Blogs from Tanzania, Africa - page 393

The train journey was fun. We shared a first class cabin with the Dutch couple and sat eating our dinner together in the dining car at sunset. The next morning we got up and watched some giraffes and baboons as the train went through a national park. It was a pleasant journey except for the obligatory stop at 1am for all the locals on the train and at a station to shout loudly and move around lots. Dar es Salaam has quite a lot of mosques and muslims as well as places to eat out and has been great so far. We went to a large craft market today and saw lots of nice stuff and got a ticket to Arusha for the day after tomorow. Tomorrow we are planning to go to the beach for ... read more

Yes, we have now seen some cats! Lions, a cheetah and a serval so far, but the leopard is proving elusive. We saw most of our lions and the serval in the Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania), the cheetah between there and the Serengeti and more lions in the Serengeti NP. The Ngorongoro Crater was amazing. It was a horrible day when we got up, raining, low clouds and we weren't expecting to be able to see much as driving up to the rim of the crater we couldnt see much further than the front of the landrover. As we went over the crater rim and started going down inside, the clouds lifted and we had the most beautiful views. The crater is about 20km across with one large lake and loads of smaller lakes / waterholes. We ... read more

Reluctantly leaving isolation, we ferried, bussed and matatu-ed our way to Bukoba. When we arrived, Mike threw his arms in the air and announced to the waiting crowd, "Yes! Mzungus are here!!" Everybody looked so confused, I fell out laughing. It's a nice small town where the cheapest accommodation rents dorm rooms to men and women separately. They roll up the sidewalks at dusk. We bought our ferry tickets and went to a little restaurant where they kept us captive for 3 hours by lying to us and saying they had food while they slyly snuck out to the market. A few beers later, waiting in line to board the boat, I was shocked to find someone trying to charge me to use the ladies room. "I don't have it. I'll go around back where half ... read more

In the last "Stonetown" entry I almost didn't mention anything about the town itself. Stone town is regarded as Zanzibar's capital. The town was named after the coral stone buildings, largely built during the 19th century. The town is known for it's narrow alleyways, large carved wooden doors and covered balconies. The doors are part of the Swahili culture and were largely influenced by Arab and especially Indian motifs. The large brass studs on the doors became decoration after having served as spike covers to protect the inhabitants from elephant raids during the Indian wars. The town currently house over 16,000 people and is home to 51 mosques, 6 Hindu temples and 2 Christian churches. The people are extremely diverse and fascinating. What is annoying in Stonetown, are the touts... they see you from a far, ... read more

Its time to hit some beaches... The fishing village of Nungwi straddles the Northern tip of Zanzibar and its shade is a welcome relief after the barren stretch of road that leads there. There are a number of local guest houses in the village and on the West side of the cape there is a number of guesthouses and a couple of loud bars. There are fine sandy beaches around the cape and excellent diving and game fishing off the coast. I would say this is one of the best beaches on Zanzibar, as there is no seaweed and the tide doesn't go out for miles... We stayed at Amaan Bungalows, close to the beach and nearest bars... so we were really using the next days to relax and relax... Snorkel gear was readily available (though, ... read more