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.

Dar to Safari, in one smooth movement (pt 2)

A continuation from part 1 [here]

Once we got on to the bus, we actually needed to organise the next few days and so we did so on the bus and chatted through the options. We did have some details for a safari company and so we wanted to call them. As it happened, TC's mobile from Malawi was locked out and his British one was playing up and very low on battery so we wanted to use mine – all we needed was a SIM card. I had only recently got this particular phone^[1] and I knew it was unlocked so I could simply pop a new SIM in and these were readily available from street sellers. As we were going to stop for toilet breaks and food, we could do that later.

The purchase was very simple, the installation a little less so. Although the phone was unlocked at the hardware level, it was locked by the OS (I had a bit of security software installed, by default) and so as soon as a new, unrecognised SIM was inserted, it then locked up and asked for a passcode...

Obviously, I did not know it so I requested a new passcode and what this does (and I did not know this at the time) is send a text to three people from your contact list and if they respond, it will unlock. So, from TC's mobile (running very low on battery) I sent texts to explain what was needed as otherwise getting a strange text from me just after landing in Tanzania might be a little worrying. After a little while longer than I expected (and with VERY good reason^[2]) my friend sent through what we needed and so it was unlocked. This was about 4pm and so we really needed to organise the actual safari that was supposedly starting the next day and so TC got on the phone and the company said that they'd meet us at the bus stop to discuss. This was great customer service (no doubt helped with the fact it was low-season).

With that headache out of the way and only some irritating girls listening to terrible music through their mobile phone speakers left as an issue, normal chat continued. It was nice to catch up and there was plenty of opportunity to as, even though it was getting dark, we were still nowhere near Arusha.

My eyesight is not the best, but as it got dark, I really could not see a thing. The coach had no lights inside and the roads, as mentioned earlier, had no lights on them either. The fact I'm writing this would suggest nothing major happened, and it didn't but I was out of my comfort zone.

We eventually reached the bus station at about 11pm (and so we'd been in the dark for about 3 hours!) and there, we were indeed met by the Safari company. Amazing!

They took us to a lodge which was actually really rather pleasant (for the one night we were there) where we discussed what the plan would be, which places to go to and how much it would cost.

Once that had been sorted, we were pretty hungry (I'd not eaten since breakfast) and it was now midnight. We went over the road to a large hotel and asked if they would do us some food, they did and so we ate. it was weird for me to have to get a cab across the street but this was the way it was done, and it seemed fine. And then to bed to be ready again. It was to be the last night in a bed for a few days.

<sup>1. It would be lost in Penang a few years later[link]↩
2. The friend in question was actually in hospital - but for pleasant reasons. A little while later, I received another text from him to say that his wife had given birth to a (particularly cute in my opinion) baby girl.↩</sup>

Dar to Safari, in one smooth movement (pt 1)

The day after arriving in Dar Es Salaam [link], I checked out and heard from TC that he was allowed to board the plane this time and was on his way. One missed connection - this already felt like it would not be the last time.
It was decided that we needed to get to Arusha to start our safari (still unplanned at this moment in time) and so I made my way to the bus station to be met, as soon as he could make it, by TC. What a wonderful phrase "as soon as I can" is, it has such a broad meaning really.

Dar Es salaam is the biggest city in Tanzania and has quite decent international connections, the best rail connections and a pretty large selection of buses to other cities in the region. We had discussed some pretty spectacular train rides actually, in the planning, but it was not going to quite work with the timings so we had decided our route ignoring the option of the train (which was disappointing for both of us). The road network in Tanzania is not amazing but passable with one notable thing to consider for inter-city travel - the roads are not lit. Bearing that in mind, this means that there is a de facto deadline for the departures to Arusha from the coach stop, and so we checked the last departure to be at about 10am (8 hour journey, reaching Arusha at about dusk).

I got to the bus station in Ubungo (by cab) a little earlier as I thought I would check the times and prices before meeting TC so that we would be armed with information and be ready to go but I was not really sure what to expect and I don't think I could have expected it – my imagination has always been a little lacking...
The bus station itself is massive and the cabs have a bit of a cartel so once you are inside, you will only be approached by licensed cabs (as at the airport in fact) with an attached premium but there are plenty of people there – passengers and touts. There were lots and lots of touts approaching me as I entered, but the cab driver took me to the very end and I then waited. The touts came up to me and told me their prices so I got a rough idea but I was more worried when they told me the last coach had gone or that there were not many left. This information was simultaneously worrying and probably a lie. But how probably?

