Friendly Faces, Bujumbura, Burundi

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Beautiful beaches, friendly people, stunning scenery, delicious food… what more could you want from a vacation destination.  Of course, the recent civil war and genocide in the late 90s has kept tourists away. Burundi is super-safe now and we've found that although we are one of few tourists, we are one of many white-people in Bujumbura (the capital). There are a lot of expats working here - some left over from working for the UN, others working in the peace process and building a transitional government.

With Michel and Marie-Andree

Bujumbura town seems quite cosmopolitan with interesting art-deco architecture (perhaps in need of some TLC) and good quality restaurants. The food here is much more Western style.  Traveling through Africa, one gets tired of chicken and beans or rice or maize meal or even 'chipsy').  So it has been amazing to eat GOOD pizza, and cheese, and burgers, and cheese, and milkshakes, and did I mention, cheese!!!!  WOW, what a surprise!  Some of the restaurants, you wouldn't know you were in Africa (we've even had WiFi in some)! Even the local food is good quality and we've eaten delicious beef brochettes (skewers) and fried bananas. It's been a very welcome change!

The local people too, seem much more civilized (maybe the Belgian influence, or maybe because they're educated well, we don't know). Obviously there's a range of affluence here, but people are still respectful: if we say no to their requests of money, they generally leave us alone. The thing that has stood out most for us in Burundi is that we seemed to just meet really friendly people left, right and centre - local and ex-pat alike.  We've actually had a social life! Being invited out to dinner or for drinks has been really refreshing and kept us very busy! Bring

With Natacha (left), Ketsia (rear), and their families

it on! We met Michel in the Bureau de Change and before we knew it, he invited us for drinks, and spent a very pleasant evening with him and his wife, Marie-Andree, for hours talking of world travels, our thoughts on Africa, and memories of Canada (where they also used to live). We were impressed that Marie-Andree, originally from Quebec, had been in Burundi and Rwanda a long time working in refugee camps during the civil wars and genocide years. That's hard core! In Michel and Marie-Andree we definitely felt a genuine warmth and interest and appreciated their generosity.

The following day when Martin was in the bank, a bubbly woman, hearing his accent, ran up to him and invited us for dinner and drinks. Just recently returned from Montreal, Natacha, wanted to reminisce and talk about her old home. We were happy to oblige and it was a very fun evening meeting her family and friends that she herself had not

Inside Bujumbura Market

seen in a long time. We made plans to meet again and tour her birth country together in a few days time.

On our explorations through the city we got lost in the market. Most markets in Africa tend to be the same - open, bare-bones stalls with an assortment of random stuff, meat, fish, veggies etc generally with dirt/ mud under-foot in the aisles. But here in Buja, the market is a huge warehouse-style building and each 'stall' is actually a lockable 10ft tall wooden shed. All the sheds are set in row upon row as far as the eye can see.  It was tidy and clean (no mud or debris in sight) and organised in to sections. For instance, in flip-flop corner there were sheds with stacks and stacks of coloured flip-flops and crocs 10 ft tall.  We saw sections of people at their sewing machines, the bicycle-part section, the manicure section, carpentry, hardware, meat, fish, veggies, beans, rice. It was great.

Binoculars were the centre of attention

We spent about 6 days in total in Buja, but one day we caught a city bus along Lake Tanganyika to the closest National Park - Rusizi. A large wetland area, we hired bicycles and a guide to explore along the paths. It was pleasant to be out of the hubbub of town and have some peace and quiet watching nature - birds and hippos. Bosco our guide, was pretty cute and would get extremely excited just seeing a lapwing or a duck. The Park is still being developed for tourism and there were four watch towers in different stages of construction. I asked Bosco if we could get to the lake, and kind-of wished I hadn't. We had to wade through some very dubious-looking water through reeds and partially sunk canoes to get to the lake's edge. On the other side we were greeted by a group of villagers fishing and swimming in the murky brown lake - the outflow of Ruisizi River from recent rains. If you looked beyond the

Les Tambourinaires

murkiness, it was quite scenic: Lake Tanganyika's deep blue water on the horizon and the majestic backdrop of Congo's impressive mountains (Democratic Republic of Congo). The bike ride back to HQ was a little rough through sand and scrub, but highlighted with meeting local children shocked at seeing us; they really hadn't seen white people much before, if at all. We ended our day on Saga Beach once a pleasant and popular beach. Unfortunately, not so much now - it was littered and run down. We walked along to Club du Lac Tanganyika - a popular resort with more affluent visitors which also had a slight feeling of neglect. Obviously, Burundi has seen better days in terms of some of its tourist 'attractions'.

