The trek was strenuous and intense at parts. The safari was not at all physically demanding, but required some level of focus all day (intermixed with bouts of napping). Zanzibar was completely relaxing. A GREAT direction of trip segments in terms of energy requirement! I certainly wouldn't want to do everything in reverse order. Of course, whenever I transition out of a high energy activity, I have a lot of extra energy over the next few days. This generally gets me in trouble. Calvin and Pat had decided we would spend one night in East Zanzibar and one in West Zanzibar near Stone Town, then each picked a place to stay.
East Zanzibar (Oct 19)
Our aggregate knowledge of the Zanzibar island was something along the lines of "they grow spices there, it's largely Muslim, and it has tropical beaches." That was probably all we needed to know to get started. We flew from Moshi to Zanzibar then bartered for a taxi ride to our resort at Kichanga lodge, as Calvin had planned, which was on the Eastern side of the island facing the Indian Ocean. We were reasonably nervous about the lodge while in the cab, as we were hoping it would be luxurious, comfortable, and have great views, yet worried we'd somehow end up camping again. After about an hour of driving through the boonies, we arrived at the lodge. No need to worry anymore, it WAS paradise!
Our lodge reminded me a lot of Costa Rica. Warm, tropical, simple, insanely relaxing. After getting squared away, and hearing the manager warn us about sea urchins in the ocean, we immediately hit the beach and I ordered a Kichanga special cocktail to commence relaxation. We were joined on the beach by a few American women taking a break from a work assignment in Africa #IWANTTHATJOB. We also met a native Masai with whom we decided to play some soccer. "Playing soccer" more or less meant him kicking the ball to us, then us kicking it accidentally away from him while shouting "Pole" or "sorry". Thus, certainly not disproving the perception that "Americans don't play soccer." After a while we transitioned to a game of Bocce. Later, we decided to jump in the ocean and go for a swim. I decided I probably had enough in me to swim out past the lagoon to where the breakers started #ExtraEnergyTrouble.
I swam out for about 10 minutes then heard what I thought were cries for help. I looked over and saw two of the women I'd seen a few minutes ago back at shore waving their hands while in the ocean. Umm.. crap... there were no lifeguards there! I had absolutely NO lifeguard training so I didn't know what I personally could do to help if they were seriously drowning, but at least swimming towards them seemed like the right idea (back in the US I'm sure alerting an actual lifeguard would've been better.) As I got closer though, I realized they were both standing in the water and walking back towards shore. One of them had just stepped on a sea urchin and was impaled with the urchin barbs. They were not in immediate danger. I made sure they were able to get back, then decided to go continue swimming.
A few minutes later I stepped on a sea urchin, too. So much for listening to the manager's warning! I figured the barb hadn't penetrated my skin, so I continued swimming out to the breakers. I finally reached them then turned around to return to shore. I estimated I was out there for probably about an hour. I managed to step on urchins a few more times while returning, too, though I was not worried at the time because I figured the spines had merely poked my foot then remained with the urchin. When I reached shore, Calvin told me how he had also stepped on an urchin and just undergone "foot surgery" to remove embedded barbs. I was confused until Calvin explained that urchin barbs actually penetrate your skin and stay INSIDE your foot, as they are released when you step on one. When I showed the about 5 or 6 dark purple/black stains on my foot to Calvin and Pat, I realized that I must have had spines embedded myself! I tried to undergo the same surgery Calvin did, which was performed by another Zanzibar native and our Masai friend and consisted of using wooden thorns softened with papaya juice to pry the spines out. This combined with being somewhat dehydrated from the swim made me a bit light headed!
But we were all okay. We played some more Bocce ball with the Masai who turned out to be named "Mateo." Afterwards we cleaned up and enjoyed our chakula kitamu (delicious food).
Stonetown (Oct 20)
We awoke in the morning to somewhat sore feet (except for Pat who was smart enough to wear water shoes and avoid sea urchin barbs altogether) and prepared for our journey to the West part of Zanzibar, specifically Stonetown. The cab ride was again about an hour. I got a very different feeling from the other side of the island almost immediately. While the Eastern shore felt like a relaxed tropical paradise complete with white, sandy beaches, Stonetown felt more like a historic, colonial town bustling with culture and activity. Children were jumping and swimming in the bay, gigantic, modern barges docking were contrasted by olden looking sailboats in the ports, and street chefs were yelling at us to try their curry flavored meals.
