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Published: March 29th 2009
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Music Festival
Best I could get, but it gives you an idea. It was pointed out to me that I have been remiss in updating my blog- 2 months sans adventure tales d’Alex is apparently quite unacceptable! My apologies!
SO, following the South African adventure, I found myself with some down time here in Dar, relaxing with Paul before he headed off for his big safari and Kili climb. Once he got back (after successfully summitting the mountain, boy was I jealous!), we prepared for our next trip together- a long weekend in Zanzibar.
We headed off on Friday, February 13 (eep!) on a ferry from Dar to Stone Town. Once we arrived in Stone Town, we negotiated our way to our hotel, through several winding alleys (reminiscent of Morocco), arriving at the Coffee House. Behind a discreetly large wooden door, was a downstairs coffee shop/restaurant and an upstairs hotel. We climbed up a few flights of stairs to our beautiful room for the weekend. We stayed in Stone Town for 2 nights, walking the winding alleyways by day and stopping in on the Zanzibar Music Festival by night. One day, as we were lost in the alleyways on our way to meet friends for lunch, we stopped to ask for
Us in Stone Town
At a Museum with a GREAT balcony! directions. The following was what we were told:
Lady: You’ll want to go outside, then right, then left, then right, then left, then right, then left and it should be there on your right.
Apparently these directions will work to tell someone how to find anything in Stone Town!
The Music Festival was interesting, with bands from all over the world singing in different genres and using many different instruments. It was definitely nice to see and I’m glad Paul got to see it for some more African culture as well.
On Sunday, we hopped in a cab (for an hour) and drove further south to our next hotel, Fumba Beach Lodge, right on the coast. We had big plans of SCUBA diving, snorkeling, and spending loads of time out in the Ocean. But costliness and laziness intervened and we spent most of our time poolside, looking at the beautiful ocean. Paul did don the snorkel gear and walked out past the shallow water to have a look, while I slowly ambled along the low tides and took some photos, but in both cases, nothing unusual or breathtaking was really spotted that close to shore. We
Breakfast Room
On the roof of the hotel! did manage to relax a lot though, and had some amazing meals, which made it feel like a true holiday and not just a three-day weekend.
We returned to Dar on Monday evening, on another ferry. Ferries from Dar - Znz and back are interesting experiences in and of themselves. You get packed on like sardines, and then choose to sit outside and get fresh air (and rain in our case) or sit inside and risk seasickness. Once you arrive- well, 45 minutes before you arrive- everyone starts pushing and jostling to be at the front of the line for debarkation. Like it really makes a difference. You get squeezed, pushed, touched, hair pulled, etc. just so people can get off the ferry and then slowly amble along the road to get to their homes. Hurry up and wait syndrome, much?!
After another week in Dar, we hopped in my little RAV-4 and headed out to Mikumi National Park for the weekend, our last one here, and for one more safari for Paul. After about 4.5 hours of driving (I gave up after 2 and Paul heroically took over- crazy Tanzanian drivers), we got to Kikoboga Camp, our
Stone Town
Looking out from the top of the hotel! hotel for the weekend. We had a lovely dinner and watched the animals all around us. The night brought some anxious sleeping, with the screen-only windows and animals right outside, it takes getting used to!
The following morning we were up at sunrise and off on our first game drive! We saw all sorts of cool animals and took loads of photos, but no lions yet. We enjoyed some time by the hippo pool, getting out to stretch our legs and watch the big beasts (though, in retrospect I wish I’d seen Madagascar 2 before going there, and I would have totally sung Moto Moto’s song!). We headed back to camp for breakfast, extended napping, and lunch before spending our afternoon back in the car spotting animals. We had a few giraffes and elephants really close to the car, which made yours truly a very nervous passenger, but Paul handled it as if he did game drives all of the time, and we came out unscathed. But. Still. No. Lions.
After another lovely evening eating dinner and looking out at the various elephants, buffalo, etc. frequenting the watering holes at camp, we called it a night, in preparation for our
Fumba
View from our hotel room. next early morning drive. The next morning, we decided to try a whole different route and crossed the highway to the lesser-driven side of the park. Immediately upon entering, we saw two lions! They were just walking on the path, right towards us! We stopped to photograph and watch them, and Paul could have literally stuck his hand out of the window and touched them… but he didn’t. We drove around a bit more afterwards, then headed back to camp for breakfast, packed up our stuff and drove back to Dar. It’s so great to have such a nice park/camp so nearby that a weekend can really be made to feel like a holiday.
Monday and Tuesday I went back to work, as one does, but then Tuesday night, we were off again! The school sent me to London for an IT conference, as I am going to be the new ICT Coordinator for the Elementary School next year. Paul had deferred his tickets so that he was on the same flight back to London with me. We arrived with no problems and tubed our way to our hotel, where we grabbed some food and promptly crashed for several hours.
Poolside View
It was a rough weekend for us. When we finally came to, we headed out to meet Kate and Tom for some dinner and dancing, which, as the saying goes (The best laid plans…) turned into just dinner and drinks, but was super fun all the same! They live on a really cool houseboat, which was awesome to get to see… We also hadn’t all four seen one another together since the Croatia trip last summer!
So the next few days were spent with me at the conference: learning loads, meeting some good contacts, and becoming more comfortable with my upcoming IT role. In the evenings, we went out to dinner (even one with Nina who was in town for a few nights!), movies, etc. One of the more exciting parts was the Kim came over from the States! It was great to spend time with her, have her meet Paul, and then when the conference ended AND Paul left for his next adventures, I had Kim around to keep me company, take me shopping, and of course go for high tea! It was really nice to have her around, so that I didn’t go from having a constant companion to nothing, cold turkey. We spent my
Seaside View
Typical Zanzibar last night with Oliver’s daughter Clare, and her husband Matt. We went out to dinner near their house and had some great conversations. It was nice to see them, as I hadn’t been able to in years! Then, 3:00am rolled around and I had to hop in a car and head to the airport to go home. It was a lovely break, full of friends, family, professional learning, and modern conveniences! I was really lucky that the school decided to send me, and then that everyone else managed to work it into their schedules!
Returning to Dar, alone, was tough, but I have Kibo here to give me daily company and delights… and in just a few shorts weeks I could prepare myself for my next holiday : Spring Break in Sweden! Stay tuned….
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Betty
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Laptop Processor
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