20 - 22 March - Worst ride EVER / Nairobi

20 March

Dar Es Salaam – Nairobi

Bus of death

Steph:

4:30am wake up call. Ugh. Again, I slept like crap at this place so when the alarm finally went off I was ready to go. Our cab was wonderfully punctual and by 5:45 we were on the bus to Kenya.

The driver was a maniac. A complete idiot. From the very get go, he almost rolled us off the road getting out of the parking lot. Seriously, the whole entire 14 hours, I felt like we were about to die. I got car sick in the first 10 minutes and it didn't really ever go away. He was going so fast and being incredibly reckless.

On top of not being able to relax one bit, Erik got some sort of stomach bug. I think it may have been heat exhaustion. His temperature went through the roof, he was naseous and had bathroom issues. That's not a good thing when the driver won't even consider stopping. We stopped twice in 14 hours. It sucked.

It was not a good day. Luckily, we arrived in Nairobi (alive) and the transition to the hotel wasn't as scary as we thought it would be. We found a nice cab driver to take us to the YMCA (also a hostel) and we got a little room that was more than adequate. Erik went straight to sleep after we medicated him a bit and I, stupidly, took my malaria meds without any food. After vomitting a few times, I also crashed.

Oi.

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21 March

Nairobi

Steph:

Pretty unproductive day. We slept for a lot of it. And then went looking for bike boxes. It was a long walk and we were both grumpy. Better luck tomorrow hopefully.

Erik:

Nairobi is a realy city. Even more so than Lusaka. It's pretty crazy. Our quest for bike boxes was a failure though. I feel terrible, but better than yesterday.

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22 March

Nairobi

Erik:

Got bike boxes!! Took more naps and tried to recover. I don't really care for Nairobi. Just another big city. Kenyans are very nice though. I really like them.

19 March - Zanzibar - Dar Es Salaam

19 March

Zanzibar – Dar Es Salaam

Ferry

Steph:

I woke up early to call my dad. It was really good to talk to him and made me really miss home. I'll be ready to go back when we go. It's been an incredible trip but a long one and I'm actually really excited to start living in the house and being at home.

After a delicious breakfast, we said goodbye to the guys. I'm really glad we did have the chance to meet up with them and exchange travel stories. Last night was a lot of fun.

Erik went to buy ferry tickets while I continued working on the blog. The ride back to Dar was pretty uneventful. I really enjoyed Stone Town but I think Zanzibar was a bit too touristy for me. I realized that it was actually the first touristy place we've done on this whole trip. Arusha is right up there but we really just walked around there. I've decided that I enjoy our kind of travel more than feeling like I'm being herded from one spot to the other. Oh, Victoria Falls as well I guess. But even that was very mellow.

From the ferry we walked back to the YWCA, left our stuff and went on an adventure trying to find bus tickets to Nairobi. It took us a while but we accomplished our mission. We sort of ran out of time for dinner though and didn't feel like browsing Dar in the dark trying to find a decent place so we splurged and had a huge burger at the fanciest Holiday Inn I've ever seen. Both of us struggled to finish it. But we are in Africa, nothing goes to waste and you finish what's on your plate. :)

Scooter Addicts :)

18 March - Scooter Addicts

18 March

Jambiani – Stone Town

Dala Dala

Erik:

After a pleasant morning swim, we caught the Dala Dala back to town. This one was really crowded but made fewer stops. We checked into Manch Lodge and wandered around for a while. For lunch, we found the most amazing soup for less than a dollar. It had potatoes and beef and tomatoes and chips and a whole bunch of who knows what. With a chili sauce and lemon juice. Delicous.

At around 4pm, Chris and the guys showed up. They had left their scooters in Dar and came to enjoy a few days on the beach. We hung out with them until really late. It was fun and really good to see Chris again.  

CHRIS!!!!

15 - 17 March - Jambiani

15 March

Jambiani

Erik:

Today we walked out to the shelf during low tide to watch the women gather sea weed. They harvest it here, pull it out, dry it in the sun and sell it to get exported for a ridiculously low price per bag. It's hard work in the sun, but they seem to have a good time gossiping, yelling and laughing out there. On the plus side, as soon as the water comes back in (~2pm), their work is over.

That was our big adventure for the day.

