They work, as in Britain, from Monday to Friday, so Saturday is my day off. So I went into Stone Town again, so I have now got a mobile phone (as well as a mouse and some postcards). This time I was shown around by David, and I didn't get my camera out, so sadly no pictures. Anyway my mobile number is +255 (0)787 739358 if any of you want to call or text me. I think texts (and international texts) are very cheap in Tanzania, however I don't have my British phone (with all the mobile numbers I know on [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I continued working on the website, making lots of progress. Stanislaus brought me some Jack Fruit (something else in Swahili) to try, which is very nice, not like any fruit I have eaten in Britain. The fruit itself is huge, and we only ate a piece of it. It tastes a little bit like banana, and a little bit like mango, and it is very nice. I am learning lots of Swahili at the moment, and people are very helpful when they find out I am learning it, but I cannot understand the normal flow of conversation, and I have [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I started work, initially I will be concentrating on doing some computer work for them, I think as my Swahili gets better, I will start to do other things, and I know I will be doing some English lessons later. I'm currently working on their website, at the moment I am doing the tourist section website. This has the advantage, that it requires photos, so of course I have to go and visit all these great places (although I am only visiting the ones in Zanzibar, they are not sending me on all the safaris they offer (I think If [View Full Entry]

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My second day on Zanzibar has gone very well, I have been shown around Stone Town, getting a feel for the place and learning a lot about its history. Stone Town has quite an international feel to it, obviously it is in Africa, but as a major trading centre, it has been influenced by various foreign powers over time. The Portuguese were the first European power to reach Zanzibar, and they built a fort, which still stands, although it is now a ruin. They also left a few words in the Swahili language, although in reality, there power here was never [View Full Entry]

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I have arrived safely! The journey was long (21 hours), but I managed to get the coach, plane, meet Patrick (the very nice guy who drove me from the airport to the port), get a boat, and then taxi to the cathedral. The journey was mostly straightforward, although my flight was delayed by 100 mins (although ended up only 40 mins late) and I was seasick three times on the two hour boat journey, not fun when you are already dehydrated by the hot weather. In addition to this there are the dangers of arriving in a foreign country, eg. people [View Full Entry]

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The exotic island of Zanzibar After our train journey crossing Tanzania and staying a few days in Dar Es Salaam (see Safari from the train window), we caught the ferry from Dar to Zanzibar,an archipelago made up of Zanzibar and the Pemba Islands. Among other things, its history contains slave trades, wars and bloody revolutions (see here for information). Stonetown Stonetown is the older part of the main town called Zanzibar. We spent a few days here, explorin [View Full Entry]

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Dimanche 23 octobre Nungui Beach Je suis tellement heureuse de pouvoir me détendre sur la plage quelques jours. Nous déjeunons sur le bord de l’eau avec comme toile de fond une mer turquoise et des bateaux à voile d’une autre époque. Lecture, bronzage et natation sont au programme. J’ai mis mon masque et mon tuba pour faire un peu de plongée en apnée. Il n’y a pas grand chose mais j’ai tout de même vu deux types nouveaux d’étoiles de mer, une rouge et épaisse et l’autre mince et bleue. Beaucoup d’oursins, quelques poissons-anges, un concombre de [View Full Entry]

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"At least 18 supporters of the main opposition party in Tanzania's semi autonomous island of Zanzibar were wounded on Sunday after police opened fire on a crowd. "I heard the gunshots" said Salma Mohamed, a Zanzibar based reporter covering the political campaign there ahead of 30th October elections" IRIN [url=http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49441&SelectRegion=East_Africa,%20East_Africa,%20Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=TANZANIA] irinnews "Welcome to paradise", said the hotel porter of the Africa House Hotel, Stone Town, Zanzibar. The Africa House, in [View Full Entry]

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Charlie was given the unenviable task of reorganising everything so we could stay in this little paradise for one extra night. While all of this background goings on was happening, Darren was snorkelling and Charmaine was lazing on the white sand having a massage and a Henna tattoo. Much more lazing, strolling in the sand and drinking cocktails was done and very little else. The next day we decided to treat ourselves and head back to Stone Town with Jamie, Rachel, Ben and Anna (who were all leaving the trip at this point). We had pre booked a room at Africa [View Full Entry]

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We hired a Jeep just to get away and do our own thing, it was great. After mastering the streets of Stone Town we headed east to the home of the Red Colobus monkeys. At the monkey sanctuary we were given our own guide and shown the forest, the monkeys and the mangrove swamps, it was all very interesting but we couldn’t wait till we could get out of the horrendous heat and back on the road. Further east we found the area we would be spending the next few nights and after Darren drove us up and down the beach [View Full Entry]

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