London and Zanzibar

Where did I leave off? Everything is kind of blurry... We got to Heathrow Saturday, the morning of July 3. The American Airlines people in London were very kind, sympathetic and helpful. American Airlines picked up the tab for a nice hotel room, transportation to and from the hotel, and they gave us three generous meal tickets that we could use at the hotel or the airport.

We got settled into the hotel room around 10:00 AM, took showers, then a nap, and then we took the Tube to Leicester Square. We walked all over the place and then sat down at a little outdoor cafe, had delicious "white coffee" and "people watched." It was very crowded, like a mini NYC, but we still liked it. Taking the Tube was pretty cool too.

We had a very good buffet dinner at the hotel. We slept very well, and we were able to sleep in since our flight wasn't leaving until 7:00 PM. We had a buffet breakfast at the hotel, and took the shuttle to the airport. We got our new tickets, walked through the X-ray machines, and had a very nice long lunch at a cool pub.

The plane ride to Dar Es Salaam was long (about 9 hours) but fine. We got to Dar about 6:00 AM. We took a little "hopper flight" from Dar to Zanzibar. It was cool to see the island from the air. We were picked up in Zanzibar by our guide and his driver.

We checked into the Tembo House Hotel, dumped our stuff, and took the Stone Town walking tour with our guide, Bernard. It was a very cool tour. I'll post a ton of pictures when I get home. (I have figured out how to add pictures from my camera to the iPad. However, I can't seem to add pictures from the iPad to the Blog. I already have some really awesome pictures!

During the walking tour, we went to a little cafe and had a couple of somosas, yum! Then, we went back to the hotel to get settled, took a short nap, and then we met Bernard for our next excursion, a spice farm. Driving out of the city and into the countryside was cool. I saw several cows pulling carts on the side of the road. some of the drivers of these carts were very young children! We passed by a few huge markets on the way to the farm.

The farm had just about every spice you could possibly imagine. I hope I can remember half of them. Hmmm - Let's see... Tarragon root, ginger root, turmeric, coriander, vanilla beans, cocoa beans, lemon grass, pepper, cinnamon, and cloves to name a few. We also saw many different fruits including bananas, oranges, mangos, jackfruit, passion fruit, avocado, papaya, and apple custard (stefali).

After the spice farm tour, we walked to a lovely thatched gazebo, where we were treated to different spiced teas and various tasty fruits.

After we got back from the spice farm, we enjoyed our balcony that overlooks the pool and the beach! We walked around Stone Town, and ended up at a tremendous outdoor cookout that is located in the city square (between the House of Wonders and the boardwalk). There were probably close to 100 vendors serving the day's fresh catch like tuna, mahimahi, snapper, lobster, octopus, squid, prawns and shrimp. (By the way, what is the difference between a prawn and a shrimp?)

After the even our evening stroll, we went the Livingstone Restaurant and had Tusker (Kenyan beer).

Our day started with a breakfast buffet by the sea at our hotel. Bernard met us this morning, and we walked two steps to the Tembo House beach and boarded our dhow, "The Gladiator" and met captain Pondu and his first mate, Salim. We sailed out to a sandbar, snorkeled over coral reefs, sunned on the small sandbar island, played in the sand, combed the beach for seashells and other treasures.

After exploring our private island, we he had lunch on the dhow rooftop. Then we sailed along the beautiful coast of Stone Town. Locals were fishing with handheld lines as a container ship was being unloaded - what a contrast!

This evening we walked to the city square, and delighted in grilled mahimahi kabobs and spicy potato samosas with fruit drink concoction made of passion fruit, lemon, ginger, and freshly squeezed sugarcane.

After dinner, we walked around and were bombarded by local street merchants hawking their wares. My companion finally learned how to properly use a few Swahili words and phrases which included, "hapana" (meaning no thank you), hakuna matata (take it easy; it's all good), and asante (thank you). Saying "I am very satisfied" was strangely effective when being approached by the fish market greeters, who come on stronger than the Walmart variety.

We concluded the day by enjoying a Tusker on the beachfront.

Tomorrow, we are going to Jozani Forest to see some wildlife and then we will take another sail to Prison Island to see the giant tortoises.