on safari, I have moved on to the beach for a little relaxation. The safari was great! We started at Lake Manyara were we saw many elephants, hippos, zebra.... The next day we set off for Ngorongoro Crater which amazed us with how close some of the animals were including a male lion that walked down the road in front of us! Then we headed to the Serengeti for a couple of days. The animals were much harder to spot here but we still managed to see a number of lions even close up and a couple of [View Full Entry]

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We've got about another hour left on Zanzibar before we return to Dar Es Salaam, and I think we all could have easily stayed on for a few more days at least. Zanzibar is gorgeous - the water is incredibly blue and clear, and the weather has been fantastic since we arrived. We did a really good tour of the old Stone Town on the day we arrived, and went to someone's house for a traditional Zanzibar meal - it was great. Afterwards we went to a spice plantation, and it was surprisingly interesting, and really interactive (particularly when we got [View Full Entry]

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