Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam

We found a cheap guesthouse in the poorest end of Stone Town on the main island of Zanzibar. Although we were a little worried when we arrived as we went through a very grotty fish market to the door of the guesthouse, it turned out to be a bit of an oasis. Albeit a bit tatty, the enclosed stone courtyard, complete with tiled fish pond was great and the room large, clean, with A/C and a modern bathroom with powerful shower turned out to be better accommodation than the large smart hotels we have stayed at. Breakfast was served on the roof overlooking the ocean on two sides with the fishing boats coming in just below us. Another, 'wow!' moment and there were a few of those in Zanzibar.

Stone Town was fascinating for us and we loved it despite its run down appearance. Every other house has a beautiful carved door with large brass spiked studs, even the most dilapidated. There were old palaces and buildings to look around, an enormous open market, masses of street stalls and a maze of little narrow streets gave the place a great atmosphere.

Also, the best food we have eaten in Africa so far with the famous Zanzibar spices featuring everywhere. Quite a few meals on terraces overlooking the beach, eating sitting on the floor, and listening to Freddie Mercury and Queen (he was born in Zanzibar) all added to the specialness of it. The only tour we undertook was the Spice Tour where we visited the spice plantations and were shown how spices are grown and processed.
After three days we took a daladala to Bwejuu, a small quiet spot on the shores of the ocean. Daladalas are great. They are small minibus size wagons with highly decorated open fretwork sides and a small bench around the inside of the rear. The bench is about six inches off the floor and slightly padded. They are designed to take twelve people but frequently we had over twenty squeezed in. Everything goes on the roof, bicycles, bales, firewood and a one stage they loaded over twenty crates of soft drinks on top of ours. Daladalas are frequent, efficient and very cheap, costing around a £1 for a journey which took, including stops, over an hour and a half. The daladala dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. However we found a little basic resort with a small banda within our budget right on the beach. Three days of endless white sands and hardly a soul around was bliss, except when Ken fell over in a rockpool and Jane spent quite a while with a needle and tweezers removing nasty black sea urchin spines from his fingers and toes.

Then back on the daladala to Stone Town and the ferry to Dar es Salaam where things went down hill a little.
Firstly we found out on leaving Zanzibar that our visas expired in two days (apparently the 90 day period starts when you obtain the visa and not from when you arrive), then Jane was very sick on the ferry. The visa problem meant that we needed to change plans and fly out of Tanzania within the two days instead of taking our time overland. We were badly advised that the only way to do this was buying a ticket via Nairobi, only to discover there was a flight direct to Lilongwe (Malawi's capital) the next day. This left us out of pocket and fed up. On top of this we faced difficulties on the hotel front. It was not only difficult to find but was without water or electricity much of the time. Eating in the bar in the dark was a challenge and we were served chicken when we ordered fish which, of course, Jane couldn't eat. Dar has daily power cuts. We tried to explore the city but found it to be dirty and dusty with little to recommend it and very hot and humid. It also had what must be the worst National Museum in the world with very limited and boring exhibits. We tried eating out the next evening, but the streets were dark and threatening and we were glad to reach the hotel safely later. Dar was not a particularly good experience!
However Malawi promises well. The flight on a small 50 seat aircraft was very friendly, the few passengers seemed to chat to each other and to us and when we arrived the airport was shut down with no immigration or customs staff at all. However, everyone was so nice about it and the immigration official came back from his home in about half an hour and just stamped every passport without discussion, apologising profusely. One of the passengers found a good taxi for us.

