On the Spice Island, Zanzibar

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  Zanzibar, Tanzania, Tanzania
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

what a difference a week makes.

last, i was in nairobi, and ready to leave.  now on zanzibar, having learned a lesson. 

after moving hotels, to spend my last night in nairobi at the hotel my tour was departing from, i met the people i am spending 30 nights with.  a motley crew of me, 4 canadians, 2 mexicans, 2 aussies, 2 welsch, 1 finish and 3 briths.  the next morning, we headed off to the Masi Mara, one of the best and biggest game reserves in Africa.  when in bolivia, i mountained biked down the world's most dangerous road, and complained about the poor quality of the roads.  here, i have experienced the world's worst roads, so bad in fact that at last count, it took almost 4 hours to go 108 KM.  not exactly ideal.  for the next two days, we went on game drives, seeing lions, gazelles, elephants, hippos, hyenas, buffalos, vulchers etc.  all the big five less the rhino which are few and far between. 

after the game drive, we stopped at a masi village to visit the locals.  this was the real deal.  ears with holes you could put a bar of soap through, blankets to cover themselves and spears to kill.  as most of the males have their heads shaved, i asked how they did it.  the leader then responded, asking me if i wanted to have my head shaved.  of course, i answer.  now, in  the states, i shave my head with a 'buzzer' no pain, simple clean up and it works everytime.  i guess i didn't calculate that in addition to not having electricity or water, they probably didn't have a head shaving machine.  rather, a dull, single edge razor.  with a little soap and water, the shaking matriarch of the village began the ritulal shaving.  painful would have been an understatement, as tears poured down my face.  after sometime, she realized it WAS dull, and switched razors, making it slightly less painful, but nonetheless, terrible.  i was given the stamp of approval, and for the first time in my life, a skinned head.

that's all well and good......that is where the adventure began. 

when i returned from the safari on the second day, i ran into Olga, one of the girls on the trip in tears.  as it turns out, she had had all her cash stolen.  gulp.  upon learing this, i went to my tent only to find myself with all my worldly possessions, minus ALL of my cash.  the amount is irrelevant, but the effects long lasting, as that was all the money i had for two months.  to put things in perspective, the Masi Mara is about a 9 hour drive from nairobi, our camp was about an hour from there. 

what to do as an american, robbed in nairobi?  well of course, you go to the police 'station.'  station is a strong word for this villages' police headquarters.  so after dinner, me, olga, the guide, two drivers, the police chief and another officer left for the headquarters.  arriving at a shack, with white walls and a huge poster stating "please report all curroption", i knew we were in good hands.  after asking me the requisite questions of personal information, we had to state our addresses, the amount stolen and what suspects we had, listing witnesses and all.  quite amusing, minus the fact that all my money had been swipped. 

while giving the chief the information, something developed on my side of the room.  in africa, it is not unusual for men to hold hands while walking down the streets....that said, it's not standard for me.   so, not knowing one of the drivers was super drunk, he started talking to me as the chief filled out the paper work. but, he had his hand on my thigh, a little too close for comfort, as i started laughing, the chief looked at me questioning what sparked my laughing.  awkward.

after two hours of back and forth, i was granted a white piece of official police paper stating "michael roth had money stolen, please help him.  case still under investigation."  this was of no help, so it was on the the police station in  next town of narock.  well, this was of no help either, because the ran out of receipts.  so we were asked to relax in your vehicle temporarily.  an hour later, the same statement, on a yellow piece of paper.  after all this hard work, only to find out my travel insurance doesn't cover cash replacement.  damn!

from there, we visited the serengetti and ngorongoro crater.  incredibly animal filled and beautiful.  if anyone is curious what these places look like, the best place for reference is the Lion King, yes, i know, but it is totally accurate.  i find myself on zanzibar today.  just beautiful.  

to recap africa in short, everything is what you would expect, completely different from everything and anything i know as 'normal.'

next it's off to malawi, zambia, botswana, s africa, swaziland and the lesotho.

it takes way too long to upload pictures here!  sorry!

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