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Weeks 55 – 58: Nungwi, Dolphins and Goodbyes

This is the longest I have gone without posting here, a whole four weeks, there is quite a lot to catch up on. Most of this time has been Ramadhan so food was an issue for a while. Week 55 was spent in Nungwi, the Aston group went to stay there for four nights, we (Me, Mohammed and Sian) went up for three but rented a friends house in the village, to save money, rather than staying in a hotel. After a tiring four days relaxing on beautiful beaches we needed to unwind so we went to Kizimkazi on the Sunday to swim with dolphins again. When we arrived back in Makunduchi we met a new Zanzigap volunteer called Janet who had come to teach nursery children for around 6 weeks and was now living in the house with me and Mohammed.

Africa Trip

Week 56 was quite uneventful, my teaching is on hold because of the Ramadhan holidays so I spent a few days sorting out the house and catching up on my journal. Janet was disappointed to find out that all the schools are closed during her time here, so she wouldn’t be able to teach, which was the only reason she paid to come here. Another two people arrived from England on holiday, my old friend and house mate Katie, and a new friend called Michael. I visited them a few times during the week too. The Aston group left at the end of the week so I travelled into town with Mohammed, Katie and Michael to see them off. While we were there two more people arrived, one of my old school teachers and his daughter.

Week 57 was much the same as week 56. We had no teaching to do so we spent our time visiting Katie, Michael, John and Annie down at the hotel. Janet decided that she should go home early as there was nothing for her to do here, so she changed her flight to the weekend. John and Annie left towards the end of the week and the rest of us headed into town to meet Michael as he returned from his safari on the mainland. Janet left on the Saturday, Michael arrived that afternoon, Mohammed left on Sunday and Michael left on the Monday.

Africa Trip

Week 58 was Katie’s last week in Zanzibar so we spent three nights in Nungwi. We rented my friends house again to keep costs down and spent most of the time sunbathing, this was lucky because Katie had her purse stolen from her bag as we were travelling North to Nungwi. When we returned to Makunduchi Katie moved into the school house with me for her last couple of days, then we both headed into town for her last weekend. She got the ferry to Dar es Salaam on Sunday and I came back to Makunduchi. Now I have the house to myself until the 18th September when the next Zanzigap person will arrive. Before then I need to extend my visa, which ends at the end of the month, so that I can stay for another three months. Hopefully I can use this time to get my motorbike sold and sort out India.

Africa Trip

Africa Blog Posts, Blog Posts

Weeks 48, 49 & 50: Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar

Week 48 started well, we managed to get our bikes into Dar es Salaam port and onto a ship. Once the bikes had been secured we headed to the ferry terminal and took a ferry to Zanzibar. We hoped to get the bikes off the ship quite quickly the next day and head to Makunduchi, unfortunately the process took around 9 hours, so when we got the bikes at around 6pm, just before sunset, we decided to stay another night in Stone Town. So on Wednesday morning we set off from Stone Town to Makunduchi. We arrived just before the end of school (1pm), it was a great feeling to drive my bike into the school and see my friends for the first time in six years. We talked about the changes in the school and took a walk into the village to see my friends new son.

Africa Trip

Although we had an offer to stay in the school house, we decided that we would prefer to sleep at the beach, so we drove down to the beach and walked around looking for a good spot. While we were walking on the beach we met a guy who worked in the one hotel in Makunduchi and he offered to give us a tour. Swimming in the pool was a Dutch doctor who is doing some charity work in the local hospital, she offered to let us stay in her spare room for the night. The next morning we headed off to Jambiani for a few days, but agreed to meet the Dutch doctors again, during the weekend, to swim with dolphins in Kizimkazi. We camped the beach next to a bar for a few days, enjoying the beach, and took a trip out to the coral reef to do some snorkelling.

Africa Trip

On Saturday the Dutch doctors arrived in Jambiani and decided to stay there a night so that they could watch a football match. The guy we had met on the beach in Makunduchi actually lived in Kizimkazi so I managed to negotiate to get the four of us out on a dolphin trip very cheap (around 8 US dollars each). I had been swimming with the dolphins a few times before but this time there were around 15 dolphins, so it made for an awesome experience. On the way back to the shore we stopped to snorkel for a while, I found a huge Triton Shell Sea Snail and our captain said he wanted to take it back to shore. We got back to the village and ate the snail with rice and a coconut sauce.

Africa Trip

After lunch we took the doctors back to Makunduchi and headed to Nungwi, on the way north we went through a police check point, Charlie was arrested because he didn’t have the correct permits to drive in Zanzibar, but they let him go when he signed a bail agreement. When we arrived in Nungwi I managed to negotiate some cheap accommodation in a bar which is not currently open for business, the guard had a pet monkey which he let me care for while I was in the area. The next morning Charlie drove to the court to see what punishment they would give him, in the end he just had to pay a bribe to the police and then buy the permits. We spent a few days around the beach, swimming and snorkelling. The best place for snorkelling is a small island called Mnemba Atoll, again we managed to negotiate a cheaper price (13 US dollars instead of 20). The snorkelling was great and we stopped on the beach for lunch before going back to Nungwi.

From Nungwi we headed back to Stone Town so that Charlie could take a ferry back to Tanzania. Charlie left on the Thursday and I headed back to Makunduchi. On my way down to the beach I bumped into two old friends, one of them is now the manager of the hotel on Makunduchi beach, he offered to let me stay there for free so I agreed. I have been there since Saturday but hope to move back into my old house in the village soon. My money has pretty much run out but I have three life-lines which I am looking into. Firstly there is the 450 Euro which the Namibian government still owes me, I have actually heard from them and they are ready to do a bank transfer. Secondly, I need to sell my motorbike, I can concentrate on this a little more once I move back into my old house and can unpack and carry out a few minor repairs. Thirdly, I have heard about some temporary teaching work which pays around 600 US dollars a month. While this isn’t much money, it is actually enough to live on with some left over to save. At the same time I need to start planning my time in India, I need to find a job before I can apply for a working visa so I need to find something soon.