Trip 2: Going home again

26 September 2011

We are going home! While we love wandering, we both are developing a pull to sit at home on the couch and relax. Traveling every few weeks for weeks at a time is going to wear us out.

But, first, a village tour. Fundu Lagoon works closely with three local villages to improve their quality of life. As part of this, they offer a tour through the villages to see the school the lodge has built and help support the rather poor economy of the village. There is nothing but mud huts around. Even though the lodge built a school for the villages, the children do not attend the school. Children from other villages go to this school. These children are running around and memorizing the Koran. That’s it. There is no hope for improvement in their lives. Their parents aren’t fighting for them to have a better life. It is just the way their lives shall be. A lot to process isn’t it?

A group of children ran up to the mzungus hoping to get some candy and maybe a little money. Well, we bought a spice bag for 20,000 shillings because we didn’t have any change and I didn’t feel like bargaining. The spice bag was probably worth 5,000 shillings. Whatever. We were mzungued. Funny how some days you care and other days you don’t. But, we only had 10,000 shilling bills and I knew these villagers weren’t going to have change.

Went back to the lodge. Bought our mask for Pemba and had a smoothie and a cup of coffee before we jumped on the boat to leave our new favorite place. I haven’t been that relaxed in a long time.

Rode to the harbor with the Spanish couple we had been spending the past few days with! They are great and I’m kicking myself for not exchanging contact info. But, that’s life.

Went through airport security, if you can call it that. It involved two people asking to see our bags and waving a wand at us. Wow. That’s a secure airport.

Jumped on another tiny plane that was bound for Zanzibar, then Dar.  This time I was not as freaked out, but it’s because we had our choice of seats, and I sat in the seat closest to the door. I was fine until I looked up and saw the pilot with his hands behind his head as we hovered over the ocean. I tried to get a shot of this for my father-in-law. But, he put his hands down before I got the picture.

Leaving Pemba. So pretty.

We were in the last row. Told you it was tiny.

Landed in Dar. Met up with our Dar cabbie!  He brought us home. And looks like we are going to be home for a whole month while Liam preps for grad school apps. It’s going to be nice and relaxing.

Trip 2: Gone Fishin'

25 September 2011

Hangovers. I hate you. At 6am, I was doing everything I could do to pull my old butt out of bed. What were we thinking? Regardless, I must rally. We had a boat too catch in a little over an hour.  All I could think about was “Where’s the ibuprofen? Water?”

After a shower, I felt much better. Still very sun burnt and hungover but excited about the day’s events. We were going fishing on the Indian Ocean. Only two more oceans to go...WOO HOO! Raced through breakfast to head out on the water.

Luckily, it was a perfect day. The water was glass. Big puffy clouds. The sun was staying away from our sun burnt skin. We threw the lines in and began to troll. 3.5 hours later, nothing. Not even a single bite. But, that’s okay. We kept trolling and enjoying the water and hiding from the sun. Around 1pm, I hit my done point. I was hot, sun burnt, and rapidly entering miserable. But, I wanted to fish in hopes that we would at least get a bite. But, no such luck. Liam was a trooper and still tried to fish with a line and a GIGANTIC lure. I didn’t think anything would bite off of that thing. But, I was ready for a nap, shade, and some juice. Next time, we are fishing day one.

We did find a school of dolphins that we played with. I sat on the bow and got a few pictures and a long video. At this point, I was also kicking myself for not having brought our better camera. I need to find a way to waterproof it so that it goes everywhere.

A few of the dolphins.

 At around 3:30pm, we headed back in hot, more sun burnt, and exhausted without a fish. They were off in some international business meeting. At least that’s my conclusion. Or, they were just terrified of our ability to bring the fish in the boat once we have them on a line. Either way, I don’t know if I would have been physically able to fight a fish today.

I avoided the bar like the plague. Well, I did have to get juice. They have a great menu of smoothie type beverages and that’s all I would touch tonight. Ironically, the same went for everyone who had been sharing in the festivities last night.  You know, many years ago when I was a kid my parents would hang out with their friends and the next morning they would come crawling out of bed like death had overtaken their bodies the night before. I get it now. And I’d like to take a moment to apologize for EVERY annoying noise I made those mornings!!

