Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam hotel rooms

Ian and i boarded our flight to Dar es Salaam very excited and apprehensive... i didn't really know what to expect! The flight was pretty uneventful and everything was going far to smoothly until it came time to collect my luggage... thank you SAA, i didn't need my bag anyway! My eyes were opened to the ways of Africa almost immediately as we navigated our way through Dar es Salaam city centre... not a good idea at 4 in the afternoon. As we waited patiently at a robot behind a fuel truck we watch in amusement as a guy walked up to the tanker very casually with a spanner and packet. He opened the outlet valve, filled up his packed with fuel and walked off... all as casual as ever, something tells me he's done that before!! He tried a repeat at the next robot but the driver was waiting for him with a panger...

We were up at the crack of dawn the following morning to board our flight to Zanzibar... thankfully my bag had arrived during the night so we picked it up on our way. It was a very smooth and short flight to Zanzibar on a 16 seater... just flying over the island was amazing. Next stop Stonetown... the town is made up of a maze of very narrow alleys, 4 and 5 storey buildings with huge wooden doors and small markets. We walked through the meat and fish markets... not a good idea if you have a weak stomach, it made me think twice before ordering a meal for the rest of the trip. A tour of the Slave market is also a must... defiantly an eye opener (there is now a hostel at the Slave market site).

The wiring system in Stonetown

Barry and I walking through the narrow alleys of Stonetown

Ian, Barry and myself in the Slave chambers... excuse my wardrobe, thank you SAA again!

We stayed in Nungwi, on the Northern part of the island at Smiles Beach Cottages. The locals are very friendly and tourism orientated, their favourite phase is "Hakuna Matata" (Swahli for "no worries"), which is very much the attitude in Zanzibar! The typical response from the locals when we answered the question of where are you from was, "Bafana Bafana"... which i found very amusing! Sunsets in Zanzibar are breathtaking and i made sure i didn't miss any of the 3 we were there for.

Our activities on Zanzibar included walks on the amazing beaches, chilling in the sun, a boat ride and snorkelling trip to Mnemba Island (the colours underwater were absolutely amazing... so many different species of fish) and the boys also went scuba diving (which by the sounds of things was also amazing). A large amount of time was spent at one of the many bars along the beach... i can't think of a better way to spend an evening than sipping on a cocktail, under the stars with your toes in the sand!

Mnemba Island is a private island and at $1000 per day we didn't step foot on it!

Unfortunately our 3 days on Zanzibar had to come to an end and it was back on the 16 seater for our return flight to Dar. On our return to the Seacliff Hotel, Ian discovered he has LOST his passport, $1000 and 2 cameras... ouch! One word of advice, not a good idea to loose a passport in a foreign country, especially when we are planning on driving through another 5 countries!!! We had to delay our trip for the next 3 days and camp out at our hotel in Dar for a couple of reasons, the main one being waiting on an emergency passport, but the Land Rover had to have it's power steering fixed (the first of many problems to follow) and John had fallen victim to blood poisioning and needed medical attention. I somehow fell victim to the famous Africa guts and spent the next 3 days in bed watching TV... fun fun fun!

Barry lending a hand in fixing the Landie

At noon on Friday the fantastic news came that we had the passport and we were out of that hotel and on the road to Tanga quicker than we could say Hakuna Matata...