Safari and Spices I got to Dar es Salaam train station for 1pm today ready for my 2pm train. I went to the ticket desk and was informed that the ticket office was closed until 2.30 for lunch. Later I also find out that it is delayed 6hours. Time to do the blog... I came to Tanzania with a certain amount of trepidation as I'd had it pretty good in Rwanda and Uganda and heard that Tanzania was hassle central. It is. The first couple of days were spent on buses getting grabbed by touts at bus stations to negotiate the price of the next section of my journey. Boy, there are a lot of people on Tanzanian buses. On one rusting piece of s*** 66 seat bus I counted an additional 105 people crammed in the aisle. I can't say I ever feel claustrophobic but when you're sat on the back seat of the bus with 170 between you and the only exit at the front of the bus I got a mild sweat on. That time when I was on the back I spent most it in mid air due to the bumpy dirt road. Got some good height on those bumps! There was 6 of us wedged onto the back seat and we all lifted off at exactly the same time which must have been quite funny to watch. The guy next to me actually managed to sleep through these mid air episodes which was a good job as he spent his awake moments emptying his guts in an overflowing bag. Obligatory free range chickens pecking biscuit crumbs and other debris under the seats of the bus added to the mad atmosphere. Very glad to get to Arusha were the roads and buses improved drastically. Before which I stopped off at Mount Hanang to do a bit of trekking. A strange experience. Didn't do the trek with a group, just me and the guide who seemed more interested in listening the Celine Dion blaring from his Walkman. Not very good weather but it was a good 10hour workout up to a height of 3400m. Didn't actually realise until I got to the coast but I've had about 5 weeks where it has rained every day with it being relatively cool as well. Lots of amazing thunderstorms. Decided to splash out and do another short safari from Arusha. Lots of animals once again and some really cool elephants close up. Not quite as good animalwise as Kenya but the landscape of the Ngorongoro crater was breathtaking. As we climbed up to the crater rim it was pissing with rain and spirits were down but as soon as we started descending into the crater the skies cleared to reveal a magical 6mile wide caldera teaming with wildlife and framed with the storm clouds hanging on the crater's rim. OK, you might say I'm mincing my words here but it was pretty damn good! Once I got to Arusha the food started to get a bit better, beforehand about the only food I could get hold of was chewy beef kebabs with chip omelets. Great for the first couple of times, not so great after the 10th. As you get closer to the coast there is more of the Arabian and Indian influence which gives some fantastic variety to the food. Couldn't wait to see the sea when I finally got to the coast at Dar es Salaam, but bloody hell is it hot! Like I said before I had got used to it being quite cool over the last 2months since Ethiopia with virtually all the places I stopped at being over 1000m in height. Dar has got a bad reputation but I thought it was OK, some wicked modern buildings for the architects amongst us. Needed to do a bit of admin work getting my Mozambique visa but found out that it'd take a week so I sacked off Mozambique until after Malawi. More time on Zanzibar... Got a boat over to Zanzibar. What a fantastic place. So so different to the mainland, indeed it is like a different country so much so that you get another stamp in your passport (complicated political situation). The capital Stonetown is a warren of alleyways and courtyards that you can lost in before it spits you out with a fab coast view. A bit like Mykonos or Dubrovnik. Very Arabian feel to it with intricate teak carved doorways, brass ornamentation and the smell of spices. Despite the island being quite touristy there are lots of locals keeping it real with old men playing dominoes in the alleys, kids playing marbles, and women doing their stitching. Amazing fresh food, seafood every day spiced with some of the locally grown spices and some of the sweetest fruit you'll ever taste. Went to a 'fiesta' in town which turned out to be an R&B nightmare but quite strange as well. Various local acts would appear on stage, some good, some crap but the whole crowd either sat on the grass or stood silently gormously watching the acts. No dancing or chat or anything, very strange. Majority of people were too cool for skool teenagers with their baggy tshirts and pants with shades that covered half their face. You can imagine I fitted in like a dream. The 'rap off' made me laugh. I also stayed on a beachy resort on another part of the island which was bliss. Days were spent eating, reading and snorkeling in the crystal waters. White sand that blinded you. Managed to swim with dolphins on one trip which was amazing, they seemed a bit sceptical at first but they slowed down enough for me to swim with them for a while. Knackered by the end though as they're still quite quick! Met one of the oddest people on my travels on that trip, a Russian woman who looked as if her hair had been cut by a 6yr old with a pair of left handed scissors, she swam in her pants frequently 'adjusting' herself, and told the guide how the trip should be organised. She was quite scary. Zanzibar has been superb and it is another defo recommendation for a holiday destination for you all. So where is this train? Should be a nice change instead of the buses despite it taking 24hours to get me close to the Malawi border. NGO work starts a week Monday which will be a shock to the system...