Tanzania and the ‘spice island’ of Zanzibar

Our safari adventure was coming to an end so it was time for Meghan and I to head off.

We woke up at 5:30 AM for our last game drive, and after the following brunch we droveout to the airstrip for our last bush flight(s).  As it turned out we’d be making 1 stop somewhat along the way.  30 minutes flight to another camp and then another 30 minutes and we landed in Maun Botswana – hey this looks familiar..

From Maun we got our flight to Johannesburg.  There we went back through passport control and customs and collected our bags.. only to move to the departure lounge for our next (and 4th take off) of the day.  But that wouldn’t be for several hours which we spent hanging out in airport cafes and lounges until we were allowed to check in – after which we found a quiet corner in which to sleep.  Our flight left after midnight and took us up to Nairobi – but we weren’t done there.

A couple of hours in Nairobi and we were boarding our flight for Dar Es Salaam.  Upon arriving in Dar Es Salaam we found out that only 3 of us made it.. Me, Meghan, and Meghan’s bag.  We filed a claim with the luggage desk and then took a quick taxi ride to the old terminal where we boarded our LAST flight (6 for those keeping track) to the island of Zanzibar.

At Zanzibar we were met by a driver arranged by our hotel.  Wali drove us the hour up to the Northern tip of Zanzibar where we spent a few days lounging around the beach.  Unfortunately we didn’t find Zanzibar to be the awesome destination that it had been made out to be by just about everyone we have talked to..  Perhaps this was due to the fact that the island hadn’t had power for 8 days – and woulnd’t likely have it for several weeks more…

We also spent one day on the island wandering around the small streets of the old “Stone Town” section of Zanzibar town.  This was entertaining and we played the tourists and got lost in the miriad of streets changing directions here and there.. but still we were not as enamoured with the island as we expected to be.

After Zanzibar we took a ferry (2+ hours) back to Dar Es Salaam where we checked in to our hotel for just the one night.  Unfortunately this would not be true.. After losing my bag (which I had since recovered), Kenya Airways also managed to lose any record of us having paid for our next flights – and thus cancelled our tickets.  This, of course, we didn’t find out until we were standing at the check-in desk at 4:00 in the morning…

So we spent an additional night in Dar Es Salaam pretty annoyed with Tanzinia and Kenya both.  Because of this delay we would be pushed out one day and thus lose a valuable day in the next leg of our journey – trekking gorillas in Rwanda.. but that’s a story for another post.

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