Homeward Bound

All good things come to an end and now it's time to start our long flight home. We left Dar es Salaam at 5.45pm for our 5hr flight to Dubai. Arrived in Dubai to 38 deg at 12.45am. After a few holdups we finally made it to the airport Copthorne Hotel for a short sleep (not) before our checkin again at 7.30am.

Now on our last leg to Christchurch via Sydney.  

Dar esSalaam

A  4.15am start to take the bus back to the Port in Stone Town on the West of the Island where we catch the ferry to Dar es Salaam. It was a one and a half hour trip crossing the Indian Ocean in a Catamaran ferry. 

Arriving into the Dar es Salaam harbour with a view of our hotel on the cliff

A very overcrowded boat with their fishing nets

Coming into the ferry terminal looking across to a bustling fish market

Once we had jostled our way out of the crowded boat we were taken by bus to the Mkonde carvers. They were amazing 

The beginning of another carving in an Ebony log 

A finished carving which tells the story of their life

Sitting on their dirt floors in the heat under the rusty corrugated iron for shade.

Next stop was the Tinga Tinga artists. There was some great artwork and so much of it.

We had delicious pizzas on the seafront at the Slipway before settling into the Seacliff hotel on the cliff.

Sue has certainly left her mark here in Dar es Salaam after having held propagation workshops and encouraging them to go out and start their own nurseries. Now there are so many little roadside nurseries utilising the empty roadside land and earning a living for themselves.

Breezes Beach

Another relaxing day with an early morning walk along the beach. 

Late morning some of us travelled up the beach a few kms and snorkelled in the Blue Lagoon inside the reef with all it's pretty tropical coloured fish.

The afternoon was spent by the pool again with comfortable air temps of around 28 deg. 

Sadly this is our final night here at this peaceful Breezes Beach Club.

Breezes Beach

A lazy start to the day then a reef walk at low tide.

The afternoon was spent by the pool

Pre loading before dinner outside our room.

The smell of whiskey must have been the attraction. 

Breezes Beach

We departed from Stone Town and drove south through the centre of Zanzibar Island to the Jozani Forest the home of the Colobus monkeys. We took a walk through the forest and watched them swinging through the trees, feeding & mothering their wee ones. They are a problem to farmers as their diet is green fruit and leaves. The Colobus are the rarest monkey in Africa and are protected. Farmers are now subsidised by the government for their losses and use dogs to keep them away. 

Further down the road we stopped and took a walk through an Eco-system of mangroves where prawns crabs and fish spawn.

Micky our guide explaining how this Eco-system works

 We travelled south east and by early afternoon we arrived at The Breezes  for our next 3 nights. A beautiful place right on the beach.

Our room far right

Zanzibar

Today we took a Dhow trip to Nakupenda Isles. Our first stop was  Sand Atoll where we enjoyed some swimming and snorkelling in the beautiful clear water.

Looking back at our hotel.

Sand atoll in the distance 

Keeping cool in the beautiful clear water

We had a delicious BBQ lunch freshly caught that morning. The most tender octopus I've ever eaten.

The old Dhow we travelled in. The mast was just a nice straight limb off a tree with the bark removed and sanded down.

One more swim then across to Prison Island where there had been a Prison  built by the Arabs and never intended  as a prison but to secretly continue the slave trade after the abolition. Prison Island is also well known for its land turtles where they are keeping them from becoming extinct.

These slow old turtles average age is 100

Another great day out after a sun soaked day. A last minute wander through the ancient Stone Town with the call to prayer echoing through the streets then an end of the day refresher at a roof top bar to watch the sun set.

Zanzibar

This morning we used the local open transport and were taken to their huge fish & meat market that was buzzing.

After our market experience we drove into the countryside in our little open truck to visit a 6 acre spice farm owned and run by 2 families rich with vanilla, allspice,nutmeg,cocoa,ginger, peppervines, cloves and many more. We also got to taste local fruit.

They dug up ginger and turmeric roots and we tasted shavings of many spices or were given samples of leaves to crush and identify.

A quick run up the coconut tree to gather a few coconuts.

Delicious fresh coconut water and then we ate the coconut and many more tree ripened delicious fruit. The men were all given ties and hats woven from banana leaves and the women woven bags to collect the spices.

Banana flower.

Our guide had a great knowledge of these spices having had a grandfather as a herbalist.

We then returned to our hotel for a late lunch then at our own leisure the girls took a wander through the narrow cobbled streets to check out a few shops.

Taking a break to sample their delicious Stoney Tangawizi a ginger soda.

Later that evening a few of us met and tried a local restaurant down the street.