A Sunday night in Kentish Town

The fire happened on Sunday night and was in the front of the flat while I was at the back. I didn't actually see it and the fire itself did not spread far but the smoke did - throughout the whole flat except the front room and kitchen (where there is just a bit of a mess from people saving my life).
I was rescued by the (amazing) fire brigade from my window about 5 mins after shouting for help so I went down the ladder wearing an inappropriate amount of clothing for a) the public and b) the night. But I'm sure it was more embarrassing for me than anyone else! I am totally fine.

I'm pretty certain that it started with an oven glove that re-caught fire. I had some burn earlier in the day and so I put them out and drenched them in cold water so I thought the fire was out - cold to touch. I put them in a bag of rubbish to chuck out later (am on 3rd floor). I had planned the evening/night around "Match of the Day"¹ on at 10:30. I started watching a film so that it'd finish at 10:15, it was Alien 3 actually. Then I'd have time for the removal of rubbish and an all important brew.
 As I was watching the film (which you may know has the theme of catching aliens in hot stuff and fire generally) the lights were off anyway but then the sound and the picture went. I got up to check the fuse box at the front of the flat but the door to the corridor wouldn't open (pressure difference from heat causing effective suction, I guess) and was decidedly warm. This obviously concerned me so I went to the kitchen door (which leads to the same corridor) and noticed smoke² so I went to the window and tried calling the emergency services.

I failed calling the emergency services. My landline was essentially out of service due to lack of electricity to the cordless receiver so I tried my mobile, which did not respond. A slight concern.
Anyway, I was at the window so I shouted for help.
A passing girl asked me if I was "taking the piss?". I said I wasn't, told her my address and she called, and then said she could see smoke after.
"You're right, I can see smoke coming out of the windows"

There was some smoke in the front room as I remember getting down to avoid the smoke but the details are pretty hazy to be honest. Within 5 mins³, I saw the fire engine coming (I waited by the window as that seemed safest) and the fireman told me a ladder was coming up so I moved away from the window slightly - but obviously not too far away. And then went down the ladder. I think I was pretty lucid so I wanted to go down quickly but he made sure I was slow and careful by standing below me. A neighbour did tell me later they saw me "race" down so it may have been my mind being slower than my body. Some other firemen then broke through my front door to put the fire itself out which was at the front.

I was put in the fire engine, given oxygen⁴ and then asked how I felt etc. Then, as I had had some oxygen administered, I was put in an ambulance for some tests and questions. All were very pleasant people throughout. The police came after that (coastguard would have been a clean sweep, but fairly tricky in Kentish Town) and asked what happened and, understandably, whether it could have been arson⁵.


I told them later what I thought the cause was and they found the offending item.
Even after all the water and the fire was put out, the glove still had embers of fire so they put that out too. Unbelievable ability to hold heat!

I called my parents and asked them to come and get me as there had been a fire in the flat(I later found out they did not realise it was my flat as they came) which they very kindly did. And that, is how a Sunday night can turn a little sour.

<sup>1. The last day of the season, and I did not yet know quite how spectacular it was.↩
2. My memory fails me as to whether I opened the door or just noticed it in the little glass window above the door.↩
3. It was rather lucky it didn't happen after the fire service cuts pushed through by Boris Johnson.↩
4. I was actually asked if I had any respitory problems and then told to have the oxygen as a precaution.↩
5. You have no idea what was going through my head when asked whether there was anyone that could have wanted to do this to me in particular.↩</sup>

Lilongwe

[Continuation from a trip to Zanzibar via Dar Es Salaam]

The early cab was a cautious move but one I could definitely agree with so we awoke barely after sleeping to make our way to the airport in the dark. It was still dark outside when we reached the airport and also dark in the airport. It was shut.

I'd never been to a closed airport before but TC was a little more comfortable with this and made his way to the front door where the security belts were and then woke up the security guard. I would say that this was not the greatest security regime I have seen at an airport and actually still pretty inconvenient. We spoke to him and he opened up the airport for us and scanned our bags.

As I had noticed on the way in to Dar Es Salaam, the airport was pretty small and clearly nothing was going to be open when we had asked the airport itself to be opened for us. We sat and chatted for a bit until the desks were open and then eventually made our way through the whole airport to get on the flight. It was fairly uneventful as we waited for what seemed an age until we could board the Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi. As we were going to Lilongwe, this seemed a little out of the way but my friend had assured me this was better than going direct^[1] as Kenya Airways were much more reliable. It is, as they say, all relative.

