Blogs from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 8

Da wir am Vortag beschlossen haben eine Tour zur Gewürzfarm und Stonetown zu besichtigen werden wir um 9 Uhr abgeholt. Zuerst geht es zur Gewürzfarm. Dort erklärt und zeigt uns ein deutschsprachiger Guide die verschiedenen Gewürze. Das ist sehr interessant. Ich wusste nicht dass z.b. Kardamom eine Wurzel ist, Vanilleschoten ähnlich wie Bohnen aussehen und Pfeffer eine Schmarotzerpflanze ist. Ein anderer klettert für uns eine Palme rauf und richtet dann die Verkostung her. So können wir Kastanienapfel, Kokosnuss und vieles mehr verkosten. Da die Tour gratis ist kaufen wir im Anschluss natürlich etwas ab. Wir entscheiden uns für Muskatnuss, Vanilleschoten und Zimtstangen. Übrigens wird Zimt, wie wahrscheinlich viele wissen aus der Rinde des Baumes gewonnen, interessant ist jedoch, dass nach nur zwei Wochen die Rinde so weit nachge... read more

8, 9 and 11July: Dar es Salaam to Stone Town and Stone Town 8 July: A very early start to the day to catch the ferry to Zanzibar. A few people get seasick so the idea was to sit outside with them and I could tell them stories to distract them. We found a nice spot on the back of the boat on the second story looking out of the water. I sat with Emily and Rachel and it was nice to find out more about their work and listen to interesting stories as I talked about my time in Singapore and working there. We arrived in Stone Town on Zanzibar around lunchtime. The port was crowded and took us sometime to collect everyone in our group to go through immigration there. We handed our passports ... read more

Distance Travelled Today: 79.9 km Elapsed Travel Time: 12 hours 20 minutes (including time walking through the spice plantation and Stone Town) Lodging for the Night: Mazson's Hotel Today we sadly departed the beautiful beach and headed to the infamous Stone Town. Unfortunately, we didn't get a final chance to sleep in, as we had to leave the hotel at 8 (this means that we had to get up at 6:30 because it takes us awhile to shower and get ourselves organized). So after having a nice buffet breakfast by the water, we were on our way. On the tour with us are people from all over: New Zealand, Japan, America, Germany, etc. When we got on the bus, everyone broke out into a chorus of O Canada, because today is Canada's birthday! We were quite ... read more

Total Distance Travelled Today: 15km (by boat... and taxi) Elapsed Travel Time: 5 hours, 41 min (including mike's diving) Lodging for the Night: Amaan Bungalows (hotel) This morning we slept in until 8am and had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, which overlooks the ocean. At 10, Mike left to go diving and Elysia hung out at the beach and the hotel, enjoying some R&R. Mike did two dives with three other people from our trip. There were also a couple of other divers on the boat. The dive boat was a traditional wooden boat with storage for the tanks along the centreline. It made it tricky to move around the boat but it was a neat way to go diving. The first dive was at Hunga reef, about 20-30 minutes from the beach. The second dive ... read more

Total Distance Travelled Today: 147 km (including ferry, transfer to the hotel on Zanzibar) Elapsed Travel Time: 7 hours 3 mins (total) Lodging for the Night: Amaan Bungalows (hotel!) This morning was a sleep-in day, well relatively speaking. We were supposed to leave at 7 (much later than the past few days), so we had planned to get up at 5:45 (we're usually the first awake but the last ready. It takes us a long time to get ready, pack our stuff up and take down the tent, and Elysia is pretty slow in the morning especially since she likes to shower). Unfortunately we were woken up numerous times prior to 5:45- there were at least two call to prayers from the mosque that seems to be right behind our campsite (we heard them chanting and ... read more