If you feel like it, here are some more of our Safari notes:
After saying farewell to Mary Claire, We headed off to Mafia Island (from Arabic: "Morfieyeh" meaning group or archipelago, not the Italian underworld, though one would be forgiven in thinking otherwise given the number of Italian Hotel businesses in Tanzania!).Mafia is an idyllic tropical island also mentioned in Miltons Paradise Lost. on the way we flew over the great Rufiji River.
We stayed on the edge of a Marine Park, and relaxed. The Mafia Island Lodge is a lovely tropical hotel, a firm favourite! Powdery sandy beaches, warm sea, lagoon snorkelling in the very aptly named Coral Garden where we saw fabulous corals and millions of fish, all colours of the rainbow, peacefully going about their business. It was like watching whole communities from above (and around, as the fish swam abount us without any fear...if we came too close they would see us off even though they were only the size of our little fingers!) We also went on a wonderful evening sunset sail on a dhow for a couple of hours.
Brilliant.
Then on to Zanzibar. Before going to Stonetown, we spent another few days on a coast, at Paje in the South East. Staying at a Beach Bungalow style hotel, run by a sweet slighty scatty Japanese woman. Being mid (lunar) month, the tides were incredibly low, so the reef in front of the hotel stretched for 1/2 a mile or so of ankle deep warm water. We watched the women farming seaweed from their seaweed shambas, huge sacks of wet seaweed dragged, then carried home on their heads for drying out.
Even probably ate some of it with our sushi/sashimi/tempura!
Hired a couple of bikes to cycle along the beach to a lagoon where we could swim and snorkel (again) and generally lie around under the shady casurina trees and lunch on seafood.......(would it help to write that we had to struggle with flat tyres and gears that didnt work? mm-mm ... didnt think so...what about: no electricity on Zanzibar, and hot hot nights? Still no sympathy?)
Most places had generators to keep the beer cold...
After a few days of this we were so relaxed we could hardly walk!
On then, to Stonetown for the Sauti Za Busara, the annual Musical Festival, (Google it if interested) with music from around Africa and other ethnic minorities (including a woman from Lapland with an amazing voice, they called her the "Masaai from the North"). It was held in the Old Fort, and was four nights of great music of all styles, all under the African starry night skies. Big professional bands alongside smaller amateurs, children from the streets trained to play local instruments and dance, all women Taarab players including a 94+year old singer with a powerful voice, a disabled group from the poorer areas of Znb, Ethiopian, Mali, Senegalese, Gambia, South African, Kenyan, Nigerian, Reggae, Hip Hop and a local favourite from Denmark/tanzania called Mzungu Kichaa who has taken the pop scene here by storm.
We spent our days trying to cool off, meeting friends, trying and usually failing to get online, eating freshly roasted goat with a cool beer. One day hired an ngolawa (small dugout vessel with outriggers and a dhow-like sail) and were taken out to an island, tacking out first , way beyond, to a sand bank, then back to snorkel on the reef. Sailing back before the wind in full sail, we feasted on (slightly salty) fresh sweet mango, pineapple, bananas.....
We stayed centrally, Clove Hotel, we recommend it, with a cool roof terrace for breakfasts.
We met up with many friends from Tz, and also Jono and James, friends of Tom's; two young men from Tavistock whom we have known for some time....small world.
Back to Dar es Salaam, something of a comedown! But again, meeting friends which is fun.
After all day getting our car fixed (brakes) we hope to head off again soon, down the coast.
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