Zanzibar Safari Club Uroa Village

... last full day at the beach and we take in all that we can. An early morning rise to catch the coffee on the beach and watch the sunrise, a quick breakfast and then a one hour walk along the beach, this time to the south. By the time it is 9 AM we are ready to hit the pool to cool off. Most of the clientele are either off on diving or snorkeling trips and it seems we have the hotel to ourselves. It's great. We're just ...

... furtive fondle but a slow longing one. I did a double take and looked at Kwame. Yes, he&#8217;d seen it. And then, the older man still walking looked over his shoulder and smiled at the other: &#8220;Ukitaka, si uchukue?&#8221; If you want it, why don&#8217;t you take it? I looked about nervously - if this market chased strolling women from their midst, what would they do in the face of such open solicitation? <br><br>Nothing. <br><br>Absolutely nothing. No ...

... with concrete were collapsing around the town. This gives Stonetown a strange decrepit look with its Arabic style windows and arches crumbling away. After our wanderings it was really hot so we returned to the hotel where a group of us were getting a minibus up to the northern beaches. We arrived after an hour and a half delay leaving around 4pm and found our prebooked accommodation was right on a most beautiful beach area called Kwenda. The sand was white and the water ...

... the serengeti.<br><br>I know this may sound crazy but I have to admit the serengeti was slightly disappointing after our amazing experiences in the masaai mara. But we did luck in to see the wildebeast migration and many more lions and elephants and giraffes. <br><br>That night we spent on the rim of the ngorongoro crater.... with a drop in temperature to about 5 degrees we were snuggled in our tents early ready for a sunrise game drive. So up at 5:30... in the 4wds ...

... near touching distance, belly to belly with them. At one stage I had 5, a few feet in front of me, whilst I dolphin kicked behind, nearly forgetting to come up for a breathe in the process. Mesmorising. Got a good 10 minutes of play time before they disappeared into the big blue and we clambered back on board, smiles stretching from ear to ear. Wow - people pay to go on dolphin spotting cruises and here we were swimming with possibly 50 for free. Incredible. Once back on ...

Zanzibar is the place that, when you're sitting in a cubicle at around 2 PM, filing expense reports or spellchecking grants or something, staring blankly at a dark, grey sky and leafless winter trees, comes to mind as an absolute paradise. The sand is always white, the sky blue, the water a tropical torqouise, and there is absolutely nothing to do besides sit, recline, sleep, or eat. The flipside of the coin is that the place has been ...

... or the safari driver slows on a remote dirt road in the bush to answer a call or a traditional kitchen party wedding speech is interrupted by a cell phone ringing with the "We wish you a merry Christmas" ring tone! Much good comes from this ability to connect, but I find myself saddened in some ways. It's harder to find solitude now. Both are needed - connection and solitude. It's just with cell phones and the internet, more effort is required to carve out time for ...

... I then walked by another shack that looked like a bakery. They guy kept asking me to buy some bread so I did. I didn't really need any but I bought it anyway. He was a nice guy and it was very cheap. After I bought the bread, he whispered in my ear and asked if I wanted any "green stuff". I laughed and said no. I just wanted the bread. I later met Allison and Chris for supper. We ate at a nice place which later showed the Spain - Italy game. Allison was ...

... cheap and reliable link between towns. Stone Town proper (not to be confused with the surrounding 450 000-resident Zanzibar Town) is a literal maze of old buildings, all constructed of corral and teak. Its two-square-kilometre area is home to only 150 residents, but over 40 mosques. Although most buildings seem equiped for tourists with a shop or some other accomodation, a closer look ...

... the beach from our hotel and as we arrived realised there was no electric. They had candles everywhere and could still prepare food from their gas cookers in the kitchen. David spotted someone who vaguely looked like an electrician and his two willing watchers, with only the light from a mobile phone to guide their way in the main fuse box! We usually carried a torch with us at night to help find our way back to the room along darker ...