Lazy days

13/06/10

Sitting outside our room with the tide swelling up onto the beach 5 metres away. It's late afternoon and the daily exodus of white sailed fishing dhows is heading across the horizon and out for a night's fishing. Our en-suite room with two double beds is $27 a night and probably as cheap and as close to the beach as you can get in Zanzibar. With a breakfast of eggs, fresh fruit, and warm baked bread included it's an absolute bargain in African terms. Stuff is so much more expensive than you'd expect from a continent with so much poverty. We spoilt by our Asian standards. We have now hit a budget wall and drink little more than water and share a lunch. For dinner we have found 2 restaurants that have fresh fish bbq or pizza and fajitas for $4 each. The other places break our budget.

Possibly the best sunset I've ever seen. First night back on the island and it was never close to as good again.

Money has influenced our days on the island, we've not really taken advantage of all there is on offer. We talked about the 'Spice Tour' and kayaking in coral coves, but even the diving got axed from 8 dives to only 2. Instead we are making a list of all the things we're going to do when we come back one day. It's also nice to be doing things on our own schedule. On the bus we were constantly up early and off somewhere new. Now it's nice to have no plans. The most excitement we had was watching South Africa vrs Mexico. That and adopting two local beach dogs and taking them for a walk down the coast at low tide. Thought we'd have to carry them back when the tide turned quickly. Thankfully we didn't as one was big and the other dog had ADHD. 

On the beach you pass Masai herders. Many are trying to sell you stuff, while others are on holiday or visiting the island for extra school. All of them we have spoken to have come from Arusha where it's a lot colder. In Arusha their rich red robes are made from blankets, in Zanzibar they change to Masai beachwear. This basically consists of the same patterned fabric just made from light cloth. 

It's winter here now, and we have rain and storm clouds every day. This doesn't bother us too much, there's enough sun for burning and it's nice and cool in the evening. Also it means the island isn't heaving as it is the rest of the year. It does however mean that the sea isn't quite as flat and blue as it is the rest of the year. We'll have to go back for the ultimate beach pictures.

 

 

One really cool thing we got to see when we went down to Stone Town for the night was how local guys entertain themselves in the evening. We were walking down the waterfront when we heard lots of cheering and clapping. There was a group of around 20-30 young lads doing acrobatic jumps of the wall of the waterfront into the water 10 ft below. They took a long run up and then launched themselves over a small wall, in relay or pairs, into the water trying to 'out jump' each other. We found out from the large crowd of locals watching that they do this every time the tide is high enough in the evenings. This display made an otherwise unremarkable trip to Stone Town worthwhile. The long haired bearded rasta wearing a floor length bed-shirt and doing somersaults was worth the visit alone. It's a far more macho way for guys to show off than hanging around on street corners in hoodies looking threatening. 

Nick's photo

Killing time...

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10/06/10 

We are now in Zanzibar and have enjoyed doing very little over the last few days. It's nice to be on our own schedule now. After the tour ended we stopped in Arusha for 24 hours to regroup and find out where in our ever increasing number of bags we had packed all the little bits and pieces we thought we'd need for the trip, but actually haven't seen in at least a month. We also needed to cure our internet withdrawal. Arusha is an ugly hectic African town, although we were there on a Sunday and the streets were ghostly quiet,  apart from the tourist tat shops being open and the street vendors that collar any white person and sell the same stuff as the shops. They find the most imaginative ways to strike up a conversation and guilt you into buying something. When the tour group dropped us in the town and then headed off for Nairobi, I left Nick for 15 minutes while I found a bed for the night. By the time I got back he'd already been suckered into buying a Swahili phrasebook and was part way through buying an overpriced painting. 