Steph "partook" with effect for the first time. Giggles was hilarious.

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16 March

Jamibian #2

Steph:

L-A-Z-Y Day! We swam in the morning which was lovely and just hung around all day. It's too hot to sun tan since the water is almost a mile away during low tide and the heat is ridiculous. So my tan lines will remain ridiculous forever. Tula, our neighbor, is a sweet lady who rescued three kittens from starvation and has been taking care of them for a month now. They're sweet and fun to play with.

A local boy likes to come over and play here. He's about 10 and Tula gives him pen and paper to draw with. He's a beautiful kid and speaks a tiny bit of english. So we hung out. At one point I pulled out the lap top and asked him if he wanted to watch a movie. I thought it'd be fun to show him "The Lion King", since a few of the names are in Swahili. It was awesome and he loved it. I watched him the whole time, and he was totally into it. When Pumba and Timon start singing Hakuna Matata (which actually means "no problem") he almost fell over laughing. It was great. When it was over, he said, "Thank you. Tomorrow.", pointed out the door and went home.

:)

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17 March

Jambiani #3

Erik:

It rained!!! It was cool to be in the ocean when it started coming down. The weather is so humid now though. We've been having lunch at a small restaurant down the beach. Their Fish Kebabs are delicous and the waiters already know what we're going to have. We slept away most of the morning and went for a walk in the afternoon to watch the fishermen bring in their catch.

Tomorrow we head back to town.  

14 March - To the BEACH!

14 March

Stone Town – Jambiani

~30 Miles on the Dala Dala

Steph:

We had to negotiate quite a bit today. The guy at the dala dala completely tried to rip us off with the Mzungu price when we knew that the actual price is a third of that. We had none of it and actually walked away before he came running, laughing, saying, "ok, ok". I felt a little bad because we were haggling over a dollar but the next mzungus who walked up immediatly agreed to the ridiculous amount they asked us to begin with, so they more than made up for it.

When we sat down, a guy came in with us and asked if we needed a place to stay in Jambiani. He claimed that his cousin has a place for us for a good price and wanted us to agree right there. I thought it was slightly sketch but he called his cousin and handed the phone over to Erik (I don't exist here, btw – all the men only talk to erik). They had a conversation and hung up. Erik said we'd see when we got there. Hmmm.

When we arrived, Habitu (the cousin on the phone) was waiting for us and lead us down a street while all the other mzungus in the dala dala went somewhere else. I thought, "uh oh, here we go". But it was GREAT! Habitu is super nice and manages a two room house that he rents out. It's lovely, right on the beach, two room, two bath, with a kitchen, at a great price. Way better than anything else we've heard of. Score.

The water is beautiful. So clear.

Erik:

We got the price down from 4000Tsh pp and 2500Tsh for our bag to 5000Tsh for the both of us including the bag. Not bad for a 50k drive and still more than the locals pay. The interior of the island is "bleh" but the beaches are spectacular. We got a room in a house on the beach for $22/night. Woot. Our neighbor is an older South African cat lady.

The water is really warm at first high tide but it should cool down in the morning. We went and ate at the Starfish, which is the place that Nick had told us about in Livingstone. Had a beer, played some pool, got owned.

All in all, a pleasant day. It's darn hot though!

Our house!

13 March - Magical Stone Town

13 March

Stone Town

Erik:

Picture day!

We just wandered around and took pictures. Steph and Helen wanted to do some shopping in the many small shops. Finished up at the night market again and had "Zanzibar Pizza". Pretty good eats for just over a dollar. The rest of the stands definitely over charge.

Steph:

Breakfast was impressive on the rooftop. Omlette, bread, fruit and tea. We met back up with Helen and found some awesome Aladdin pants! They're the comfiest thing I've ever worn. Erik bought a bright orange Africa shirt that's pretty cool and we spent the afternoon walking around taking pictures and getting lost. The market was really cool but slightly expensive. There are very defined "tourist prices" vs "local prices", but that's ok, they can get away with it here. There were spice stands everywhere, which was cool. We wanted to see the old Slave Market, but the entrance fee was more than our already bursting daily budget allows so that became a no-go. It was still a great day though.

People are friendly. You get the occasional "tour guide" who just won't leave you alone until you're forced to be slightly rude, but for the most part a, "no thank you sir" is enough. They say "Karibu" (welcome) and move on.

