6/15/19
In the morning while taking down our tents, we found a hedgehog. Cute little guy! Today we drove to Lushoto. It is a mountain village up in a nice forested mountain area. On the way to the base of the mountain, we drove by Moshi, the basecamp town for Kilimanjaro, but still now views of the peak as it was rainy and cloudy. The drive up to Lushoto was beautiful with steep, lush mountains, and lots of waterfalls. After arriving at the campsite (a beautiful place), Elisha and I took a walk around the village and also found a chameleon. Kirsten stepped on one of my sandals and broke it =(
6/16/19
The group took a walking tour through the villages and mountains. We found 3 chameleons on the hike. We also stopped by a local "brewery" that makes alcohol out of sugar cane. We went to a really sweet viewpoint that looked sown to the valley floor and across cliffs. It had a rock you could jump across onto that was dramatic in feeling as it was precariously placed. After the viewpoint we had a very yummy lunch at an old colonial German place with a view. We then hiked back.
In the afternoon, Elisha and I visited the town, and I got my sandal repaired. We visited the weekly market that was happening. The women were so colorfully dressed and beautiful. After that I searched for more chameleons and found 2.
6/17/19
We were up very early and drove to Dar Es Salaam. We camped at a beach-side campsite. The beach is pure white and the water is a pretty greenish-blue. When we arrived, we went for a swim, then played 3 fun games of volleyball. For dinner we had fresh seafood. At night we saw 3 bush babies walking along the telephone wire
Maggie is leaving the trip a few days early because she has been sick to her stomach for a few weeks now, and is just tired of it. I hadn't listed the names yet, but this leg of the trip had Norbert, Lewis, Maggie, Elisha, and I from the last trip. We added Lutie (Holland), Kirsten (Austria), Justin (Australia), Eliza (Poland), Sean (USA) [Sean and Eliza got engaged on the trip], Dan (UK), Bex (UK), Luke (UK) [Bex and Luke got engaged on the trip], Ellie (UK), Grace (UK), Jenny (UK, and Lucy (UK).
6/18/19
We took a morning Catamaran ferry to the island of Zanzibar, famed for its spices and known as the spice island. Our hotel the first night was in Stone Town, the old neighborhood with narrow walkways only suitable for walking and scooters, so our luggage was delivered via push cart.
After checking in, the group went on a boat tour to prison island where there is a tortoise sanctuary. Elisha and I didn't join; instead we preferred to explore the maze of pathways in Stone Town and enjoy the Zanzibar cuisine. We walked around some, getting a bit lost in the streets looking for a recommended Indian restaurant (Spice Route). We found it and enjoyed a most tasty Indian meal as well as some island-themed cocktails.
We then went out exploring more of the Aladdin like alleyways. We walked by the house where Freddie MErcury was born (lived for a bit?). During our walk we found the Indian Restaurant (Maharaj) that my parents had taken us to in 1997 that was so delicious (and foreign to me at the time, maybe the first Indian food I had ever had). Further along the walk we stopped for some delicious gelato. I got a scoop of passion flavor and a scoop of Masala flavored. Yum!. We then hired a dhow (traditional arab sail boat) to take us on a private romantic sunset sail. It was a nice, quiet ride along the coast with some snacks and drinks. It was also cool to sail along the main stone town ocean front with its old sultan palaces.
In the evening we went to the open air night food market at Forodhani Park. The market was in the park and featured lots of tables with fresh fish on skewers, ready to be grilled. There was everything from tiger prawns to lobster to crab to squid to octopus. We enjoyed some skewers of tuna, dorado, kingfish, shrimp, and chicken tikka. We also had fried breadfruit chips. It was ll pretty cheap. After the dinner we had a couple of glasses of super delicious soursop juice. We found our way back to the hotel through the maze of alleyways with a little help from some locals. The hotel has air conditioning!!
6/19/19
We had a brief morning tour of a couple of sights in Stone Town. We saw the house where Dr. Livingstone had owned. We then visited the site where the slaves, as part of the huge slave trade, had been taken to be "stored" and sold before moving out of Africa. We visited the tiny, hot, and stuffy dungeons where the slaves had been crammed into. So sad. We then visited the museum for the slaves where we read all about the slave trade. Very sobering. And also sad to read about the modern day slavery that occurs, in large part to support the cheap products that we all buy. Pretty horrific.
After the slave museum, we visited the town outdoor market. We then drove to the interior of the island where we had a spice and fruit tour. We learned all about the difference spices and how they grow. We got to smell and taste many of them as well. We were also shown other plants that are used for medicinal purposes and other uses. For example, the lipstick plant that women use the fruit of for red lipstick. We also got to try several teas and a whole bunch of fruits (various citrus, mango, soursop, durian, jackfruit, coconut, and pineapple). Afterwards we had a delicious curry lunch at a local house.
We then drove to Nungwi Beach where we went for a swim and then played some beach volleyball. We watched a really gorgeous susnet and then walked to a restaurant on the beach (literally on the beach) where Elisha had fresh fish curry, and I had a whole red snapper. Delicious! This hotel also has AC!
6/20/19
After breakfast, at a table with our feet in the sand, we took a boat tour out to Mnemba Island where we snorkeled on the reef. The coral was just ok, but lots of really good tropical fish. We then stopped of to have fruit on a sandbar that had perfectly white sand and beautiful aqua colored water. After that we went in search of bottlenose dolphins. We eventually found a pod of about 15. After a couple of failed attempts to with with them because they were moving too fast, they slowed down, and we were able to swim with them, which was really amazing! Also so fun to swim with dolphins!
After lunch we spent a couple hours doing all of our laundry as it was the first place in a long time that we were staying 2 consecutive nights AND was sunny, dry weather. In the late afternoon our whole dragoman group got on an old dhow for a booze cruise. It was a ton of fun! We sailed through the aquamarine waters along the coast, checking out the other beaches and resort. There was a group of about 5 drummers playing music that we could dance to. There were 3 crew members also dancing and readily dispensing rum & cokes, gin & tonics, and Kilimanjaro beers (unlimited amount of drinks in the $20 cruise price). So everyone was very dancy and having lots of fun. We also stopped several times so that we could all jump off the roof of the boat and swim around. The sunset was also gorgeous. After we landed back at our beach, we had fish dinners at the restaurant and then had a very fun dance party on the beach.
6/21/19
We drove back to stone town and explored around for another hour. Elisha and I grabbed some fruits and juices before taking the ferry back to Dar es Salaam. The ocean was a bit roughter going home, so a few people got sea sick in our group. Back at our beachside campsite, Elisha and I walked along the mostly deserted beach and collected shells. Our tent is at the top of the beach such that we can hear the surf from inside to lull us to sleep
6/22/19
We had wheels rollinga t 4am, our earliest and longest (15 hours) drive to date. We drove through Mikumi National Park. It wasn't a game drive, just passing through on the highway, but we still saw elephants, buffalo, giraffes, and more. We drove up through a beautiful river valley with yellow trees. On the second half of the drive, we drove past SO many giant baobab trees: just hillsides completely filled with them. We stayed at a nice campsite, but we couldn't see it because we arrived in the dark. However, the stars were pretty dang amazing. Because we arrived so late, we had a nice dinner prepared for us from the restaurant at the campsite.
