Off the Couch and On the Road

We had three nights on the North Coast of Zanzibar, about an hour and a half away from Stone Town by mini-bus (crammed in like sardines) - where paradise is the only word to describe a beach so perfect, with white silicon sand and turquoise clear water stretching right along the coast.

Those three days I sawm, sunbaked, ate and slept in our cute little bungalows (a holiday from our camping holiday) and was so chilled out it was blissful. We wandered down to the beacj at night for drinks and to play bongo drums along with locals who sang, played and strummed a guitar around a small fire, and jumped to the evening cry of ‘volleyball time!’ heard everywhere we passed in the village.

By the time we took one last photo and gazed out on the beach that fourth day, we decided it was somewhere we could definitely return to. Until we caught the ferry back to the mainland, which for the sake of simplicity I will call ‘The Worst Boat Journey Ever’. People were throwing up around us like some sort of distorted echo of a surround sound system, andthe waves were so high you could actually curse for about 5 seconds (with your head in your hands trying not to throw up) before the ferry hit water with a resounding slap once again. The Worst Boat Journey Ever.

Paradise does have it’s downfalls after all.

-Sarah

From freezing winds and lots of layers, we arrived in Dar Es Salaam to the hot sun, a nice breeze and a beautiful beach with white sand and warm water.

“But don’t go outside the compound otherwise you risk being mugged, stabbed or raped,” our guide explained. “And watch out for mosquitos in case they have malaria.” Right then.

The afternoon was perfect, swimming in the ocean and sunbathing, with BBQ pork chops and vegetables for dinner, and a few drinks at the bar on the beach.

The next morning we left our tents standing and caught a ferry to the island of Zanzibar off the coast of Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania is actually a combination of TANzania and ZANzibar). Arriving in Stone Town early afternoon we met a local guide and took a spice tour around the island’s capital, starting with the old fort, erected by Oman Arabs in 1700 for fighting Portuguese and used as barracks for prisoners in various civil wars in years to follow.

We visited the ‘house of wonders’, an aging whitewashed building which is now government offices but used to be the largest house in Zanzibar. From there we saw stone ruins of an old concubine, hosting 14 women to provide ‘comfortable times’ to the head of Zanzibar (our guide’s favourite word - ’comfortable times’ - in a fake British accent became the tour groups running joke for the remainder of the trip) and afterwards visited the site of the former slave market where Arabs used to trade Africans after holding them in a small cell (we couldn’t even stand up) with no food or water for two days. Memorials were erected fro those whose lives were stolen from them, and it was a chilling reminder of Africa’s infamous past that thankfully came to an end.

Afterwards, our tour led us into the spce plantations where we tasted and smelled everything from vanilla beans, cocoa trees, cardamon, peppercorns and lemongrass, and watched one of the locals climb a coconut tree, chop and allow us to taste the fresh coconut grown on the plantation.

Following the tour, we had a sample of a variety of fruits grown on the farm, and teas made from the spices. We head back to the hotel (hotel! No camping! Such luxury) before walking down the street to the night markets for a street stall dinner. There were rows of bonfires, the tables nearby filled with fresh seafood, meat, pasties and local pizzas ready to be cooked fresh while you watched. It was cheap and delicious and we filled ourselves up to the brim.

It was a big night that night - a vodka bottle that was full didn’t live to see the morning, and the hangover was so bad that when a few others decided to go snorkelling the next day, a couple of us decided to wander the town instead, sleep, eat, walk around some more, and sleep.

We had a quiet dinner that night (more seafood) and an early night - for more sleep.

-Sarah  

We drive in the truck the next day from the campsite at Arusha to a small village in Segera where we stayed for a night to break up the even longer journey to Dar Es Salaam, our next destination. There ... [Continue reading this entry]

The following day we woke at dawn and sleepily stumbled into the landcruisers for our game drive into the crater. Thr drive took about 30mins, though all we could see outside on the way down was fog, and a few ... [Continue reading this entry]

The next morning was pretty chilled out, a few walked the hour it took to get into town and did some shopping at the markets, and the rest took our time packing up and catching up on reading and writing. ... [Continue reading this entry]

We woke and ate, packed and left early the next morning, driving for most of the day and crossing the border from Kenya into Tanzania. The landscape changed almost immediately following the border crossing, dry shrubs and barren plains with ... [Continue reading this entry]

We had a free day in Nairobi. It was cold and raining. And cold. I didn't mind the cold in Scotland, nor the rain, because well, it's Scotland. But this was Africa man, we were so close to the equator ... [Continue reading this entry]

We spent a free day in Naivasha not dong very much except visiting the local village and chatting to the locals while we did some food shopping and packed up following lunch to complete our triangle of Masai Mara and ... [Continue reading this entry]

We spent most of the next day in the truck (we kept accidentally saying 'bus' to the horror of our crew, who didn't seem to think a bus was 'manly' enough) and travelled to Lake Naivasha whch means 'flowing water'. ... [Continue reading this entry]

The lion was less than 5m away from the truck, almost camouflaged in the tall brown grass, his lioness and 3 cubs close by. It was amazing to see, and something a zoo could never replicate.

We woke earlier that morning, ... [Continue reading this entry]