We had hoped to get a room with a little luxury, mainly a bathroom you didn't have to dress to walk to.  Soon realized that bathrooms were well out of our budget and ended up at a very dingy YMCA. Our standards have dropped so much since leaving Thailand that 2 hard beds with mosquito nets, dirty draughty glass windows, a bare concrete floor and a grimy toilet 15 metres down the corridor actually felt quite luxurious. Unsurprisingly, we stayed in Arusha less time than originally planned, long enough for half a day on the internet, and to get ourselves on a flight to Zanzibar. We were meant to catch a bus, spend the night in Dar, then take the 2 hour ferry to get there. The journey on the road on the way up was so bad, and the ferry so rough that we thought the extra $70 on the flight was well worth it. Next day we arrived at the airport an hour before the flight and were told check in wasn't open. 40 minutes later and they were still waiting for 'the man' to arrive. 15 minutes before the flight he pulled up, hopped out his car, strolled over, gave us our boarding passes, and then walked us through 'customs' to our 12 seater plane. We were joined by another English couple who had been bumped to our flight when the plane they were on changed destinations at the last minute. Typical Africa.

Small planes are my idea of hell. There's too great a proportion of air verses metal around you, and being able to see out the front leaves nothing to the imagination. I was terrified making our way down the runway. We got there, started to turn, the pilots looked and fiddled with the console, turned again, and then told us we couldn't take off as there was a problem with the breaks. At least I was reassured that even in Africa they make sure everything is working before leaving the ground. It took us nearly 4 hours of sitting around before we left the ground.

Flying in an aircraft that is that light and small is not for those with a fear of flying. You feel every gust and get buffeted around like a feather. Coming in to landing I could see the runway in front swinging like a metronome. Not sure I’ve ever been more scared in a plane. Nick was happily oblivious and was taking pictures out the window. As to whether the hour and half flight is better a 12 hour bumpy bus + night in Dar + 2 hour ferry, well the jury's still out. 

Hakuna Matata...

02/06/10

One of the many varied faces of Tanzania

It has been 5 days since I’ve had time to write. The best time for doing that is when we’re sitting on the bus and we haven’t done that in a while. The mountains of Malawi and Tanzania have officially killed Benji. Even the mechanics at Mercedes in Dar Es Salam haven’t been able to fix it. After we left on the Romping Rocket minibus they managed to fix ii briefly before it broke down on a main road running right through the centre of a game park. With the help of lots of friendly villagers they got themselves to Dar and into the Mercedes workshop. Apparently it’s common for vehicles to go into African workshops and come out having had all the good parts discreetly stolen and replaced with older ones. At Mercedes every time either John or Ebron went into the workshop they got patted down on the way out. We had to stop off there and collect our tents and say an early goodbye to two thirds of our crew. They have to stay with the truck while Gareth carries on with us. It is up to them to get the truck ready for its longer and more challenging return journey.

Tanzania is an incredible place. It really is the Africa I’ve always imagined. With Mt Kilimajaro and the Serngetti planes, it has dramatic and majestic mountains that skirt the edges of flat and fertile grasslands. This is Lion King country. The people here seem more proud and confident than others when faced with a bus full of mazungus (white people). Brightly dressed women in head scarves carry heavy loads on their heads, Masai tribesmen with varieties of rich red cloth draped around them sit and laugh on their mobile phones with trainers on, holding their spears at their sides. The women here are beautiful. Tall, graceful and elegent. As well as the bright wraps many of them wear long black dresses and full headdresses. These plain outfits are surprisingly flattering, with only dark kohl rimmed eyes to be seen.

Some of the amazing beach scenes on Zanzibar

 
As well as ‘Lion King Country’, Tanzania has huge variety in landscape. We have just driven through an area that was pure ‘Hawaii’. Sharp mountains covered in lush vegetation plunging to a palm tree forest floor. Then there is Zanzibar, the feather in the cap, adding floury powder white beaches and turquoise crystal wasters to Tanzania’s tourist pulling repertoire. Zanzibar has the best of many worlds. It has the beauty of the Caribbean, the style of Morocco, and the laid back attitude of Africa. The locals greet all with ‘Jambo’ and give up on sales pitch hastles with relative ease, leaving you with ‘hakuna matata’. It is a stunning stunning place and I can’t wait to go back for a week of chill at the end of the tour.

The only bad thing about Zanzibar was the return ferry trip to the mainland. Got so seasick that my arms cramped up, my jaw started to lock and my hands went green. Glad to be away from the boat and back on a bus, even if it’s 5.30 pm and we’ve still got 300km to go.