Miss Lily

We arrived in Tanzania where the children on the side of the road screamed Good Morning instead of Give Me. It was a good start to the country that I have been looking forward to the most. We drove up towards Dar Es Salam with beautiful nature around us, mountains higher than the other countries (home to Africa's highest mountain Kilimanjaro) and incredibly big Baobab trees everywhere. The people are very friendly and we quickly learned the normal phrases in Swahili; Jambo (Hi) Mambo (How are you), Asante Sana (Thank you) and Karibu (Welcome) and you hear Rafiki (friend) and Hakuna Matata (no worries)  more than anything. Every time I say "thank you" I think about Lion King when Rafiki sings "Asante Sana Squash Banana" in his tree. :) 

 

 Influences from the Arabic conquest shines through with the minarets and prayers waking us up at 4.30 am every morning. The ladies are wearing all colors imaginable on their clothes and veils and the men sits in big groups to socialize with each other at any given time. 

 

After one nights rest and finally seeing the indian ocean again we went in tuktuks to the ferry over to Zanzibar. Three night was spent on the island and it was a nice change not to be having early mornings and long drives for a while. To have a bed instead of tent mattress and to be able to fill the days with as little or much as you like was a nice change. 

 

We explored the town of Zanzibar and Stone Town with its markets and narrow streets that you too often get lost in. It was a feeling of Arabian culture all over with spices in every corner and scent and colors that were stunning. And then some fish in between that just made it feel all the more genuine. 

 

 We explored the northern part Nungwi with its stunning beach where we were almost alone due to low season. The small but soaking rain showers that came every now and then allowed us to have one of the best tuna pastas I've ever had for lunch and later a couple of beers and coffee before heading back to town. 

 

The drive up north is an experience itself with the dala dalas (open taxi buses) filled with the colorful women heading home or away to work, the men riding their bikes whether it is with their work suitcase or with a bunch of sticks at the back or sitting under the trees in groups playing games or discussing things (probably after work, I don't want to sound as if men don't work here), the beautiful girls in their veils walking home from school and the boys pushing their cows to pull the wagon faster home from the fields of rice, coconut palms or corn. It is very different to the rest of the countries so far. If I ever come back I will rent a bike and explore it that way. 

 

The last day I decided to explore the Zanzibar that not everyone can see, I went for a dive on the reef outside stone town. It was lovely, one dive and snorkeling over the wreck that lays on the bottom gave me nice fishes, I got attacked by clown fishes multiple times although only mock attacks when I swam near their nests. Scorpion fishes, Lion fish, nudibranches in colors that I have not seen since the Philippines and stingray. We swam around a big school of thousand of baby barracudas and they swam around us, creating a magical feeling when swimming in the middle of the silver colons they form themselves as. 

 

We found our favorite spot for sundowners at Africa House where we spoiled ourselves with cocktails and G&Ts with the local gin Konyagi. At night time we tried to taste the local food at the markets and found skewers with anything you could think of, seafood galore, falafel, chapati bread and our favorite; Zanzibar pizza. Not like an Italian but with a thin dough filled with ingredients and topped with egg before frying. Yummy!  

 

After three days Henry picked us up again and we were back on the bumpy roads heading towards Arusha, the town that acts as a portal to Serengeti and Kilimanjaro. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous and for the whole first day we felt as we were in the middle of nowhere. 

 

Tomorrow we will head to the place of one of my many dreams; Serengeti National Park and Ngorogoro Crater. 

 

Rafiki, Simba, Timon and Pumba, here we come!