We decided to head to a beach called Jambiani tomorrow. It's on the eastern coast of the island. The northern towns and beaches are said to be over-run by tourists, volunteers and souvenir vendors. Not really our scene right now. Jambiani is supposed to be chilled out with locals, fishermen and rastas.

We got some internet at Manch Lodge (down the street from ours) and agreed to meet up with Chris and co on Monday. So we'll spend the weekend on the beach and come back to Stone Town on monday to hang out with them.

Good day!

Narrow roads of Stone Town

Rice. What would we do without it? 

So many different types of bananas

Pretty ladies

Awesome buildings

Pretty, eh?

Cool

Old Fort

Old Fort

11 - 12 March - Zanzibarians!

11 March

Arusha – Dar Es Salaam

401 Miles - Bus

Erik:

Loong bus ride. At least we got to watch 8 hours of religious Tanzanian movies! We made a friend. His name is Ray and he's a journalist from Dar, living in Nairobi. We got Dar at dusk and caught a Tuk Tuk. What a crazy ride. We eventually found the YWCA and got some dorms. It was full of some interesting people. We all chatted for a bit and then Steph and I hit the hay a bit early.

Steph:

I met Petronella on the bus. A really nice, large woman dragging her wide eyed one year old around. She sat down across the aisle from me and we shared our life stories. She was funny. When she was getting uncomfortable or trying to dig around for something she's just hand over her baby and he'd sit there and stare at me with those intensely black eyes. It happened a few times during the 8 hour drive. At one point we stopped at a rest point and she was having trouble so I offered to help. She said, "yes, thank you" and handed me the kid instead of the bag I was reaching for. Then she grabbed the bag and walked off the bus. And then she continued walking! She went off to buy a drink and then on to the food stand without ever looking back. I chased her around for a few minutes through all the people carrying her kid. She wasn't concerned at all! When I finally caught up to her, she turned around and looked at me as if to say, "what?". My excuse when I handed her her child was that I had to go to the toilet. It was funny.

There's an interesting mix of Islam and Christianity here in Dar. We're staying right next to a church which is right next to a mosque. The people of Tanzania are 40% Islamis, 40% Christian and 20% follow traditional beliefs. I love the diversity and I love that everyone gets along.

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12 March

Dar Es Salaam – Zanzibar

46 Miles - Ferry

Steph:

I had the wort headache last night. I couldn't sleep because of it and it stunk because the beds were perfectly comfortable and the mosquito nets were intact. Around 5am I finally snuck into Erik's room to steal the advils. Breakfast is included here at the YWCA and consisted of a peice of toast, a slice of watermelon and a boiled egg. I felt full which means that my giant cycling appetite is finally shrinking :)

We walked over to the ferries to buy our tickets over to the island. A ton of guys started hassling us on our way over there trying to sell us cheaper tickets on their sketchy boats. After fending off a few of them, we decided to speak only spanish and get rid of them that way. It was working, he didn't know what I was saying and I kept telling him we were in Dar Es Salaam when he asked where we were going. UNTIL he called over to his buddy John, pointed at me and yelled, "espanola!". Haha! Darn it. Then the whole thing started in surprisingly great spanish. Fail.

A few hours later we were in ZANZIBAR!!! Even the water in the harbor is crystal clear! It's beautiful and looks like the Bahamas from the boat, with it's colors, architecture and the color of the water. But as soon as you step on land you feel the middle eastern influence. I love it. The way people dress, I guess, is the most obvious sign. I don't know how the women handle this heat. But they do, and they do it gracefully. Some just cover up their hair while others wear the full burkas. The men wear their prayer caps and robes. A lot of store signs are in kiswahili as well as arabic and you get a whiff of spices whenever a breeze decides to blow by. About 85% of people, especially older men, say, "Karibu" (Welcome) and smile as you walk by. The maze of narrow streets reminds me of Venice. The buildings are old, rundown and the paint is faded and chipped. It's glorious. People come from all over the world to take pictures of the famous doors of Zanzibar. It's pretty much impossible to take a bad photo of the large, thick and incredibly intricate carved doors. Windows are just as pretty and their paint is usually better maintained and bright compared to the dull appreance of the rest of the building. The view from our hotel is of a big, blue sky, palm trees, rooftop gardens, the Catholic Cathedral all with the muslim call to prayer in the background. You look down at the alley below and see children running and laughing as the scooters swerve expertly around them. There is more culture and history in this town than any other place I've seen in Africa. I'm totally in my element.