We ended up in Nairobi Airport and had a drink for an hour or so until our connecting flight – I would get to know Nairobi Airport's single curving corridor quite well over time.

On the flight to Lilongwe, even though we were checked in early, we were seated apart from each other. I, fortunately, was seated with a very pleasant Danish gentleman of similar age who was coming back from Copenhagen to Lilongwe which meant he was on his fourth and final leg. Before taking off, however we had been informed that our luggage would not be coming with us. A simple announcement as it was not us, particularly, it was all the luggage for the flight. There was a fuel crisis in Malawi which was given as the excuse for this and so our luggage would be coming on the next flight. Everyone else seemed quite prepared for this kind of thing and did not really complain much – my Danish neighbour said he almost always had problems and so packed accordingly with clothes in his cabin bag. He was working for the UN and we coordinated so that we could all pick up our luggage at the same time using a UN vehicle.

Lilongwe is quite a low density city and is much more spread out than I had expected and the route from the airport was full of greenery and even the more built up areas seemed to have few houses. The fuel crisis also made it a little harder to get around and plan things and on top of that I was still feeling a little rough after the ferry trip the previous day and so I thought I would do very little in the day. TC was back at work so we got a cab^[2] back to his place so he could drop his stuff off and go straight to work. I briefly met his (pretty lovely) housemates and then had a nap. A fairly long nap....

I was in Malawi for a few days and I had planned to see more than Lilongwe but I was not feeling great and there was still the luggage to collect. As a result, I thought I would just have a relaxing few days in Lilongwe. It is a pretty quiet city with not a great deal to do in the context of tourism but there was sun and no work – and for a lot of people that is all you need for a great holiday.

In the next few days, I did not venture too far (in the daytime) with one trip to the airport to get the luggage and another trip to have a wander around the central part of town.

The trip to get the luggage was coordinated with the Danish guy and so I went with some drivers from the UN to collect our bags from the airport. I was a bit surprised that Kenyan Airways did not, at the least, offer to take it into Lilongwe itself as the fuel crisis meant the journey to and from the airport would not be cheap – we were just lucky to meet such a helpful person on the plane.

The journey into town involved an eye-opening trip on a minibus which was kind of fun. The buses (classic Toyota minivans, in the main) run certain routes but only when enough people have boarded so you have to get onto the minibuses and then wait – though sometimes they will drive around looking for people to get on. It is quite a strange experience but quite enjoyable. As public transport, I guess it is efficient in terms of asset use but not time but a fine example of private provision. The town centre (that I saw, anyway) was fairly simple and the modern part of it felt like a suburban shopping centre/mall as I imagine they have in North America – a massive car park surrounded by shops. I also walked up the road towards a mosque and a couple of open air markets. As I was walking back, a guy asked me about my camera and he told me about himself and some (fairly dubious sounding) stories about his job and his work with printing photographs. He was harmless enough and I bought him a drink and chatted for a bit after he asked some more questions. He wanted some of my photos so I gave him one of my email addresses (which I usually use for spam – this may be the one I have given you...) to contact me though I never heard from him again. It was an enjoyable hour or so though so it was fine

As I was staying with TC and his house was quite near a well known hotel, I also went there a few times to sit and read in the sun or to eat. Actually, TC's housemates often did similar to work as the electricity and internet connections were a little more reliable [than non-existent].

In the evenings, we (as in me and TC after work) went out for some dinner in a few different places (including the local hotel to watch Liverpool actually win a football match). One night we went to a local bar where there was a weekly party and I met a load of TC's friends and another night we went to a local friend's house to watch a film. I discovered that getting access to films and TV programmes was very important and this was a hotly traded commodity in the ex-pat community – to the point where we watched some truly awful shit (which I can genuinely not remember 100% the name　of, though I think it was "What's Your Number")and everyone seemed to like it just cos there were moving images on a screen. It was still a fun night though.