Tiwi beach

Joe, Chris and Sarah returned to Nairobi on the overnight train from Mombassa to fly back to England, and we set off with Tim for a week on the coast. We decided on Tiwi Beach, a quiet spot with self catering cottages. We were warned of the potential dangers on part of the journey from some violent locals armed with machetes who apparently rob white tourists on the road, so we travelled by a cheap taxi instead of public transport. We found a small thatched cottage just two minutes walk through palm trees to a white sandy beach and the Indian Ocean. We enjoyed a quiet week, which was what Tim wanted, lazing, reading, beaching, swimming, etc., with Jane and Tim snorkelling along the reef. Ken's swimming proved not to be up to this. We bought fresh fish from fishermen on the beachfront and it was great to cook for ourselves. We visited the popular Dianni Beach up the coast and were very pleased we had chosen Tiwi.
Also, from creatures great (of the safari trips) to creatures small. We watched a horde of small crabs running about the beach at dusk to avoid the incoming tide, and our toilet bowl contained two lizards and a frog during our stay. The most exciting encounter with small creatures came one night when we were woken at 1.00am by the bites of dozens of ants in our bed and with hundreds of them on the floor around the bed. They were small ants but their bites were very unpleasant. After picking the ants off each other and the bed, and anticipating the need to sit up all night, we discovered that due to a power cut and doing the cooking by torch light, we had forgotten to put out the remains from the fish we cooked the night before. A two inch wide column of ants ran around the edge of the cottage to the rubbish bag with thousands of them covering the bag. Those around, and in, our bed were the stragglers. After many more bites, and still using torches, we managed to throw the bag out of the back door and wash and clear most of the ants from the cottage. At one stage Ken put his hand on the bag, in the dark, to realise that what felt like fur was a mass of biting ants. It was a little difficult to sleep after that by quite funny nevertheless.
Back to Nairobi by the overnight sleeper from Mombassa. The sleeper train was good, with 'more than adequate meals', and the lovely practice of a man playing a xylophone up and down the train to alert passenger to the next meal sitting Passing a large area of industrial slums just before we arrived in Nairobi was salutary. A week with Tim was great, however, taking him to the airport was difficult in reminding us that we would not be seeing him or the others for nearly six months.

On Safari

Tim, Chris and his girlfriend Sarah arrived and we set off on the Safari trip we had arranged in England. There were two mini buses with the six of us in one and an American family of four plus two single thirtyish men in the other. First we visited the game reserve at Maasai Mara where we saw four of the “big five”, lions, leopard, elephants and buffalo. Just listing them like this gives no feel of the magic of seeing crouching lions appear before your eyes or of a herd of elephants with their babies walking very close to the track and watching you suspiciously as they protect their young. Perhaps though the highlight was seeing a leopard in a tree with a warthog it had just killed as leopards are one of the hardest animals to spot and we had an excellent view. Many of the Maasai people retain their traditional dress and way of life and look very distinctive in their colourful draped clothes and masses of bright bead jewellery with men carrying spears, clubs and swords whilst herding their livestock. Two Maasai men kept watch all night at the campsite to protect us from wandering animals which was fine but quite disconcerting to emerge from your tent in the middle of the night for a loo visit to see a tall figure in the dark confronting you!

Christmas Day saw us travelling from the Masai Mara to Lake Nakuru where we celebrated in the eve by having wine instead of beer with our eve meal and our guide producing a small artificial Christmas tree. It felt right and in keeping with our surroundings and companions. The next day we saw the fifth of the big five – the rhino and also flamingos, pelicans and lots of other birdlife.

Amboseli was next which was different again, a game park with a more open feel and a large swamp which provided us with great views of elephants and hippos. Finally an evening game drive and overnight stop in Tsavo where our guide assures us a lion came near his tent in the night – fortunately we had been warned not to venture out of out tents!

All four game reserves were very different so we saw different animals in different settings. We saw masses of game but each time there was something new which meant the magic stayed with us although by the end we were getting blasé about zebras, giraffes and gazelles even though the former two were among our collective favourites. The scenery and landscapes were extraordinary, with the acacia tree as the most outstanding African symbol. Some of the the views across the reserves in the early evening, often with a lone acacia tree, were breathtaking.

The guides and drivers were great. They were informative, fun and helpful. One surprise was the quality of the food, which was very good. The cook, a man in his late sixties, was amazing. He managed to cook for sixteen people on the ground with an iron grid on charcoal with few facilities, and no running water and produced three substantial meals a day. We had delicious varied food with several choices of dishes and vegetarian options. The group all got on very well and the evening meals were lively and entertaining. We camped for much of the time, which was a bit of a struggle for the oldest member of the party (KD), and some of the facilities were pretty basic with one campsite having no running water for two days. However, some of the showers were better than some of those in the smart hotel we ended up in in Mombassa. What sort of hotel describing itself as having world class services runs out of water in the afternoons and has only very occasional hot water?

Mombassa is more diverse and more interesting than Nairobi with an interesting old town/Islamic area, and we experienced the first really hot, humid weather of the trip. New Year in Mombassa was spent in a smart holiday resort on the coast. It was a hot balmy evening and we ate an excellent Indian meal in the open downing lots of cocktails overlooking the Indian Ocean, with traditional dancing, acrobats, and a few fireworks. The six of us and a couple of hundred Indian people. It was a bit bizarre, but quite beautiful, and wonderful all being together in such a setting.

Chris, Joe and Sarah have now left us to return to the UK, leaving Tim with us for another week. It was hard saying goodbye to them for six months.

Now we have a camera we plan to insert some photos but because of poor internet connections Tim will do this on his return. Hope you enjoy looking at them.