Days 30-37: White sands and snorkelling in Zanzibar, African slave trade history, game driving in the Serengeti and the surreal Ngorongoro Crater

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<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Days 30-37: White sands and snorkelling in Zanzibar, African slave trade history, game driving in the Serengeti and the surreal Ngorongoro Crater

Jambo everyone,

Apologies again for those who have been waiting for the next post we know it’s been awhile… T.I.A.

Rocking up to our accommodation in Zanzibar in our van with little to no expectations we strolled into what you could only describe as paradise. The whiteness and softness of the sand was stunning, not to mention the breathtakingly turquoise colour of the sparkling water in which little local boats floated close to the shore. The sun was shining strongly (Simon keeps questioning whether the sun is really this hot in Australia- the answer that I’m sure his mum Chris would agree with at the moment, is yes).

We enjoyed a lovely pizza and fajita whilst taking in this beautiful tropical island, followed by a relaxing dip in the ocean. One of the best things about Nungwi beach at this time of year was that it was practically deserted, and you weren’t constantly pestered to buy local services or trinkets. That afternoon we enjoyed 40 winks in our air conditioned, mozzie net covered bed- it was once again a luxury that was very much appreciated.

Our evening was spent capturing the most picturesque sunset, setting over the water (which we are getting used to), whilst sipping on some delicious happy hour cocktails. Whilst I was sipping on my Mojito’s, Simon took a liking to the old Pina Colada (Nardee I don’t know what it is about the men in our lives enjoying these drinks!). After taking full advantage of happy hour we tottered off to a lovely local restaurant where we sampled some of the local seafood. Simon excitedly ordered the seafood platter and I the Kingfish. Simon enjoyed his octopus especially and I devoured my fish as well as taste testing a selection of Simon’s platter.

The next morning we had an early start with the ‘Spanish Dancer Diving team’. The rest of the tour group was diving, but since neither of us had our PADI certificates this wasn’t an option for us. I was very excited however, as believe it or not I had never been snorkelling before. Once again with no expectations we set off on a 40 min boat ride to the island of Pemba for the morning. Simon and I had our own private guide Mohammad, who was great at pointing out different fish for us to see. After relaxing my breathing with the snorkel within the first 5 minutes I couldn’t believe what we were seeing. The amount of tropical fish we saw was amazing, I felt like I was in ‘Finding Nemo’. The water was so clear and we could also see our friends diving 20m below us clearly. We were lucky enough to see - Pipe fish, Zebra fish, Yellowbar Angel fish, Morish Idol (my favourite) Rrumpet fish and Parrot fish, along with many different coloured Starfish, Scorpion fish, Stone fish and Octopus. We enjoyed two, one hour dives and it definitely planted the seed for both of us to do our PADI’s and continue with my new found love of exploring the underworld. Another highlight of the day was just as we were heading back to shore our guide spotted a few dolphins and we were allowed to jump in with our flippers and snorkels and go for a play. The water was so clear that we could see them swimming in front of us and below us a few metres away. There was a mother and baby and swimming as a pair and two others swimming together. Simon and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time (probably also due to our speedy swimming) two dolphins came up from directly underneath us and circled us twice about an arms distance away. It was pretty damn cool! They are one of the most beautiful, seemingly friendly mammals and needless to say, it had been another tick in the box for Zanzibar.

That afternoon we took advantage of the happy hour cocktails and enjoyed a lovely dinner on the waterfront, just the two of us. Once again, we devoured delicious calamari, octopus, and prawns whilst sipping on a lovely Argentinian wine.

The next morning after a quick swim in the sunshine and breakfast on the beach, we sadly had to say goodbye to paradise. We drove to a local spice market where we were greeted by our hilarious tour guide Ali T (Tour Guide). A very funny, knowledgeable local who imitated an Aussie and English accent incredibly well. We were told that this local market sold some of their produce to the government who then went on to export it. We saw trees and bushes including cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, vanilla custard, pepper, and turmeric among other spices. We were also treated to some local teas made out of the spices as well as amazing fresh fruit, sliced the local way in front of us. We witnessed one of the locals gracefully scale a coconut tree whilst singing Hakuna Mata among other songs and for lunch we were treated to a spice infused octopus curry from some local women in their village, which was very tasty. I again enjoyed playing with the little kids, swimming them around in circles. I was also intrigued at how tape out of an old cassette player could provide so much entertainment for them.

The early afternoon saw us taking a walking tour with Ali T through Stone Town the oldest city and cultural heart of Zanzibar. Stone Town is listed as a World Heritage Site and it boasts a labyrinth of high stone walled streets, with winding alleys, mosques and Arab influenced architecture. Losing our bearings in the alleyways reminded me of Seville, Spain and the Arab influences of call to prayer and dress brought back many memories of Grenada, Spain and more recently my trip to Turkey. Starting at the fresh food markets we were greeted with copious colourful and delicious fresh fruits and vegetables. This was then followed by covering our noses as we meandered through the meat and seafood section. The array of meat and fish options with any number of flies was extensive to say the least, however, arranged in nice appealing piles for the consumer. My favourite was the huge manta ray that was on display on the ground in the walk way for everyone to practically step on as they walked past. Further on, we visited the Slave Trade Market and learnt about how slaves from east and central African regions were bought and sold there. The trade of men, women, and children was stopped by decree from the Sultan in Zanzibar in 1873 following the appeal made by Dr Livingstone in 1857 to liberate Africa from slavery. A catholic cathedral was built in 1874 exactly on the site of the former slave market and the exact alter position now marks the location of the old whipping post where all of the slaves were beaten to see how tough they were before being auctioned. We went down into a small cellar where up to 75 slaves were held in chains for days before they were led outside for auction. Five minutes down there was enough time to start to feel claustrophobic and there was only eight of us in there as well. We also visited the Palace Museum, learning about the ruling Saltan’s of Zanzibar, and lastly we saw the house in which Freddy Mercury was born and spent a lot of his childhood growing up in.