I went back to London the next morning via Lusaka and Nairobi without much incident. The 8 hour wait in Nairobi airport really really felt like no incident. Nairobi Airport has a very strange aesthetic with a large semi-circular, wide corridor linking the gates. It also has the feel of the 70s (or the imagined 70s in my case) with the shop signs and lighting – it reminded me a little of my childhood trips to Bangladesh actually (and I don't just mean it used to feel like a long wait until the end).

My trip ended in Malawi with not much travel, not many photos but a few enjoyable memories. I don't usually have relaxing holidays but my illness kind of forced it on me. It was nice to relax and spend time with interesting people. The fact that I spent time with a friend almost exclusively for a week or two and we were still friends at the end may well go down as one of my finest achievements in life. 

Well, I think we are still friends.

click here for album - Malawi 2011

^{1. As it happens, the flight that went direct to Lilongwe was run by an airline that went out of business that week or month. Or the route was cancelled, I can't remember. Whatever it was, another good shout by TC.↩}

^{2. as mentioned, there was a fuel crisis and so the cab cost was pretty “western” in magnitude at about US$40 for the 20km or so that we travelled.↩}

Zanzibar

We had come to Zanzibar from Arusha via Dar Es Salaam [link].

Zanzibar is not far from Dar Es Salaam ‎and it only takes about 90 minutes on the relatively frequent boats. After the bus travel, I knew that this would be a far more pleasant journey and so it proved. It was a lovely day and we were able to sit outside to have some fresh air and some great views.

Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, (in fact the name Tanzania comes from a mixture of Zanzibar and Tanganyika which merged on 26 April 1964) but that does not mean that you don’t need to go through an immigration process when you travel from the mainland. It is not the smoothest of processes but it is still one of the better ones in Tanzania as there are a lot of international tourists that make the journey so it is a fairly well worn path.

Once through that, myself and TC did not really have a plan (again - and winging it had served us so well thus far) so we walked out of the port to be slightly accosted by a man as we walked towards “Mercury’s” ^[1] who told us of a hotel he knew and some car hire. Against my (probably not better) judgement, we took his advice and booked a car for the next day before having some lunch at the aforementioned bar.

The port is in “Stone Town” which is the most built up bit of the island with hotels, bars and other entertainment being plentiful. It had a very nice atmosphere and so we found the hotel and had a walk around the area looking at the architecture and life. It was pretty nice and it definitely felt like a holiday being relaxed without being too hot. The market was huge and pretty amazing to be honest. There were many things being sold and we walked through for quite some time. I did not want to risk taking my camera out though... They did sell all kinds of stuff but the main item seemed to be football shirts. As my friend said, this was one of the most amazing markets in the world, with a history of trading exotic spices and rare products for trade with all the continents and now it was selling Premier League football shirts. What an indictment of how globalisation has gone. We found a relaxed coffee place [Zanzibar Coffee House] in the market and planned the next day, we knew that we would be getting the car so we planned how to spend that day - the non Stone Town (which was a very walkable size) things to do would be going to a beach and a spice farm.

After that, we found the Sunset Bar at Africa House which has a western facing terrace bar which was excellent. Busy, but excellent.

The next day, we (by which I obviously mean "TC") were driving so we got a map and made our way to some beaches. We drove for about 90 mins towards the beaches of Paje and Jambiani [map] which was a quiet and relatively simple affair as there are just not that many roads - we still had to stop a few times of course.

When we stopped by the road to check the map, and then start again, we soon had our second run-in with the local law enforcement... Flagged down by a policeman with a bright white hat, we stopped and he made some very animated conversation. English may not have been his first language, but he saw an opportunity and he tried to take it.

   "Why no belt?"

   "I am wearing a belt"

   "Why you hurry to put belt?" [accompanied by massively overacted motion of putting belt on].

Essentially, he was accusing us of driving without our belts on, which was obviously illegal and we were going to be charged. He wanted to take our details and my friend, surprisingly, agreed and said

   "OK, let's drive to the police station."

The police officer said it was far away and we should process it here. My friend refused to do it here and wanted to go to the police station for the fine. Again, the police officer was not pleased and spoke about the waste of time and effort. My friend asked me how much money I had (under my breath) and we then persuaded him that he should accept a lesser fine from us now in cash - I think it was about USD10. Some nice, low level corruption. Again, I was pretty surprised but my friend had been in Africa for a while and was well aware of the scam - and knew that the police officer was not going to go to the police station and lose his spot.