There were a few couples at the bar trying to get us to take shots with them. I wanted to celebrate their joyous unions with them (Fundu is mostly honeymooners). I just couldn’t rally. I’m not 22 anymore. A decade has made me wiser and I have no problem following Dare’s slogan and “Just say(ing) no.”  We did however convene a meeting of international relations for Liam’s trip report. The following countries were in representation: Germany, Tanzania, France, England, Spain, Canada, and USA. It was very interesting hearing everyone’s opinion of what is going on in the states. My awareness of how little Americans actually leave the States is broadening. Every one spoke several languages, were world travelers and had great life experiences. Yet, we were the only Americans most of the people had encountered on their 2 week to month long treks through Africa. Americans just don’t get out much. Kind of sad when you think about it. So, folks, here's my plea. Step out of your comfort zone and go somewhere beyond your wildest dreams. It might even be better than you think.

 We tumbled into bed early because we were exhausted.

Trip 2: Misali Island

24 September 2011

We are going snorkeling. Got up early enough to get in a good breakfast. The corn fritters are so tasty. I wonder where they are getting such yummy corn around here. I haven’t seen corn anywhere yet. Well, except for in a can.  And it’s silly expensive.

We meander down the jetty to the dive shop to meet up with everyone for the snorkeling trip. Find out that we need to meet at the end of the jetty. So, we wander to the end. It’s beautiful. Peaceful and a nice breeze. I love the ocean. It’s simply relaxing.

The boat returns from taking people to the harbor and we are off. Another couple is joining us. They are on their honeymoon from Spain.

It took about 20 minutes to get to the island. It was high tide. The goal is to swim out to the edge of a drop off and then putz down the edge and see all the fishes. Well, that’s exactly what we did. I’m going to wear a wet suit from now on. The ocean is cold.

Saw a bunch of fish. A few coral formations. But, what struck me the most was the amount of damaged coral. They aren’t kidding when you hear about reef destruction and over fishing. There were parts of the reef that looked like someone had taken a saw underwater and just cut pieces off. It’s such a shame that the governments aren’t doing more to protect what is already here. But, then again, people don’t have drinking water so coral reefs aren’t that important to them, yet.

After about an hour of swimming to keep warm, we migrated back to the beach. There are thatched umbrellas with lounge chairs for people to relax on. Enjoyed laying down and watching hermit crabs. Got up and went for a walk down the beach. A group of fisherman had laid out there catch of the day to dry.

Drying fish...sorry about the smudge. I didn't realize there was a water drop on it.

Misali is beautiful. The water is crystal blue. The beaches are white, soft sand. There are large coral formations that have separated from the main portion of the island due to water erosion. As we walked along and enjoyed the view, I began to pick up broken shell pieces to use as pieces for our bao game when we eventually buy a board.

Went back to the loungers and enjoyed our lunch. Liam took a short nap while I commenced watching the hermit crab migration. They were pretty amusing. They were walking all over the place in the bushes. Then, one climbed up a bench, wiggled its way on top and then climbed its way into the picnic basket to munch on our leftovers. Who knew hermit crabs had that kind of agility?  Liam couldn’t believe I spent over an hour watching them. But, I didn’t have anything else to do. I left my book at our banda. But, I was entertaining myself.

After lunch settled, we went back and snorkeled a little more. This time the water was a little warmer and it was nice being in the sunshine and floating around in the ocean.

We both started to feel a little sun burnt so we headed back to the shade. About this time, the Spanish couple, Liam, and I all decided it would be okay to head back to the lodge. We packed everything up and loaded into the boat. What a great day at the beach.

Once we got back to the lodge, we decided to go up to the pool area and have a snack. We played a game of bao and then I jumped in the pool because it was toasty. The pool is amazing. It’s an infinity pool at the top of a hill. Breathtaking. And the water was so refreshing. My lobster hubby was staying out of the sun. Somehow, he managed to get a pretty nasty sunburn. Poor thing. I didn’t manage to escape the sun’s torturous rays, either. We need to get better about our sunscreen applications. But, I’m also learning – I’m not a fan of aerosol sunscreen. I don’t think it covers as well.

We migrated back to our banda to take a shower and head back up to the pool bar for dinner. We had a few drinks before dinner and then started playing bao. The Spanish couple joined us for a few after dinner drinks. Then, an English couple joined us as well. It was one of the dive instructor’s birthday so we sent a round of shots over to his table. Well, that led to a long night of celebration and fantastic times! What great people!!!

Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day.

Trip 2: So this is what it feels like to relax

23 September 2011

Woke up to the sounds of the ocean outside our tent. Yep, I said tent. We were sleeping in a 5 star tent with two little bitty ceiling fans to circulate air. Stumbled out of bed and looked out at the Indian Ocean. Looks like it is going to be another grey day. But, I’m okay with that.

