Well we're in Zanzibar now and it's such a nice break! No chores, no putting up tents - luxury!

I'll carry on where I left off last time - on Friday 18th we visited the Ngorongoro Crater (so named because it's the noise the Masai cow bells make!), and then in the evening after about 10 hours of game driving, we went back to our campsite where we watched some local youngsters doing some traditional dancing and singing, which was really good - we bought a copy of their music to use on our video.

On Saturday 20th we drove to Snake Camp on our way down to Dar es Salaam, which had a really good Masai museum and we got to chat to one of the Masai warriors and were shown around their village, which was really interesting. The head of the village was about 85 and he had 8 wives and about 50 odd children. All of the wives have their own hut which they make out of cow dung, ash and sticks. It seems the women out here have to do a lot of the work, while the men guard the livestock. On the way to the camp we stopped off at a "cultural centre" aka a shop, which had some amazing ebony statues etc - apparently they have gemstones there worth $500,000. We bought a couple of little statues and some jewellery, although when we were negotiating the salesman offered Simon a deal whereby he would give him a $1 discount if Simon paid the guy on the sly and the guy would then slip the items into his bag. Not really an attractive deal and just showed how different it is out here than back home - apparently a lot of people steal from their bosses out here and it's notoriously hard to sack anyone for it!

We stopped off for lunch in Arusha and got some nice sandwiches which somehow managed to take about an hour to make! There was also a nice chocolate shop which we bought some goodies from - quite unusual around these parts.

On Sunday 20th we arrived in Dar es Salaam after a long truck trip - about 11 hours or something - we started at 5am! When we got to Dar we stayed at a campsite in a beautiful location - right by the sea - although it was a bit run-down and the girls showers didn't work and were infested with mozzies! We pitched up our tents and our brilliant cook JJ made us a spaghetti bolognese for dinner. JJ had even managed to source soya mince for Amy!

The next morning we drove into the centre of town and got a ferry to Zanzibar - the crossing took about 2 hours and to make the time pass more quickly they showed a film - Mr Bean's Holiday, and Johnny English! The crossing wasn't too bad, and we got to Stone Town at lunchtime. We went to a local restuarant which Jo our tour leader recommended, and the food was good although to start with Simon and Werner ordered some very dubious-looking chicken which they swapped for the veggie curry - much safer! The food out in Africa seems to be mainly rice etc - as people are so poor there isn't a great deal of good local cuisine.

After lunch we took a minibus up to the spice farms which were beautiful and green, where we got shown around by a guy called Ali (Zanzibar is Muslim by the way, so no short skirts or low cut tops) who had the most hilarious accent - he'd obviously been taught English by a cockney and an American, with certain words in each accent! He showed us ginger, cinammon (an aphrodisiac apparently!), cardamom, cloves, vanilla, tumeric, lemongrass, peppercorns, mace, and almonds. They were all amazing to smell and it was really interesting to see where they came from. One of the locals even made Amy a necklace from a flower and some sunglasses for Derry. They gave us samples of lemongrass, ginger and masala (mixed spice) tea, and gave us fresh banana, jackfruit (which tasted like banana and pineapple) and something that looked kind of like a lychee. At the end Amy bought some peppercorns and some vanilla essence which we're looking forward to trying when we get back! On our way to the accomodation our driver managed to completely miss a big speed bump in the road which gave us all a bit of a jump, with the car bouncing into the air, but luckily we were all fine and none of our stuff was broken!

After the tour we went to our accomodation called Amaan Bungalows, which is right on the beach and is lovely. We had dinner at the Fat Fish restuarant and generally relaxed and enjoyed the weather - the $2 happy hour cocktails were also a bonus!

Yesterday was Simon's birthday so we got up and went for breakfast, and then wandered around the village before getting massages which was really relaxing, and then having a nice lunch overlooking the water. We also went into the village and saw the opening of the local pharmacy which was a big deal with all of the masai there and a local government minister cutting the tape. It was really interesting chatting to a local guy, who was telling us how hard it was for the locals to get jobs in the hotels as there is a lot of discrimination. In the afternoon Jo had managed to get happy hour cocktails for us and we went out on a dhow (like in the picture) for a sunset cruise - although it started to rain so we finished early and took a dip in the sea, which was nice and warm! Simon managed to drop his Tilley hat in the sea, although one of the sailors jumped in a rescued it very dramatically! The group had arranged for a birthday cake for Simon to be made which was really sweet, and some of the group got him presents. Simon also got his LPC exam results and was very pleased that he'd passed - a great birthday present! We had a BBQ on the beach for dinner, with grilled baracuda, and then stayed in the bar and got a shisha and relaxed with the rest of our group. It was great until the power cut out and we were plunged into darkness, but luckily the bar was prepared and we got a little lamp to play cards by. All in all, a really nice day.

Today we are just chilling out, catching up on emails and going for a wander through the village. Tomorrow we leave for Stone Town which is in the south of the island, and then on Friday we get the ferry back to Dar where we spend the night. It's Amy's results on Friday so fingers crossed!