Advertisement
Published: March 12th 2011
Hello again….
Finally (after a 2 hour boat ride) arrived in Zanzibar. It was incredibly hot, but in yet another muslim country I had to cover up…not impressed - but as they say here...Hakuna Matata!
We immediately met out new group members and much to Danny’s disappointment they were all girls and one 50 year old guy from Canada….oh well! I know travelling is meant to broaden the mind, but when danny refers to wanting better conversation – he really means he wants a guy to chat about sport to! And who says find out about brad and angelina isn’t interesting………….
Anyway, straight off the boat we headed straight to our hotel - it was lovely – a big 4 poster bed with flowing white mosquito nets –and not inside a tent! Loved it!
We then went on a mini tour of Stonetown (where we were staying the night). It was seriously hot so we soon headed to a restaurant as a big group – after a few too many glasses of red wine we decided to head to a museum. We thought we were off to see 100 amazing thngs – but in our drunken state ended up at the
wrong museum and had to learn about the history of the royals/sultans in zanzibar – I got the giggles and the hi-light was when we were taken through the last home of the royal – we walked through bedrooms (all dating from the mid 19th century to early 20th) of the old sultan’s home and when we arrived at the bathroom (which was a 1960s bathroom – I just had to jump in and have a pic – don’t think the guide was that impressed. ooops!
We then headed home and met upwith the rest of the group for happy hour in a local bar, grabbed some octapus and chips at the night market and headed for an early night. Loving the fact we had proper beds!
Another early start and the next day we headed to the beach for a few days of sun. On the way we went to a spice village where we learned about all spices were exported from zanzibar and even saw a guy climb with his feet attached to the top of a 30 metre tree – bit scary!! Finally we made it to the beach - this place really is beautiful – the
water is light turquoise as warm as a bath and the sun is hot. Could definitely have stayed a few extra days. Day 1 we grabbed a bit to eeat – jumbo prawns then chilled out on the beach in the afternoon. I headed off and got a traditional henna tattoo on my hand then had some cocktails and food late in the evening. Day 2 we booked ourselves on a snorkelling tour – had 18 of us from our bus on a dhow boat and headed to the coral. There were quite a few big fish and it was really colourful. Danny nearly gave one of the girls a heart attack as he dived straight infront of her whislt she was snorklling – it was so funny! We then had lunch on a deserted beach before heading back to the mainland for a chill out afternoon. Again after a few too many drinks, Danny ,although he had accused me of looking common with a fake tattoo, decided that the girls were having too much fun with henna so wanted to join in….originally he wanted a heart with mum underneath then he saw an anchor sign so opted for that
instead! Half way through (and 4 beers later) he decided he wanted the letter “w”” before anchor (you do the maths) so that is what he has (for 2 weeks) what a w@nker!
We sent a message to Bill to tell him he had a real tatoo and so far the only response we have had is that he must cover it for work – as if I would let Danny get a real one – lets hope its does rub off in the next few weeks!!!
Armed with my A* art gcse – I talked the new american girl (Liz) into letting me draw a monkey her wrist in henna – it was hilarious – I also woke up with a beauty spot on my face – this is a sign that I should drink less!!!!
We then had a romantic meal that evening, did a little bit of bargaining for a masaii painting and then headed for an early night – unfortunately the elec went down in the night so the fan stopped working – we couldn’t even have a cold shower. By this point – it became clear that I was suffering from horrible sunburn from
snorkelling (check out the pic – note that I am mega red the places I asked danny to suncream me(ie lower back)!!!he wll payfor my currnet pain!) so at 2 am we decided that the only option was for us to head to the beach to lie in the sea – pretty weird but so worth it.
Today we have returned to stone town – did a tour of the slave markets – which was a real eye opener – learned all about slaves being abducted from east africa and being sold to the arabs – we saw the awful dungeons they were kept in before market (zanzibar had one of africa;s largest markets) harrowing stuff . We then headed to the food market – the strench of fish has still not left my nostrils (they were hacking sting ray on the floor and then selling it with flies all over it – has no-one heard of heatlh and safety Regs? On the way back to our hotel there was a down pour and we proceeded to get totally soaked – quite a welcome refreshment as it is about 35 degrees at the mo.
We are heading to the bar
later to say goodbye to some of our tour members who leave us n zanzibar tonigt (oh and to watch the rugby!)
We are already looking forward to the next adventures in Malawi…….
For now its over and out…..x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 45; dbt: 0.027s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Irene and Graham
non-member comment
keeping in touch
Hey, aren't blogs just great. Makes the world so small. I thought how good it would have been to have known what john was doing when he "did" europe but on second thoughts as it was boys only I think maybe not!! All well here. My hamstring is feeling good but am still having painful massages from the physio so it is obviously not completely healed. That is why I wasn't playing yesterday!!! 12 of the KK club have booked a few days in Dubrovnik in May which I am looking forward to. Not as exciting as your trip but at our age more than adequate! You seem to be having a great time and it is lovely to hear about all your exploits. Haven't spoken to your mum since their trip but will be seeing her at our book club meeting on Wednesday at Pauline's. Luv to your both, Irene and Graham, xxxxxx