Erik:

The ferry ride over was decent and on calm waters. Stone Town is amazing. We wandered an hour trying to find our guest house. We had a really persistant (and annoying) man follow us the whole way. Finally got rid of him. We went to explore and ran into Helen again. We had met her in Lilongwe (Malawi), then again in Chitimba and how here.

For dinner, we went to the night food market. It was ok. Apparently Zanzibar is like Cancun for a lot of Europeans so it's pricey and touristy. But well worth it.  

Dar Es Salaam

Zanzibar Harbor

View from Flamingo Lodge

Breakfast at Flamingo Lodge

10 March - Snakes!

10 March

Snake Park

0 Miles

Steph:

We, again, were in a delicate state today. It was Geoff's (another overlander) birthday last night and Dave kept being super generous and buying us rounds. It was really fun. I love how close everyone is. Erik and I went to bed around 2am, before things got really out of hand :)

After eating breakfast with our little clan, I snuck off to do some laundry and pack the rest of our things away. The snakes at snake park get fed on sundays so that was the big event of the day.

It was awesome. In a slightly sick way, of course, because you're watching baby chicks get swallowed whole by vicious dinosaur looking monsters, but really cool anyway. Dave, Amy (development worker from UK), Erik and I kept running back and forth between all the displays waiting for one of them to strike.

When feeding time was over, we visited the Maasai Craft Market next door. It was nice.

The evening consisted of all of us chatting about life and traveling and future plans. Dave, Ishi, Amy and Wayne (from SA) are awesome and we're sad to leave them tomorrow.

9 March - Yes, there's room for you!

9 March

Arusha (Snake Park)

Erik:

Dave got Steph and I slightly intoxicated last night. Ma and BJ (owners of Snake Park) fed us dinner and breakfast, Wayne is a super chill S. African overlanding with no schedule, Amy is a development worker from Yorkshire and Dave and Ishi rock. We love our new friends. We all get on really well and just chat and drink. It's fun.

Steph:

We were in no condition to set up the tent last night. Haha! But somehow did it anyway. It's baffling and impressive :)

Snake Park is a very cool place. It's a major stop for most overland trucks and caters almost exclusively to them. The owners are Ma and BJ, from South Africa, and the way Dave and Ishi greeted them last night makes one think that they are their favorite aunt and uncle. This community is really close knit. Every truck stops here aprox every 3 months, if not more often, for several days while passangers go on Safaris in the nearby parks. So the crews get to bond and know each other like family. Ish said it felt good to be home.

In addition to running the campsite, Ma and BJ started a free clinic for the local community. It's top notch and the only one in the area that treats snake bites. It's funded 100% by the "World Famous" Bar. It's one of the coolest I've ever seen and, thanks to the overlanders, packed every night. AND they also have a little bit of a zoo. A ton of snakes, all of them local and most of them lethal. Black and Green Mambas, all kinds of cobras, vipers, pythons, etc. They're really cool. Plus, a few crocodiles, monitor lizards, tortoises and several birds that have been injured and rehabilitated.

So yeah, this place is great. We've been introduced as "the stow-aways" and accepted into the group very graciously.

Today we went to Arusha to get some things done. The main goal was to find some bus tickets to Dar Es Salaam. Done. After some internet, laundry soap and getting hassled a bunch, we decided to take a matatu (mini bus – you know the ones that drive crazy fast and we've been avoiding on the bikes) back to the camp to save some money. We finally found one going the right direction but it was full. As in FULL full. People's arms and legs were practically hanging out of the windows. But does that stop anyone in Africa? No, it doesn't. So here we go, the mzungus are squeezing in. There are no seats left and (somehow) 3 people are already standing. So we crawl into the space between the inside and the sliding door. Except the door won't shut anymore and so Ishi's (who is tall) one foot is literally hanging out of the car. I've got my hand on someone's leg and nothing to hold on to. Erik is squashed between the very large woman behind him and myself. Ishi's hair is in my face and I'm standing on one leg because there's just no room for my other foot. We're giggling (in the beginning) but everyone else on this car refuses to smile at us. They all just glared. It was a long 20 minutes. A really lonnnnnnng 20 minutes. Erik counted 33 people. I couldn't turn my head to count the ones behind me so I'll take his word for it. Toward the end, we were all cramping up and in pain but the whole thing was hilarious. Totally worth the $0.45 (vs $7usd each in a cab).  