We checked into the Meru Meru hotel, as picked by Pat, and were impressed with it's luxurious, very Muslim feel. Or at least what I imagined a "Muslim feel" might be. We decided our plan would be to obtain some more shillings, secure our ferry ride to Dar Es Salaam for the next day, and then do some brief shopping with any leftover time. We walked a few minutes to the ferry station, passing a few mosques along the way, and obtained our tickets. We then returned and decided to check out an old castle on the way back. As we passed a police station, we saw a crowd of locals gathered outside and were about to hear one of the scariest things I'd ever heard.
We had been warned about Stonetown the previous day while at the Kichanga Lounge. Apparently a Muslim leader had been kidnapped which precipitated riots in the streets. We had planned to stay another night on the East coast should the situation still be unstable, but decided that was unnecessary as we were told the leader was released, resulting in a celebratory attitude and a safe environment in Stonetown. Nevertheless, I'm sure some tensions were still high. Approaching the police station, we heard a series of "thwumps" from inside. I can't describe too well what they sounded like, but following them was a shrieking wail. A primal, uncontrolled cry. It became clear what was happening, a man was being tortured. We talked about it later and decided we weren't sure if it was more a show for the public as a scare tactic or punishment for the sake of punishment, but it was unsettling. It sure didn't seem like a James Bond movie where Bond just bites his lip and gives a "you can't break me" badass look to the torturer, it seemed more like a "Okay, you broke me, STOP, PLEASE" desperation.
We made a bee line back to our hotel to be in a safe place in case anything did happen in the streets. Fortunately, WE were all fine and able to enjoy a comfortable, delicious, rooftop dinner overlooking the sites of the city. Our last night of vacation, with a bit of a scare.
To Dar Es Salaam, Amsterdam, and SFO (Oct 21-22)
Our next day was a lot more peaceful. In the morning we headed out for a tour of a spice plantation. We were shown around by a really engaging, fun guide. We got to see, taste (when appropriate), and smell aloe plants, cloves, cinnamon, and many other plants and fresh fruits. I might have appreciated this more if I cooked, but I thought it was pretty cool, anyway! At the conclusion of the tour we haggled for some spices, coffees, and teas, then returned to Meru Meru to check out.
We boarded the ferry and enjoyed the nice ride back to the continent. Navigating to DAR wasn't too complicated, and after a minor snafu of Calvin's boarding pass not being printed, we boarded for our return trip. I started to look back on the past two weeks at this point, and decided on a scale of relaxed to "aggressively ensuring everything was okay" I would order us as Pat, Matt, Calvin. And that I was really happy with the way our group turned out, since we had a good balance. As usual, after a long trip, I was looking forwards to getting home and catching up with people. But also thinking that I seriously could have spent another week on the coast of Zanzibar.
Our flights to AMS and then to SFO were uneventful. Then finally, the trip was over. Calvin drove us home with Alli's car. And on Oct 22 I was back at my place in Mountain View and exhausted with jet lag. But I got back just in time to see the Giants win game 7 of the NLCS. Not a bad welcome back :)
And as I write this I still haven't transitioned back into California life, a month later. Climbing Kili was something I had dreamed about for years. Seriously prepared for the past ten months. Intensely and specifically trained for the last month and a half. We did it. We had our pictures, our souvenirs, our memories, and they were great. But there was also now a void in me. An emptiness. And I'm trying to figure out how to fill it. What the next step is. I am lucky and happy to have my full time job which is far from a dream job, but certainly comfortable. But spending 8 hours of my day coding and another 2 driving pales in comparison to the adventure EACH day was in Africa. And the months leading up were stressful but purposeful. Then I have to think, well, if I made a living in Tanzania, odds are my 8 hours might be filled with manual labor such as farming, or working as a porter. And unless I was rich enough to own a touring company, I likely would never travel.
