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Post by OnlyMark on Dec 30, 2017 9:14:49 GMT 2
More when I return.
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Post by auntieannie on Dec 30, 2017 11:00:06 GMT 2
have fun, Mark and Mrs M!
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Post by Baz Faz on Dec 30, 2017 11:48:19 GMT 2
Captain Oates said something along those lines.
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Post by OnlyMark on Dec 30, 2017 12:59:06 GMT 2
I will return though. He had no intention.
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Post by Baz Faz on Dec 30, 2017 13:49:06 GMT 2
Will you have snow on your sandals?
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Post by tiltedflipcurves on Dec 31, 2017 0:59:32 GMT 2
Hooray for Captain Spalding, the African explorer!
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Post by OnlyMark on Dec 31, 2017 8:36:18 GMT 2
I've got plenty of sand in my bits.
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Post by OnlyMark on Dec 31, 2017 12:17:54 GMT 2
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Post by auntieannie on Dec 31, 2017 12:37:17 GMT 2
looks miserable.
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Post by Baz Faz on Dec 31, 2017 12:45:52 GMT 2
Yeah, no sand. And where is the snowman?
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Post by OnlyMark on Dec 31, 2017 14:25:44 GMT 2
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Post by OnlyMark on Dec 31, 2017 14:27:54 GMT 2
I'll be back in a few days so they were just a taster for now. Hot, sunny, no snow etc.
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Post by sophie on Dec 31, 2017 18:23:30 GMT 2
You are a tease!! I am turning green with envy.. and my feet are so itchy..and I can’t travel until at least June... lucky you!
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Post by Baz Faz on Dec 31, 2017 19:59:38 GMT 2
I'll be back in a few days so they were just a taster for now. Hot, sunny, no snow etc. Oh, I thought it was snow on that beach. Very white sand.
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Post by shrjeff on Dec 31, 2017 20:05:37 GMT 2
You are a tease!! I am turning green with envy.. and my feet are so itchy..and I can’t travel until at least June... lucky you! good to hear that you'll be back in good health and can travel again in half a year...
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 8:22:34 GMT 2
I was in Zanzibar a couple of times in the late 90's and had vowed to return for a better look as then I'd only managed to catch a day or two. As it turns out it wasn't a difficult journey from where I am now, though it did entail a change of planes in Nairobi. For those of a non-geographic bent, it's here - The island is about 40km off the coast of Tanzania and roughly 90km by 40km in size. The Zanzibar Archipelago consists of several islands but we'll be concerned with the main island of Zanzibar (known locally as Unguja) itself. I visited three places, the main city which has a section called Stone Town that is of interest, and two coastal villages called Bwejuu and Kiwengwa – Stone Town, the tip of the capital, is a World Heritage Site and the place of the shortest war in history –
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 8:22:47 GMT 2
Flying from Lusaka anywhere is a bit problematic, partly because there are few airlines going there, but mainly because not far away relatively is the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare. This causes a problem because all the airlines will stop there as well, but not on every inward or outward journey. Consider Kenya Airways who fly from Nairobi. One flight will be from Nairobi to Harare and then to Lusaka. Then return direct to Nairobi. Another flight will go direct to Lusaka but return via Harare. Add the major cities in Malawi, namely Lilongwe and Blantyre, into the mix and picking the shortest flight out or into Lusaka to/from Nairobi is a bit of an exercise in timetabling. Each time there will be a stop off in one of the cities for an hour where you don't disembark, but the diversion adds considerable time. Only though if that isn't your actual destination, but nevertheless, a flight of about 2 ½ hours will double due to it.
This meant on the day we went, a day that was fixed as we had no flexibility, we didn't arrive in Zanzibar until midnight or so. What didn't help was a delay on the Nairobi – Zanzibar leg with an airline called Precision Air. They don't fly too far usually and are based in the capital of Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam. They use turbo prop planes, which nowadays seem to be quite rare. Knowing we would be arriving late I had booked seats near the front (row 2) for us so we could make a quick exit. What I didn't know is that boarding on these planes is from the rear only. Thus we ended up being last off. Add that to poor Immigration handling skills, forms to fill out and interlocking and intersecting queues, and we were happy to eventually get to our hotel in Stone Town.
That is a bit daunting as well late at night if you are not aware of the layout of Stone Town – i.e. alleyways too small for cars. This meant for the majority of hotels the taxi parked on the outskirts and in pitch black you were led through a maze of paths between houses wondering if you were going to be robbed. This doesn't happen though, just to mention.
Getting off the plane the humidity struck us like a wet towel and the area around the hotel was even worse due to being sheltered by the streets from any cool sea breezes. The temperature throughout our stay hovered just above or below 30C but felt quite hotter. Fortunately we had aircon which was a blessing for sleeping with. I had specified this in conversations regarding planning with Mrs M as I knew it was necessary at this time of year.
The next morning we had a good breakfast of fruit (water melon, papaya, mango, pineapple, passion fruit (maracuyá) and banana) with croissants, toast and eggs done to your liking (N.B. "fried one side" is the equivalent of sunny side up), fresh squeezed fruit juice (mixed or pineapple) and tea/coffee. Just to mention, this was a standard breakfast wherever we stayed at. Mrs M asked at the hotel if they had a map. I said it wasn't required by us because we were on holiday anyway, no rush to be anywhere, and we would never get lost. Just slightly out of place at random times.