That evening, with Simon wearing his newly purchased Zanzibar football jersey, we enjoyed the coldest beer experienced in Africa to date on a rooftop overlooking the ocean as the sunset with Chris and Christine. This was followed by dining at the colourful array of street market seafood with any type of seafood you could think of on skewers. It was quite an experience and one Simon won’t forget as it left him a little unwell and off his food and beer for the next 3 days!

We arrived back in Dar es Salam via a very long ferry ride, but our crazy Tuk Tuk drivers and Margi and Gary’s exceptional tour guide skills we managed to get back all in one piece, feeling tired but very grateful for our time in the beautiful paradise of Zanzibar.

The next day was a long drive day to Arusha in preparation for our 2 days of safari in the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. We were picked up nice and early in 4x4 land rovers by our drivers Belthezar and Mike and excitedly set out for more game driving. Simon was also on the lookout for his aunty and uncle from Texas, USA who were in the Serengeti at the same time as us. Unfortunately our paths didn’t cross. The Serengeti NP is one of seven areas that join to form the Serengeti Ecosystem, which encompasses the famous migratory route of animals which travel over international borders in a northerly inland clockwise route during the dry months from May to July. Then in the wet season they complete the circle by travelling south to take advantage of the lush nutritious land closer to the coast. The Masai Mara area in Kenya, which we will visit next week, as well as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which we drive through in a couple of days, are also part of this Serengeti Ecosystem.

Our safari commenced with Simon donning his beige attire and with binoculars in hand we set out, standing up with the wind in our hair, as our heads popped out of the rooftop. The other 4x4 had named us ‘the tank’, with Chris’s enormous lens poking out the sides. We were yearning to see more lions up close, rhinos, leopards, cheetahs and hippos with their mouths open and we hoped that we wouldn’t be disappointed. Day 1 ticked off a leaping leopard from a tree, as well as some sleeping female lions with their 1-2 year old cubs. The usual antelope, zebra, wildebeest, elephant and buffalo was seen in plenty. The day was finished off with one of the female lions meandering right on by us after she had just recently killed a wildebeest. Day 2 saw the other 4x4 group witnessing lions mating, whist we watched a Hyena with a sore leg, unable to put any weight through it. Needless to say we were incredibly jealous and determined to see a kill or any other animals mating. After two days of game driving in Serengeti, we camped with the wildlife on the edge of the Ngorogoro crater. That night in the darkness, Simon had the pleasure of baiting me as he found my weakness of being scared of multiple sets of eyes in the darkness on the walk to the toilet which I later found out were jackel. After dinner we had the pleasure of a local elephant wander through the campsite followed by a grazing water buffalo. Although grazing calmly like an ordinary cow, having Africa’s greatest human killer outside our tent was a little unnerving. In the early hours of the morning Christine needed to go to the bathroom, she was pleasantly surprised to find the buffalo right next to her and the guards with their AK47’s yelling at her to get back in her tent. After an excruciating wait for what most probably felt like a life time, she managed the quickest wee of her life watching the buffalo on the other side of her tent. This has now led to the saying on the trunk to grade the urgency to go to the bathroom, ‘is it Buffalo bad?’

The next morning saw us enter the Ngorongoro Crater which is one of the most stunning natural wonders of the world. It is the 6^th largest crater in the world (the majority in Japan and the Philippines) and is approximately 610 m deep with an enclosed area of 260 sq km. We started the morning with watching the sunrise over the crater and an enormous amount of antelope, wildebeest, zebra and birdlife waking up and bounding and playing over the plains. We then ventured on to a pride of lions with 3 males and 8 females gorging on a now faceless buffalo. This was incredible yet slightly gory to observe and it was also interesting to watch a male lion from another pride and hyena hanging back in the distance waiting patiently to come in for second dibs. We moved on after half an hour as the lions would continue to feast all day. The crater continued to deliver with the most spectacular array of white and pink flamingos feeding by a huge waterhole. I couldn’t help but have John Farnham’s ‘Touch of Paradise’ in my head whilst watching these incredibly pretty birds. From a distance we saw two rhinos resting in a small ditch as well as a solo young male lion drinking water on the edge of the road. Posing for us nicely, he walked off peeing on the tyre of one of the other 4x4’s, marking his territory and letting them know who was boss. Simon later told me that Jessie his dog could have taken the lion on. Throughout the game drives, Simon has become more and more into his bird watching, often calling out for us to stop so he can check with his binoculars what species of hawk or eagle he may be looking at. Im sure by the time he is 60 he’ll be going on bird watching trips! After picnicking down by the waterhole and seeing our hippo with his mouth open, we said goodbye to the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater, and drove back via the Serengeti NP to Arusha.

Arriving back in Arusha saw one of our final opportunities and nights as a group to bond with a bit of booze. With a bit of old school music rocking for our Perth Aussies, the evening was kick started by some lovely shots for one and all, from the lovely Christine. Mouths on fire from our shot, the night soon escalated to see Margi pole dancing, Janet squatting Christine on her shoulders, Christine’s body being graffitied on with permanent marker and Simon closing off the night with a Where’s Willy streak.

Before say goodbye to Tanzania and entering Kenya our last stop was a tanzanite shop. Here I was in heaven looking at the most exquisite blue stones that are more rare than diamonds. After much looking and deliberation, Simon found me a beautiful coloured cushion shaped stone that I will have made into a ring or pendent when I get home.

Serengeti to come, stay tuned, or refill your cup of coffee

love Simon and Alex

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