One thing that Burundi is famous for, is its Tambourinaires - traditional drummers and dancing. The Tambourinaires have played around the world and once opened for the New Orleans' Jazz Festival. The huge cylindrical drums, called ingomas, are one of Burundi's oldest traditions originally used by specialised families and warriors of the Royal Court to mark all sorts of happy and sombre occasions.

Denise and John at 'Our' Coke Shop

We found ourselves once again on Saga beach, this time for the Sunday afternoon drumming performance. Drummers dressed in red, green and white - the colours of the Burundian Flag - were parading with their drums dancing and singing. Apparently there are about 20 different traditional dances but only 3 are in popular use today. Our friend Marie-Andree was going around the country trying to capture these traditional dances in photo and hopefully exhibit them one day in the museum or even abroad. Her hope is to preserve this important tradition. Typical of many African countries that have been affected by colonialism and development, many cultural traditions sadly get lost with progress. For us, we were glad that we got a taster of the drumming and dance and were impressed by them playing them while balanced on their heads! * Mush

Things Michelle will remember
1. Michel's story about when he was a kid, his parents told him that white people would eat him - just to keep him away from cars on the road. This would explain a few reactions that we've seen! (What's 'funny', is that there are still tribes in Africa that practice Cannibalism.)

Drinking impeke

2. At the lake at Ruisizi Park, when the villagers weren't staring at us, for about 15 minutes they squabbled over Bosco's binoculars fascinated at how they worked!

3.  Friendly John, Denise and Esther at 'our' Coca Cola Shop.

4.  Drinking 'Impeke' with some locals at a small museum/park in town. It looked like hot chocolate and was served in a gourd sawn in half, sipped through a plant reed. It's a beer, apparently, made of sorghum, not at all chocolatey or sweet, but bitter, lumpy, and I thought, disgusting. Eeeeww!

Bonjour Burundi

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Bujumbura Street

"Nous sommes touristes en vacances," I said to the official at the Burundi border shack set in the middle of a forest of tall eucalyptus trees. He frowned, as if to say, why would you come here on your holiday! (Actually we've heard good things about Burundi). He leafed through our passports, searching. "No visa?". In my school-girl french I explained that the Burundi Embassy in Tanzania had not had a stamp (or whatever) and had told us that we could get a visa here at the border. He mumbled to himself and then called his colleague in to consult on the matter. We were a little anxious, but we knew we could pull out the phone numbers of the precious contacts we'd made at the Burundi Embassy in Kigoma (our last town in Tanzania near Gombe), and our laid-back pal, Ernest, the consul from the embassy in Dar.

A few more questions, then talking amongst themselves. The second official left us, and then taking us by surprise, the first guy stamped our passports, clunk, clunk, then subtly muttered the words 'soda' and 'Fanta' - a gift for his troubles! Sorry, we did not have any Burundi francs yet, I said, avoiding the bribe. But wow, was it that easy? And free? Of course not. Apparently, there was still another immigration stop in Mapanda, a very slow 15km away, where we'd have to physically get the visa.

Streets and hills of Bujumbura

As you know from our blogs, travel days are not much fun, even less so crossing land-borders, but up until now today it had been smooth. Leaving Tanzania had been uneventful - a minibus and then gentle shared-taxi ride through green, hilly terrain to the exit border stop. Then, another shared taxi down a steep section of no-mans land, our entry into Burundi marked by a rough wooden sign amongst the trees, and the disappearance of the decent tarmac road; in its place a very rough, red dirt track off into the trees.

It was going to be a day of baaaaby-steps, I thought to myself, as we bumped along in our clapped-out taxi in the middle of Africa. Here we were, now with a stamp in our passport, but not quite legal yet, heading to the second immigration office. This went smoothly and the immigration official was pleasant and helpful. 1 month visa, $70 US, no problem. (And cheaper than we'd expected). Baby steps. Where was the Bureau de Change? we asked. At the market. Well the 'Bureau de Change' turned out to be men at the centre crossroads of 'town' with wads of notes in their hands. A man who recognised us from the border post helped us (which we're always wary of, but he turned out to be genuine with good English) and we were in business. We lined up a minibus going to Bujumbura, the capital, some nourishment for the journey (bananas from a street stall), and a quick loo stop (somebody's shack). Believe me, all these are large baby steps in Africa!

