Kenya to Tanzania: Sand, Sun and Sea

After conquering Mount Kenya we headed south to the border of Kenya and Tanzania. We slept in the border town of Namanga and the next morning crossed into Tanzania for our second time and it was good to be back.

We were going to make our way fairly quickly to Dar Es Salaam where we would find a spot to leave the car and head over to Zanzibar for a bit of beach and sun. So we passed through Arusha and Moshi only stopping for some fuel and supplies. On route to our destination for the night, the Usambara Mountains, we happened upon fellow South Africans and Gautengers nogal. William and Karen were heading in the opposite direction so we turned Michael around to have a chat with them. It was so lekkkkkkkerrrrrrr to talk to some people who know what a braai is and understand you when you say Howzit bru, jis like it but that road was K@K. After chatting for a while we discovered that Karen was also at Northcliff High. Crazy!

The road was not without it's sights and we came across a truck that looked like it had just rolled a couple of times, landed on it's wheels and carried on driving. Priceless and only in Africa.

Our first night in Tanzania was spent in the Usambara Mountains. We had read about the Irente Farm situated at the top of the mountains that make cheeses, yogurt, bread, jam and other good things that we have not been able to get hold of for sometime. The road up the mountain was amazing as it snaked it's way through tiny villages that were perched on the mountain side. When we got to the farm the rain was pelting down and we decided to ditch the tent and upgrade to a room. That night we feasted on cheese and bread and made coffee on the small gas burner. Life was good.

As we approached Dar, the traffic picked up but to our surprise never swallowed us up into a chaotic mess of hooting taxis. It was all pretty civilised and before we knew it we found ourselves at the ferry which would take us to the south beach and our accomodation for two days.

The sight that greeted us was awesome. White beaches and blue seas. Sure there was humidity that hit you like a wall, but, we were at the sea! Yes please!

The next day we went about organising ferry tickets to Zanzibar which involved going into Dar again to get dollars. So we called a Tuk Tuk (small three wheeled vehicle, which would shatter into a million pieces if it found itself in an accident) and headed into the crazy streets of Dar handing over our lives to our driver, Adam, as he weaved through the traffic like a seasoned pro.

After sorting out the admin we decided to go for lunch at a local spot; Chef's Pride, which delivered all round. It was lunch time on a Friday and the place was packed. At first we just stood there trying to take in all the sights and smells and figure out how it worked. Once we finally secured a table our next challenge was ordering something from the menu. We settled on Kima (curried mince meat), chicken in coconut curry with chapatties and rice. It was amazing!

Back at the campsite we met another South African couple and joined them for a chicken curry cooked in a potjie. After packing up Michael we parked him in the shade and left in a tuk tuk to catch the 9:30 ferry to Zanzibar. Once again we were reminded that we were in Africa proper as we parked behind a bakkie full of live chikens as we waited for the river ferry to pick us up.

The ferry to Zanzibar was a rather quick affair and we reached the shores of Stone Town  really exited to start exploring it. We had decided to spend 3 nights in Stone Town, before heading to the beach and it was well worth it. This was also our first taste of the backpacker life and paid some school fees straight away by hastily choosing our accomodation which turned out to be very very average with a slight smell. Most of our first day was spent wondering the many alleys of the town. We soon learnt that using a map was not going to work as none of the streets (read cobbled alley ways) had names. So we got lost and in doing so stubbled upon sights and sounds that we may never have experienced following the map. Very cool indeed.

 

The following day involved visiting the Darajani Market where we tacfully avoided the "fresh" meat section and wandered through the endless stalls which sold fruit, baskets, spices, cloth, fish, veg and the odd tanzanian football shirt. Just walking through the market was an experience as we watched locals go about their shopping all the while the smell of cumin, corriander and nutmeg filled our noses. In the evenings we made our way down to the Forodhani Gardens where stalls laden with traditional Zanzibari food were layed out.  We feasted on sesame seed flat bread with beef skewers and chips as well as the famous Zanzibari Pizza (a chapatti that is filled with beef, egg, cheese and onion then folded over and cooked in a generous helping of oil), and all for a ridiculously good price. Our third night was spent at a far more respectable hotel, The Clove, where we enjoyed the views of the town from the terrace on the 5th floor.