After we showered and headed to breakfast, we were still tired from our escapades the night before and decided to go back to bed. I’m liking “relaxing with Liam.” Means we might actually catch up on all the sleep we have missed over the past few months.

Woke up just in time for lunch. Yummy. The food here is so delicious. I could spend all day in the dining area or pool side café. 

Decided to take a double kayak out around all of the mangroves during high tide. Mangroves have a root system that needs saltwater for survival. Additionally, it’s a type of wood used for dhow boats, furniture, canoes, etc in this area. We have fallen in love with mangrove wood and will hopefully have a few pieces before we leave Tanzania.

So, we get the boat off of the rack and walk down to the water with it. I get in the front of the boat, and Liam pushes it out and tries to get in. Well, guess what. This particular kayak takes on water like nothing we’ve ever seen before. I think we were sitting in at least six inches of water. So, we decide that maybe getting in the kayak with waves beating against us wasn’t a good idea and we should try a different technique. So, we flip over the boat, empty all the water out and try again. This time, we are very careful and try really hard not to accumulate excess water in the boat. Well, no such luck. We are still sitting in 6 inches of water.  But, the boat doesn’t appear to be trying to flip. We bail out a little of the water and away we go.

We paddled around the point of the peninsula and broke through the chop to beautiful flat water. We paddled in and around the mangrove trees.

Mangrove roots during high tide.

There were a bunch of dhow canoes anchored in this area as well. Apparently, this is a man only beach. Oops. I wish someone would have given me the message. There were about 6 boys playing in the water, bare bottomed. They started to chase us and were screaming mzungu. It was pretty cute.

Dhow canoe

We are paddling along enjoying being on the water. Not really a care in the world. It’s nice to finally feel like this. Very enjoyable afternoon with the husband. 

Make it back to the lodge and try to float the kayak into the beach with the waves. Well the tide was rolling out and the waves were being uncooperative. Finally, we both jumped out, grabbed all our stuff, and carried the kayak the rest of the way to the beach. Put it up and headed back to our banda to get cleaned and relax before dinner since the sunset cruise was canceled due to strong winds.

As we were relaxing in the pool, all of a sudden I looked up to see a monkey on our deck outside our bedroom. Then, there was another. And another. Then, a few mommas with the babies. And another blue-balled male. Must be breeding season! Now, I understand the need for the padlocks. Of course, ours wasn’t locked. However, the monkeys were too busy watching us take their pictures.  The general manager of the lodge told us that one day a woman was doing yoga and the monkeys began to follow her poses. That made me giggle. Even monkeys like yoga!

Another monkey...

A momma and her baby...

After all of the monkeys went back into the trees, we were able to get into our banda and take showers and clean all of our gear!

Made our way down to the bar and while we were waiting on dinner, we learned how to play bao. It is also called mancala. Basically it is a game that is played with 32 holes and whatever “token” pieces you can find to play with. It’s a counting game. In a very short amount of time, we caught on and fell in love. Now, we need a board at home.

Ate another delicious meal and then headed to bed. Tomorrow we are going snorkeling at Misali Island. Apparently, it is rumored to be an island where Captain Cook hide some of his treasure.

Trip 2: Island hopping

22 September 2011

Well we are leaving Unjuga and heading to Pemba Island. It’s an island northeast of Unjuga and one of the three main islands of Zanzibar Archipelago. I’m pretty excited because we scored the deal of a century and are going to an AMAZING place. Fundu Lagoon. It should be added to your bucket list. www.fundulagoon.com. Learn it, live it, love it.

I woke up early and tried to finish up all of my coursework since I wasn’t sure if we were going to have Internet for the next few days. Then, finished packing up my stuff and took a shower. Liam slowly pulled himself out of bed and packed up his stuff. Headed up to breakfast and then back to the room to finish the last little bit of packing.

Migrated down to the lobby and met our cabbie, Rashid. The airport is not that far away but we needed to get copies of our boarding passes. We didn’t have a way to print them after booking them a few days ago.

Show up to the airport. Try to go to the ticket counter and the guys wouldn’t let us in the area because we didn’t have boarding passes. So, we had to schlepp to the other side of the airport (I say that like it was so far. It was about 25 m away. But, we had 4 bags and it was hot – so it might as well have been 10 miles. Oh and did I mention, I was wearing that stupid wool sweater again. It’s not traveling to hot places anymore).

