snozlington

We'd been pre warned in Dar' that both the official and unofficial currency of Zanzibar was $US, so although we didn't like it we had our greenbacks ready. Even the dodgy customs official who stamped our passports made it clear that bribes were preferred in hard currency and on several occasions we had to ask local stall holders and shop keepers which country we were in when they would ask "Shillingi. What are they?" After fighting our way through the crowd of touts, taxi drivers and opportunists that were milling around the port, again we had been forewarned, we found a guesti that only wanted $30 per night for what was actually a decent standard room. We had already decided however that the absolute maximum we were prepared to pay per night was $20 and it ... read more

Once again we offered thanks to the Swahili transport Gods for allowing us to arrive at our destination in one piece. Whilst maintaning a low level flight path our driver (pilot?) madly honked on his musical air horn at any vehicle, person or animal that dared venture into our path, whilst also managing to hit every pot hole between Moshi and Dar'. We seemed to spend as much time on the side of the road waiting for the bus to make repairs as what we did travelling. At the dodgy and still out of town Ubunga bus terminal we then displayed some of our proudest to date bargaining skills and negotiated a taxi fare from an extortianate 20000TSh down to a more respectable 8000TSh, even though we thought that price was still inflated. It never ceases ... read more

We'd had a great time in Arusha and made some good friends, so it was a little sad leaving, but alas the show must go on. Thankfully it was only a short journey of 70km to Moshi. We had expected Moshi to be in the same vein as Arusha and as far as getting swamped by touts flogging all the usuals, it was. But there was something about Moshi. It just didn't have the vibe or atmosphere that Arusha did and they certainly weren't as used to seeing mzungus. Maybe it was that they didn't understand the value of the tourist $ as much. We found a hotel, The New Coffee Tree, and after negotiating a price with the receptionist and signing in, the manager intervened and told us that the prices had increased as of ... read more

Amongst the hordes of touts and commission seekers that had us surrounded from the moment we arrived in Arusha, all the while shouting at us that their guesti house was the closest and cheapest, or pulling us by our backpacks, or holding onto our arms, Jack casually said that his Fathers Guesti was just around the corner and he'd be happy to show it to us if we wanted. If not, "hakuna matata, salama safari" (no worries, safe journey.) So taken aback were we that we had to ask him to repeat himself and sure enough, he had said what we thought he said. The touts followed us around the corner to Jacks Fathers place, Masheles Bar and G house, still holding on and shouting that if we didn't like Masheles, their place was still the ... read more

After spending days at a time travelling between destinations in NTHN Mozambique, our journey from Ihla do Mocambiqe to Pemba was refreshingly straight forward, not forgetting ofcourse the standard fight for a fair price and resulting argument over change with local vendors and conductors keen to try and pull the wool over our eyes. Even after misreading the map in our guidebook and walking the long way to Russells Campismo, about 10km long, we still managed to arrive mid afternoon. Russell was an expat Aussie from the Sunshine Coast but he wasn't around when we arrived. The only other guest was a Belgian named Gareth who had ridden his pushbike from Durban and who quickly apologised for not giving us a lift when he had passed us earlier that afternoon. One of the staff showed us ... read more