"Hey daar" from Dar!!
Left Selous at a good time because the campsite got busy the night before we left. Drive to Dar was fine once we got back to the main road and the one before that we knew what to expect anyway. Stopped for a yummy lunch of tomato and crackers along the road. Also ran out of coffee, even more serious than running out of tonic believe you me! Bit tricky to find a shady tree that is not in someone's front garden.
Sunrise Beach Resort, south of the city, is to be our home for the next while. We’ll also leave our vehicle here while we go to Zanzibar. Decided not to cook and went to order pizzas from the restaurant. Waited a while in the tent when ,surprise, surprise, tent service had arrived! First time we’ve been served dinner in our tent. Heard from Anne that she was safely arrived in Zanzibar and that our Roof Top Tent cover had been despatched by Gerald from Alu-cab. Thanks Gerald!! Couple of others camped with us, some heading south having done the Serengeti safari circuit and others going the other way. Saturday 21st was the shortest day but I’m not so sure if it makes any difference when one is only 7 or 8 degrees south of the Equator.
Rebecca found 2 friends, Alexander and Sebastian and played nicely with them. Andy, the boys’ dad bought all the kids, including BW, a tin car and she has had much fun playing with it. It seems to be the vehicle of choice for her Polly Pockets to go on safari with, amazing how even they choose a Land Rover Defender. Booked a taxi to take us to the ferry, packed our trusty backpack, looked at the accommodation options on the island and watched the goings on on the beach, a camel offering rides and two guys fishing with a net managed to beach one tiny fish (net had a hole in it). I know when you read this you are wondering how on earth we are coping with all the stress? Well, it is quite difficult I’ll have you know! And it gets worse, we ate in the restaurant again that night. I had “English Fish Style”, Fish style; yes, English style; no, delicious; without doubt. Kaz had fish curry masala, Rebecca had toasted cheese, didn’t look toasted or cheesy to me. Rebecca has been enjoying fizzy drinks since her fruit juice ran out. She’s had more on this trip than in her lifetime before that. Heard that Zanzibar had its power restored after their undersea cable gave up the ghost a couple of months ago. That’s bright news.
Zanzibar – Karibu (welcome)
Caught the taxi next morning to the car and pedestrian ferry that connects the south to the city. Walked off the ferry and then down the road to the Zanzibar Ferry Terminal. Bought tickets and were befriended by Robert who offered to take us to a coffee shop. Being Sunday not open but luckily we didn’t have a lot of time to kill before we boarded the Sea Star II. Rebecca was free as long as she didn’t occupy her own seat. Bit bumpy at first but Rebecca and I had a nap so didn’t really feel it. They need to work on the entertainment on the ferry. They showed a soap from East African TV. Diabolical but the locals were lapping it up. One of those where the sound effect comes in before the punch is thrown and the tomato sauce blood is spat out. Even before leaving the cabin, eagle-eyed Kaz had spotted Anne waiting for us at Freddie Mercury’s Restaurant, so cleared passport control!! (Oh yes, they like to be different) and then off for lunch at Mercurys. Walking down to find our hotel which was on the outskirts of Stone Town, we attracted a papasi, a tick, who then attached himself to us as we wondered through the streets. Eventually found our hotel, Clove Hotel, after our friendly tick had told us it was closed for renovations. Hotel room was nice and the upstairs verandah where we ate breakfast even nicer, same view as Emmerson & Green of the roof tops and harbour but at a fraction of the price. Dropped bags and went for a walk. Ended up at Stone Town Café for a coffee. First coffee since our supplies had run out a couple of days before and we’d been on zero rations, thank goodness. We take our daily coffee stops very seriously indeed!!
Sundowners at Livingstone’s and then a stroll to the food stalls near the Forodhani Gardens which are closed for a refurb. Had Zanzibari pizzas and some kebabs. Walking around you kind of wonder whether Ilha da Mocambique could be like this if it got the tourists in. They are at the same kind of level of genteel decay albeit Ilha doesn’t have the doors or the spices or the monkeys or the beaches. OK forget it, I’ll stop stressing about Ilha, it is what it is.
