**File Name:** zanzibar-stone-town-2004.jpg
**ALT Tag:** A view of the narrow streets and old buildings in Stone Town, Zanzibar.
**Caption:**

Getting lost in the narrow streets and history of Stone Town.

Dar Es Salaam & Zanzibar

Woke in morning after return from Kili and discussed safari and Zanzibar options. Decided to catch a bus to Dar Es Salaam and head for Zanzibar as we need beach time to lick our wounds from the big mountain. Caught the Scandinavian Line bus to Dar Es Salaam. Nice bus ride, with some great African scenery ranging from villages to mountain landscapes. Saw another bus bail into the field in front of us. Not a huge surprise as the highway from Moshi to Dar is supposed to be one of the most dangerous stretches around.

We booked into the Jumbo Inn for $10 per room. Went for dinner at the recommended joint in town, only to find it had shut down. Interesting walk through the neighborhood though. Many people lurking about in the dark alleys and street corners. We grabbed dinner of spicy chicken at Jumbo and beers down the road at a hole in the wall even by African standards. We then caught a cab to go out and see the city. While attempting to find a recommended club we heard some live African music and asked our cabbie to stop and we’d check it out. So Corey, our cab driver Emanuel and I went into Jolly Times to check it out.

The band was rockin’, complete with little person front man. Good stuff on any continent. Once inside and seated our table was soon filled with beautiful, young Dar women who were very interested to speak with us. Looking around the bar we realized that it was full of beautiful, young Dar women and a handful of western men, mostly older than us. Soon the girls were making all sorts of offers and advances, even the ones that were just hovering around our table. All were very friendly though and with that we had a couple beers and made a clean escape to the dismay of many. Like to think of ourselves as heartbreakers.

Next morning was time to hit the ATMs and banks to take care of financial business. No, not because of the money spent on the ladies the night before, but because we’re off for Zanzibar where banking services are sparse. 4 guys joined the four of us in the cab, not so much as body guards as they all want commissions. Once money was taken care of we headed for the waterfront. Our cabbie led us through narrow alleys and halls into a back room office, but quite a nice one, where we met the kingpin. He was a big guy, in a big chair with lots of people running around making things happen for him. We like to call him the Don King of Dar. He sorted out our ferry tickets and provided good entertainment, though I think we could have done the same at the ticket office next door.

Arrived in Nungwi and checked into the Amaani Bungalows along with all the others from our bus ride. Nice rooms here for $10 but cold, salt water showers. If you’ve never had one, you don’t feel clean after a salt water shower. Sought the best dive shops, during which one owner got into a tiff with a local man trying to gain a commission for showing us the way to the dive shop. We must remember not to tell people we are going to a shop as they will follow us to collect a ‘finders fee’.

Double dive the next day at Mnemba Atoll. Out to island and dove on beautiful reef. Saw many, many colorful fish, a huge sting ray and even a whale though only at the surface. Rented out the tree fort loft on the beach at Choloe’s for a huge meal and some good nightlife with the whole crew of folks. All contemplated just crashing out in the loft for the night, until we noticed a HUGE spider in its web in the rafters. Threw us a bit, but got over it, until we realized it was no longer there.

The last day in Nungwi a big group of us headed to the very tip of the island to chill out at this sweet resort. Just kicked back smoked the hookah and contemplated how good life was. Since we had been skunked fishing Will and Nan thought it would be a good idea to go into town and buy a big fish. They came back with about a 20 lb. tuna fish. They gave it to a local villager who had a shack on the beach and he prepared a dinner for us. He told us to be back at 8 o’clock. When we arrived we had our own table on the beach for the ten of us.

One thing bad about Zanzibar was people were getting robbed. Jennifer told Rob and I a story about the spice tour she went on. A lot of tourist sign up for spice tours to see how all the different spices are made and to sample them. During the tour Jennifer was on five armed gun men robbed about 20 tourist. Luckily Jennifer was in the bathroom. A month earlier on the island next to Zanzibar two boats pulled up on the beach and robbed 30 people who were sun bathing. Two people were shot by warning shots that had ricocheted. So you never want to carry your passport and money on you. We would just take out enough money to get food or drinks.

**File Name:** serengeti-safari-lion-2004.jpg
**ALT Tag:** A lioness resting in the grass during a game drive in the Serengeti.
**Caption:**

Spotting lions up close during our game drives through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.

Tanzania Safari

We are the only tourists on this bus. But no further incidents and safely to Arusha. Arranged for a 4 day, 3 night safari through Victoria Expeditions and joined Clodagh and Terri, 2 irish girls already here and waiting.