We did not stay at the beach too long actually as we just wanted to go for a short while (I am not a fan of lazing by the beach) so we just had a spot to eat and TC had a little swim in the ocean. Actually, the beach was really ugly at lowish tide but the restaurant we went to (The Sea Horse, which was very nice - I had coconut infused fish) told us that it would improve once the water came in. It did, and it took only about 15 minutes!

From there, we moved onto a spice tour which was nearer Stone Town again so we drove back. The policeman was no longer at the same point - maybe he was having a break.

The spice tour was great but not that organised. We went to a spice farm and one of the locals on the farm, with some payment from us, gave us a tour himself. he was about 15 but his English was pretty good (he spoke some Italian too) and he showed us loads of spices and banana. It was very interesting and the tour lasted about an hour. The farm also had a set of stalls where you could buy the spices ground up and packaged. Preying on our innate racism again, we were told we would get better prices than the white people that also happened to be there at the time. Marketing genius.

We had to drive back to return the car before it got dark so we were back in Stone Town for the evening - a Saturday evening. And what better way to spend an evening in Africa than watching the global game. So we watched an English Premier League game (Arsenal, as TC is a fan, link) in a bar called Tatu, like the Russian media band. We did eat beforehand though, and it was great. There is a market in Forodhani Gardens [map] where there is fresh seafood sold, cooked there on sticks. You can choose what you want and there is a friendly atmosphere with loads of people - tourists and locals - out for the evening. The food and drink was great and relatively cheap too.

The next day, a Sunday, we would be making our way back to Dar Es Salaam so that we could fly to Lilongwe on Monday morning.

In preparation, we both got up fairly early for a morning walk around Stone Town (I think we were both pretty enamoured with the town) and to take some photos. It was much cooler in the mornings, oof course and it was a great opportunity to see the architecture. Historically, Zanzibar was also a major trading point for something other than spices - slaves. The slave trade was massive through Zanzibar and was centred in a slave market around the location of the Anglican church. In fact, the church was built once the trade was over (negotiated by British forces) with the help of freed slaves. The monument there is rather well done but I cannot judge the museum as I did not go.

The boat ride was not in the cool morning and was both delayed and slow. In fact, it was terrible as there was not an open space, the smell of fuel made me feel sick and nauseous enough to last for some time after we got back to Dar. The flight on Monday may have been early but that would not prevent a little more football watching as Liverpool were playing Manchester City [link] which we watched at the Kilimanjiro Hotel after getting a more simple dinner.

For obvious reasons, TC was very concerned about getting to the airport sufficiently early so we booked a cab to get us while it was barely morning (3am or something) but then we would be safe... Wouldn't we?

[On to Lilongwe]

Zanzibar - click here for album

^{1. Freddie Mercury, of Queen fame, was from Zanzibar and they seemed relatively proud of him - or at least recognised his influence. The relationship was quite strange, I felt, as he was quite famously homosexual and Tanzania is very anti-gay. Hilariously, on one of my bus rides, I did read a local paper and there was a little bit about David Cameron. The local political parties were loosely affiliated with the Conservative party and the Labour party in the UK and the Labour equivalents were railing against the Conservative ones because the UK Conservative party were, at the time, talking up gay rights and Cameron was pushing through “gay marriage” legislation (in spite of opposition from the majority of the Conservative party). I guess they did not realise that the UK Labour party were in greater support of it. The reason I found it hilarious was that the Conservative party have not historically (or presently, in fact) been major fighters for the rights of the LGBT community and Cameron himself famously attacked the Labour government for abolishing section 28, the homophobic legislation introduced by Thatcher’s government.↩}

Arusha again

Safari (finished the day before) was probably the main reason for travelling and so the rest of the trip really was the rest of the trip. Our previous night in Arusha [link] was short and not particularly exploratory so we decided that it would make more sense to look around a little. And a little is all that was really possible as it is not a large town so we got a cab and drove to the central area until something was found - a something that made my TC quite excited^[1] and was a sushi place. Unsurprisingly, the food was not the highest quality or that authentic, but it was still very nice and a nice change. The dinner did not last long into the night as we had plans to take a much earlier coach so that we could get the ferry to Zanzibar on the same day - Dar Es Salaam did not hold much interest for either of us^[2].

