Zanzibar, I made it; and it truly lived up to the hype, sun sand and.... well not quite, lets just say the place and the people are so seductive.
Stone town well deserves is world heritage site status. It is a real working town but still retains the atmosphere of a intermingling of many cultures and trade. The guest house where I stayed had a very happy chappie making the breakfast, singing all the way through to the point that his colleague serving, closed the kitchen door on him, when I asked why he was so happy, he said it was because he was going to give his first public performance on the violin that night as he had just reached grade I. Coincidently, I visted the old customs house now renovated and turned into a cultural centre and noticed that the Dhow Countries Music academy was giving its monthly concert that evening, so I went and sure enough he was there with the beginners, but it was nothing like the beginners recitals at Meldreth! It was a great fun local cultural evening.
Did I mention a previous local event I stumbled upon in Dar es Salaam and the Tribal Village museum. It was an amazingly talented troop of young performers, starting with drum, then singing dancing and circus acrobatics. In the middle of which they staged a mini childrens' african dancing competition. It reminded me of my times with Liz, at Helen and Megan's competitions, even the babies were grinding. The leader of the troop insisted I went to meet all the members and would not let me leave until the end, so another night taxi ride!
And then on to the beach, it is all that I expected. The snorkeling was stunning. Although it is now the low season and there was rain most days and some cloud, it made for welcome relief and enabled me to get some serious beach walking in, a young guide kept joining me so we ha a real hoot walking and swimming as we kept getting caught by the tides. We had a great walk to an island but then again got caught by the tide and I ended up shredding my feet on the urchins and the rocks. Not so sensible as I left for the Usambara Mountains the next day.
Another epic in its self. I had spent an extra couple of days on the beach as I had hoped to get a boat to Pemba, but it was not to be so I took a local dhow back to the main land. For someone who is not good on boats; I get sea sick when snorkeling; this again might not have been the best decision. We all got on, straight from the beach. All the women and children got into the bottomof the boat, I decided to sit on the side, and so I could focus furiously on the horizon. I was quite proud to be the only female not to be sick during the three hour journey, luckily there were plenty of buckets. Their received wisdom is that it is better not to be able to see, I think I prefer mine. The boats are fairly small and are wind powered, I am glad for the experience but probably won't do it again.
I am now back on the mainland and in radio contact, up in the Usambara Mountains, which are beautiful. I have found myself another guide and have just returned from a trek where I felt positively cold when we reached the top. I needed a blanket last night too,it was wonderful after the humidity of the coast. I seem to have fallen in with another community project too and so will spend and extra day or too finding out how things work here.
The Tanzanian people are just so warm, friendly and welcoming, it is hard to move on as planned, but hakuna matata, I am just going with the flow
Barbs's Big Bike RIde
This year I have decided to stay and enjoy an English Spring. It has been a long time coming but at last it is here and I am off to explore my own back yard. Well actually travelling up the UK mainland as far north as possible before 21st June and see how close I can get to the Midnight Sun.
After my travels along the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain last September on my trusty old iron donkey, I have bought a lighter bike in the hope that I can get up a few more hills and by going from Lands End to John o Groats (LEJOG) I can avoid the killing headwinds of the Spanish meseta.
So here she is, we had a jolly naming ceremony on Saturday and hopefully the good friends, food and weather I enjoyed will carry me through to the farthest northern climes. Thank you all for a great send off, admirably topped off with one too many pints The Village Bike listening to Mojo Triangle.
And she is called Eleanor, isn't she beautiful, I hope I still have such tender feelings after 6 hours in the saddle, but probably only in the nether regions I fear.
The map link on the right will show a rough itinerary and route and I will try try to update with my actual route, if I can work out how and where I am as I go along, you know there will be little correlation but I will get there or somewhere in the end!
If you want an email update, submit your address in the box also on right and hopefully it will find its way through the ether to you.
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