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Published: January 18th 2007
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Al, Ali & Rach on Zanzibar ferry, Tanzania Up early Tuesday morning to catch ferry back to the mainland, then headed straight to the other harbour where we boarded a fast ferry to Zanzibar Island. The ferry company tried to tell us we had no tickets, as some official government group had decided at the last minute to travel to Zanzibar & had taken our seats. Romy spent ages arguing with the ferry people, as they wanted to bump us onto another boat three hours later. We managed to board at the very last minute & made our way to the front of the boat where we sat amongst bread & luggage for the majority of the trip, until it started raining.
Our transport was waiting at the ferry terminal & took us on a one & a half hour trip to Kendwa Beach. The rooms were really nice, with mozzie nets, ensuites, fans & safes & the resort is built right on the beach. As lunch had been forgotten about, I headed to the restaurant & ordered pizza, which took two hours to make! I debated on cancelling as it was getting closer to dinner time, but was starving hungry & when the pizza finally arrived, it
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Crashed out crew on Zanzibar ferry, Tanzania was delicious.
Hung out in a hammock drinking beer with a few others for the remainder of the afternoon. We’d all had a late lunch & ended up ordering chips quite late in the evening to compliment our liquid dinner. Fell into bed glad that we are staying in this island paradise for more than one night!
Wednesday morning Rach & I had a lie in & almost missed breakfast, which finished at 9:30am. Did a spot of shopping in the stalls on the beach & hung out with a few locals before catching a boat ride to a nearby village for a visit. We all decided to get to an internet café & Sylvia & I had a couple hours of work, so we stayed on, then lunched together at a nearby beachside restaurant. Becky, Rach & Ali headed back to the hotel mid afternoon, while Sylvia & I spent more time on the net before walking back with Paul & ed.We would have walked to the village earlier on, except the tide was high & the water blocked the beach path, so that’s why we took the boat.
A group of us had dinner
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Karaoke night in Kendwa Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania at the beach restaurant next door & I had a yummy steak, my first in ages. Once again I found a comfy spot in my hammock & spent the remainder of the evening there drinking beer with a few of our crew. Very relaxing - must invest in a hammock when I get home, it’s my new favourite thing!
Had breakfast at the restaurant first thing Thursday morning because Al, Blair, Sylvia & I were going game fishing. We trawled for ages & didn’t even get a bite, so the fishermen took us to a ‘good spot’ & we used hand lines to try for some smaller fish. Unfortunately, I am a crap fisherwoman & got bored very quickly when the fish refused to bite. I left my line in in the hope something would snag its self swimming by & worked on my tan for a while.
The boat guys caught a few, but we all began to bore, so they took us back to the shallows for a spot of snorkelling. The reef life was pretty decent & the fish got up quite close, so we stayed for a while before being dropped back to
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Kendwa Beach resort, Zanzibar, Tanzania the hotel in time for a late, yet well deserved Tuna Stir-fry lunch.
The others were watching boring cricket on television, so Blair & I went next door, found a shady hammock & chatted away the remainder of the afternoon. Becky found us sometime after dinner & explained everybody was concerned something bad had happened to us because it was after dark & we hadn’t come back to the hotel. I had a bit of a laugh because we were only fifty metres away & had well listened to all the warnings about walking after dark. Still, it was nice to know the others were concerned for our safety, even if it did make me feel like a naughty teenager who’d broken curfew again.
Becky chatted with us for about an hour (neglecting to tell anybody she’d found us), then we all headed back to the hotel restaurant in time to sing happy birthday & watch Ali blow out the candles on her cake.
I didn’t really feel like drinking, however somebody twisted my arm & it went down so well, before I knew it, I’d downed a few more & was up with the girls singing
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View from Kendwa Beach resort, Zanzibar, Tanzania Karaoke & dancing with the locals! Finished up doing cartwheels on the beach & getting sand everywhere from collapsing in fits of laughter at how uncoordinated I was. A spot of stargazing later (still no Southern Cross...) & I decided I’d drank more than enough & my bed was calling loudly.
Had decided to stay on another night in Zanzibar with a few others last night, so spent the first part of Friday morning arranging rooms for us all. Had a forty five minute massage on the beach, did a spot of beach shopping, fare welled the rest of the group going to Stone town & had a generally relaxing day.
Shared salad & pizza for lunch with Rach & splurged on a lobster for dinner, which was nice, but didn’t have as much meat as I’d hoped for. Surprise, surprise, I ended up once again back in hammock land after dinner, but was all tuckered out from doing lots of nothing all day & was in bed by midnight.
Had to checkout on Saturday morning & caught the minibus back to Stone town. The power was down, which meant no internet, so Ali, Blair
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Kendwa Beach volleyball, Zanzibar, Tanzania & I had lunch at a restaurant dedicated to Freddy Mercury from Queen; apparently he was born on Zanzibar Island. It was really hot, but we decided to check out Stone town & went shopping, where we ran into other group members.
I hit the internet for a few hours & re met everybody for a sunset drink overlooking the ocean at Africa House. There was a local African group singing & dancing & the place was pumping, but alas we had to leave. Ate dinner at the fish market en route to the hotel (where our bags were stored), which is set up on the foreshore every night. We feasted on seafood, collected our luggage & walked to the ferry terminal where we boarded the overnight boat back to Dar Es Salaam. Had a small issue with two local guys trying to get a free ride in our VIP room, but eventually they left & we all fell asleep.
Although there was a pretty severe storm on the ferry overnight, I still managed to get a relatively good sleep. We disembarked when immigration opened early Sunday morning & raced back to the truck in the pouring
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Kendwa Beach volleyball, Zanzibar, Tanzania rain. The storm had caused wide spread flooding in Dar, but it was lots of fun driving through it in the truck on the way out of town.
We drove through Mikumi National Park but didn’t see anything exciting & continued on to our campsite at an old farmhouse. We ate a traditional African meal in the restaurant, which was in restored ruins & was very nice. There was still plenty of hot water left, so I had a lovely shower & went to bed.
Monday we ate lunch in Tukuyo & crossed the border into Malawi, with no visa fees - yay. Stayed at a cool little campsite in a place called Chitimba Beach, right on Lake Malawi. I had yet to upgrade from my tent the entire trip thus far & decided to take a beach front room for a measly USD$11- per night. I got a queen sized bed with mozzie net & an ensuite bathroom - luxury.
Dinner was steak & vegetables cooked on the fire, followed by a few drinks at the bar & rounds of random Trivial Pursuit questions. At one stage we had a snake come join our party,
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Sunset from Africa House, Stonetown, Tanzania but he was quickly taken care of by one of the guys who squished him flat. There had been another one near the ablution block earlier on that was killed slowly by repeated blows to the head with a stick. Apart form wishing it had been done quicker; I was actually a bit upset it was even killed. Robert explained to me though that it could have been very poisonous, which isn’t a good thing for the dogs, or the people at the campsite. Point taken, but surely it could have been captured & disposed of outside the campgrounds???
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