The tasty burger in the Tropicana Restaurant, Bujumbura

At this point we'd been in Burundi about three  hours and only once had we'd heard the cry 'mzungu' (white-man) from the side of the road. We realised that the reaction was more of shock on the peoples' faces. Clearly, very few white people come through this part of the country. We got to Bujumbura thankfully in one piece after 4 more hours on part tarmac/ dirt road running through the scenic border mountains and then down beside Lake Tanganyika. Glad to be safely out of the minibus, we made our way into town and found a hotel virtually hassle-free which made a nice change! Next, food. Not always easy in eastern Africa to find decent food, but Bujumbura boasts good quality restaurants thanks to its Belgian past. Not having to face chipsy-kuku (chicken and chips) again, we settled on splashing out on a very tasty burger and cheesy pizza. Mmmm, cheese! Arriving safely, with a roof over our heads and something to eat at the end of the day is always what we look forward to on travel days. How great to finally breathe a huge sigh of relief and relax! * Mush

Floating Mass of Humanity, Kibirizi, Tanzania

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Count 'em up - We counted about 170

We had a wonderful, relaxing time at Gombe Stream park and great success in finding the chimps, even with the rain.  We had a surprise visit from four chimps right into the camp and on our beach.  The rest of the time, we relaxed on the shores of crystal clear Lake Tanganyika, a lake that holds about 15% of the world's fresh water!  We chilled out on the beach, reading and watching lovely sunsets over Congo.
We had a 7AM journey to look forward to, returning to Kibirizi by lake taxi.  We awoke to clear skies, and a calm lake, which bodes well for the boat - less things to go wrong we hope.  The boat arrived about 45 minutes late (not bad at all), and there was a friendly face aboard - Nzara, whom I sat next to on the ride up-lake.  Along with Nzara, there were again, well over a hundred other faces, including one other mzungu like us!!
It was a beautiful journey, except for the comfort factor.  This time, we did not have a choice of where we were sitting, and basically squeezed in the only hole we could find around the outside rim of the boat, near the back.  We had about 8 stops on the way back, and at each, the boat got fuller and fuller with goods (fresh fish, empty soda bottles, empty fuel containers), and of course, more people.  This boat was JAM-PACKED - you couldn't even see any wood or sign of the boat underneath the mass of humanity. Over all, about 170 people are aboard (Phil - what do you think of that??).

Clear Waters of Lake Tanganyika

  These boats are the lifeline of the villages.  Speaking of lifeline, with 170 people aboard, there are no signs of any life jackets, even though there are lots of kids and babies.  I know for a fact that many African's cannot swim, so if this archaic boat goes down, it would be disastrous.  Michelle and I would be able to swim to shore, but there would be 168 African's trying to grab at us and pull us down with them.  Our strategy would be to dive deep. I also have our important possessions with me, so making an escape plan is not so easy, considering we'd like to keep them.  This is always something we have to think about when traveling on dodgy transportation such as this.  Our valuables are in a dry-bag, which we hope floats, but luckily haven't had to test yet!!
But, once again, we do not need to put our escape plans into action: the boat arrives safely at Kibirizi.  It was a beautiful morning journey, one we were not looking forward to, but thoroughly enjoyed - even if our bums were a little sore from the wooden slats.  Only one more trial for the boat - getting off.  In Africa, it seems like everyone is always in a hurry to exit any transportation in the quickest manner possible - no poley-poley (slowly-slowly) here!  I don't know if they think the boat will take off again with them still aboard or what, but everyone seems panicked to get out.  On board the boat, we were anticipating this, and our planned exit strategy worked well. We were able to watch the madness unfold after our exit.   *Stub

Local Village Stop on the Lake Taxi

Lake Taxi Passengers, and the Scenery

Our Closest Relatives, Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania

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Titan Climbing up into the Trees

"WHOOOOP!"  I jumped out of my skin and turned around.  Our guide, Hussein, who'd also stopped, was calling out in to the jungle - loudly!  Silence. "WHOOOOP!"  Again, silence.  We waited.  Nothing.  Then from behind us in the distance came a response: "Whoop. Aggghh!"  Sweet!  They're close! We thought: now why hadn't our guide done that sooner? We'd gotten a late start because of the rain, and had been trekking through the central part of the park for an hour. Our poor tracker-guide had been searching for three hours already.

The steep valleys and hills of grassland and tropical rainforest on the northern shore of Lake Tanganyika make up Tanzania's smallest National Park.  Gombe Stream is special because it is home to one of the last remaining 'wild' populations of chimpanzees in Africa.  116 chimps live here.  In 1960, Jane Goodall was the British researcher who made this place famous by doing pioneering primate behavior studies - research that still continues here 52 years later. Chimpanzees used to live in all of Tanzania's western border, into Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo (old Zaire).  Now, due to deforestation and human population growth, their habitat has shrunk to just 20 sq miles (52 sq km) at Gombe and a larger area at Mahale Mountains further south.  The other main threat to chimps, is illegal poaching and trafficking.  Although it's not so bad here in Tanzania (Rwanda and Uganda are worse apparently), chimps are sought after on the world market  by zoos or by private buyers as pets. To capture a baby chimp means that all the adults around it protecting it are killed. Brutal.  That's why the Park has many rangers on its boundaries to deter poachers.