An early start was a 6am coach (for an 8 hour ride) that was pre-booked by the lovely people at the safari company. Compared to our last bus ride [link], this meant that it was more comfortable, cheaper and left on time - and travelling in daylight. Strong, strong daylight for which I was quite glad and also pleased to be on a more modern coach. We made a couple of stops at service stations (simple buildings with food and toilets by the side of the road) and chatted about this and that until we realised it was already 2pm and we were not near Dar Es Salaam. This was going to make the ferry a bit of a squeeze - again there is no boat once it gets dark so the last one was at 4:30pm. We were never going to make it. All we could do was discuss what we could do - and the options were not exactly many and varied. It boiled down to:

   Taxi to port to see if there were any boats - and then book tickets for next day.

   Hotel and food in Dar

   Early boat to Zanzibar.

We reached the bus station and, like fatted calves, we were calm in the knowledge of failure. With no need to rush about, we decided to find a cheaper taxi rather than just take the first option - so we walked out of the bus station to find a cab. This was not well-received.

As I did not explain earlier, the airport and the bus station have badge holding taxi drivers that you can supposedly trust. You will get a fairly standardised (and expensive) fare as they have all apparently agreed to keep prices high for the captive market (which, do be fair, is a very common feature of travel economics). As we walked out, we had a bunch of drivers try and block our path, physically, through the small pedestrian entrance and then once we got out and into a cab, we had a little more drama. Suddenly, we were surrounded by people and wondering what was going on. The taxi could not move and we were kind of stuck in the cab. Then a policeman came up to us and asked what the commotion was. Or, at least, I thought that was what he was asking, my friend, however, was a little bit more wary. "Do not give him your passport. Whatever you do, do not give him your passport".

A lot of shouting and raised voices ensued and I am not sure how we got away but after a few minutes we were eventually away with all our limbs and possessions. TC said that they wanted a bribe which, had they taken our passports would have become a necessity - by just telling the policeman that he could not take our passports and the driver to drive off, we were eventually OK.

It wasn't much but I was a bit shaken as I am not used to those kinds of situations. We found a hotel in the Kariakoo area which seemed pretty live with hostels and then made our way to the nearby port to see what times the boats were and when we should go. TC, wisely, wanted to see what the boats looked like before we booked. I appreciated that and we also met a man that tried to get us to buy tickets for his boat company by appealing to our innate racism - his company was run by Asians.

A spot of local dinner and a drink at a local 5 star hotel and then to our hotel (cheap, and cheerful due to the painted beaches on the wall. Cheerful? I meant tacky) to be ready for Zanzibar.

<sup>1. Later on, when his housemates asked about Arusha, the first thing he said was that there was a sushi place and their eyes truly lit up.↩
2. Come on, you know how narrative works - this is the red-shirted guy that beams down on Star Trek every week.↩</sup>

Safari - day 3 - Ngorongoro Crater

We came here after days in Tarangire and Lake Manyara.

The Ngorongoro Crater is part of one of the oldest national parks in the world and used to be part of the Serengeti national park and is the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera [link]. We got there by driving up the sides and then down to go to the flat part which is one of the richest areas for wildlife in the world. It was probably best to save this day for last as, frankly, the other days would have paled in comparison.

The national park had not only animals but also human villages in there. We did not go into them, but it was interesting to see them at least and it is the only conservation area in Tanzania that allows human habitation. 

In the morning, we drove around and saw plenty of interesting animals including, from very far away, a rhino. They are very rare so we were supposedly very lucky to get a glimpse[link]. 

The highlight was definitely the following of a cheetah. This really set my heart racing and I used to have a massive soft spot for cheetahs as a child due to their speed. Benny had thought he had seen one as we drove past an area and so we waited. Waited in vain. 

We drove off somewhere else where there were a group of men in the back of a van that appeared to be some kind of freedom fighters to my untrained eye. To the trained eye, however, they were local college students that were studying conservation. As we drove back past the same spot again where Benny had teased us with the cheetah thoughts, he warned us again, and pointed. 

There were, for a while, no other cars^[1] though there so we were able to follow, slowly behind it and track it as it was on the prowl. It was really an unfogettable experience and watching the languid confidence as it prowled towards other animals was superb. As it strolled towards the zebras, they looked scared but once they were a set distance away, they seemed calm – and that distance was not far. In some of the photos, you can see some zebras running and others watching the cheetah calmly. 