 

The beach, however, was calling! So, on our 4th day on the island we made our way to the Darajani Taxi rank on the outskirts of Stone Town in the hope of finding a Dala Dala (taxi type truck with bench seats at the back, that were not designed for comfort) that would be heading to where we wanted to go. We eventually found the Dala Dala numbered 324 which meant it would go to Paje, our next destination. At first we were the only ones on the Dala Dala and after making a quick detour to drop off some fire wood we were soon stopping at every congregation of locals to try and elicit some business. And this is how we slowly made our way to the east coast of the island and by the time we reached Paje it was incredibly toyt in the back, local-sitting-on-your-lap toyt. We made our way down the beach and found Teddy's Place, a budget option on the coast. We checked-in and then proceeded to do pappagaai. We spent the whole afternoon reading and sleeping on the very comfortable couches only disrupting this pattern to order dinner.

The next day we headed to the beach and did a Huuuge walk to the next village of Jambiani. We had stayed at this village in 2007 with Steve, Lisa, Kirst and Steve S, and we were keen to see what had changed. We eventually made it to Coral Rock, the same hotel we stayed at the last time, and had some lunch. Seeing the place again brought back some cool memories and we then decided we would upgrade and stay there again, but not after another night at Teddy's Place. It was Wednesday and that meant that the world famous Hakuna Kulala Party was taking place at Teddy's. Oh yes, Hakuna Kulala directly translated means "No Sleep". It actually turned out to be a really cool evening with most of it spent chatting to Danish and Swedish students doing some work on the Island.

The next day we caught a Dala Dala to Jambiani and the Coral Rock Hotel. Our base for the next 4 days. We also planned to meet Stevie D again, this time with his better half, Carly. Being very tidal, the beach was often left exposed for kilometers at low tide and I took the opportunity to walk out to the reef and observe the local ladies farming seaweed. They "plant" the seaweed on string in neat rows and harvest it at low tide. Steve, Lisa, Kirst and Steve S you will be happy to know that no sea cucumbers were found this time.

When Steve and Carly arrived we spent alot of time in the pool chatting about home and Steves travels. It was really good to see them. Most of the time was spent just chilling and eating. Life was good and we never felt the urge to do something active, well, only once when Steve and I paddled around on a Kayak of sorts.

Our time however, had to come to an end and we were missing Michael. So we hopped onto another Dala Dala and headed back to Stone Town. There we checked in at the Clove again and called up our mate Juma. During our first stay in Stone Town, Ang noticed that many of the local restuarants had some really cool light fittings. She enquired where they got them and we were directed to the industrial part of Stone Town. Here we found Mr Bariki and after a few drawings and hand gestures he went to work on making us some light fittings. He worked on these while we were chilling at the beach and now it was time to collect them. Juma, our fairthful taxi driver, took us there and we picked up the finished articles. They are awesome and we are so eager to put them up in Number 17 Harmony Court. We visted the Forodhani Gardens one last time for dinner before retiring to bed.

The ferry ride back to Dar es Salaam was not as straight-forward as the trip to Zanzibar and the swells were a lot bigger. Needless to say the coke I drank before leaving on the ferry only occupied my stomach for a short time before making a quick exit into the very handy plastic sick bag provided. For the rest of the trip the two Mzungus sat outside trying to focus on the ocean and think good thoughts. When we finally docked in Dar we were a light shade of grey and vowed never to take a ferry again.

Today we took time to re-acquaint ourselves with Michael and then hoped onto Adam's Tuk Tuk as he was going to take us into Dar to go in search of a Tinga Tinga painting. These paintings were made famous by Edward Said Tinga Tinga in the 70's and are very colourful, simple, cartoon-like pictures of animals or scenes of everyday life. We eventually found one and negotiated furiously to get it for a good price. It was a great day out and we were reminded why we love Africa. Although the roads are absolute chaos and there seems to be no rules, everyone just goes about their business, including the lady that Ange saw carrying a live chicken in a plastic bag. She made a small hole in the bag through which it's head poked out and she carried it home, presumably for dinner tonight. Brilliant!!!

Wehave been re-united with Michael and it feels good. We will soon be making our way down the coast to the border of Mozambleak, our final country of the trip.