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Published: November 29th 2008
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Dar e Salaam
Beach Resort off the East coast of Africa. Fortunately there were no pirates. Tanzania - Dar e Salaam & Zanzibar
The 2 day drive from Arusha to Dar e Salaam took up through Moshi where we camped for the night. We arrived in Dar e Salaam, a city of 3 million people, at lunch time, struggling through the horrendous traffic. After a quick bite to eat and a go at the slot machines in the casino - beers were free if you gambled - we worked our way through the slums to our campsite on the shore of the Indian Ocean. The chance of an upgrade from tent to beach hut was swiftly taken up before heading out to swim in the warm sea which turned out to be warmer than on Zanzibar. The resort was a pleasant surprise considering how grubby Dar is, and the option to upgrade to a beach hut consisting of 2 beds, mozy nets and a fan was swiftly taken; matress and pillow, what a luxury!
The food on the tour has been fantastic so far but there was plenty grumbling with the first vegetarian dinner of the trip. We loved the vegetable stir fry but quite a few others ended up in the resort restaurant. To
Stone Town Zanzibar
The old Fort had really cheap paintings date, my preference has been Tusker beer, Kenya’s finest; not available in Tanzania, I indulged in Safari beer the next best thing! Analysing beer, now that is a worth while job!
Eager to arrive in Zanzibar, we caught the 6am local ferry across the city bay to the main port where the Zanzibar ferry departed from; by bus the journey into the city would have taken over 2 hrs. Being in Africa, the call was to line up at the ferry gates, and when they open push through by any means. There we waited, 30 muzungu’s - east Africa’s version of mukiwa, white person for non-Zimbabweans reading this - lined up amongst the locals, goats, chickens, cars you name it. Well, when in Africa……….push!!!!!! It’s the only way. African’s have perfected pushing in to an art; firstly, stand at the back and wait until no one is looking; next, sidle up to the person 2 meters in front of you and make out that you are with them; stand and wait until no one is looking; move to the next person 3 meters further on………. Being a tourist this obviously wouldn’t work so, push, just push!!! Quite stress relieving
Zanzibar - Stone Town
One of many sunsets. It has nothing on London!! getting you own back for once. Saying this, I am always amazed how unfazed Africans are when other people push in; obviously it is accepted that if you want to be in the front simple push, squeeze or jump your way there (This doesn’t apply in Malawi but I won’t jump there just yet).
Across the bay, we paid an extra US$10 and jumped on the fast ferry to Zanzibar, all except Neil the other Zimbabwean on the trip who had to jump on the slower ferry after forgetting his ticket on the bus. The 2hr trip was pleasant enough with aircon and tv’s showing dvd’s, albeit a shockingly bad -Top gun- cross -si-fi- movie called -Stealth-. DO NOT WATCH IT!!!! We arrived in Stone Town, Zanzibar capital city, to find Neil already there with a smug look on his face; so much paying for the fast ferry. Like most cities in Africa, Stone Town has an array of colonial buildings in dire need of a face lift; what is different about Zanzibar is the eastern influence, with 95% of the population of roughly 1 million people Muslim. The narrow streets and Middle Eastern buildings had a certain charm
Zanzibar - Stone Town
The local fish market. to them; wondering through the streets getting lost was easy with no discernable layout or street signs around.
The day was spent on the “spice tour”. The tour started with a look around the old town, seeing the old Arab Portuguese fort and British colonial buildings before moving on to the old slave pits where I had my neck put in chains; we were a little disappointed with the pits as there was very little information about them, and like most of the tour a little input would make it a more insightful experience. The palace, built in the late 19th century, lay in ruins; housing the sultan’s 14 secondary wives it was fascinating more thinking about the luxurious lifestyle afforded to the sultan more so than the ruin’s themselves which were average. Arriving on the island at the beginning of Ramadan, we were limited to a lunch of fruit with juicy pineapples, mangoes, bananas, lychees and granadillas; young guys in rags stood around us with huge pangas happily chopping away at the fruit before bringing it to us with their bare hands. The finale was a tour of the spice farm; we learnt where the likes of cardamom,
Zanzibar - Stone Town
Thrown in chains in the Slave pits. vanilla, nutmeg, ginger etc came from, and what they could be used for other than cooking - nutmeg is good for the ladies according to the guide; we also watched a guy climb 20meters up a coconut tree simply using a fibrous rope looped between his feet; after hacking down the coconuts we drank the milk, at the flesh before driving back into town.
The next 2 nights was spent at a beach resort north of the island about an hours drive from Stone Town, with the $US50 a night rooms right on the beach front. The popular resort also had a great beach bar and restaurant built over the sea clearly a hit with all as both nights were spent partying on the beach late into the night, the 2nd night especially good as we celebrated a birthday by having a seafood barbeque; red snapper, calamari, octopus and prawns, it was delightful! After a day loafing about playing football and rugby we went snorkelling at Nongwe Atol where the coral reef was situated. It was a picture of paradise with clear blue waters and white sandy beaches, spoiled only by the private island where armed guards patrolled the
Zanzibar - North of the Island
Snorkelling along a coral reef. Thats a private island in the background. beaches ensuring no unexpected visitors rolled in with the waves. After the debacle in Barbados, Kathryn really enjoyed the snorkelling spending more time in the water than most. Lunch was a whole tuna barbequed on the beach; flavoured with ginger, lemon grass and cardamom it was a simple but perfect meal. Now, there was one sore point to the day, namely my lower back!! My wife, after I had kindly asked her to apply ample sun cream to my back before we went snorkelling, forgot that my back didn’t stop just below my rib cage; I may have a large butt, but really!! The sunburn was so bad it looked as thought I had a birth mark the size of Bermuda on my back!! She is in disgrace.
The bus trip back to Stone Town and ferry on to Dar was met with grumbles as we all could have spend more time on Zanzibar. Why we were spending 5 days in Malawi was beyond me. Well, after Neil’s mishap with his ferry ticket you would have though we all would have been a little more cautious with our tickets. Not Karen one of the NZ lot who couldn’t find
her ticket and was holding up the whole ferry. Tony, one of the more sensible kiwi’s, suggestion that Karen may look in her bag again, was met with a frosty look and a derisive reply of, “I am not stupid I have already looked in my bag”!!! $US40 and 30mins later, much to the delight of us all more so Tony, Karen rather sheepishly announced that her ticket had been found - in her bag!
One more night in the Dar E Salaam campsite, we celebrating another birthday with a lot less vigour with most of the group drifting off with out notice well before bar closing. Maybe the thought of 2 days travelling on the bus to Malawi had something to do with it.
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