We get to the Coastal Aviation office and place our bags down and decide who is going in to deal with our lack of boarding passes. Liam goes in because I couldn’t fit through the door with my pack on. I could have taken it off, but once it’s on, it’s comfy. He was lost in there for at least 20 minutes. Apparently, it takes that long to print a boarding pass in Zanzibar. Just in case you ever needed to know that. Lesson #5647 buy all plane tickets before you leave your house in Dar to facilitate printed copies of all boarding passes. This eliminates chaotic frustration from an already frustration filled journey. But, TIA. And we are still on the slow learning curve of African living.

Go back over to the gate check to check in. The boarding gate guard was really starting to piss me off because he was being such a jerk. But, whatever, gave him my boarding pass and got in line to check our bags. What a cluster. Seriously, if one more person tried to cut in front of me, I was going to snap. You would think a series of people would fall into a line and wait there turn. Oh no. It’s more like 10 lines merging into one randomly with people cutting in front of you and then 2 more airlines start checking passengers in the same airline booth. Yep, cluster.

Make it to the front of the line and I’m not joking - checking in involved one employee writing our name down on a sheet of paper in pencil. Jesus. What I have gotten myself into. Hand over our bags and proceed to walk through the security gate. Walk into the seating area to see a world of Italian tourists. Apparently, there was a gigantic plane from Italy landing and then leaving. Lesson #5648 make sure big tourist planes aren’t leaving at the same time you are leaving from an African airport. It was hot and there were 300+ extra people hanging out in the waiting area. We walked outside hoping for a breeze. No such luck. Just hot, beating sun.

Covered in sweat, I decided to head inside get a bottle of water and take a bathroom break. Took Liam a bottle of water and saw what looked like our plane landing. It looked so tiny. As it got closer, I realized it was that tiny. Crap.

Watch our bags head to our plane and follow them. Get to the door of the plane and realize there are a lot of faces in the windows. Walk up the steps. Put the camera bag in the back “carry-on baggage” section and look for a seat. Started to freak out a little because I was REALLY hot (damn wool sweater in 100 degree weather. Again, not the brightest crayon in the box sometimes), the plane was really tiny, and I started to get queasy. Of course, the closest seat to the door was beside a VERY nice man with a butt as wide as mine. But, I decided being closer to the door was more important than how much my butt was sticking out into the 12” wide aisle. And, I didn’t think I was going to be able to walk any further into the plane.

Spent the first 15 minutes of the flight trying not to puke from being so hot. Then, I start freaking out about being in such a small space. Not really sure what was going on there, but I’m going to chalk it up as I was just really, really hot and needed to get out of there and cool off. How I’m going to survive rainy season is going to be interesting.  

Finally, the runway was fast approaching and I let out a sigh of relief. Liam was sitting in the seat in front of me and had no idea of my inner angst until we got of the plan. We walked a short way to the “baggage claim.” I use this term loosely. There wasn’t a carousel in site, just one guy handing us our bags through a hole in a stone wall currently being stuccoed. I would have rather grabbed my stuff from the guy as he wheeled it to the building, rather than take the risk of it being covered in stucco. But, then again, I’m a picky American.

Nothing like a little fresh stucco to spruce up an suitcase.

Why they couldn't just hand us our bags outside, I still don't understand.

Walked outside after Liam grabbed all of the bags – I was on the verge of passing out  - and met the van to take us to the lodge. Had about an hour drive through some pretty sharp curves. Thanks to an ice-cold bottle of water and a nice breeze, I was finally starting to feel human again. Arrive at the port and meet the boat that is taking us to the lodge. It was about a 20-minute boat ride through some rather rough seas. But, the fresh salt-water air felt amazing!

Arrived at the lodge and it was everything and MORE! We fell in love from the first moment. Pulled up in high tide against the Jetty. Nice wind blowing. Signed in and got a tour of the lodge. Walked to our banda. Well, we were upgraded to a suite. We had two bandas. One was our bedroom and the other was a living room/wind shelter. Learned about the padlock to keep the monkeys out, because they have figured out how to unzip the tents. Then, there was our private pool. Again, I got the “Only this guy” speech. But, you know what? I could have cared less. Because, he’s right. We have a pretty amazing life. And for the first time in months, we were going to be able to relax and enjoy this beautiful place.

Our private pool on the beach.

The wind shelter with bao board.

One of two mini fridges in our banda.

The bedroom & bath tent.

A view from the beach.

Took quick showers to get out of our sweat soaked clothes. Then, we migrated to the main dining room for lunch. While we were hungry, we were not prepared for the culinary delights being placed before us. Bar none. The best food we have had in Africa to date.