Nassa Lounging

As fast as we could, Martin and I followed Hussein on trodden paths in the direction of the chimps' call.  Within half an hour we'd tracked our first chimp sitting in a tree.  The storm that had raged through during the night had blown over now, but there was still the occasional shower. Because of this, chimps like to keep dry and are less active in the tops of trees, which makes them harder to find.  We lost sight of our chimp, Tarzan, but once we'd stopped and looked more carefully at the trees around us, the rest of Tarzan's group gradually came in to sight.

Hanging out, grooming each other or just sleeping and trying to keep out of the rain, we saw six chimps in one tree and sat and watched them from below.  We learned their names: Pax, Fuji, Fundi, Froidi, Nassa, Samson, from our guide who recognised their faces.

The Family up in the Trees

They have their own unique personalities, which is why Jane Goodall used names in her studies rather than numbers (scientifically unconventional at the time).  Chimps have 98% genetic similarity to humans which seemed about right -  judging by the amount of farting and scratching going on. If the males had had trousers they would probably have their hands down them fiddling.  We learned that the oldest chimp in the park is a female, Sparrow, 55 years old, and would have just been a toddler when Jane first came to Gombe. (Female chimps live to about 65 years old and males to 55).  Another fact, is that chimps make nests out of leaves and debris in the tree tops to sleep in! Didn't know that - wow!

Up Close and Personal

Gombe's chimps have become habituated to humans, of
course, because of all the research, but interaction is not allowed and visitors have to maintain a distance of 10 metres (Jane did interact with them when she gradually became accepted into their society).  10m is a good thing, but as we stood and watched thinking that we were quite far from the group, we suddenly heard a rustling sound and through the vines and undergrowth - following our same beaten path - came a chimp named Titan.  He brushed right passed us! So much for 10 metres!  There was nowhere for us to go! He had a small beautiful face, sharp gleaming eyes, and coarse jet-black fur.  He glanced at each one of us in turn making eye contact (another thing you're not supposed to do - looking them directly in the eye could make them feel intimidated!).  He wasn't bothered and obviously didn't think we were a threat.  It was A-MAZING being that close.

Titan joined his friends in the tree above us. Once in a while they would call out to each other or to other groups elsewhere (there are 60 chimps in this particular community), and made a huge ruckus.  Later that day we would meet a visiting researcher from the States who works on vocal calls and what the noises and behaviour might mean, especially surrounding eating and food. Get more info on Lisa's work Click Here.  Also, we learned that chimps are not vegetarian, and apart from berries and shoots, they will hunt and eat the young of Colobus monkeys and baboons - species also found in the park.

Titan back on the Ground

There was only one female in the tree and every once in a while she would go from male to male mating with him.  It happened so fast (about 4-5 seconds) and so subtly, that you had to be observant to catch it!  We learned that females generally mate with males from a different group so as to maintain genetic diversity.

Just as we were thinking of leaving, two of the chimps came down from the tree, again, giving us nowhere to go. We let them pass and then moved on ourselves.  Suddenly, another two, then two more followed catching us up on the path and passing right by us. It was super-special to have them so close; we could have reached out and touched them.  Feeling pleased that we had found the chimps despite the difficult conditions, we were happy to come back to camp.  Our luck just got better: as we relaxed with a Coca Cola, four more chimps came into camp and we were able to see them up close again.  Baby Gimley was super-adorable with his little pink face!   We followed Frodo down to the beach, and watched him eating from the bushes on the shore.

We were very excited at seeing the chimps. And even though it took us 5 days of riding buses and boats to get here, it was SO worth it!   What I will never forget, is Titan's bright, intelligent gaze catching mine before he ambled by through the undergrowth! * Mush

Frodo on the Beach

Gimley on the back of Mother Gremlin

Getting to Gombe, Tanzania

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Tanzania is quite a large country, and we found out first hand as we attempted to go from the Island of Zanzibar, through Dar es Salaam and all the way to the Western side of the country and Lake Tanganyika.  A trip that ended up taking us 5 days in all.  Tanganyika is the longest lake in the world at over 600km, and the second deepest after I believe Lake Baikal in Russia.  But this was not the reason for our traipse across country, but rather the tiny little park called Gombe Stream that is home to wild chimpanzees.

Sipe and Massimo at Sipe's amazing Italian Restaurant

While in Dar es Salaam, we found out that the train West no longer leaves from Dar, so we had to get ourselves to Dodoma, the start of the Central Train Line.  We've done the trek to the bus station before, which always helps for familiarity, so had no problem tackling it again.  I must admit, this time was much easier.  We had left Mikadi beach at 6AM, and our bus arrived in Dodoma at 4PM - not bad really.  We quickly walked to the train station, and found it closed, but we still had time as the train didn't leave until the next evening.