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 8:24:08 GMT 2
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 8:25:40 GMT 2
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 8:27:26 GMT 2
The language used most in the area is Swahili (Kiswahili) which in juxtaposition to the complex history of the island, is supposedly one of the easiest to learn. It derived from a Bantu language, which encompassed a vast area of Eastern Africa, and has had over the centuries included many loan words, especially from Arabic, but also a few others like Persian and some Indian languages. The history here I'll touch on a little in a while though. There are also a number of dialects which cause difficulty but funnily enough, the Zanzibar Town dialect is considered to be the standard. My father was fluent in it, my mother less so but still at a conversational level and I've heard it spoken for many years over time, but unfortunately I can still only grasp a few phrases. Nevertheless, my usage did cause some raised eyebrows during out stay and I was quite often asked if I spoke it. As the island is predominately Muslim, I did also get chance to utter a few greetings in Arabic from time to time, which also came as a surprise. It is a little failing of mine that I delight in going against the preconceptions of being a fat, old, red-faced English tourist and who also can use a standard African handshake. Mooching around further -
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Post by Baz Faz on Jan 4, 2018 11:38:38 GMT 2
I guess you were staying at the Tembo Hotel. Lovely white walls. I can imagine the humidity from the grey mould on nearly every other wall. Stone Town looks a lovely and interesting place.
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Post by auntieannie on Jan 4, 2018 12:00:15 GMT 2
gorgeous. I've got a friend who's got family on the island. feels like a little paradise.
Now, knowing our Dr Only, I checked google maps and realise why you didn't try and drive to Dar es Salaam from Lusaka. It takes a minimum of 30 hours if they are correct.
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 12:29:01 GMT 2
Baz, no we didn't stop there. It just so happened to be one of the better buildings not far away. I'll show you later where we did but it was called the House of Spices - www.houseofspiceszanzibar.com/Annie, I have actually driven between the two several times but in this instance, it isn't practical. One reason is that we'd still have to leave our car on the mainland, so we might as well fly. The other problems are bureaucratic with having a Zambian registered car, needing Interpol clearance of all things and many other bits of paper. It wasn't worth the effort though I have looked in to it.
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Post by sophie on Jan 4, 2018 18:10:49 GMT 2
Thanks for sharing! Envious!!
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Post by Scrubb on Jan 4, 2018 18:28:01 GMT 2
This is bringing back memories! We stayed there for about a week in 2005. I just tried to find our photos which Mr_S had on line, but couldn't. I know taht the website he had them on was shut down, but I thought he'd put them up somewhere else instead. Seems not to be the case.
We had a couple of really odd and unpleasant things happen in Stonetown, but we also had some really good things happen there. And the beaches on the north end of the island were some of the most stunning I've ever seen.
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 21:14:24 GMT 2
Scrubb, do tell. What happened in Stone Town? The beaches at the north are the only ones without much of a tide and you can swim in all day. The sea where we were, on the east coast, goes out quite a way. You'll see in the photos later. The beaches are stunning though as well.
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Post by Voy on Jan 4, 2018 21:32:25 GMT 2
Mark - I too have a fixation with doorways - esp Islamic ones - and with the "balconies" - I have a whole album of them ( from the days when you made prints..) from Bahrain, the Emirates and Yemen.. love love love them ! ( oh, and some from Timbuctu too )
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Post by tiltedflipcurves on Jan 4, 2018 21:57:15 GMT 2
I'd rather go to Stonetown than go back to Rockville (and waste another year). Thanks for sharing.
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Post by OnlyMark on Jan 4, 2018 22:25:54 GMT 2
Voy, "...Timbuctu too" - Is that Timbucfour then?
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Post by Scrubb on Jan 5, 2018 3:33:29 GMT 2
Ok. Well, the good thing was scuba diving. The boat was a gorgeous dhow, the dive master was lovely, and they provided great food in between dives plus lunch and it was all delicious. And the dives were really good too.
THe bad... I don't know if it's the same now, but back there there was a real problem with drug addicts hanging around. All the aggressive touts, trying to sell all kinds of things and posing as tourism consultants and so on, were high/trying to get money for drugs. One evening in the big park along the shore, where people picnic and there's lot's going on, we stopped and got ice cream. Were sitting at a little plastic table in front of the ice cream stand when a guy came up to us and pulled out a knife. He asked us if we wanted to buy it, and it was a not-all-that-big kitchen knife - but no one pulls out a knife without hoping to intimidate you. Which worked, for me - I have a strong "flight" instinct, it turns out. I jumped out of my chair and sprang away - was out of reach within a split second. Mr_S has a different reaction and he grabbed the guy's wrist and took the knife away. The guy was really high, to the point where he was leaning on a chair for support, so he probably wasn't much of a threat. But it was still very unpleasant and it scared me.
The other odd/bad thing was at our hotel. It was a lovely little place with a rooftop terrace where they served breakfast. We went up one morning to eat, and I noticed a couple of other guests left just as we sat down.
A few minutes later the woman who ran the hotel (not sure if she owned or managed) ran up and told us that someone had broken into our room! So I ran down and looked - nothing was missing. We'd left a camera and some other things on the table right inside the door, although our passports were in the safe that was in the bathroom. (It was a really cheap, light safe that could have been broken into easily, though.) I think they got caught right after breaking into the room, luckily. She told us it was the other guests who had left the breakfast terrace just as we got there.
It was all really strange, though - as I said, none of our stuff was missing, and I have no idea where the bad guys were at the time when the woman came and got us - we didn't see them, or any police, or anything. We hadn't seen anyone else working in the hotel except someone in the kitchen making our breakfast, so I have no idea who caught them in our room, or how that person stopped them from just running away; and if the police already had them in custody by the time the woman came to get us that was incredibly fast. I think we'd only been out of the room for about 5 minutes. I couldn't see any reason the woman would make it up, though. But I could never figure out who 'captured' the bad guys or how, unless maybe the hotel had a security person around who we just never saw.
So that incident left us feeling uncomfortable too.
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