Met Anne again to explore Stone town after a breakfast with a view. Visited the Old Slave Market, stumbled on the Hammani Baths by accident, also toured the food market. Bought some amazing red spikey fruit that looked and tasted like litchis. Turned out to be Rambutans as we found out when we did the spice tour. Sheens arrived at lunch time and met us at Amore Mia for lunch. Rebecca was now in her element with not ONE but TWO of her fan club with her. She was lapping up the attention and of course was thoroughly spoilt.It was also Anne’s birthday so we did sundowners at New Africa Hotel and then Anne treated us to dinner at the Monsoon Restaurant, it was a “shoes off – sit on cushions affair”: very delicious. Discovered great coffee at the Zanzibar Coffee house.
We had organised Ali to pick us up for our excursions at 8am the next day so were on the move early. Ali had to pick up a permit to drive out of Stone town, also filled up with petrol and then we picked Anne and Sheens up from the Mboweni ruins Hotel. First stop was the red colobus and Sykes’ monkeys which were interesting and not at all elusive. In fact they were all over the road. Kaz and I missed a wee wee shower courtesy of one cheeky monkey in the canopy above us. Rebecca enjoyed this and especially liked the “showy-off” ones. We took a walk through the protected mahogany forest and on a boardwalk through the mangroves. Rebecca planted one by dropping a seed pod into the mud. From Jozani Forest, Ali took us to a spice farm which we all found very interesting even though we all weren’t looking forward to it thinking it would be touristy and tacky. It was amazing to see how everything grows. The girls all got leaf cones and woven bags for their samples, bracelets and rings also made from leaves while King Richard got a tie and a hat and ended up looking like the king of the lemurs from Madagascar. Nice!
Mr Spice had got his sisters to cook lunch for us and it was very yummy. Pilau rice, cassava leaves, coconut curry and a tomato curry. Not hot but very flavoursome and tasty. In fact it’s making me hungry just think about it. We now have mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and a vanilla pod drying in the car.
Then back to Mboweni ruins where we had a quick drink, Rebecca had a swim in the pool and Ali had a quick prayer. Must say the muezzins are fairly persistent and call the faithful at many times during the day. With 51 mosques in Stone town I’m glad they don’t all use loud speakers. Then we all piled back in Ali’s taxi and back to Stone town to shop. Kaz bought some scarves, Sheens bought me a Masai stick for my birthday and Kaz & Reb bought me an old Masai stool. Very spoilt by everyone. Sundowners and dinner on our last full day on Zanzibar was at Livingstone’s.
Met the girls for the last time in the morning, headed for the Zanzibar Coffee House for morning coffee and then back to pick up our bags. Girls were off to the airport and we were off to catch the 1pm ferry. It was very difficult saying goodbye as we don’t really know when we’ll meet up again.
We got to the ticket office only to find that the 1pm ferry was full. “Oh bother” as Winnie the Pooh would say. Nothing for it, but to buy tickets for the 4pm crossing of the Sea Express. As we were all Stone Towned-out, we stayed at departures (by no stretch of the imagination could it be called a lounge) and did Kids Sudoku with Rebecca. Ferry was on time and after a bumpy bumpy crossing arrived back in Dar just after 6pm. Retrieved backpack and marched off to catch the Kigamboni ferry. Entertainment -no better -consisted of Anaconda followed by Snake Man. Matt picked us up on the other side which was a relief as by this time it was getting dark. Had to then get the tent up and Sue had cooked pasta which we all gobbled up. Matt had booked our car in for a service on Monday 30th (which is where I’m typing this) and we had hoped to leave Dar before this. Never mind, there are far worse places to stay than mini-Mauritius.
Zanzibar was great, 3 nights was enough, and doing it with Anne and Sheena over Anne’s birthday was special.
