Zanzibar - Spice Island.....

We arrived in Zanzibar after a slow approach for two plus days after leaving Madigascar. We could not go to Mayotte / Comoros islands due to some unrest and then could not go to a small island due to the prop problem. That was remedied by divers yesterday.

The Zanzibar immigration team came on board to clear us for our activities, and then we were on our way to activities. we traveled by small vans to the Kozani forest were we saw birds and red colobus monkeys.

More interesting than the forest walk was the ride through Zanzibar. There is a 4 day celebration for the end of Ramadan, and as Zanzibar is 95% Muslim, there was a lot of activity.

After returning to the ship for lunch, I participated in a walking tour of Stone Town. We wound our way through some interesting areas. The history of the slave trade was a big part of our learning. Another blistering hot day, and we returned to the ship for our final supper and live music and farewells.

we departed the ship this morning, having sailed from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam where we disembarked. All our luggage went to the airport in a locked vehicle, and we toured the city and multiple museums and landmarks, followed by a lovely outdoor lunch at a hotel on the Ocean. We now have taken advantage of a day room to have a final shower and change. grateful for the latter as today was 34 degrees Celsius. I have NEVER experienced anything like the traffic and driving in Zanzibar.... motorcycles,cars, bikes, trucks - mostly overcrowded.

I start by 30 hour trip home in a few hours and will look forward to many familiar things; and will be thinking about all that I saw and experienced for some time to come. We made some wonderful connections over the past three weeks....Read more