Snake Park Bar

Matatu ride :)

8 March - Change of plans. AGAIN.

8 March

Karogwe – Arusha (Snake Park)

230 Miles

Steph:

Dave sleeps in the front cab of the truck and since we arrived so late, Erik, Ishi and I slept in the back. At 5-something am, Dave decided to head out without waking us up. That is, until he went over a giant pothole that sent all of us flying into the air. Good morning!

The landscape changed a little today. We went fron green mountains and hills to AZ like desert. It was hot too. There were a few parts of the road that were under construction which made us go pretty slow. More like we're used to on the bikes. It was nice. I waved at people and most waved back happily. We drove past a giant mountain range that reached the clouds. It was breathtaking. Kilimanjaro is supposed to be pretty visible from here, but since it's rainy season it's all covered up by clouds:(

We stopped for lunch in Arusha. It's a busy place with horrible traffic. Dave has been talking up this incredible sandwich for about 4 days now and we finally got to try it. Bacon, cream cheese, avocado on amazing bread and some magical ingredients. Pretty awesome.

Ishi asked her friend, Tiday Tidu (to-day to-do) to come talk to us about possibly doing a safari with his tour company. This guy is a very classy masai and incredibly nice. He offered us a really good price. Despite being a really good price, we can't really afford it or really justify it, especially for just 4 days. So Dave offered an alternative. Why don't we join them for the first leg of their overland tour. They go from Nairobi to Uganda, Rwanda and back to Nairobi in 19 days. It's expensive, but only about twice as much as the Safari here in the Serengeti AND we would be able to go hiking with Gorillas. GORILLAS!

After thinking about it for 3 minutes and we said, YES! We have about a month left before our flight home and we had thought of spending most of it on Zanzibar and then making our way to Nairobi, whether on the bikes or by train via Mombasa. BUT NOW!!! Here's the new plan:

We head to Dar es Salaam as soon as possible and spend a little more than a week in Zanzibar. Dave and Ishi take our bikes to Nairobi, we meet up with them there, climb on the truck (with other passangers this time) and they take us to Uganda/Rwanda, we go hiking in the jungle, find a gorilla family, chill with them for a while, then head back to Nairobi just in time for our flight back to Phoenix. Saavy?

Saavy :)

Now we're really broke.

Erik:

Got to Arusha around noon. Interesting town. Decided to book a Gorilla Loop trip with Oasis Overland for ~$2600 (19 days, 2 national parks & gorillas). The safaris are $1400 for 4 days.

Over-expenditure it is!!

Back to the desert and dust

A taste of Arusha

Traffic! Bleh. This would've stunk on the bikes :)

7 March - Baobabs, Elephants and mountains!

7 March

Forest Plantation – Karogwe

424 Miles

Erik:

We went through the Baobab Valley. There were tons of them everywhere. It was really cool. I drove up with Dave for most of the day while the girls hung out in the back. We also drove through Mikumi National Park. Dave said that sometimes he sees Elephants there but we ended up seeing Elephants, Buffalo, Giraffe, Impala and Zebra.

There was a group of Elephants right on the side of the road and we stopped to watch them. An adolecent male thought he would charge us but then changed his mind halfway. His trumpets ended up being really pathetic and very funny. It was cute.

We drove well into the night trying to find a place to stay. All in all it was a good day. The news is proclaiming Kenyatta as Kenya's president and that violence is minimal. So Kenya is a go again.

