Zanzibar: Tanzania

We flew into Da Es Salaam, stayed overnight and caught the ferry to Zanzibar the next morning. The traffic on the way from the airport to our hotel was crazy. Even though it was late the roads were packed and the busses even more so with people hanging off the back of them.
Our first two nights in Zanzibar were spent in Stonetown which is the older part of Zanzibar town. It is full of old buildings that have narrow lanes/roads/paths snaking around them. It’s easy to get lost, but you are never lost for long, you always end up at the beach or the main road where the old town meets the new. Even though we were only there for a couple of days the local touts got to know us and never gave up trying to sell us scarves, cds and cashew nuts. Some locals were so friendly they followed me around the shops until I could make my excuses without being too rude.
Next stop the beaches. This was my holiday within our holiday so I booked into a different place to the Kincaids. We were both on Jambiani beach but at different ends. They stayed at the German place and I stayed at the Rasta place (Kimte Beach Inn). It was the quiet season so two couples and I had the place to ourselves. The locals took us to parties at night so my time was spent drinking (Kilimanjaro beer), eating and lounging in the sun. It’s a really relaxed place where everything happens in its own time (meals can come a couple of hours after being ordered but there’s always beer to fill the gap). The sea was so warm it was like a bath. I only swam in the morning and evening because it was a long trek to get to shallow water at low tide. I was able to drag myself away from the beach a couple of afternoons to go snorkeling with the Kincaids and Captain Zappy (he was looking for a wife to take him home to her county) and visit the forest and the monkeys that live in it. Of course I also managed to squeeze in a massage, because that is what I do. Kate (one of the other Kimte guests) and I only discovered that the place next door made great cocktails on the last day. That saved me a lot of shillings.

Our room at The Dhow Palace in Stonetown.

A typical street

During the spice tour on our way to Jambiani

The bar at my place

Collecting seaweed to sell in Japan

Seaweed farm

The infamous Captain Zappy at the beginning of the trip before I was trying to escape his hand holding attempts.

Gaborone: Botswana 12 - 15 November

We stayed just outside the city at a nature reserve. On the drive to and from the campsite we came across giraffes, elephants, ostriches and even a cobra on the road rearing up at us. We knew we were definitly in the wet season when it poured with rain two out of our three nights. There aren't many photos because I had seen so much I was at the 'it's just another elephant' stage. It had to be something new or unusual for me to get my camera out. Unfortunatly the cobra was at night.

The mall was a good place to hang out while it was raining. I found out that KFC in Africa is even greasier than it is in NZ. While eating a meal at the nature reserve's restaurant we got to watch a massive kudu bull and a warthog having their dinner out the front. I was too lazy to get my camera for that one.

Next stop Johannesburg to catch our flight to Da Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Still trying to get a good ox pecker shot.

Limpopo River: Tuli Block 10 - 12 November

We stayed two nights at the Limpopo River Lodge Campsite. Our campsite was down beside the river which had crocodiles floating around in it. We only went out for one drive because it was too dry and the animals had headed elsewhere. Strange considering we were beside a river. It poured with rain on the last night.