But enough rambling. I will always remember Calvin claiming on our trek we were at Kibo when we were only 13,500 ft up. Pat shouting "F- you" at a thief bird. Our head porter teaching us daily Swahili lessons. How beautiful Mawenzi and Kibo looked after snowfall. Coming back to Moshi to share how proud we were we had summited with our friends back home. Watching lions approach our car in their natural habitat. Yitzhak calling me "Muzungu" every 2 minutes. Julius showing us what "Uzuri Sana" was. The beautiful site of the Indian Ocean rushing up on white sand. The painful sting of sea urchin barbs. The frightening shriek of a tortured man. And sunset over Stonetown from a rooftop. And those minutes we spent on the crater rim of Kibo, atop Africa, will always seem surreal, and like all the stress and sacrifice was well worth it.
East Zanzibar (Oct 19)
Our aggregate knowledge of the Zanzibar island was something along the lines of "they grow spices there, it's largely Muslim, and it has tropical beaches." That was probably all we needed to know to get started. We flew from Moshi to Zanzibar then bartered for a taxi ride to our resort at Kichanga lodge, as Calvin had planned, which was on the Eastern side of the island facing the Indian Ocean. We were reasonably nervous about the lodge while in the cab, as we were hoping it would be luxurious, comfortable, and have great views, yet worried we'd somehow end up camping again. After about an hour of driving through the boonies, we arrived at the lodge. No need to worry anymore, it WAS paradise!
Our lodge reminded me a lot of Costa Rica. Warm, tropical, simple, insanely relaxing. After getting squared away, and hearing the manager warn us about sea urchins in the ocean, we immediately hit the beach and I ordered a Kichanga special cocktail to commence relaxation. We were joined on the beach by a few American women taking a break from a work assignment in Africa #IWANTTHATJOB. We also met a native Masai with whom we decided to play some soccer. "Playing soccer" more or less meant him kicking the ball to us, then us kicking it accidentally away from him while shouting "Pole" or "sorry". Thus, certainly not disproving the perception that "Americans don't play soccer." After a while we transitioned to a game of Bocce. Later, we decided to jump in the ocean and go for a swim. I decided I probably had enough in me to swim out past the lagoon to where the breakers started #ExtraEnergyTrouble.
I swam out for about 10 minutes then heard what I thought were cries for help. I looked over and saw two of the women I'd seen a few minutes ago back at shore waving their hands while in the ocean. Umm.. crap... there were no lifeguards there! I had absolutely NO lifeguard training so I didn't know what I personally could do to help if they were seriously drowning, but at least swimming towards them seemed like the right idea (back in the US I'm sure alerting an actual lifeguard would've been better.) As I got closer though, I realized they were both standing in the water and walking back towards shore. One of them had just stepped on a sea urchin and was impaled with the urchin barbs. They were not in immediate danger. I made sure they were able to get back, then decided to go continue swimming.
A few minutes later I stepped on a sea urchin, too. So much for listening to the manager's warning! I figured the barb hadn't penetrated my skin, so I continued swimming out to the breakers. I finally reached them then turned around to return to shore. I estimated I was out there for probably about an hour. I managed to step on urchins a few more times while returning, too, though I was not worried at the time because I figured the spines had merely poked my foot then remained with the urchin. When I reached shore, Calvin told me how he had also stepped on an urchin and just undergone "foot surgery" to remove embedded barbs. I was confused until Calvin explained that urchin barbs actually penetrate your skin and stay INSIDE your foot, as they are released when you step on one. When I showed the about 5 or 6 dark purple/black stains on my foot to Calvin and Pat, I realized that I must have had spines embedded myself! I tried to undergo the same surgery Calvin did, which was performed by another Zanzibar native and our Masai friend and consisted of using wooden thorns softened with papaya juice to pry the spines out. This combined with being somewhat dehydrated from the swim made me a bit light headed!But we were all okay. We played some more Bocce ball with the Masai who turned out to be named "Mateo." Afterwards we cleaned up and enjoyed our chakula kitamu (delicious food).
Stonetown (Oct 20)
We awoke in the morning to somewhat sore feet (except for Pat who was smart enough to wear water shoes and avoid sea urchin barbs altogether) and prepared for our journey to the West part of Zanzibar, specifically Stonetown. The cab ride was again about an hour. I got a very different feeling from the other side of the island almost immediately. While the Eastern shore felt like a relaxed tropical paradise complete with white, sandy beaches, Stonetown felt more like a historic, colonial town bustling with culture and activity. Children were jumping and swimming in the bay, gigantic, modern barges docking were contrasted by olden looking sailboats in the ports, and street chefs were yelling at us to try their curry flavored meals.