In Dodoma, we found the people to be very friendly and helpful, especially our hotel owner Mr Dayo.  The next morning, we got some bad news.  After waiting for the ticket office to open, and a few battles with local ladies who decided their needs were greater than ours, and pushing to the front of the line, we found the sleeper compartments for both first class and second class were sold

Storks in the Rubbish pile

out.  A serious blow, as we were looking forward to the train, even though it was to take 2 full days.  And we weren't ready to sit in uncomfortable wooden seats for said two days, especially since they say a lot of robberies can occur.  We were resigned to taking the horrible, speedy, dangerous buses, and by this time, we had missed the early ones to Kahama, and decided to spend the day in Dodoma.

This was to turn out very well, since we happened upon a new restaurant, owned by an Italian man Massimo, and his Rwandan wife Sipe.  Sipe's Restaurant served up some absolutely amazing Italian food, with the most delicious lasagna I have had in many years!!  It was fantastic just to get a change from the local chicken and ugly, rice or chips, but this food was zoo good, we returned for dinner as well.  And Sipe made the best home made ice cream - we had the mango.   WOW, what a gem.

Massimo was quite the friendly man too, wanting us to see his town.  He decided to give us a ride around town to show us the sights, and then dropped us off where the dalla dalla would take us up the hill to the university - Tanzania's biggest.

Vendors outside the bus near Kigoma

Not really much to see up here, but a view of the surroundings.  We did make it back to Sipe's that night, but I could only manage a half portion of the lasagna, and Michelle only some apple pie and stunning mango ice cream!!

We were sad to not be going back to Sipe's, but our journey must continue.  It was an early morning (5AM) departure, so we thought.  The bus office was just 100m from our hotel, and we were told to be there at 5.  We were, the bus wasn't, so we had to walk through town to the bus station about 1km away.  Not too far, but in the dark in Africa isn't the safest.  As soon as the bus rushed through the dirt lot of the bus station, we knew we were in for another hair-raising ride.  I don't understand why these guys drive these big buses so crazily!!  The good news was that we arrived in good time (8 hours), with only a single bus change to Kahama.

At the intersection, we met a really nice lady named Moshi, who got us sorted and onto the next bus. 

Boarding the lake taxis to Gombe Stream

We asked about a place to stay in Kahama, and when we arrived there, her brother was waiting to meet us.  All nice really, but you are never sure what you are going to get when people 'meet' you.  They showed us a decent hotel, but after the morning's long walk in the dark, we decided we needed somewhere closer to the station.  Kahama was a scruffy little town, and the strangest sight was a garbage/rubbish tip just off the side of the road, with about 15 massive storks walking about looking for scraps.  They were intermingled with some dogs, a donkey, and even some people.

Another 6AM departure the next day, and this bus should take us all the way to Kigoma, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.  And you guessed it, another crazy driver, but this time even worse because the road turned quite thin and into dirt.  This bus roared around blind corners on the dirt, and just blaring it's horn through villages.  Everyone quickly moving over to the side of the road, if not would be turned to dust underneath this beast!! 

This shows the size of the boats, with the little boy up top

The scenery was fine, but nothing too noteworthy.  The colours of the people in the villages was though.  It's always interesting as we always see the vendors charging the bus as it pulls to a stop, shoving everything they have high up into the windows in desperation for a sale.

Thankfully, we made it to Kigoma alive, and hoping we don't have to do the return journey.  In Kigoma, we could see the massive lake, that felt like we were back at the sea.  Only a faint outline of the mountains in the Democratic Republic of Congo across the lake.  We managed to get to the Gombe Stream Park Office in town, early in the morning, and by 11AM, we were at the water's edge in Kiribiza, 2 km North of town, awaiting the final leg of our journey - the lake taxi!!  These boats are basically wooden rowboats on steroids!!!  They seem to be the same design as rowboats, just much larger -

The next boat - we were in one like this, only fuller

about 60 feet long.  They also seemed relatively organized once we scrambled to get on.  They were sorting all the cargo loads into similar village areas, so it would be easy to take it all off in order.  You don't see this kind of organization much in Africa, so we were surprised!!  Then the rest of the people clamber on….  and it's well over a hundred, and too difficult to count as they are in every nook and cranny of the boat.  Our guess was about 130-140.  Basically, this lake taxi is the link between all the villages up the lake to the Burundian border.  There are no roads, so all goods come by boat as well.  It was actually a much more pleasant journey than we were expecting.  Other than a bit of rain, we arrived at the dock of Gombe Stream National Park after 3.5 hours on the boat.  A long journey overall for sure (5-6 days), so we really hope we find the chimpanzees!!!   *Stub

The Fastest Internet in Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

To See Our Tanzanian Photos, Click Here

Back on the mainland in Dar Es Salaam it was time to get moving, but first some chores like finding

Morning Madness at the Dar Fish Market

embassies and checking on safety and visas for our upcoming countries. The Burundi Embassy was a pleasant experience (unlike Sudan about a month ago). The agents were friendly, and we sat and chatted with the consul who was super laid back and seemed to have all the time in the world! Burundi had some political upsets over a year ago, and seeing as the entry visa is $90, we wanted to check that it's now safe to be there. We were assured it is safe and they are definitely welcoming tourists.

