Fairmont Zanzibar

... South West coast. The latter is the place where everyone tries to go swimming with the wild dolphins. Yesterday, I tried to do this too and we did indeed find the dolphins and I did swim with them - for a matter of seconds - but they were too fast for me. They were much stronger swimmers (funnily enough) and they didn't want to be swum with. The technique the boatmen use is to try and trap them in a circle of boats. The tourists jump ...

... like manner. Our room is on the third floor. There are no elevators and the steps on the staircase are not uniform in height leading to the occasional misstep. Our room is large and it has a small patio with a table and two chairs overlooking the interior courtyard and pool. The furniture looks antique and is dark mahogany brown in color.

After checking in, we decide to find out where One Ocean Dive Center is located as that is ...

... But he was deep, as deep as the Indian Ocean.

“I’m not so interesting. I don’t know much about anything. I’ll call you someone who knows everything about Zanzibar and you can interview him instead. In fact, there he is – hey! Mohammed! Mohammed! Come here, man! Some guys wanna talk ta ya!”

But we didn’t want someone else. Mohammed was an aged fisherman who looked like The Old Man Of The Sea and we ...

... s been traveling overland from England, through Europe, the Middle East, into Africa to Cape Town. From Cape Town he's taking a 30 day cargo ship to Australia. There's an American guy that is working for an organization where university students can travel abroad for a semester and earn college credit by volunteering in local villages. He just finished one trip with a group that volunteered through Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and ...

... thatched enclosure for some well deserved dinnner. They serve pizza and burgers but the menu is also riddled with butter chicken and vegetable curry dishes. Rice, chicken, calamari, seafood and shrimp make our mouths water and our bellies groan with the pains of over-eating (again). In the morning, included with our accomodation cost is a meal of fried eggs, fresh bread and fruit. Spiced tea and coffee are served and we are ready to spend the day in the sun ...

... in the front and then switched to the back after the nice guy ran away? They all would take their cut of the money, of that we were sure. When we were planning how to deal with this, I took Simon's photo, who happened to be close to the 2nd man. I got his photo too. When we got out of the truck, I took photo's of the licence plate, and the side of the truck and the other guy in the front so we could take it to the police. The only photo we didn't have was of the nice guy ...

... After a nap, I went to the dinner. I decided to pay for the half board, which means breakfast and dinner is included. Really, there are no other options here. The dinner was Indian tonight and was quite tasty. They do large communal tables so you can meet other guests. Sitting at my table was an English family, a Dutch couple and a couple from Calgary on their honeymoon. As part of their honeymoon they hiked Mount Kilimanjaro. Talk about adventurous ...

... was enough to take the appetite away from even the toughest meat-lover and possibly even make you a vegetarian. (no refrigeration, hence the reason to go early in the morning) We had enough mince for a few days and the taste was really good and more importantly we did not get any stomach problems :) We used dala-dala's (local minibus - 350 Tsh/15p) the first few days to get to and from Stone Town. Stone Town is a ...

... dive in the Indian Ocean so I packed up my snorkel and mask and hit the dive centre. I was willing to risk it for the chance to see turtles and dolphins. The dives were in Mnemba, a pretty little Island about an hour away, known for it's abundant sea life. We kitted up pretty fast and hit the water. My god it was hard work. The current was super strong and it actually ended up taking us to the second dive site by mistake. I had to fight hard to go in the ...

... from wandering around aimlessly. On a different topic now, namely sounds. Every place has its sounds and their meanings. For example, in Zanzibar, the sound of a guy walking down the street jangling a handful of coins means that the peanut seller is approaching. It sounds very similar to the sound made in Bangkok by the conductors on the buses when they rapidly open and close their cylindrical ticket and coin holding containers. One is passing on the street below my hotel as I write this.