Zanzibar

Nothing quite captures the luxury of being an ex-pat in Tanzania like weekends in Zanzibar. How many people can say they're going to Zanzibar for the weekend in the first place? Add to that discounted resident rates for flights and luxury resorts and one can start to feel pretty entitled. Of course, at this stage I am speaking with some perspective, as I haven't been to Zanzibar for over 10 months and have recently realized that if I want to go back, I won't get the resident rates.

During my tenure in Tanzania, I made five trips to the Zanzibar archipelago. That includes five trips to the largest island in the group, Unguja, and one trip to the more rebellious island of Pemba. Unguja is the island most people think of when they think of Zanzibar. Indeed, most people, at least people who are not from Zanzibar, just call Unguja "Zanzibar".

Each of my trips to Zanzibar was a little bit different. They were each different lengths and involved different destinations and travel partners. There were the scuba diving trips and the lay on the beach trips and the exploring the UNESCO world heritage site of Stone Town trips. In fact, I even attended a wedding in Zanzibar.

According to Wikipedia, "Arab and Portuguese traders visited the [Zanzibar archipelago] in early times, and it was controlled by Omanis in the 18th and 19th centuries. Britain established a protectorate (1890) that became an independent sultanate in December 1963 and a republic after an uprising in January 1964. In April 1964 it joined Tanganyika to form a new republic that was renamed Tanzania in October 1964. (Frommers, 2002) The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic centre, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site." Zanzibar has a bit of a dark history, as it was East Africa's main slave-trading port during the 18th and 19th centuries, and in the mid-19th century as many as 50,000 slaves were passing annually through the slave markets of Zanzibar.

I made my first trip to Zanzibar in August 2009. I'd been in Arusha for over three months and decided that it was time to get to the beach and also to try scuba diving again, as I hadn't been since 2007 when I received my open water certification during a one week trip in the Red Sea. I headed to the village and beach of Matemwe, located on the northeast corner of Unguja. This would be the first of three trips to Matemwe. I ended up at Matemwe Beach Village, a pleasant resort with an onsite dive center, a beautiful location on the beach and a laid back but upscale atmosphere. I went alone, and I enjoyed every second of my time there.

While this first trip to Zanzibar made an impression in many ways, my favorite moment probably came on the last day. I had decided to take a walk on the beach with my iPod. I was walking along, listening to music, and enjoying the view when I came upon a group of little girls between approximately 6 and 10 years old (the girl below was NOT one of them). They ran up to me and started speaking to me in Swahili. Now my Swahili at this stage was extremely basic, so I really don't know what they were saying. But then they asked in English for a pen. (This is pretty common. Kids in Tanzania are always asking foreigners for pens. With this in mind, I had my parents bring some pens from the US when they came to visit, and we gave them all away in less than an hour in a village near Moshi.) Of course, I didn't have a pen because I was wearing a swimsuit and a kikoi (swahili sarang) and carrying an iPod.

Then the girls pointed to my iPod and wanted to listen. Now, I wasn't really listening to kid friendly music at the time. I think it was something like Rufus Wainwright. But I agreed, and handed one of the earbuds to one of the girls and the other to another one. They listened but weren't that interested. Then I got an idea, and I changed the song on my iPod to Magic System's "Premier Gaou". Now for those of you who don't know, Magic System is a Congolese pop group, and Premier Gaou is a staple of dance parties across Africa.

The change in the girls' reaction to the music was immediate. They went from unimpressed to dancing and fighting each other for a turn to listen. I watched smiling as they passed the earbuds around and tugged at each for their turn. And then, suddenly one of them handed one of the earbuds back to me, and from her expression, I could tell that she wanted me to listen and to dance with them. Which of course I did. We continued this way until the end of the song, at which point they handed the earbuds back to me, and we continued our separate ways. Obviously, I never found out who those girls were or what their lives are like, but they made an impression on me, which I hope I never forget.

