African travels

I'm still having trouble accessing my e-mails. I can see that I have some but I can't open them! Tanzania and Orange are just not very compatible! So thanks to all of you who have been trying to get in touch and sorry for the lack of replies - I would love to e-mail you, just can't get things to work properly here! Hope this makes up for it a little bit, and I'll catch up with you when I'm back in Oxford!

Well, I've nearly come to the end of my African adventure and it's gone way too quickly! I left CCS and Tengeru last Saturday - all a bit sad as I'd got to know some of the volunteers quite well and as most of them live in the US, we're not likely to meet up for a while, if ever. Though having just bumped into Brian from the US, who I'd met in Peru, maybe there's more chance of meeting up again than I thought!

Last Konyagi with Kelly in Club Said, the bar next door to CCS

And even though I'd only been at the nursery school for 2 weeks, it was sad to say goodbye nonetheless - those kids are so full of energy an enthusiasm to learn, and I wish I could have helped them more.

Moivaro Nursery, with teacher Joyce and mama Nay

And as in Peru, they were all a bit young to really understand that I was actually leaving and not coming back. And what made it more strange on my last day, was that the teacher didn't show up as she'd been involved in an accident with a car crashing into a daladala (minibus) she was on the previous day - she'd been to hospital and was ok, but at home off sick, so I only managed to say goodbye to her on the phone. And I was left with all the kids on my own for the whole morning, with only the help of the pastor who was around at times, who spoke hardly any English! I survived, but it was an odd last day ...

And saying goobye to the CCS staff and some of the locals who have become friends was really tough! People are so genuinely friendly here, and I hope we'll manage to keep in touch. I'd like to come back sometime - maybe to climb Kili - anyone interested?! I've met a good guide who'll take us!

So last Saturday I left Tengeru with another volunteer, Sarah, and we caught a flight from Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar. If I'd had more time, I'd have liked to catch the bus to Dar and then take the ferry, but that would have taken nearly 2 days, so not possible this time. So within hours we were thrown into a different world - finding ourselves on a very exotic, hot and humid island, along with a huge number of other tourists! The hotel (Malindi Guest House) we'd booked was fine - great inside but very near the rough port area, with a sign on the door saying don't turn left after 7pm - good job I was here with Sarah!


View of fish market from hotel room

On the Saturday afternoon we just strolled around Stone Town, along the coast and through some of the backstreets - it's a good place for wandering, if you can keep away from the tourist traps. And that evening we had dinner at Mercury's (did you know that Freddie Mercury was born on Zanzibar?) - and we sat outside with a beer and enjoyed the sea views ...

On the Sunday we booked ourselves onto a Spice Tour, and for 10$, we were taken to a spice farm to see, smell, and taste various spices and fruit - cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cardamon, star fruit, jack fruit, lemon grass, nutmeg, and others that I should have noted before as now I can't remember the names! We then had lunch in a local village - very simple, but delicious food - spiced rice, spinach, and vegetable curry. And after a quick trip to a cave that used to be used for hiding slaves when the slave trade hade been made illegal some 100 years ago, we headed for a lovely little beach, with white sand and gorgeous blue sea - perfect!

Clove trees - once Zanzibar's main business, now it's tourism

Local lunch

Relaxing beach, and not a sting-ray in sight ...

That evening we met up with some volunteers, Hayley and Suzy, who had bravely taken the bus from Arusha to Dar and then the ferry, and we ate in a great restaurant where we sat on the floor on cushions and enjoyed some more delicious spicy food.

We had planned to head for the northern coast on the Monday morning as that's where all the nice beaches are, but at 6.30 when the alarm went off, it was pouring with rain! Not quite the plan, so we decided that we'd stay in Stone Town instead, and spent most of the day wandering round the backstreets again, exploring the central market, sitting in cafes relaxing, and hoping that the clouds would clear, but they didn't!

That evening we had the best meal yet - and the cheapest by far! We decided to brave the outside market in Forodhani Gardens, and it was well worth the risk - we had succulent fish kebabs - spicy lobster and tuna, and grilled king fish, with chapatis, spicy potatoes, and coconut bread - quite a feast and all for 6,000 tsh each - about 3 pounds!

Tuesday was our last day on the island, and as we hadn't made it to the beaches in the north, we took a boat out to Changuu (or Prison) Island to see the giant tortoises and to spend some time on a beach - it was wonderfully quiet and exotic, and a great end to our short stay here! And no sting-rays ...

Feeding the 150-year-old tortoise!

We flew back to Kilimanjaro on the Tuesday evening and for the first time I was on my own in Africa! Sarah headed to a village outside Moshi where she has contacts and is going to help them build a school there. And I headed for Moshi - it was actually quite exciting, and really not at all scary, though I'd probably have felt quite different if this was the beginning of my trip. Elly, a friend from Tengeru, had a booked a hotel for me, and before I got there he'd been checking that everything was ok! The hotel is fine, and really very good value for 15$ a night, and would have fantastic views from the roof bar, if only Kili would come out from behind the clouds!!

Yesterday I wandered round Moshi and covered most of it in a few hours - there's not a lot to visit here, and I've pretty much finished with shopping for souvenirs! Elly put me in touch with a friend who works in a hotel here - a nice Kenyan woman called Hanifa, who has an Italian boyfriend, Francesco. So last night I had a rather bizarre evening at the hotel they work in - chatting with an Italian chef, eating pretty authentic Italian pizza, and watching U2 videos in the attic bar!! Not very African, but fun, and maybe it'll help me reacclimatise to Europe ...

And so today is my last whole day in Africa - I'm hoping to catch up with Sarah at some point, if she comes into Moshi, and I might meet up with Hanifa and Francesco this afternoon and go out into the countryside. In the meantime, I'm catching up with the blog and taking it fairly easy. Would be nice if Kili decided to show, will have to wait and see ...

I'll be back in Oxford this Friday night, hopefully, so let me know when you'd like to catch up!