We never found the Rwandan embassy as it has relocated to who knows where in Dar, but on our mission, we accidentally happened on a real find: the fastest internet in the east and probably all of Africa so far! You may think: so what! Well, we've been in Africa well over a year, and if you haven't gathered yet, decent internet (and I'm not even talking WiFi  here) is still hard to find. We discovered that The Kilimanjaro Hotel in Dar has excellent WiFi in its huge modern lobby. And while the reception desk tried to help us with the embassy search, we started to look like we belonged - being a mzungu, of course, helped! Before we knew it, we were settled in for a couple of hours of 'dropboxing' photos from our laptop at 500kb/sec (normally it's about 2kb/sec if we're lucky!). Not only was it fast, it wasn't locked and we sat there seamlessly using their internet for free! We'll take what ever we can get! As we're currently about two countries behind storing our pics online, you can understand our excitement!

One of the nice things about being back in Dar was staying somewhere familiar: Mikadi beach, the lodge we'd camped at before. It's also a place where overland trucks stop and we were excited to see our old guide from our trip from Windhoek to Livingstone last October, Sam. Good to see him before he headed off with his latest tour group to Zanzibar. *Mush

Purely Zanzibari Fauna, Foods and Music in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania

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Kirk's Red Colobus Monkey

The time came to leave Jambiani, but it was not out of choice, it was out of necessity.  We had no CASH left, and there was no bank in the village. We would have to head back to Stone Town for a bank, so figured we would continue on our merry way.  On our way back we stopped at Jozani Forest famous for its Red Colobus Monkeys indigenous only to Zanzibar. As we got off the uncomfortable, ridiculously designed wooden Dalla dalla (you have to stoop right over when you're inside), we headed AWAY from the park on a recommendation.  Sure enough, we would find the monkeys in the trees on a little dirt road. 

The Red Colobus monkeys are an interesting breed with a nice colour of rusty red on their back, and a funky spiky haircut.  They didn't seem too bothered by us and the other tourists around; they would just laze around in the branches only inches above our heads, feet and tails dangling below.  It was extremely hot so we knew how they felt just wanting to chill and do nothing in the shade!  A couple of playful little babies came along and were jumping around the branches.  Cute and curious, one hopped on the head of another mzungu (tourist), and sat looking at itself in her mirrored sunglasses sitting on her head.  It was probably the first time ever seeing itself.

Baby Red Colobus Monkey

We skipped the park entry fee as we didn't have time to explore the park.  There was a sign stating that "Photos don't help us survive, please donate if taking photos".  Now we generally don't have any problem with supporting wildlife, or parks, (thought that's another discussion) but in this instance, we were sure that the money we would 'donate' would just line somebody's pocket.  So, we skipped it. When we were on Kili, we learned that our park fees go to help all of Tanzania's National Parks. We had paid SOOOOO much money in park fees this far, that we felt we had contributed enough!!

Another dalla-dalla back to town, and nice to have the feeling of familiarity and knowing where to go, stay, eat etc.  We visited our local places including Lukmaan's Zanzibari Cuisine, Green Garden

Sugar Cane Juice in the Forodhani Market

Pizzeria (for wifi), Manch Lodge, and went back to our Zanzibari Pizza man (Ahmed), and freshly squeezed ginger sugar cane juice man (Asis) in the Forodhani Market  - both of them recognizing us and happy to have us back!!
We felt comfortable in the streets now, and would just wander to find different routes home around the maze of alleys. 
One thing that a lot of people do here is a Spice Tour.  Zanzibar was an important location on the Trading Route in ancient times between Arabia and India, especially for it's spices.  We decided on doing a tour and shopped around quickly for a tour. It was not the best tour we'd been on though as the guiding left a lot to be desired as he wasn't super forthcoming with info, but it was interesting to see herbs that we use everyday actually as a real plant and to taste them fresh, rather than dried and from a jar! Even though we had done plenty of beach time already, we did appreciated finishing the tour on a nice beach for a

Men Hanging out at Jaw's Corner in the alleys of Stone Town

much needed swim.

The main reason we stuck around in Stone Town for one more night was that we had been invited again to dinner with Khadija, Nafisa, and would finally meet David, Nafisa's husband (and friend, Sara's, dad).  Khadija's cooking is fantastic, so the offer was just too tempting. Dinner definitely didn't disappoint: the whole grilled fish with amazing coconut sauce, calamari, and various local-style breads were absolutely delicious! Like some of the best food we'd had on the island!  Khadija is one heck of a chef, and Nafisa and David, great company. It was a pleasant evening, hanging out swapping stories and experiences of Africa.