My second trip to Zanzibar was in October 2009. This time, I stayed for a week. I began the trip with activities related to the wedding of two friends, who I knew from Eritrea and later Sudan. I met the wedding party on the beach in Paje, on the east coast, and then returned to Stone Town for the actual wedding ceremony. After the wedding, my parents met me in Stone Town. This was my parents' first trip to the African continent, and Zanzibar was the first thing they saw. What a strange introduction!! Anyway, with my parents around, I actually tried a number of touristy things I had not done previously. In addition to exploring the historic sites in Stone Town, we also went to the Jozani Forest to see the Red Colobus Monkeys, who live no where else on earth but this tiny forest on Zanzibar, and on a tour of a spice farm. The spice tour was particularly funny, and resulted in photos like this one.

I returned to Zanzibar again in December 2009, when my friend Emily came to visit, and in July 2010, with a friend from the ICTR. Both of these were trips to the beach. One included diving and the other included snorkeling. Both involved a lot sunbathing and cocktails. Not a bad deal!

But it took me until December 2010 to make it to Pemba Island. I had been dreaming about diving off of Pemba from the moment I arrived in Tanzania. Back in Sudan, a friend had told me that Pemba was great for diving, and I had to try it. So, for Christmas 2010, I joined three colleagues from the ICTR for an epic weekend of drinking and diving on the north coast of Pemba Island, capped off by shopping in Stone Town on our way back to Arusha. On this trip I learned that scuba diving and a hangover do not mix, met a guy who was working in Juba, saw some amazing sea life, and ate a Christmas turkey dinner on the beach. Priceless!

POLE!!

I am of the opinion that "Pole" is the very best word in the Swahili language. In fact, it might be the best word in any language. And I'm not alone in this opinion.

"Pole" means "sorry" in Swahili. And it is often used just as "sorry" is used in English or "lo siento" is in Spanish. But it also has this other, more sarcastic connotation. Used this way, it is much closer to "that sucks" in English. And sometimes it comes across even more sarcastic than that ... kind of like, "sucks for you!" As a result, people in Tanzania often say "pole" or "sorry" while not sounding sorry at all. And of course, we expats jumped on this and started using "pole" more and more sarcastically. I realize that this view of "pole" as sarcastic is probably just the misunderstanding of a non-Swahili speaker, but it's a misunderstanding that I'm happy not to correct. This is what I like about "pole"!

Now, after approximately two years of "pole" in Tanzania, I am struggling to return to a life where people around me don't understand "pole". I still can't come up with an equivalent English phrase. So instead, I find myself trying to introduce "pole" to people who have never been near East Africa. Unfortunately, this feels like a lost cause...

But maybe with this blog post, I can persuade a very, very small segment of the global population to adopt "pole". Think about it...

Only in Africa

...can you go to the electric company to pay your electricity bill and be told that you can't because they don't have power!!

Serengeti Safari

The last weekend in June was by far the most exciting since my arrival in Tanzania. I joined a group of my coworkers and one of their friends for a luxury safari in the Serengeti. Although I was feeling very broke at the time, I was persuaded by the fact that the migration of wildebeast and other mammals from Tanzania to Kenya was in full swing. Unfortunately, we didn't see much of the migration, but the rest of the trip was so great that it didn't matter.

We flew out to the Serengeti in this little plane. Our pilot was a 27-year-old American guy named Sean. Because the plane was so small, one of my companions, Jacinta, got to sit in the co-pilot's seat. This by itself was pretty cool and generated several photos. But after Jacinta struck up a conversation with the pilot, he actually let her fly the plane! Cool for her but a little nerve-racking for the rest of us, particularly considering that she doesn't even drive a car.

We landed at the Seronera airstrip next to a large herd of zebra. For the first time in my nearly 3 years in Africa, I felt like I had arrived at the Africa of my childhood dreams.

