Zanzibar

I've been in Zanzibar for a week now. I was in Stone Town for a couple of days, a mostly Arab-like town with small narrow winding streets, a real maze that one gets lost in. It was fun exploring even though the buildings are decrepit and falling down, except for the hotels, of course, which are quite nice. I also went on a spice tour which was very interesting. The main cash crop is cloves. There is also vanilla, cinnamon, cardamon, pepper, cacao, none of which are native to Zanzibar - all except vanilla (Mexico) came from Asia. There are also many tropical fruits-coconut, banana, mango, papaya, avocado, starfruit, passion fruit, none of which are native. The mangoes are to die for.
Then I went to a lovely resort, Matemwe Beach, which has endless beach with fine white sand. I did one day of snorkeling which was spectacular - saw many wonderful colorful fish, and a bonus were 4 dolphins which were swimming and diving along side the boat. I dived in to see them underwater, but it was a brief glance because they were off swimming powerfully away. The beach unfortunately was not much of a swimming beach since it is very shallow and the tide comes way in and goes way out. I swam some, but it wasn't very nice. I walked the beach, however, and went for a short sail in a dhow, one of the traditional boats, one large sail and like an outrigger or catamaran -all out of wood of course. That was fun. Breakfast and dinner were included and the dinners were yummy with lots of fish. I met some interesting people that I hung out with. There I had all the time in the world to email, but it cost $5 for half an hour. Now I'm back in Stone Town and it is 50 cents for half an hour. I'll take the plane this afternoon to Arusha and then on to the school.

I had wanted to write more about the safari. We visited 4 parks, Maasai Mara which is the same as the Serengeti, except in Kenya, Lake Nakuru which I mentioned before with all the birds. Hell's Gate which has beautiful SW American kind of landscape. The good think about being there was we biked among the herds of zebra and gazelles and warthogs (all very timid) and some of us did a hike. After days and days in the vans, the physical activity was good. Then we went to Amboseli where we had spectacular views of Kilmanjaro. For one whole day it was clear. At night there was a full moon in that park. We camped most of the nights. Food was great; toilets not so great.

Here's a few of the animal highlights which Paula and I compiled: 3 cheetahs scent marking a tree in turn, male lion shadowing female and mating with her, female lion rolling on her back after mating looking quite content, male impala protecting his harem, 44 elephants heavily moving across the road to the waterhole with Kilimanjaro in the background, hyena immersing it's hind quarters in a muddy puddle. baby rhino nursing, flamings ballet dancing through the waters, pelicans moving together like a barge and then eating in unison, 9 hyenas eating a buffalo kill then scattering when the lion approaches, and jackals looking on, female baboons and monkeys carrying babies on their backs with babies clinging tightly, silly warthogs trotting, then stopping to look back and forgetting to run, feet still in the air, hippos snorting and submerging, crazy looking wildebeest frolicking together and running off with their uneven gait. The safari really was amazing; we saw so many animals and so very close.

After, in Nairobi, I went with Paula and Chuck and friends to the Giraffe Center where we got to feed the giraffe. Their long tongues reached into our fists for the pellets - all we could do was giggle.

You all probably know more about what is happening in Kenya than I do. I haven't seen a newspaper or heard a TV report since I came here. Once back in Arusha, newspapers from Kenya will be available. The school is in a village, however, so I'll probably be cut off from the news again.