25th September 2010 - Zanzibar, Tanzania
We are on the idyillic island of Zanzibar 2 hours by boat from mainland Tanzania. We took the bus journey from Mombasa to Dar Sallam costing 1,500 shillings (approx 10 quid) not bad as the journey took 9 hours in all. Dar as they call it is the main hub a busy bustling city with a mixture of different ethnic groups, mostly Muslim but from Arabia, Iran, Iman, India and of course Africa. They all appear to live without conflict and street Sellers selling shawls, wooden ornaments beads and other local made items are everywhere. You can smell cardamon milky tea together with all types of spices, after all this country is known for its spices, yummy. We arrived early evening found a place to stay ate a curry with ugali (African maize flour dumpling, this is the staple diet of Africa) African people eat maize for breakfast in form of a porridge which we can now make ourselves I hasten to add and the wonderful CHAPATI! Yes we can make them but eating them is far better. We stayed for 1 night and caught the ferry boat to Zanzibar whereby we are met by many and I mean MANY taxi drivers. They surround you shouting out prices, arguing showing their badge of identity and for a while your head is about to explode. We decide to take the shared mini bus to the North side of the island and have conversations for the first time since leaving blighty with other tourists, luckily we all stay in the same part of the beach and meet frequently throughout the next 7 days. The sea here is the purest turquoise blue and so clear that we feel truly blessed to be here experiencing this beauty. Dhow boats that have been blanched by the sun bump idly on the sea and when the sails are erected they glide slowly (poly poly the locals say), everything is slower. We have spent the day snorkeling to one of the islands and there are plenty of sea life to be found. Its hot but not unbearable as nightime is cooler which helps and i love the fact that everything from beds to chairs is made from local natural resources. There are still beach sellers everywhere mixing together with Masai selling their own goods but easier to deal with then in Kenya. Not a great deal goes on at night except for fires on the beach where we all mix together listening to reggae, R & B and Abba, a real mix.
Gale & I are now in the east side of the island after spending a week in the North, its much quieter here & very relaxing, one of the things I love about Zanzibar is the fact I can go out all day & evening with-out my shoes!! The village is behind the beach (and a quirky one at that) which is built on sand, so unless you are going on the roads most of the time is spent walking around sandy beaches & village life. Gale & I have never spent time relaxing like this, even whilst travelling before we always went out to other beaches or on motor bikes to other destinations. I think the past two years has taken its toll on us and now we are bit older the relaxing side of life seems to be a must. I'm fascinated by the way the our psychic, mind & body works, the coincidences that bring you to certain places or to bump into people that have a hidden messages or the way we read something that has a meaning for you that you uncover the next day or so. Coming to Zanzibar has uncovered quite a lot, so we have been working on ourselves & finding out new ways of healing. One thing we have realised is that the healing we intended to do for others has not transpired so much and it is us that we are still working on. What has fascinated me the most is how my body has brought up old feelings & emotions because I'm in the perfect time & place to deal with them, I have time to go back to repair & I also have some experience to understand it all. We have both been extremely creative with things found around our bun glow & the beach. All that nature has discarded, we have picked up & put together for decoration around the bun-glows & restaurant. The owner is very delighted with our creative skills & wants to take one back to Germany with her. The night sky is something else here, its had no moon in the sky for a while, so the stars were like lit crystals above our heads, truly amazing especially when they had power cuts here, the Milky Way was so easy to see, we used to lie on the beach to watch the star formations & see the odd shooting stars. Its been full moon for a couple of days & it rises up from the ocean horizon, with a orange tint, when you see it behind the palm trees & shining over the ocean its something out of a picture post card, I feel very privileged to be able to see this as so many people don't take life's opportunities.
A little about the Masai, the REAL Masai do not really pass over water and stay on the plains of the Mara and Serengeti to tend to their cows. Cows are exchanged for their wife to be and many do they need, some up to 50! Their staple diet is Meat usually goat or cow and Milk and Blood of Cow. They extract the blood by using a syringe at the neck of the cow then they mix it with the cows milk, this apparently provides strength and vitamins for them. When it comes to the large cats they only kill when they or their village is in danger and if the lion is killed a large celebration and dance is held. The dance has the men all jumping together with arms by their sides, jumping very high indeed and making a whooping sound. We will try and get them here to do it and record it for you. We have both participated in this ritual (without the kill though) even though women never dance I might add! Also we were surprised to discover that drums or musical instruments are not used by the the Masai so they are very intrigued with our drums and discuss and laugh together about this. The Masai that have broken slightly away from the plains to gain knowledge such as English lessons have been brought into the tourist parts to entertain, provide security to hotels and bungalows and bring with them countless amounts of tribal jewellery. Once they have made enought money they go back to their villages but some stay far longer and start to drink alcohol which really does not suit them and their diet changes to rice and vegetables. They all tend to be very tall and lean and are very friendly and easy going and one of them has offered for us to go to their village and stay for a whlle near Mount Killy and get us in the back door to the moutain so to speak at a cheaper price. To cost of getting into the park is 600 dollars each then you have to pay for the porter, lodge guide etc, altogether the cost amounts to about $1,300 each and that is a minimum and you are expected to tip about $7.00 each man per day. We have been advised that money spoken about tends to change on route and can be risky if found out also the Serengeti like the Marai has now become a massive tourist operation and very costly now, so we have declined this offer.
The local children have been dancing and singing on the beach with us & our drums & rattles and they dance and use their body movements in such a tribal way you would never have thought they would act like this, its defernatly in their blood. They use dance & drum in school its all very natural for them. It was such fun & a great healing experience. Gale & I pop to the main town which is called Stone Town its very querky with fantastic old wooden doors on hotels & shops, many buildings date from the 1700 / 1800s with Portugese, Persian & Arabic design. Its mainly local markets, shops & hotels & not spoilt with tourist & commercial shops (hopfully I will be able to download the pictures this time, this site isn't user friendly). The people here are hit & miss but this is to be expected of a place with this religous back ground. (they are not keen on some of our western ways) most are polite & welcoming & the children can be very sweet. The place in which we stay is owned by a German lady ( Melise ) she is the first western person to have a hotel on this side of the island, when she opened it in the early 80s a group of adrenalin junkies that are known to find new undiscovered places, parahshooted in! You can imagin the reaction of the people most were scared to death (big strange white things jumping out of a big metal bird) these guys landed on the beach & stayed 24hrs they ate & drank her dry then left for Stone Town. This time she has stayed for a month & she is taking a few of us to places on the mainland Tanzania. There are big mountains & many people go there to climb & walk, so this should be great fun as we have spent some time with these guys. We have booked our tickets to South Africa in a weeks time so are now on the move for other adventures!
Love to all Craig & Gale x
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