Stuck in Kigamboni
If it’s Thursday, if it’s 26th June, then it must be washing day in paradise. Put fridge onto mains, charged up some appliances, and tried to get a bit organised. While Rebecca helped Kaz with the washing, I took a stroll to the nearby food stalls to see what was on offer. Came back with some doughnuts, a cabbage, a pineapple, a loaf of bread and 4 eggs. Had a donut with some yummy coffee we’d bought on Zanzibar. At last our coffee stocks are looking good again. Later on. We powered up the Cobb, Kaz made pancakes, we boiled our eggs and cooked a pasta supper.
After dinner we bought some drinks, got chocolate from the fridge and piled into the tent to watch “Charlotte’s Web” which Ian & Kay had given us. Nice movie: in Rebecca’s words: “When Charlotte died, my eyes started to water and I got a little sore throat.”
The next 2 days were spent in Dar. The first to track down our DHL package and an internet café, the second to shop.
Before leaving for Dar we had a fairly serious incident. A crow pinched one of our boiled eggs we were about to enjoy for breakfast. Rebecca was highly indignant at the cheek of this crow and chased it all over. Ferry to town was uneventful. Or trip to DHL, not so. Our parcel was still at the airport and after paying another R500 they could clear it through customs for me and they’d deliver it to the Dar office. Aish. I think I would also like to be able to levy customs charges, VAT, duty this duty that , on people. Anyway, found a nice internet café, in the same building as Steers, where I posted an update to the blog and checked bank accounts, while Kaz and Rebecca did some journaling.
Back again to try our luck at DHL. Kaz navigated us straight there and the parcel was waiting for us. Must say, I had had my doubts.
Then off to shop at Shoppers Plaza and Shoprite. Prices are extortionate. As an expat you will need to be paid a small fortune to relocate. A lot of the stock is imported from UK or SA, hence the high prices. Drew money from a Stanbic branch, not sure why as the charges are no cheaper for me and unlike Barclays machines’ I couldn’t get a balance.
Anyway bought the staples we needed and then off to find the Spur we’d been told about. It was at Sea Cliff, opposite a supermarket better stocked than the one’s we’d shopped in earlier, but that’s sod’s law. Prices were just as steep though.
Saturday nights at Sunrise Beach are not for the faint hearted. This was our second and it was as bad as we remembered. The singer had not practiced during the week and even a power failure didn’t dampen his spirits. He just competed with the generator as well.
I woke on Sunday 29th to a rendition of “Happy Birthday” from 2 angels. What more could anyone need in life!! The messages, SMS’s and blog comments were much appreciated. Thank you!!
We had an early morning swim, took a walk to the shops, bought chiapattis and donuts to have with our egg and bacon breakfast. Yep, you heard right, haven’t had one of those for nearly 2 months. Scrummy.
Kaz and Rebecca paid for me to have a swedish massage. That plus sundowners and dinner on the beach in front of our tent rounded off a great 48th birthday for me.
Asante sana!
Done with Dar
Sitting at Toyota waiting for Tom Cruiser. It’s his pamper day. New oil, filters, and all the stuff that makes him tick or purr. Must say that the consumption we’ve been getting has been great. From 7 or so kms to a litre it’s been up to 8.4 consistently with even a 9.34 thrown in. That was very slow driving though. We do not really go over 90km/hr and that does wonders for the consumption.
Bumped into 2 guys waiting for this morning’s ferry. Patrick, a journo from SA4X4 and Bertus, a travel guide. Had an interesting chat with them. Turns out via Patrick that even Kingsley Holgate had stuff pinched at Pangane. He created a stink so they got their goods back. Gas bottles by the sound of it. Even more reason to steer clear as pinching seems to be such a regular occurrence.Not sure how long this is going to take. It’s now 12pm and hopefully it’s ready before their estimate of 3pm. It was so faced the manic traffic to find this internet cafe. The air conditioning is so noisy it makes me feel like I'm sitting on a flossie en route to SWA. Scary!
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