We checked into the Meru Meru hotel, as picked by Pat, and were impressed with it's luxurious, very Muslim feel. Or at least what I imagined a "Muslim feel" might be. We decided our plan would be to obtain some more shillings, secure our ferry ride to Dar Es Salaam for the next day, and then do some brief shopping with any leftover time. We walked a few minutes to the ferry station, passing a few mosques along the way, and obtained our tickets. We then returned and decided to check out an old castle on the way back. As we passed a police station, we saw a crowd of locals gathered outside and were about to hear one of the scariest things I'd ever heard.We had been warned about Stonetown the previous day while at the Kichanga Lounge. Apparently a Muslim leader had been kidnapped which precipitated riots in the streets. We had planned to stay another night on the East coast should the situation still be unstable, but decided that was unnecessary as we were told the leader was released, resulting in a celebratory attitude and a safe environment in Stonetown. Nevertheless, I'm sure some tensions were still high. Approaching the police station, we heard a series of "thwumps" from inside. I can't describe too well what they sounded like, but following them was a shrieking wail. A primal, uncontrolled cry. It became clear what was happening, a man was being tortured. We talked about it later and decided we weren't sure if it was more a show for the public as a scare tactic or punishment for the sake of punishment, but it was unsettling. It sure didn't seem like a James Bond movie where Bond just bites his lip and gives a "you can't break me" badass look to the torturer, it seemed more like a "Okay, you broke me, STOP, PLEASE" desperation.
We made a bee line back to our hotel to be in a safe place in case anything did happen in the streets. Fortunately, WE were all fine and able to enjoy a comfortable, delicious, rooftop dinner overlooking the sites of the city. Our last night of vacation, with a bit of a scare.
To Dar Es Salaam, Amsterdam, and SFO (Oct 21-22)
Our next day was a lot more peaceful. In the morning we headed out for a tour of a spice plantation. We were shown around by a really engaging, fun guide. We got to see, taste (when appropriate), and smell aloe plants, cloves, cinnamon, and many other plants and fresh fruits. I might have appreciated this more if I cooked, but I thought it was pretty cool, anyway! At the conclusion of the tour we haggled for some spices, coffees, and teas, then returned to Meru Meru to check out. |
| Dar at evening |
Our flights to AMS and then to SFO were uneventful. Then finally, the trip was over. Calvin drove us home with Alli's car. And on Oct 22 I was back at my place in Mountain View and exhausted with jet lag. But I got back just in time to see the Giants win game 7 of the NLCS. Not a bad welcome back :)
And as I write this I still haven't transitioned back into California life, a month later. Climbing Kili was something I had dreamed about for years. Seriously prepared for the past ten months. Intensely and specifically trained for the last month and a half. We did it. We had our pictures, our souvenirs, our memories, and they were great. But there was also now a void in me. An emptiness. And I'm trying to figure out how to fill it. What the next step is. I am lucky and happy to have my full time job which is far from a dream job, but certainly comfortable. But spending 8 hours of my day coding and another 2 driving pales in comparison to the adventure EACH day was in Africa. And the months leading up were stressful but purposeful. Then I have to think, well, if I made a living in Tanzania, odds are my 8 hours might be filled with manual labor such as farming, or working as a porter. And unless I was rich enough to own a touring company, I likely would never travel.
But enough rambling. I will always remember Calvin claiming on our trek we were at Kibo when we were only 13,500 ft up. Pat shouting "F- you" at a thief bird. Our head porter teaching us daily Swahili lessons. How beautiful Mawenzi and Kibo looked after snowfall. Coming back to Moshi to share how proud we were we had summited with our friends back home. Watching lions approach our car in their natural habitat. Yitzhak calling me "Muzungu" every 2 minutes. Julius showing us what "Uzuri Sana" was. The beautiful site of the Indian Ocean rushing up on white sand. The painful sting of sea urchin barbs. The frightening shriek of a tortured man. And sunset over Stonetown from a rooftop. And those minutes we spent on the crater rim of Kibo, atop Africa, will always seem surreal, and like all the stress and sacrifice was well worth it.
 |
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