We took advantage of the last hour of so of sunlight to go for our first game drive of the weekend, and within the hour that we were out there, I saw more wildlife than I saw duing an entire year in Alaska. The numbers were astonishing, but the highlight was surely this adult male lion. According to our guide, he and his female companion were off for a post-coital nap.

The next morning, we awoke before sunrise for an early morning game drive. Many of us were complaining about the hour, but when we encountered two female lions out for a morning stroll, we quickly forgot about the time. These two lions decided that they were going to go for a walk down the middle of the dirt road, so we decided to go with them. Our driver/guide drove slowly along next to them as we tried to snap a few good photos. And in the end, I had the best experience of all. While the others were standing up and taking photos out the top, I sat down and leaned out my window. This meant not only that I was about eye-level with the lions, but it also meant that, on one or two occasions, one of lion walked close enough to me that I could have reached out and pet her. As a life long cat-person, I have to tell you, I was very tempted to do just that. But I ultimately decided that I like my hands more than I like cats!

After a thrilling first couple of hours to the morning, we headed back to the Wildlife Lodge, where we had stayed, for breakfast. From there, it was off to the brand new, super luxurious Kempinski Bilila Lodge. That being said, we were still on the look out for wildlife, so it was a slow drive over. We arrived at the Kempinski around noon and decided that we were done with the animals for the day. Instead, we spent the latter half of the day enjoying the pool, gym, food, and general environment at the Kempinski. It was amazing. I must say, however, that this luxury hotel felt really out of place in the middle of the Serengeti.

The next morning, we set off again. This time, we were preparing for an 8 to 9 hour drive back to Arusha. But that didn't stop us from spending an extra hour or so on safari. The highlight of the morning was either the two cheetahs that we spent 20 minutes watching or a baby elephant the size of an aardvark.

During the course of the weekend, we saw all of the following and undoubtedly more:

-Lions

-Cheetahs

-Leopards

-Hyenas

-Jackals

-Elephants

-Zebras

-Giraffes

-Wildebeast

-Buffalo

-Hippos

-Warthogs

-Thompsons and Grants gazelles

-Dik diks

-Ostriches

-Baboons

-Monkeys

-Guinea fowl

-Crocadiles

The drive back to Arusha was also interesting. It was long time-wise but not so much distance-wise. Nevertheless, we passed through savannah, desert, rainforest, mountains, farmland, and lakes, not to mention a few small towns and Ngorongoro Crater.

All told, we were away for a weekend and felt like we had been gone for a week...

Tanzania Trekking: Longido

After about a month in Arusha, I finally got out and way from the city. Two weeks ago, I headed north to the small town of Longido, at the base of Mt. Longido, a small non-volcanic mountain. I had joined a group of interns from the ICTR and a couple of other ex-pats who live in Moshi. The plan was to spend the night at a guesthouse in the predominantly Masai-town of Longido and then to climb the mountain in the morning.

Longido is located approximately 80km north of Arusha, not far from the Kenyan border. Longido, the mountain, is approximately 2650m tall and apparently predates the many volcanic mountains in the area (including Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru).

The drive to Longido was quite interesting. While Arusha is very green and basically located in a rainforest, it doesn't take long to find oneself in a semi-arid environment. Indeed, in Longido we were told by the locals that it had only rained once this year and that they had been in drought for the past four years. The drive also provided me my first opportunity to see giraffes in the wild. Their so cool!

We arrived in Longido in the afternoon on Saturday and spent the rest of day basically drinking beer and wine and eating a lot. We spent quite awhile in a typical village bar drinking Kilmanjaro beer with one of the guides from the cultural tourism program, through whom we had organized the trip.

The next day, we woke up early to start our 6 hour hike. We were led by a sweet Masai guide (above) who climbed the whole mountain in flip flops made from old car tires! The trail up the mountain was pretty steep, and I felt like we had to stop a lot. Nevertheless, we made it to the top in 3 hours and 45 minutes, just under the average time of 4 hours. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain was encircled in clouds, so we could not see anything from the top. This was quite a let down, given that we'd heard that you could see Kenya and much of the rift valley from the top. Oh well! At least it was a fun hike.