Steph:

That Elephant was so cute. You could tell he was young. The rest of his family just slowly wandered away from the road, not really bothered. But he wanted to be the big man and was clearly scared. He'd decide to charge and flapped his ears but then would turn around and shuffle away. Then a few meters later, he'd turn around and trumpet at us. It sounded more like in the cartoons, when a elephant trumpets but then someone grabs his trunk and he just runs out of air. You know what I'm saying? Super cute. I must say, coming across these guys on the truck is quite a different experience than on the bikes. I was looking down on them here and saying, "oh how cute". They were still cute on the bikes but about 3 times taller than me and I had to whisper it so I wouldn't get killed. :)

We stopped at a bus rest stop for lunch. It was a really yummy buffet thing for not very much money. The islamic influence is much more obvious here. From the dress to the "Salaam Aleikum" (spelling?). It's time to cover up the knees and shoulders. People are incredibly friendly and very welcoming.

This was the most mellow accident we saw. I was too distracted to pull out the cameras for the rest of them

Baobabs!!

The Tree of Life!

"I miss the rains down in AFRICA!!!!!"

Look! All of them together! 

The little hot shot. I want one.

6 March - Banana

6 March

Chitimba – Tanzania Bush Camp

282 Miles

Steph:

Again, it rained all night. We crossed into Tanzania and it was pretty straight forward. I noticed a difference in the people right away. On average, people are much heavier here. There are men with big bellies sitting around eating more. I don't recall seeing that in Malawi. People are still waving and smiling at us though. Maybe a little less. Ok, yeah, less, but it's better than just the stares we got in Botswana. There are also a ton of motorcycles! They're everywhere and used as taxis here. We stopped at a market for lunch and the street was full of women with baskets filled with bananas on their heads. Malawi had their corn, Tanzania has bananas. Three guys approached us immediatly yelling, "my friend, my friend, this way". I know they're just trying to earn a buck but they're kind of annoying. They'll point you in the general direction of something they think you need and then expect you to pay them for their service. This one in particular became very rude and started yelling when we refused to give him money for nothing. The market was cool though. We bought veggies to cook dinner with and some fried potatoes for lunch.

The scenery was really pretty. ALL MOUNTAINS covered in banana trees and Tea... plants? Tea leaf bush (i don't know what to call them), which were really cool. After a ridiculous down pour, we arrived in a forest platation. That was really weird. I never really expected to see a cold, wet pine forest in africa. We ended up taking a dirt road into the woods and camped under the stars. Ishi made a delicious lentil stew thing and I made mashed potatoes. Awesome. Then it got cold enough for our sleeping bags! Woo!

Erik:

The border was very professional. No one tried to rip us off which was nice. The roads in Tanzania are perilous though. They're way too narrow and trucks and Matatus (combis converted into mini buses) drive like idiots here. We saw at least 4 serious accidents where semi's had rolled off the highway. I'm glad we didn't cycle. Don't think we would've made it far. Life's different from the back of the truck. We got flipped off a few times, which has never happened before. We also drove through Mbeya, where we were going to hop on the train to Dar es Salaam. It was bad. Again, glad we didn't have to ride through there.  

All mountains

Tea leaves

Asante Sana Squash BANANA!!!

Pines?

5 March - Best ride EVER

5 March

Chitimba

0 Miles

Steph:

We decided to stay another day because we heard that a group of orphans is coming to take a few pitcures with some shirts that were donated. Dave wants to give them all a ride in the truck and the three of us (erik, ishi and myself) agreed to supervise the back.

They showed up around 3pm and there were 23 of them. In total, there about 500 from the village and surrounding areas, but only 23 shirts were donated. 500 Orphans. It breaks my heart. Anway, they were so excited about the truck. Most of them have never ridden in a vehicle before. The man in charge of them, George Washington, is older, beautifully wrinkled and a complete saint. You could tell from the huge smile on his face the entire ride that it meant a great deal to him seeing these kids so happy. And they were exstatic. Running from one side of the bus to the other, waving at everyone we drove by, singing songs and laughing. We put on Bob Marley and they went balistic. Something that we do every day without even thinking about it was an experience of a lifetime for these kids. I was on the verge of tears the whole entire ride. It was unbelievable. By far, one of the best experiences ever.

Enjoy the photos :)

Erik:

Today we rode in the truck for 45 minutes with 23 orphans from the village. They sang the whole way and were very excited. It was great. If nothing else had happened in Malawi, this would've made the whole trip worth it.

Good day.

That's Dave :) Bless him

Unfortunately, not everyone got to go

Ishi with the kiddies :)

George Washington, mayor of the town

Happy happy happy

It's all about the poses 

Ishi's glasses got passed around

Awesome kids