Nungwi, Zanzibar

The following morning we drove north to Nungwi. I went for a walk along the beach and met a lot of Maasai native people who were trying to sell sandals and bracelets. I booked a scuba dive with Zanzibar underwater explorers. Dominick was our guide and there were three other divers who were all traveling with Intripid Tours. As we headed out to our dive sites we spotted two dolphins swimming in the water. Dominick told us they were mating which is why they were away from their pod. Dominick talked us through a safety plan before we dived. We did two dives around Tumbatu island which was just off the coast of Zanzibar. There was a lot of colourful coral to explore and we saw a lot of starfish.

That evening I reunited with Claudia who I met on my South Africa leg of the trip. She was traveling with Intripid Tours from Cape Town to Nairobi. She introduced me to her group and they all invited me to be part of their travel family for a few days.

The following morning I joined half of the Intripid Tour group and went snorkeling near Mnemba island. On the boat out to the island we saw a pod of dolphins and we were allowed to stop and swim with the dolphins. It was crazy how deep and fast the dolphins swim. We tried to keep up with them but to no avail. It was definitely a highlight to be able to swim with them.

Once we arrived near Mnemba island we jumped into the sea to snorkel. There was schools of fish swimming around some coral. I saw an octopus for the first time which was cool. After about ten minutes of swimming, I felt a sting on my arm and realised that I was stung by a jellyfish. I remembered that our scuba dive guide Dominick had told us yesterday that the jellyfish in Zanzibar were not poisonous so I did not panic. I thought that the sting would ease after a few minutes so I tried to keep snorkeling. However I started to feel intense cramping pain up through my shoulder into my neck and down my back to my hips. I felt very uncomfortable.

As there were a lot of boats around it was difficult to figure out which was our boat but eventually the snorkeling guide flagged our boat down. I thought that being out of the water would help ease the pain but it seemed to be getting worse, I struggled to breath due to the pain radiating throughout my body. I didn't know if I wanted to sit up or lie down. The guides realised that I was struggling badly and after a couple of minutes of confusion I was brought to the marine reserve center on Mnemba island. I needed help getting off the boat and walking into the center as I was all over the place. When we arrived there was two ladies who had a box labelled jellyfish. I lay down on a bench and they rinsed my arm with vinegar and gave me painkillers. Within about five minutes I was starting to feel better already. The gave me advice about how to treat the jellyfish sting and what to expect as it heals. I was very relieved to start feeling the radiating pain reduce back to localised stinging.

When I returned back to the boat I felt more myself already and the group were glad that I already had my smile back as they were quite concerned for me. My body was shaking for about thirty minutes due to the shock. I returned to the boat and waited for the group to finish their snorkeling before we returned back to mainland.

I met them again later on for a sunset cruise and they all mentioned that I looked a completely different person compared to earlier. We had a good laugh about it and we had a good evening on the boat dancing. I was sad to say goodbye to the Intripid Tour group as I had a good laugh with them however hopefully our paths will overlap again later in the trip.Read more