Once the other landcruisers were there, the cheetah seemed unconcerned and came closer and then walked away again. It got pretty close^[2]. 

Everything after the cheetah felt a little lower – and I really felt like I was going through the motions when taking photos. I still liked it and actually the lions afterwards were also pretty great, but I felt a bit spoilt. We were close enough to hear the lion breathing (which it does very fast - even when sleeping) so it was not unimpressive. But, really, everything after that seemed a little dialled down.

Ngorongoro Crater 2011 - click for album

^{1. Plenty of cars came after a few minutes as Benny had texted his other guide friends so that they could also bring their visitors – a good system.↩}

^{2. I, rather stupidly, got very close. While I was very excitedly taking photos, my lens cap fell off and in my excitement at the cheetah being there, I kind of forgot that a cheetah was there. I opened the door and got out to go and get the lens cap off the floor. I later lost the lens cap for good in Malaysia where I did not have the bravery to reclaim it.↩}

Safari - day 2 - Lake Manyara

We came to Lake Manyara national park after a day in Tarangire [link].

Lake Manyara, as the name would suggest, was a little more watery than the previous day. We were joined by another pair of tourists (who were from South Africa where they had been on safari before in Kruger) in our car so the five of us had to decide where to go that would work for all of us. It worked out well as everyone was quite open and friendly.

• When we initially drove in, there were lots of monkeys on the roads which we obviously didn't want to run over - and fairly comically, we also had to wait for a tortoise to cross the road. Manyara had many different elephants and it felt a little more green than the other parks - green with trees and vegetation. Other than the actual lake area, the vegetation meant you could not see the animals from far away so you had to get quite close to the animals.
• Near the lake, there were some hot springs - bit risky for me to dip in though. Near that area, the flamingoes were phenomenal - the pictures do not really do justice to the swarm effect. 

Check out the photo album below by clicking through.

Lake Manyara 2011 - click here for album

The next day, we made our way to the exceptional Ngrongoro Conservation Area.

Safari - day 1 - Tarangire

The safari that had been planned was for three days (and two nights) to visit three separate parks which each had their own feeling:

Tarangire

Lake Manyara

Ngorongoro Crater

I didn’t think they would be that different but they really were, as you will hopefully be able to tell in the photos. I had my camera with me with a fairly cheap 70-300mm zoom lens [link] and some binoculars were also provided by the safari company.

Arusha is a pretty common base for safari as we found out in the morning by looking at the vehicles on the road. The Toyota Landcruiser is a classic of its type due to its reliability and quality - and the safari variant was everywhere. The variation was that the roof popped up on little stilts so that you can stand up and look out but under a roof.

The setup was that the guide (called Benny) would drive around the park and stop when he saw things. He was excellent and a very fun guy. We were somewhat reliant on his guiding and spotting skills but this was not a worry at all as he was brilliant.

We went to a supermarket first to stock up on some supplies before making our way to Tarangire which was about an hour away.

In all honesty, I think the photos do a better job of explaining the day’s joys than my words so check out the photos in the album:

Tarangire 2011 – click here for album

Driving in to Tarangire Park, there were not so many people there and I was pretty excited and when we first saw the elephants, I went a little crazy with photos - eventually I became a little jaded. It was still amazing, but obviously moreso when it was the first time. To be honest, it was more densely packed with wildlife than I was expecting. The lunch was packed by the safari company and we had it in a picnic area which I found quite strange. Logically, it makes a lot of sense of course, but it still felt odd.

We returned to the car after the day was over and went to the camp/lodge we were staying at. We stayed in a camp that was convenient for the three parks we were going to. There were a few different lodges in the area that were aimed at different price ranges and stuff and ours was very much the basic end - this meant not much electricity, not much entertainment and some pretty dodgy showers (cold rather than anything else...). The food was provided by the safari company and we had a "chef" that travelled with us who prepared our dinners and lunches. It was nothing special but they were at least thought about and not bad. I did find the popcorn starter a little odd though. Once dinner was over, we retired to the tents we had and, with very little light, we had little to do. It worked out pretty well as the main reason was, of course, the safari itself. 

The next day was Lake Manyara.