Escape to Zanzibar

Last week I was so lucky to have a visit from a dear friend and travel companion - in a whirlwind week she went from NYC to Dar to Zanzibar and back (!) - and we added another continent to our shared travelogue, now totaling four on which we've adventured together! It is no small feat to spend 24+ hours in transit, deny any feelings of jetlag, indulge my petty requests for things I clearly forgot to pack a month ago, and then laugh through Africa's travel challenges, erratic meals, and zero hot water while on vacation. Clearly, she's awesome.

We spent a few days in Stone Town getting very lost in the maze of narrow streets, haggling and sampling street food at Forodhani's famed night market, and exploring Unguja's history--both the sensory side of its spice farms (still a leading industry locally) and its somber past as a central transit point of the slave trade.

From Stone Town, we headed north to Kendwa and Nungwi: stretches of deserted white sand and shell beaches, fishermen and dhow-makers, and, believe it or not, even more brilliant Indian Ocean blues than the pictures portray.









With a quick stop through Dar es Salaam on the way back, we tried to get exposure to yet another African country at Addis in Dar (great Ethiopian restaurant). Many photos courtesy of Steph, including one of the photographer herself in action!





Photos: Typical Zanzibari wooden door, old Catholic church, "Lipstick fruit" on spice farm, rooftop sunset at Africa House, Kendwa/Nungwi beach scenes

Siku za kuzaliwa!

Celebrating in Kenya, 2007.

Happy Birthday Mom! xox

Dar

Dar was cool too, really big city relative to Arusha. Watched the US/Slovenia game there at O’Willie’s Irish Pub with about four other Americans (I think the only ones in the city, there are way fewer foreigners in Dar than here). Went to a bizarre but beautiful beach outside of Dar. It’s this sort of complex with a huge pool where they just blast hip hop from these huge speakers all day long. So sitting on the beach trying to read my book about the Congo wars with T-Pain in the background made for sort of odd mental images. Think you all would love it.

No pictures because Tor has the camera, but expect an update soon. She has been in Zanzibar with an amiga from the US for the past week. Wish I had friends like that.

We're meeting in Tanga tomorrow which is about halfway between Dar and Arusha on the coast. Only have been back in Arusha for four days and need another break (I guess).

Nick

Exploring our backyard

This weekend, in addition to watching more soccer than I ever have in as few days, we made a lengthy trip to Arusha's central market--a scene of chaotic bargaining, vegetables spilling into sewage gutters, and narrow mazes of lanes of vendors--and also went on an all-day hiking adventure over 20km in the hills/rainforest north of central Arusha, towards Mt. Meru. While we had heard that this waterfall hike was a four-hour expedition, it ended up being eight and a half hours, with some sliding down steep, muddy cliffs and culminating in a mile-long trek up a river. The spectacular views from small farms above Arusha, the glimpses of Mt. Meru up close, and the long-awaited waterfall were worth it, though.

Almost as notable as our hiking achievements is the fact that following the hike, we ate sushi with friends, and neither of us are sick!

Mbuga ya wanyama

With lots of travel plans on the horizon for the summer, we dove into the first (long)

weekend on a

camping safari to Lake

Manyara, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater with a few new friends from the tribunal.

The few selected pictures speak for themselves about how lucky we were with what we spotted over the course of four days, including all of the Big Five (and more!!)! A little heavy on the cats (clearly my fav)... Many photos courtesy of Emma & Brent.

Photos:

Cheetah on the prowl - Ngorongoro; View from the top and morning light in the crater - Ngorongoro; Leopard perch and sunrise - Serengeti; Lazy cats - Serengeti; Tembo family - Serengeti; Lion with breakfast - Seronera camp, Serengeti; Celebrating Nick's birthday! - Serengeti

Sorry for the formatting fail...TIA.

Na sasa tunaishi Arusha

And now we're in Arusha: hub of safari traffic as the last major town before heading west to the Rift Valley, northern Tanzania's commercial center with lots of agricultural production, and home to many NGOs and the ICTR. It's Tanzania's third-largest city, and the central clocktower is commonly misthought to be the midpoint between Cairo and Capetown (trivia: it's actually in the Congo river basin).

View of Mt. Meru (on a clear day!) from our street

Looking out our front window

Local production means 24 roses for TZS 2,000 (US$1.25)

Jambo jirani! (Hello neighbors!)

From the UAE to the URT

To catch up a bit, we started our trip with a fantastic visit with great hosts in Dubai. We experienced some of the extremes of Dubai, from braving the midday heat in search of falafel, minted lemonade and spice souks, to entertaining ourselves with the thrills of indoor skiing and dune bashing, to exploring some of the Emirate's extravagant construction projects, like the tallest building in the world (Burj Khalifa), the only 7 star hotel (Burj al Arab), and the floating community of the Palm development.

The indoor skiing complex

At the top of one (of the two) slopes

View from the Burj Khalifa

A dune bashing break

Karibu!

We swore we wouldn't have a blog, but here it is. We'll be updating periodically to share some of our adventures in Tanzania until the beginning of August.

And we also have photos, which we'll post here. But the internet in Africa is, well, tricky. Stay tuned!