Blogs from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 10

Zanibar Beach Resort part 2 Nothing exciting today, just relaxation. Sailed on a local dhow-hand carved wooden boat lashed together with rope. Exciting ride with stiff breeze. Mark , I think this is the perfect sailboat for you and Sheri. Low maintenance with a gallon jug cut in half for a bilge pump. No worries about life jackets- just swim to shore if you capsize. Would have snorkeled but water too rough. Swam in Indian Ocean for first time- very warm. Walked beach for a few miles and spent a lot of time talking to locals. They struggle to survive when tourist season is low as it is now. Many make a living spearing fish but hotels are not buying due to low census. Women gather and sell seaweed. All love to speak with Americans as ... read more

Zanzibar Drove To Arusha yesterday and bid our guide SP goodbye. We spent countless hours with him over the past week and came to know him very well. He hopes to travel to the US with his wife and daughter and has an open invitation to stay with usAnother flight on small plane and short drive to Stonetown on Zanzibar. Ancient city with narrow winding pedestrian pathways through city, congested streets, hot with a lot of commotion. Sirens and evening prayers broadcast from various locations occurring after sunset in this Muslim city. Air condition not working- moved to a different room, not the best stay.Traveled today to the east coast of the island. Interesting drive through city with many markets including fish market with sharks and rays being sold literally from the street. Amazing that people ... read more

I hopped off the Dala Dala at a roundabout near Paje, then dragged myself and my disintegrating backpack what felt like a very long way down the road. When I couldn’t be bothered to walk any further, I wandered into a little hostel of the generic kind found on backpacker beaches the world over. Thatched huts, hammocks strung up between wonky palm trees, banana pancakes, Bob Marley on the stereo. It could have been Goa, or Thailand. I stayed in the eight bed dorm room, a construction of wood and palm leaves. It’s built directly onto the beach - there’s no floor - and in the low light the fine sand looks like a thick cream coloured carpet. The mosquito nets hang like rows of cartoon ghosts. In the morning you can see the tracks left ... read more

New travel blog, my first in years! Here's to another continent that will remain half unblogged because I'll lose patience and enthusiasm half way through. For now though, here we go. I’ve developed a bit of a fear of flying lately. I do realise this is ridiculous, having flown all round the world for years without a problem. It started around the time I graduated medical school, and realised that pilots and airports are probably about as fallible as doctors and hospitals. It annoys me like my fear of spiders annoys me, because it’s stupid and embarrassing and I know it makes no sense, but there it is. I don’t let either fear stop me hopping in an airborne metal tube and being propelled to destinations absolutely full of the massive eight legged bastards. I just ... read more

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’ ... read more