Day 21, 25 July 2012, Zanzibar to Lushoto, the main centre of the Usambara Mountains - half way between the coast and the parks - In the immortal words of John Denver - "Some days are diamonds, some days are stone..." Well today was one whole truckload of stones. We left Stone Town at 6.30 to catch the 7 am ferry back to Dar es Salaam. That's the point we should have gone back to bed. The disastrous illness on the dive boat was caused in great part by our ot...

Day 20, 24 July 2012, Nungwi Beach to Stone Town - The luxury of staying 2 nights in one place can never be underestimated. Not to mention a spot of wee-fee (as it is known around here - wi-fi everywhere else). Back on the minibus at 10 am for the hour and a half south to Stone Town. It proved to be a huge day. We left the Shangani Hotel (just down the road from Freddie Mercury's house don't you know) and took a sharp right down Gizenga Street and were immedi...

Day 19, 23 July 2012, Diving from Nunghwi Beach, Zanzibar - The day dawned with a strong onshore breeze - Hardie diving weather indeed. The trip out in the boat was very rough and the first dive was average at best - lots of surge due to the roughness, bad visibility - fish, coral yada yada yada.... Saw a couple of turtles - very cute. Boat was jumping around and eventually prior to the second dive nature took its course and I was violently ill. Now scuba divi...

Day 18, 22 July 2012, Kipepeo Beach Camp (via Truck, little ferry, minivan, big ferry and shank's pony) to Zanzibar, the spice islands - For those who aren't aware, 5 o'clock occurs twice a day and the morning version is very dark, somewhat cold and all a bit rushy-rushy. We pared down our 19 kg packs to just the detachable day packs for our excursion to Zanzibar. To avoid 2 hours in traffic to get to the ferry terminal our truck took us to a small commuter fer...

Day 17, 21 July 2012, Mikumi NP to Dar es Salaam, the haven of peace, Tanzania (and also traffic, mucho, mucho traffic) - We left our salubrious accommodations at Tan Swiss Lodge near Mikumi NP. We are truck sore and weary and that is before we board the bone box on wheels. Leaving behind the wilds, we enter the outskirts of Dar es Salaam and find petrol stations on every second corner - finally we know where the petroleum tankers were heading! We are assaulte...