Golden Dragon Lodge Nungwi

... went for a swim. The water was nice and refreshing and we bobbed gently on the smooth surface and talked until most of us had suffered a strange stinging sensation; although we couldn’t find the culprit. We lay on the beach until the huge red sun began sinking gently into the clouds and finally water, strange looking sail boats with sideways triangles gliding by, a man riding high in the bow as if on lookout.

After a nice relaxing day we ...

... find a henna lady again, get more done... maybe a massage. Gee it's a hard life!

_________________________< br>POST TRIP INFO

TIP: We had the discussion lots of times as to where was better for diving - Lake Malawi or Zanzibar? Here are some pros and cons of each:
Lake Malawi - pros: freshwater diving, different fish to usual, you can dive around a Jeep at Kande Island
Lake Malawi - cons: visibility can be bad sometimes, not very many ...

... to raggae, they swim, the chat up mazungu girls on the beach, they fish.... BUT they have no money! Its a strange stragne lifestyle... and where are all the local girls?? Who knows??

Stayed in a cheap little guesthouse for the week a 5 minute walk from the beach and then decided to lash out the last 2 nights and stay at a gorgeous hotel right on the beach with an infinity pool, and a tv and clean sheets and running HOT water, and electricty and a ...

... the spices were and what they were used for. Quite a few didn't look at all like what you'd expect before they'd been processed. A guy also climbed up a coconut tree for us and they'd made some bags for the girls out of some kind of palm and hats and ties for the guys. We got to sample some spiced teas and sample a bunch of the local fruits which ...

... previous few days huge puddles filled the streets making it impossible for the car to go through so we had to grab our bags and walk the 10-15 minutes to Jambo Brothers, a place recommended to us by the taxi driver. Walk took us through what looked like a pretty dodgy town full of clap shack tin shops, mud brick little huts, puddles and mud everywhere. Definitely not somewhere which rendered images of tropical paradise. This should be interesting.... Nearing our ...

... t even learnt this most crucial bit of info. So, I quickly ask my drivers what "no thank you" is in Swahili. And after much "No thank you" "No, no thank you" "No i'm not interested" - "Hapana asanti" does the trick.

We drive out of Stone Town (the "capital" of Zanzibar Island), Buri, the guide tells me a bit of the people and the island history, but it's hot, thank goodness he had bottled water and a damp cloth at hand, I'm hungry, tired, and as ...

... no idea where the place I was looking for was. I made it clear that I wanted to stay at Romatic Bungalows (someone I met in South Africa had recommended it to me as being the cheapest place to stay (at $20 a night!!) in the area). I figured as long as he took me there, great. Figured maybe the hotel would give him something. Turned out to be a really nice guy. He works as an artist. Lives in StoneTown and commutes to Nungwi to sell his work. He found the hotel for me ...

... set in search of Nungwi. We walk along the beach picking up shells and poking around in some rock pools where we find lots of different fish and some red and blue crabs. The sun is red hot and we wander along talking to various people trying to sell us boat trips, snorkelling trips and a vast array of souvenirs. Eventually we reach the village and there are men and woman in the sea collecting octopus, shellfish, fish and anything else they can ...

... poor village and we arrived at the one story ensuite rooms on the beach, Jambo Brothers (Us$40), with what seemed very little around. The place was not at all like we were expecting of the big tourist destination of Zanzibar. We went out of our hotel and headed north and only saw a couple more hotels, spread along the beach that were covered in dhows and fishermen mending their nets and ended up at an Aquarium which contained sea turtles. We thought that perhaps we ...

... travel and intense humidity, we went to a great restaurant called Monsoon and had dinner while lounging on big floor cushions and listening to some really good live Taarab music. Next day, we took a tour of a spice plantation outside of town and saw all the different plants: pepper, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, lemongrass, etc. I loved the food on Zanzibar. Fresh seafood, spiced coffee and tea, grilled fruit, it was amazing. As you can see, there are a number of ...