We left Dar for the
early morning ferry across the harbour, which took about 7 minutes,
before getting onto a bigger ferry to take us to Zanzibar, an island
off the coast of Tanzania. The larger ferry ride to Zanzibar took 2.5
hours and the waters were quite calm. Upon arrival in Zanzibar, we
checked into our hotel in Stone Town, an older section of Zanzibar,
grabbed a quick bite before jumping onto a smaller boat and heading
out to “Prison Island”, which is a 30 minute ride in a very
underpowered local boat. On Prison Island we saw giant tortoises,
which early rival those I've seen in the Galapagos for size, with the
oldest one that we could see being 155 years old.
After visiting the
tortoises, we got back in the boat and headed out for a spot of
snorkelling. We were all dying to get into the water because it was
very hot and humid – about 30 degrees and about 90% humidity. The
waters were very clear and we saw a good variety of fish, however,
the coral looked a bit dead, which we were told was due to fishermen
using nets in the area (illegally). We met our guide later that
afternoon for a drink. It was supposed to be a sunset drink but our
boat ran out of fuel on the way back to Zanzibar so we were a bit
later. We ate that night at the local markets, which Amanda and I
enjoyed a seafood feast. The vendor tried to overcharge us –
commonly known as a “Mzungu Tax” or “White Person Tax” (we
get called Mzungu's everywhere we go), but we threatened to get the
tourist police over and they changed their pricing by over 50% down.
The next day we visited
the site of the slave markets from the 1800's. We got taken down into
one of the chambers where they kept the slaves, which wasn't high
enough to stand in, would regularly get flooded with high tide and
where the centre corridor also served purpose as the toilet. The room
didn't have a good feeling about it and most of us got out quite
quickly. We also visited a church built by a priest who had a good
deal of influence in ending the slave trading. After the slave market
site visit, we drove north up the island for a bit before stopping to
visit a spice farm. Here we got shown many types of spices they grew
on island, along with other fruits, before sampling some different
types of tea infused with various local products.
We enjoyed lunch at a
local family before heading further north to our hotel for the next
two nights, called Sun Set Bungalows. Our room was easily the best
hotel we've had since being on tour and our hotel was right on the
beach. We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon before going for a
several swims, enjoying happy hour drinks and grabbing some dinner.
The next day Amanda headed off early to go scuba diving off a local
island called Nmemba while I enjoyed a day of leisure, not really
going any further than from my beach side sun lounge into the water,
over to the bar and back again. The weather was sunny and warm so
perfect day to lounge at the beach. Amanda joined me in the afternoon
and we had more happy hour drinks and more dinner rounded out of day.
The next day we headed
back to Stone Town for some quick shopping before getting back on the
ferry for the mainland. It was a little rough on the way back and I
felt a bit seasick, probably as a combination of too many happy hour
drinks the nigh previous. Once we got back to the mainland, we hopped
back on the local ferry and back to the hotel we previously stayed at
in Dar Es Salaam. We all upgraded because we were due to have a very
early start and a long day in the truck the next morning.
At 4:45am, everyone
emerged from their mosquito infested room upgrades and we hit the
road for a long day as we endeavoured to beat the traffic in Dar Es
Salaam and head about 570kms to our destination of Iringa. On the
way, we passed through Mikumi national park where we saw giraffe and
a family of elephants. Other than that, there wasn't much to report –
just a long day of driving and getting passed by a lot of local
buses, whose drivers have a complete disrespect for human life as
they hurtle up hills on the wrong side of the road around a blind
corner over the speed limit. In fact, a bit later in the day we
passed one such bus on its side on the side of the road. Our driver
was pretty sure that bus had earlier passed us. That night, we set up
our tents for the first time in four nights and prepared for yet
another day in the truck, which will include a border crossing into
Malawi so I'll finish this post here and update again from Malawi
(internet depending).
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