Drink and Taraab Music at Mercury's

Apart from spices, Zanzibar is also famous for it's Taraab music - a fusion between Indian, African and Arabic, faintly reminiscent of music we'd heard in Morocco.  We had heard the restaurant Mercury's (named after Zanzibar's favourite son Freddie) had taraab music one night on the waterfront. Apparently, the words are quite comedic, sarcastic and even a little raunchy (!), but alas, lost on us.

We really enjoyed our stay on the island of Zanzibar.  It is refreshing to see so many cultures living together in harmony, tolerant of different religions and tribes and beliefs.  You would see a Mosque right next door to the Catholic Cathedral or a Hindu Temple.  Many people intertwined, as tight as the network of alleys that connect them together. With the beaches, the beautiful water, it's a feel-good place. * Mush and Stub *

Khadija, Nafisa and David with the Delicious Meal

Seaweed Farming in Jambiani, Zanzibar, Tanzania

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Seaweed Farming

Jambiani beach in the southeast was our next port of call which was two dalla-dalla buses away from Kendwa. Planning to stay for a couple of nights, we ended up staying for about a week. We had a big balcony of our own outside our room and from there we could watch beach life continue in front of us. Similar to Nungwi where the beach would change with the tides, the turquoise blue water would disappear leaving huge stretches of beach revealing lots of lots seaweed beds as far as the eye could see. The small villages along this coast are famous for harvesting a certain type of seaweed on these tidal flats. As is typical for Africa, most of the work is done by women, and we would see them working day-in-day-out in the heat of the day at their seaweed beds. The seaweed grows in clumps tied to staked-out

Martin helping with the Seaweed Farming

rows of string. Once they reach a certain stage of growth, it's harvested and piled into bags which the women carry on their heads. Apparently, the seaweed is sold privately and used world wide in toothpaste and cosmetics. One morning while we were exploring the seaweed beds we saw a woman struggling to lift a bag to her head. Next minute, Martin is helping her and then carrying a bag himself!  He admitted it was quite heavy especially when there's still water in it!

The village behind the beach was large and we got to know the post office man, Mr Musa, and the shop where you could get chocolate for about $1 (it was just too tempting!), and the bread shop where wonderful fresh rolls were about 6 cents each! We rented bikes one day cycling 8 km (6miles) to a beach called Bwejuu (even more expensive than Jambiani), but I was overwhelmed by the heat reflecting off the tarmac road and was gasping for a 'baridee sanna' -

One Stone Restaurant

very cold - coca cola by the time we got back to our deck. We also befriended some nice South Africans who had just taken over the management of a little place called Dhow Beach Resort about 6 doors down on the beach, and hung out there. We went for a sunset snorkel with them one evening. There weren't many fish about, but still nice to be in the beautiful water and in good company.

Walking along the beach one day a child's blackboard caught my eye. It had a list of fresh 'catch of the day'. It turned out that Ahmed's shack served up the biggest, cheapest and best calamari we'd had yet! What was funny, was that even though we ordered the exact same thing with either calamari or octopus, it always came out slightly different each time.  We didn't care. It tasted amazing!

With Chef Ahmed at his restaurant

Although it wasn't quite the pristine white sand of Kendwa, there was something about Jambiani beach that we liked. My Birthday was turning into more than birthday-week. It could turn into birthday-month. Bomba Sanna: Fantastic! * Mush

Seaweed Farming in the tidal flats

With Suzandi and Therese at Dhow Beach Resort

Zanzibari Birthday at Kendwa Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania

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Ladies with their Buckets on Nungwi Beach

Discovering Stone Town has been great, but it was time to continue our sea-level recovery by chillin' on some beach somewhere. And Zanzibar has a few to choose from! It was coming up on my 24th anniversary of my 19th birthday: I would be turning 43! A hot sun, a pristine white sandy beach and turquoise-blue water to cool off in, Kendwa in the north turned out to be the perfect place to relax and celebrate!