Up early for 1st day of safari. Went to Panorama campsite above Lake Manyara for lunch and then a game drive in Lake Manyara in the afternoon. Immediately saw 4 lions in a tree, which is extremely rare supposedly. Park is teeming with everything we wanted to see (elephants, zebra, lions, buffalo, etc.). Night at Panorama Camp where began a ucker rivalry and managed to drink all of our beers for the 4 days.

Morning to Serengeti and we saw a Leopard walking along the road above Ngorongoro Crater. 4 of the big 5 are now off the list. Only the ever elusive Rhino remains.

Serengeti is vast beyond belief and eventually started to see tons of game. Cheetahs, though no full speed assaults on gazelles which I’ve always dreamed of seeing. The only activity of this sort was a bunch of Vultures cleaning up a gazelle along the side of the road. Night at camp brought many more sightings, including an elephant drinking from our water tank just feet from where we were eating. Later in the night a hyena joined our fire and Terri was startled by a lioness while they were both communing with nature. Very cool to see the forms and eyes illuminated by headlamp right from our tents.

Next morning a crater game drive and still no Rhino, unless you count the many spotted at great distance by the other guides. Godfrey our guide and Arnold our chef assured us that they were only rocks being called Rhino to increase tipping. Godfrey had told us that morning to buy Rhino postcards when we were at the gift shop, as these would be the only ones we would see. How right he was. Total cost of safari $360. Back at night in Arusha and out to the highly recommended Pizza Arusha. Very good pizza and atmosphere. Met Canadian girls at our hotel the next night, just after they were robbed at gun point at Pizza Arusha.

**File Name:** zambezi-white-water-rafting-2004.jpg
**ALT Tag:** A white water raft tackling the massive Grade 5 rapids on the Zambezi River.
**Caption:**

Surviving the incredibly wild white water rafting on the Zambezi River.

Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe & Zambia)

Flew to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe early morning and stayed at VicFalls Backpackers. Nice enough people, but the money exchange issues and currency instability help us decide to head for the other side of the falls for our time here.

Spent the day on Zimbabwe side of the falls, great park but a bit spendy ($20), which is a lot of money by African standards. Jolly Boys backpackers picked us up at the border crossing into Zambia after we watched a bit of the bungi jumping on the bridge. Arrived at the Jollyboy’s compound, which is great. Nice yard, pool, outdoor bar and ping-pong. The first of many excellent backpackers in Africa. Signed up for the highly touted ‘booze cruize’ on the Zambezi where we met a big group of overlanders (people traveling by huge trucks from England to Cape Town, S. Africa) from U.S., Canada, England and others.

Took bus to Zambezi river for our river rafting adventure, where they gave us a nice breakfast and briefing before a good hike down to the boiling pot. White Water Rafting on the Zambezi River below the Victoria Falls has been classified by the British Canoe Union as Grade 5 “extremely difficult, long and violent rapids, steep gradients, big drops and pressure areas”. The Zambezi White Water Rafting is internationally acclaimed as being the wildest in the world. Our guide ‘babyface’ cast our boat off immediately and began explaining commands and skills while the others remained onshore for this step.

We made it across on first try where some other groups took as many as 7 and even 16 I think in the past. The rock face on the other side was not forgiving though and we were dumped a mere 5 minutes into our fun. This was a class IV, with many more IV’s and V’s remaining, notably rapid number 8, a class V that threw all of us except 2 plus the guide. Corey: It was a rude awakening for my first white water rafting experience as I had swallowed a lot of water when we flipped. Nothing like thinking you’re going to drown to get your adrenaline going.

Early pickup in morning by the Gorge Swing people where we did a highwire, abseiling, rapelling down the gorge cliffs and finally 3 trips on the swing. Totally nuts the swing, your harness in, step off the cliff face and drop straight down 53 meters at 120KM per hour or like 73MPH until the line catches and swings you smoothly out over the gorge. What a rush and what a sound as you woosh across the gorge. $95 for this and all the beer you can drink (until it runs out) at the end.

The next days headed to Vic falls on the Zambian side and was guided by some locals right next to the edge of the falls and to a swimming area called Angel pool. The pool was literally on the edge of the falls. After seeing Vic Falls which is one of the wonders of the world I’m not sure what other falls are going to impress us. Look at the photo of me and Rob sitting on the rock and zoom in on the upper left hand corner to see the people standing on the cliffs. That will give you a nice perspective of how big the falls are.

Next day hit up the croc farm during feeding time. One thing we learned from the croc farm was Africa is not the place to see caged animals.

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