Here I am at the summit. See the clouds?

The hike down was much faster although in some ways more difficult. I'm not sure I could tell you how many times I slipped and fell coming down. By the next day, I would barely walk; the fronts of my thighs were so sore. But it was totally worth it. I wonder what I'll climb next...

Obama Pub: 2008

...if only President Obama knew how many things his name had been attached to!

It's taken me awhile to actually get out and do things in and around Arusha, but I'm getting there. Two weeks ago, I joined two Canadian women and a Tanzanian high schooler for an outing to a couple of the large outdoor markets outside of Arusha. We were on a quest for traditional Swahili fabric (and, in my case, housewares).

On the way to one of the two markets, I spotted the pub above. So, of course on the way back, I insisted we stopped for a photo. Sadly, it wasn't open. (Then again, it was 11:00 in the morning, so maybe that's a good thing.) Someday, however, I have to back for a beer at the Obama Pub!!

The first market was a bit of a disappointment, as its actual market days are Thursday and Sunday. Nevertheless, I was able to find a few items for my kitchen. And the second market, pictured, made up for it. We had a wide selection of fabric to choose from. I succeeded in finding fabric to make into curtains for my new apartment. Unfortunately, we were only able to find one Obama kanga (i.e., a rectangular piece of fabric depicting the President flanked by maps of Africa set against a patterned background), and Anna, one of my colleagues bought it. But I'm on a mission to get one of my own!!! (Or several, if there are different designs.)

FYI, I hope you all enjoy these photos of the market, because I was scolded for taking them. A woman said that I was supposed to ask before taking pictures of people (they usually like to be paid). Ok, fair enough, but as I asked her, am I really supposed to go around and ask 200+ people if its okay if I take a picture of the market.

Snapshots of Arusha

Welcome to Arusha, Tanzania! I've been in Arusha for approximately 3 and half weeks now and am slowly settling in. The settling in process has actually taken quite awhile, in part because I have spent most of my time here working. The other problem is that, while I have found a place to live, I can't move in until June 9th. Consequently, I'm still living out a suitcase.

For these reasons, I don't have much to say about Arusha yet. Nevertheless, I thought I would take this opportunity to share a few photos. Enjoy!

The picture below depicts a fruit and vegetable stand on the side of the Old Moshi Road.

This is a picture of Mt. Meru from the air. The city of Arusha sits at the foot ot Mt. Meru, Kilimanjaro's little brother or sister. In fact, when I flew into Arusha from Nairobi, we flew right between Kilimanjaro and Meru. I saw the last snows of Kilimanjaro. They are as pathetic as they're described in discussions of global warming. Mt. Meru has no visible snow or ice on it at all.

This is the East African Hotel, where I spent my first 5 or 6 nights in Arusha.

Yesterday, I joined a couple of new friends for a leisurely hike around the foothills of Mt. Meru. The following are a few shots from that walk.

Kids are the same everywhere. These kids were very happy to have their pictures taken. I love how excited the kids here get when you show them photos of themselves and their friends. Digital cameras are awesome!

Next Stop Tanzania!!

Tomorrow I embark on yet another adventure. I am off to Tanzania, where I will be spending the next five months working for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The ICTR, which is located in Arusha, is responsible for trying the worst perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. But while my work life is likely to be grim (but also highly intriguing), I am hoping that my free time will bring safaris, diving in Zanzibar, and maybe even a trek up Kilimanjaro. And without Sudan's strict rules on photography, I expect this blog to acquire some new color.

That being said, I still have a lot to say about life in Darfur. So look forward to flashbacks to Nyala (and South Kordofan).

Stay tuned for more African adventures and keep your comments coming!