19.Dar Es Salaam, Zanzibar and Chumbe Island, Tanzania - 19 October to 29 October 2009

On Monday October 19 we drove from Mikumi to Dar Es Salaam, through the middle of Mikumi National Park which has a constant barrage of speed bumps along the way to slow the traffic down for the wildlife. We have found the use of speed bumps is quite common and possibly the only way to reduce speed, which is universal on the roads despite the surface. We stopped in Morogoro for a quick grocery shop, and then drove through huge plantations of sisal growing in neat rows as far as you could see across the hilly landscape.

Despite the chaotic traffic around Dar Es Salaam, we found our campsite haven at Mikadi Beach Resort. Mikadi is south of Dar, a 5 minute ferry ride from the city centre, but our GPS took us the long way round, a 40 minute drive which avoided negotiating the ferry which carries both passengers and cars. We later learned that depending on the time of day, it can be quicker to choose the longer drive rather than the ferry.

Mikadi Beach is run by a delightful couple with a young daughter and is right on the beach and very pleasant and friendly, with good food at the bar/restaurant. While we were setting up camp, we noticed some vehicles parked close by and presumed that the owners were over in Zanzibar, as we knew it was possible to leave cars parked at the campsite. We thought it so funny that one of the cars had a website on it with the words 'gap year' because we had often joked and told people that we were on our gap year. It wasn't long before they all returned that afternoon and suddenly we were included in a campsite of 10 people, as we had inadvertently plonked ourselves right in the middle of a nice camping area. And unbelievably, one of the vehicles belonged to a UK couple we had very briefly met at Russell's Place in Pemba, Mozambique, who are driving back home with their two young daughters after working in South Africa for a while. They had just had six days on Zanzibar with the 'gap year' couple driving south from the UK, and a young Australian couple, with relations in Burren Junction!! Small world!!

We thoroughly enjoyed their company and actually made some preliminary plans to meet up with the UK family again early in the New Year to travel together through northern Kenya into Ethiopia. The other UK couple were so generous with all their travel tips and ideas, so we really felt fortunate to meet up with them all.

While staying at Mikadi, we booked 2 nights on Chumbe Island which had been recommended to us by Paul and Susan who stayed there in 2008 and loved it so much. Chumbe Island Coral Park lies between Zanzibar Island and Dar Es Salaam, and can only be reached by boat from Zanzibar. It is a pristine island and part of the first marine park in Tanzania, so the snorkelling is fantastic. Everything on the island is designed to protect the fragile environment and it's a true eco-tourism destination. The 7 palm-thatched bungalows all face the beach and are constructed entirely of local material and are completely self-sufficient with water, catching their own and filtering it naturally through plant beds. Competent former fishermen have been trained as park rangers and look after you extremely well during your stay. Accommodation is all inclusive and the meals were sensational, all served from hot dishes on djikos. Each table overlooks the ocean from the 'dining room', an open area which is part of the old lighthouse keeper's residence, where a huge thatched roof has been constructed over the remaining standing walls. The lighthouse, built by the British in 1904, is still in operation, and there is an ancient Swahili mosque on the island. It really was idyllic, and it's hard to remember when we have felt so truly relaxed, especially lying back on the hammock/bed "..watching the tide roll in....". The island also has a huge population of hermit crabs which you have to be careful not to tread on as you walk around, and a number of giant coconut crabs, which are endangered nocturnal creatures and quite forbidding as you walk back to your bungalow after dinner.

The following two nights we spent in Stone Town on Zanzibar. We shared a taxi into Stone Town with two of the guests we met on Chumbe, a mother and daughter from the UK. They had been staying at the Tembo Hotel and were going back there to pick up some of their luggage before flying back home. We decided to ask if there were any rooms, and there was a suite available overlooking the ocean with a wonderful view of the Zanzibar dock area, so plenty of activity to watch from our balcony. It was a dry hotel, but that merely necessitated a short walk for a sundowner at the Africa Hotel, which is a popular venue at sunset and has a great atmosphere. Both nights we ate at the Forodhani Gardens food markets where dozens of vendors erect food stalls every night of the week, and under lanterns grill meat, fish, chicken, calamari and prawns served with salad or chips, and again djikos everywhere. The locals and tourists alike flock there each evening from about 6pm and the atmosphere is friendly with lots of families and people of all ages enjoying the cool night, sitting along the promenade eating. Amazingly we kept running into people we had met previously, like the Dutch couple from Malawi and their little daughter, and a couple from Egypt and Australia we had met at Mikadi Beach Resort. All such really good fun.

Before we left Zanzibar we went on the obligatory Spice Tour which was incredibly interesting learning about the different spices and the features of each plant, and it finished with a drink of coconut juice after watching a local climb the tree to fetch the coconut and expertly cut it open for you to try the juice and the coconut flesh. And of course, a photo of the Spice King and Queen looking ridiculous wearing all the amazing palm leaf accessories that had been made for us while we wandered around. On the way home was a tour of the ruins of the Marhubi Palace which was built by the third Arab Sultan of Zanzibar.

Back in Dar Es Salaam and Mikadi Beach Resort, met another great couple at the campsite who are also travelling north to Europe, one from the UK and the other grew up in South Africa but originally from Portugal. From Mikadi Beach we spent a couple of days exploring the Dar, catching the ferry over once as pedestrians and another time driving the car. This ferry is such an experience, always packed and hectic. Cars line up either side for as long as it takes to get on the ferry, and there's a constant stream of passengers and cars going both ways all day and some of the night - coming back in the car we caught the ferry at 7:30 pm (one of those rules broken again!!)