WEEK FOUR 

Week four started with a trip back to Arusha after the game drive through the crater. We were still in our groups in the 4WDs and as we were heading back to our camp, our 4WD was in a small car accident - a car literally just pulled out in front of us. We all counted our lucky stars that our truck only lost a bit of paint, because it could have easily been so much worse. 
We got back to our campsite around 330 which was great as it gave us enough time to wash some clothes and pack for our next few nights along the beach! 

The following day was a 330am wake up for a 4am departure for the drive from Arusha to Da Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. This was only going to be a 700km drive but we were warned that it could take anywhere between 12 and 20 hours! It took us 16 and a half hours.. You can imagine how irritated many of us were by the time we arrived at our campsite! The last 100km through the city was what took us the longest - 4 1/2 hours! The city is absolutely crazy, with continuous roads works and cars and people everywhere. Needless to say, this was a very uneventful day. My roommate and I decided to treat ourselves to an upgrade on this night, just so we didn't have to put our tents up and down. The campsite itself was beautiful; right on the water with beautiful white sand. 

The day we had all been hanging out for for some time, finally arrived! Our trip over to Zanzibar. We left our campsite in tuk tuks around 8am to catch 2 ferries over to the island. This trip was definitely an experience; firstly the tuk tuks powering through the traffic.. Then the first ferry from one side of Dar to the other - we were literally herded in like cattle, squashed up against each other in the BOILING, humid heat. The weather was probably the hardest part of the experience. Once we got over to the other side of the city, we then got our tickets and boarded a lovely , well air conditioned ferry. This was about a 2 hour journey. 
Once we arrived into Stone Town, Zanibar, we were met by a temporary local guide. I don't fully understand why, but for some reason in Zanzibar only local guides are allowed to take tourists around the island. We were not allowed to ask our south African guide any questions related to Zanzibar. This was the case for the 4 days we were there. Our guide, Ali, was great though, really informative. We boarded a private bus and he took us for a short trip through the town, before arriving at our hotel. We all checked in and headed straight for lunch at lonely planets recommended 'stone town cafe'. After a long lunch, we went off exploring down all the alleys of stone town, which was basically full of stalls selling souvenirs and clothing. That night we did a group dinner at an Indian restaurant before heading to a roof top bar overlooking the ocean.

The following morning we checked out of our hotel and headed for north of the island to a town called Nungwi where we would spend two nights. Along the way we did a 3 hour spice tour.. Our local guide and two young boys took us through their plantation and let us smell and taste a variety of different spices. At the end of the tour we also got to try about 10 different types of locally grown fruits - pineapple, jack fruit, passion fruit, watermelon, custard apple, coconut etc etc. it was quite interesting, however all of us were itching to get to our villas up north, so we didn't pay as much attention as we could have, here. 
We finally arrived to our destination and we all fell in love straight away; crystal clear water, bleached white sands with endless views of the horizon. We spent the afternoon at the restaurant that overlooks the beach before making our way to a group boat cruise. We had two traditional fishermans boats to ourselves with free-flowing alcohol and our very own group of 'beach boys' (local young men) playing us local beats and dancing around. The cruise started at 4 and we arrived back to land around 7. So we got to see the most amazing sunset while overlooking the beautiful Nungwi beaches. And to top it off, we stopped several times to take a dip in the crystal clear waters and to do a bit of snorkeling. We all agreed that this trip was one of the highlights thus far; the scenery combined with the very charismatic locals with their music made it a perfect evening. Following this, we had an amazing dinner on the beach around a bonfire with more of a local band. It was an amazing night. 

Our second day at Nungwi was a free day to do what ever we liked. My day was spent In between the villa's pool and the beach it over looked. 

The next day, we had to head back to Stone town.. None of us were really happy about this, as we had much rathered to spend more time by the beach. We arrives back at the hotel rbefore midday .. So we headed back to the cafe we had been to the few days before because we were all so impressed with the food. We did a bit more shopping before going back to our air conditioned rooms to rest up before dinner. What was left of the original group that started over 3 weeks ago (there was 11 of us) decided to do one last group dinner, as this was their last night with us. We had an amazing dinner at a local restaurant overlooking the water. We said our final good byes to the originals before heading to bed. There is now only 4 of us from the original group that started on November 1. Were the only ones doing the 54 days all the way to Cape Town. 

We left stone town at 6am in order to catch the ferry back to Dar Es Salaam. Thankfully we only had to catch the 1 air conditioned ferry this time around, as our guide met us on the other side with the truck. It was a fairly uneventful day.. Not arriving into our campsite until about 730 at night. 

Many of us had an early start the following day, thanks to several roosters giving us a 4am wake up call.. You can imagine how thrilled we all were. Today we were heading for Ingra, which is approximately 1800m above sea level. We happily arrived at lunch time which meant I had the afternoon to do some washing (it was so hot, my clothes were dry within 3 hours), a tidy up of my bag and to go for a walk down to the nearby lake. A mate on tour, Kate, and I, headed for the lake, going through all the bush land. We were cautious of any scary animals and insects. As we were walking along the lake, we started to freak ourselves out, seeing big stacks of animal poo, and hearing rustling amongst the bushes. We continued on until all of a sudden, Kate screams "SNAKE!" and we both absolutely screamed and bolted back to camp! It wasn't till after that she says it was apparently a tiny green snake, which are harmless. Also, if we were going to be smart about it, we were meant to stand completely still until it slithered away - not bolt in the opposite direction! It was a petty funny story to come back and tell the rest of our mates though! 
That evening the campsite put on a traditional Tanzanian meal for us all. The owner of the campsite, an English lady came and welcomed us all and gave us some insight into the area and the work they do.. A few of us got to dress up in local traditional dress as well. We had a meal of meatballs, spinach, mazi, sweet potato and ugali (a local side dish, not dissimilar to mashed potato - just really firm and very flavorless). Everything was grown and cooked on the farm. Just to add to the whole experience we had to eat with just our right hand.  Afterwards we were taken to a Bon fire where we had yummy hot chocolates with Armula (like baileys) and brownies! 

Until next week... Xxx