PART FIVE: #africa #overlanding #zanzibar
With some disappointment about not seeing Kilimanjaro, we had to get going today we had a long way to go, and we had no idea what we were facing in Dar es Salaam. The road conditions were not bad at all, but we had heavy traffic and it was slow going at times and then we ran into our first car trouble for the entire trip. The last couple of days it felt like the camper was swaying over the road slightly, but this didn't concern me as the tar were very badly rutted by the heavy trucks. When the road conditions got better, and the swaying didn't stop I realized there must be something wrong with the steering. Of the four bolts holding the right-hand steering arm in place only one remained. I used to from the left-hand side to temporary fix the problem this should alt until we get to Dar es Salaam.
People around these parts are very camera shy and Mia had a lot of fun taking some photos of the bystanders. It didn't take much longer than half an hour to temporarily fix the problem and we were back on the road we arrived in Dar es Salaam nine in the evening got some takeaways and went straight to bed. The next morning there was a lot of work to be done I had to unpack everything from the camper and get our luggage ready for Zanzibar while Joe had to find out what he needed to fix our broken steering arm.
After all the hard work was done it was time for some shopping. Tanzanite happens to be my birthstone and where else would it be more fitting to buy these special Stones than in Tanzania? We took a taxi with Barack this man was like our own personal bodyguard and tour guide. He treated us like family and we will never forget him. Meanwhile Joe got his own taxi in search of some hard-to-find spare parts for his mechanic job. Luckily, we drive Toyota, there will always be some or another agent close by. Luckily we drive a Toyota, and there will always be some or another agent close by. It was an exhausting morning but just after lunch we were on our way to the ferry station.
Barack was checking his watch the whole time and seemed nervous we didn't understand why we had more than enough time to get there. And then we got there, now we completely understood what worried Barack. The ferry station was true African chaos Barack left us with an agent and said goodbye now we are to hope and pray we could still make the last ferry. We made it but only dude true African style. The ferry was overbooked by at least 20 people we didn't complain as we were part of those 20 people we should not have made it. At last, we made it to Zanzibar! This was the destination my sister and I had been looking forward to for the past 19 days.
We met our Taxi driver and hit the road, it was still a one and a half our drive from Stone town to our hotel in Nungwi, Along the way we see our first night market at night they serve the best seafood at these markets. Barely at the Hotel and I had to face one of my biggest fears. Do it they said, it will be nice for the video they said... The next two days at Nungwi was full of fun Next up was swimming with the dolphins. Swimming with free, wild dolphins is not quite the same as doing it in an aquarium you needed a lot of luck and good timing Spending time with the rescue Turtles was much easier. had to offer.
My dad and I could not get enough of all the different snacks and food the Street Markets had to offer Our last treat at Amaan beach bungalows was maching Henna Tattoos for my mom and I and Tara decided to take the beach look to a whole new level. Time to see what Paje has to offer. It was a two-hour drive to Mnana beach bungalows our next destination at Paje. My sister and I decided to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
Mnana is located on the western side of the island. The sea pulls back quite far during low tide so at times you can only see the massive beach in front of you. There are also much less tourists here. Our first visit was to the Jumbo spice Farm, and we took the next two days to explore the side of the island. This is the fruit we get from this tree.
This fruit is called Durian, the problem about this fruit is the smell... Also this is the same family to Durian and to get but this one is called the bread fruit ah yeah red fruit like this one yeah tell me what it is It is first spice it's not a lemon it looks nice where is it coming from this place yes and then we get this through I look inside. Smells almost like lemon tree yes like an lemon. Nutmeg And from these plants we get these pods we use that to make sweet sweet things like ice cream chocolate cakes you have any idea my friend. Like vanilla yes this is vanilla really this is the chocolate yeah cacao of course cacao tree.
My friend please try to smell this maybe you can recognize it yes cinnamon. You know cinnamon okay. She is good give me five, cinnamon she says cinnamon but even me I can't recognize cinnamon from the leaves from this part they got it from the bark yeah from the bark.
Yes what is it this isn't a clove this is a clove, and this is a tree but now they cook this one they like to cook it but here we like to eat it fresh inside the red the fresh? sunglasses yes so this is the orange orange green orange juice so you check the seed out these and your pineapple is very good very good sweet our pineapple is sour they are smaller even here Snorkeling at Paje was much more fun they were barely any tourists and there was much more to see . The Rock restaurant was a unique experience let's just say we need to grow up a whole lot more before we get used to the cuisine of it at this world famous restaurants. At the start of our tour I knew there will come a day when I would have to go for a haircut, especially in this humid weather, that day was today on the last day of 2022 in the village called Pingwe Have you got number two to the side number two number two number two here okay number two and four on top. What is the type we want number two to the side do you think yeah over here yeah Have you got uh what size have you got this down down down you cut number two here number two number two and here number four all right Mr Barber I want to get that again you say you are what your name is? Don't you know him he's a soccer player he's the soccer player How much do I owe you Cheaper price why he make me 30 000 We finished off the year in style, clearly everybody was excited to celebrate the new year. You happy happy New Year Happy New Year 23. Or last adventure in Zanzibar was a guided tour through Stone town.
Our first stop was at Freddie Mercury's house Stone town was the birthplace of this iconic star. Up next was the Old Fort also known as the Arab forts it was built by the Omani Arabs in 1699 and was used as a prison All the walking makes you thirsty and hungry we had some freshly squeezed sugar cane and lime juice and ice cream at Mia's place. Stone town is well known for its beautiful wooden doors there are 560 of these doors around the city and they are easy to find. The Hamamni baths were built from 1870 to 1888 for Sultan Barghash bin Said, for use as public baths. It is astonishing to see the engineering they used for this luxury. oh do you see that hole yes so when they they started fire here when water is boiling the heat is passing there to heat the floor of massage and then collected here this one was a tank of water of that time and during the daytime rainwater collected from the roof so that's all directed to the tank and then released it down to either hot water bath or cold-water bath And then looking at life in stone town now makes it hard to believe that in the 18th century, when slavery was common, the stone Town slave market was the biggest of three markets in East Africa and controlled by the Arabs slavery was officially abolished in 1877 but continued illegally in caves around the island.
And then with another perfect Sunrise it was time to say goodbye to Zanzibar Our island vacation has come to an end after the ferry ride back to Dari Salam it was back into camping mode, we were headed for our next African country Malawi the girls were exhausted who knew having fun can be such hard work! Next time the beach holiday continues, and we face a few new challenges along the way
2023-09-28 01:29