Just as Mexico has American tourists, the beaches of Spain, British tourists, Zanzibar has Italian tourists. LOTS of them! The unfortunate thing about that, is that the locals think that you have money coming out of your ears as well, and so prices of food, accommodation and definitely souvenirs, are a lot higher on the island than on the mainland. It took us a while to find a place to stay

Michelle's Birthday on Kendwa Beach

at an affordable price. Even as we head in to low season we had to bargain hard to pay $40 (26 quid) for a very basic room that would cost about half that in touristy Moshi near Kilimanjaro

Raining season is around the corner and the morning of my birthday it was stormy and blustery. Thankfully, it cleared quickly and we were able to walk the beach to the next beach over 2 miles away. Nungwi is a lot more commercialised and made us appreciate our cosy Kendwa beach all the more (although Kendwa still has a private italian resort too). As the tide went out we watched women buying huge catches of fish fresh off the boats presumably to sell it on. Unlike Nungwi, the bay at Kendwa is deep and so the beautiful aquamarine water doesn't disappear with the tide. We swam, read our books, and ate Calamari (cheapest at our little place at $6!) for lunch and dinner for the next three days - it was that good!  *Mush

Sunset on Kendwa Beach

Birthday Dinner on the Beach - Calamari

Stone Town with Local Flavour, Zanzibar, Tanzania

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Arriving in Stone Town by Ferry

After a couple of days recovery, I was feeling fine after the altitude sickness, the fluid in my lungs now reabsorbed by my body. I was back to normal, whatever that is…. We left Bernie in Moshi to catch his flight home. It was great having an old friend join us on our travels for sure, but it was definitely time to leave Moshi!  We had spent many a night there, and didn't find the town at all special.  It was what was around Moshi that made it special. We raced Bernie to Dar es Salaam, us on a bus for 9 hours, and him, later by plane (2 hours).  We won, but I'm guessing Bernie's was a much more comfortable ride!  Our bus took so long we missed the last ferry to Zanzibar, and we had to spend the night in Dar. Not to worry, plenty of boats the next day, and soon enough, we found ourselves on the fast boat to the heart of the Spice

Stone Town from the Palace Museum

Islands.

Zanzibar Island has a lot of history, and was an important location on the old trading routes.  The town of Stone Town is also a Unesco Heritage Site, and as our boat rounded the corner of the town, you could see all the old Colonial style buildings in various stages of renovation and plenty in disrepair. We were surprised to have our passport stamped coming in to the port.  Is Zanzibar not part of Tanzania??  I think they are looking for autonomy.  As usual we were met by plenty of touts off the boat, but we brushed them off and hustled into the tiny streets confident that we could find our own way.  If I can get around the world, then I can find my way through the little streets of Stone Town. It reminded us a little of Fes, Morocco, but much less crowded. With a mix of the exotic about it, it has influences from Arabia, India, as well as African and Europe. We found a nice little hotel owned by a Zanzibari lady and her

Muslim Ladies at the Forodani Market

English husband, but have to come to terms with the higher costs in Zanzibar.  This is the most we have paid for accommodation in some time.

We actually had a contact in Stone Town.  When we were in Victoria Falls in Zambia back in October (Rafting the Zambezi), one of the kayakers, Sara, actually asked us to go and visit her lone Aunt Khadija in Stone Town. As travelers we always take people up on their invitations and offers and looked forward to meeting a real local. As it happened Sara's Mum and Dad were visiting from the UK, but busy that day so Aunt Khadija met up with us at the Forodani night market for some Zanzibari Pizza and Sugar Cane Juice, then took us home for some homemade tamarind juice with fresh ginger and lime. Wonderfully refreshing in the sticky heat!  Yummy. The following morning Sara's mum, Nafisa, took us around Stone Town and gave us a personal tour of where she

One of the many painting shops

grew up. It was lovely to hear about her childhood and about the different sultans and the 'first family' and what they get up to now. She took us to the main Darajani market and walked the narrow cobbled streets of the town. We enjoyed watching the old men playing games at Jaw's corner (or as her husband calls it - jobless corner), and marveled at the ancient Arabic doors with pointed brass studs (apparently Indian tradition to keep elephants from breaking the doors down in India). Across to 'the other side' of the market to show us that Stone Town is not all about small merchants and cute boutiques down mysterious cobbled alleyways: there in the township part, people live in shacks or in ugly 1950s east german block-style housing. 

At the main museum, Beit El-Ajaib or 'House of Wonders' we learned about Zanzibar. How it was settled by many peoples, but really came into its own in about the 12th century when trading between Arabia and the Persian Gulf took off. It became key in supplying slaves, gold and ivory to India and Asia, and in return imported spices and textiles.  The Portuguese came on the scene in the early 16th century and eventually got turfed out by the Omani Arabs.

Lunch at Khadija's House

With pressure from the British, the mid-1800s saw the end of the slave trade. Eventually in the 1860s Zanzibar  became a British Protectorate for about 100 years, then it gained its independence, and then quickly became part of Tanzania.

We enjoyed being with Nafisa hearing her stories, getting inside info and we loved not being plagued by touts. Aunt Khadija was a fabulous cook and at lunchtime we enjoyed fish cakes and biryani with fresh salad. SOO nice to have homemade, healthy Zanzibari cuisine rather than greasy street cafe food. We felt very honoured that they took the time to show us around and can't thank them enough! * Mush/Stub