A boring few days since we left the Serengeti really: we lost about 5 people in Arusha, and then made our way over to Dar es Salaam where we stayed at the Absolute Africa owner's house: you'd think he'd have better toilet facilities for us, but I shan't say too much! He prepared us a fish BBQ, so I shouldn't moan!

After an early wake-up and a photo of everyone on the truck before we lost another 12 in Zanzibar we set off to the ferry. It was a great hassle getting everyone their tickets, but luckily our guide was much more organised than the other tour: they stood there waiting as we piled onto the air-conditioned ferry, careful not to let go of our bags as we'd be warned!

Got to Zanzibar safely, apart from a few bouts of sea sickness, although most of them were kept at bay! Another kafuffle when we arrived at the hostel though, as all the couples had been mysteriously moved to another hostel about 20minutes away. There was also a mistake with my booking: it didn't exist! Typical, especially as I'd paid extra for a single room before I'd even left home. Heath the tour guide took pity though and gave me his and VJ's room key and I took theirs: good deal for me, as it was lush! My own posh bathroom, even if the sink did have a crack, a TV, fridge, and even tea and coffee!

A few of us then set off to have lunch at the apparently famous Mercury's, named so because Freddie was born there? It was a nice enough meal, but the seafood was nowhere near what you'd expect on an island, and the lettuce was wilted! The view made up for it though.

Later that evening we headed over to The Africa House to sit in the sunset lounge and watch the, you guessed it, sun go down! Got some very cool pictures, and had a cocktail in a coconut: very touristy, but I'm clearly chuffed with it in my picture! The budget only afforded me one, but oh I enjoyed it!

After a few pictures we left for the night market where there was a vast array of food for us to choose from: as I only had about 5000kwacha left I had a falafel, but when the bloke behind the stall just stood there as I waited for my change I had to ask if someone else had gone to get it, he said 'hakuna matata'. In my not so subtle way, I raised my eyebrows, to which effect he gave me back all my money: clearly wanted me to be the one to say 'no, keep it'. Not much chance of that! Also tried a sugar cane drink, basically blended sugar cane with ice, as you can imagine, rather sweet!

Headed back to the hostel at about 10ish, probably earlier, with a few of the girls and the tour guide: there were 2 or 3 other couples too I think. We walked alongside the road, the only way back, and talked about how nice it was there, Heath said not to stand so near to the road as the drivers go by quickly. No change to most roads I suppose! Before I knew what was happening though I felt something tug on my bag, and the next thing I was on the floor in the middle of the road: I don't remember anything in between, just the smack as my head hit the road! Got straight back up though, even if I was a little disorientated! As I was walking someone on the back of a scooter had grabbed my handbag whilst they rode past: luckily it was an across-the-body bag and so when they'd pulled it, it had stayed with me until the force of the moped/scooter pulled the strap right out of its seams. Typical that it was Mum's ASOS bag that I'd borrowed for the trip: sorry Mummy! Luckily they only got the strap though, as against all recommendations I had my passport, purse, camera, and room key in it! It only had a few scratches though, my pretty NEXT dress suffered the most damage: a huge rip right down the back of it, the girls lent me their scarves to cover my back though: a good job I had on shorts too! One of the girls said she'd screamed as she thought I'd been knocked down, but in reality they'd just pulled me into the road. A few deepish grazes on my knees, elbow, and hips, but my flip-flops survived! I was lucky to keep my bag and not have any worse injuries, so must count my blessings. Although the tears did flow that night! My arm kept on shaking from where they'd pulled my shoulder with the bag strap: that didn't heal for quite some time. I bathed my wounds in the sea though, after struggling to put on my bathers! I can laugh now, but it wasn't so fun when I was just 2 weeks into the trip and crying. I didn't want to call home as it would just worry them, so I'm writing about it in hindsight, much better perspective!