TC called me when he landed and so I knew he was still some way away, he might be able to get there for 10am which was when the last bus was but it was looking increasingly unlikely. As I waited, with two massive bags, and looking very much the international tourist, I was approached and then two touts just waited near me and constantly kept talking about how I needed to buy tickets. It was actually pretty intimidating but there was not a lot I could do except wait. And wait.
At about 11am, a gleaming white taxi drove right to the back of the station where I was and out jumped TC, with a broad smile and an air of nonchalance. Bloody nonchalance. I was pleased to see him but he had appeared to leave the cab with nary a care in the world as I had been a little worried, but this was his way and I think I'd have been the same. And what it meant was that he was ruthlessly efficient.

“So, this is your friend? Tell him he must buy a ticket.”

And we did as he said, what option did we have? We bought the ticket and bundled into the coach for Arusha – the last one and it was about to leave. It wasn't the greatest coach in the world, seats were a little cramped but it would get us there and it was relatively empty. Our bags were put in the hold and we were ready to go. I'd not seen TC in a while and so we had a lot to talk about - logistics aside, I did want to know what had caused the delay and where we were going^[1]. An hour and a half later, we were still just as ready to go as we had moved within the bus terminal only. Slightly nearer the entrance but not quite out. This was gong to be a long trip – we eventually left the bus station at about 12:30 and out onto the open road [next].


^{1. The delay on that day was caused by normal airport stuff. The previous day's cancellation was due to overbooking and, even though TC had turned up 2 hours in advance of the flight (and Lilongwe has a fairly small airport), it was already full at that point so he was offered a hotel room (which happened to be next door to his flat anyway) and a flight the next day. And we were going to Arusha – further details to be sorted on the bus. ↩}

Dar Es Salaam I

I'd never been to Africa before so it was a trip into the unknown. I was essentially going to visit a friend who was temporarily working in Malawi but we were to meet in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania as we would then be able to go on a little trip. The little trip was partially "organised" while I was away on holiday elsewhere¹ and partially over the last few days in London, but all I really needed to know was the hotel to meet at as my friend was sorting a lot of it out.

The flight, on Kenya air via Nairobi was pretty uneventful although I had bought a Nintendo 3DS in the airport so I played a little super Mario land 3D² which used up some time.
The airport in Dar is not particularly large so I got out fairly rapidly and looked for transport. I was pretty naively thinking that I'd be able to get into town on the bus, so I waited. It was an unsuccessful wait so after a while I got a cab to take me to the hotel.

The hotel [link] was in an area called Kariakoo but, as TC³ was to be my guide, rather lazily I'd not found out too much. He was due to arrive a few hours later and I was tired so I thought an effective and efficient use of time would be to have a nap so I'd be alert when he arrived and we went out. It is that fun-loving nature that makes me so popular.

It didn't take too long to be awoken (I may have been playing Mario to be fair) by a phone call from TC - and not a good one. He called to say he was stuck in Lilongwe and there were no more flights that day. This was less than ideal.
As it was going to get dark, I did want to see something of Dar that was not just the inside, and outside, of a hotel but at the same time, I was not entirely comfortable with going out alone (I later found out that this caution was wise on my part). I get cabin fever at the best of times but I'd been enclosed since London, essentially so I did go out for a quick walk⁴ which took maybe 25 mins though I cannot remember much of it. I ate in the hotel as it then became dark - at about 7. This was going to be an early one...⁵
In many ways, the holiday would really start the next day [link], I would hope...

<sup>1. I went to Japan in September, ostensibly for a wedding.↩
2. An enjoyable game and some of the 3D effects were astonishing.↩
3. "TC": travelling companion. Where possible, names are avoided unless necessary, or approved.↩
4. I like to feel some kind of connection with where I'm staying, or going to be which is why i'll often do a scene setting walk and, I recognise in hindsight, I often visit friends in the UK and walk through a town to get to their homes.↩
5. Actually, I was thankful for the amazing popularity of the Premier League as I watched a few games.↩</sup>