Long truck rides, Zanzibar and the Spice tour

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There are 18 people on our tour, their ages range from 18 to a 76-year-old couple which are just inspirational (yes Mum and Dad you still have many years to go) We have Americans, Dutch, Polish, Italians, Australians and even someone from Bulgaria.



Imagine spending your day (5am start until 9pm in a truck driving on some of the worlds worst roads because the main ones were closed.) That is how we spent all day Thursday and Friday…. As we travelled though the countryside bumping along and trying to avoid hitting our heads (no seatbelts) we noticed how slowly there was more of an Islamic feel and less of a Christian one. Zanzibar (where we were headed – an island off on Tanzania has a 95% Islamic population of a million people.) Arriving at Dar Es’ Salaam (Tanzania) yesterday afternoon we all piled out of the truck and went in search of food before our ferry left. It was quite an intimidating place with people guarding buildings with machine guns and our truck being checked with mirrors for bombs! As we didn’t have much time we found a shopping mall and grabbed some burgers and sandwiches. Walking along the street eating we noticed that literally everyone was staring at us.

“Wow they mustn’t get many white people around here.” I thought to myself.

At that point a man shouted across the street in a VERY loud voice

“It is Ramadan….get that food out of here…you shouldn’t be eating…”

Opps!



Bustling through the departure gate onto the ferry could only be described as pure chaos (queuing doesn’t appear to exist, and I eventually realized that I would too have to join in with the shoving.) Boarding the ferry I was given a ticket that said ‘foreigner’ and sent to sit on the top deck where I put on as many layers as possible to avoid my white, English skin getting sunburnt whilst Tim lapped up the sun… I then spent quite a while in the toilet throwing up my stomach contents (no I am not pregnant – I suffer from motion sickness.) Tired and exhausted from the lack of sleep, long journeys and no food I complained to the others that this trip was like an endurance test on my body and I don’t know how I can possibly last another 2 weeks…



Arriving at Zanzibar I noticed the Islamic influence and how the women keep their heads and faces covered. I was told not to show my knees or shoulders and restrain from holding hands/kissing in public. Jumping onto a bus after the chaos of the ferry terminal we arrived at our destination in Stone town – it was beautiful with ocean views. Later that night we went to a local market (where we literally had stuff thrusted on us to buy) and then went for a typical African meal. This morning we did not have to get up until 7am. I was so excited as I was getting fed up of the 4.30am starts (I now consider my 7am starts at work a ‘lay in!’)



Going into Stone town this morning we visited the old slave market. Embarrassed about being English I was horrified to see the slave dungeons under the ground where men, women and children were kept for two days before being wiped to see how strong they were (if they didn’t cry they were sold for more.) Around 60,000 Africans died due to slavery. They were kidnapped and then sent to Zanzibar to be sold. It was very confronting to say the least. A church has now been built on the site and thanks to an English chap called Livingstone who started a campaign to end Slavery by approaching Oxford and Cambridge Universities and getting the students on board it was eventually abolished (although apparently the Arabs had illegal slavery going on for quite some time after.) Because there was nowhere for the slaves to go when they were released the ministry took them all in and that was the start of Christianity growing in the area. The church now sits side by side with a mosque. After our Stone town tour we went on a Spice tour and saw all the plants where Spices come from which was very interesting (although they complained we didn’t tip them enough afterwards because they made us all these items out of banana leaves which we didn’t really ask for.) I had a go at climbing a coconut tree after watching a ‘professional coconut tree climber’ do it, which was, pretty funny. I managed to get my feet up but didn’t have enough upper body strength to pull myself up the tree.



We were then taken to our resort – unbelievable…we were given a honeymoon suite. It was worth the painful journey! We have a private balcony right over the white sandy beach and our bed has swans made from towels and flowers arranged all over it. I cannot believe our luck! We have just been for a swim in the warmish, clear sea and without meaning to rub it in right now we are sat on our private balcony in our beach gear watching the tide come in and a stunning sunset going down… Tim has just come back with a cocktail for me. The best part is it is my birthday tomorrow… life is great - what a way to spend my birthday!

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Comments

[Jen]

Jealous
Jealous is all I can say Oh and have a wonderful Birthday tomorrow, see you 2 weeks :) xx

[Sam]

Sweet! Enjoy the layin!! Carpe Diem! Sam