After licking our plates, we headed back to our room for a nap. Woke up from our nap and went to the main lodge pool to enjoy a pre-dinner snack and a few cocktails. Took a walk along the beach to get some shots of the beautiful sunset.

Went back to the main dining room for dinner. The food just gets better and better. They serve a starter with every meal. The starters are usually soup. Delicious happy soups. We made a decision then and there. We are reintroducing soups into our diets. As starters. It’s a missed opportunity in the States. Every meal should have a small serving of soup.

After dinner, enjoyed a few drinks at the bar and managed to get a wee bit intoxicated. After being attacked by the mosquitoes, we stumbled to back to our banda for a night of fantastic slumber.

Trip 2: Another day in paradise

21 September 2011

Today we went to Prison Island or Changuu Island. It’s a small island just north of Stone Town.  Originally owned by an Arab trader, a prison was built on the island for naughty slaves.  I think they should have imprisoned the slave traders, but I'll keep my opinions to myself. However, the prison never actually opened since the slave trade was abolished about the time it was completed. Instead it was utilized as a quarantine station and later a resort was built around the prison.

One thing that struck me as odd. There is a water shortage almost everywhere. We jump out of the boat, walk up to the poolside area and were told, "Fresh water to wash your feet." I’m sorry but why aren’t they using ocean water to rinse off the sand. Makes more sense to me then wasting potable water to wash a bunch of tourists’ feet. But, then again, I live here and see how it affects the community. Something to think about…

On the prison grounds.

Even though there is a fully functional resort, apparently it’s closed.  One of the books we have said it reopened in 2006. But, it really did seem closed. All of the walkways to the bandas were closed off and locked. There were a lot of renovations being done around the island, which leads me to believe that the resort will reopen at some point in the near future. There is a café in the prison and a restaurant more towards the pier.

Tortoises.

However, the reclusive feel of the island isn’t the main appeal – it’s a giant tortoise sanctuary. The tortoises were moved from Unjuga in 1996 by the Zanzibar government in order to protect them from poachers and other dangers. In 1955, there were approximately 200 tortoises and by 1996 there were only 7. Currently, I would guess there’s at least a hundred. The tortoises are descendants of four that were gifted to the Sultan of Zanzibar from the Seychelles governor. We were able to feed them and walk around in their area. Be careful how close your hand is to their mouth! They were crunching on their food pretty hard.  They were also a lot of fun to watch moving. It takes a lot of energy just for them to move a few feet.

Tasty. The food not the tortoise.

After we were out of tortoise food, we walked over to the babies. Around this point, we were bombarded by an Italian tour group. The guide was telling us that only Italians come in big groups like this and they always follow someone with a sign, umbrella, hat, etc. It made me laugh because it sounded like a stereotypical tour through Italy.

What a great feasting table.

After walking around the tortoise sanctuary, we headed further inland to see the prison and other buildings on the island. The prison is now a café, with shops, and nice bathrooms. Got a picture of a fantastic table. It’s the feasting table of Liam’s dreams. All so we can host an annual Viking party and serve turkey legs and mead with all the women dressed up as wenches. He really is a simple man: meat, mead, and boobies. His own perfect world.  I'll participate only because I like the idea of a gigantic dining room table for people to come over. Life's all about the size of the party!

It's a Liam fish!

Went snorkeling right off the coast of Changuu Island. It was a lot more cloudy than I would have expected but I was able to spot my favorite type of fish!  

Took the boat back to Stone Town and walked back to our hotel. Took a shower and spent some time trying to decide where to eat lunch. We headed down to Livingstone’s. It’s right on the beach in front of where the slow ferries load. These are the ferries that most local people take. In fact, a few weeks ago, one such ferry sank with approximately 600 people on board (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14869596). It’s common knowledge that the loading and unloading process is quite a spectacle. One, which, we willingly participated in watching.

Imagine. A beautiful, pristine beach. Clear blue water. Dhow boats sailing along. And three gigantic ferries docked with their open bows laying on the beach. One of which was a military transportation ferry that the waiter told us not to take any pictures of. Too bad, we had about 10 of them loading equipment onto it. Oops. Should have mentioned that a little sooner. Now, add about 20 people loading packages, refrigerators, cars, TVs, etc. and you have what I like to call organized chaos. And we have the pictures and videos to prove it.

Two of the three ferries on the beach.

After enjoying a three-hour lunch, we wandered back to our hotel. We had to finalize our travel plans to Pemba for the next day. At this point, we still didn’t have a hotel – just plane tickets. But, luckily we hit a gold mine. But that’s a story for another day.