On to Zanzibar

Just after I had hit the save button on the last blog entry Fatima arrived at the hotel and we went in search of a taxi to go to the airport. She got a couple of offers but rejected them because they wanted too much money. Eventually we found one that she thought was reasonable and in we scrambled. The driver was ridiculous as I have learnt that all taxi drivers the world over are. This time, however, was the closest I have come to being in an accident. The driver was going way too fast and didn’t anticipate another taxi stopping abruptly in the middle of the road, he hit the brakes but that patch of road was loose gravel so the car just carried on going forward. We stopped just centimetres from the car in front. Of course the driver did not learn anything from this and continued to drive recklessly fast, overtake on blind corners and rises and tailgate any other vehicle on the road. I was grateful when we got to the airport.

Despite being at the airport extremely early, the check-in counter for Kenya Airways was already open so I handed over my suitcase and then just chilled out waiting to be let through security. This was the first time in over a week I had seen a TV and then learnt of the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The time passed really quickly while watching the news.

The immigration and security check went smoothly and this was followed by a further wait to be allowed onto the plane. Fortunately there were more TVs there so I tried to watch some more but kept on being harassed by some character from the Department of Foreign Affairs who clearly had decided he wanted to be friends. He came and said hello and how are you then left, five minutes later he was back to tell me who he worked for, then he came back again to give me ALL his contact details. It was endless! In between all this I spotted someone that I met in Mauritius in 2008 at the Nansis training course and we had a catch up chat. He was on his way to Sri Lanka to a tuna commission meeting.

On the plane I discovered that I had been assigned to a seat right at the back that had also been assigned to someone else. Fortunately there were spare seats available and he graciously moved elsewhere. The flight was okay only one and a half hours but frustrating because we flew directly over Zanzibar to get to Nairobi – they could have just kicked me and my suitcase out the door as we flew over. Actually spending the night in Nairobi was a tiny piece of heaven and well needed bit of luxury after the Comoros.

It was wonderful to have a hot shower, a comfortable bed and some respite from the humidity and the mosquitoes. I had to wade through an almost endless list of emails that had accumulated unanswered through the week but once that was done I went straight to sleep.

In the morning I attacked the hearty breakfast served by the Country Lodge as if I had not seen food for weeks …. Well I hadn’t seen good food for almost a week J. I spent the morning relaxing. Fortunately the hotel let me keep my room until noon at no extra charge and then I just had an hour to wait until I was collected to go back to the airport.

On the flight over to Zanzibar I was sitting next to a very chatty woman who is originally from Zanzibar but has been living in Oslo for the last 18 years. She was a tour guide for a group of 20 Norwegians who had been to the Masai mara game reserve and were on their way to spend 5 days in Zanzibar before returning to Norway. It was a bit strange that she was their guide as she seemed a little uninformed about African animals and asked me the name of the animal with a horn on its nose! Makes me think I should start a career as a tour guide, at least I would know what animals everyone was looking at. We had a good chat about anything and everything though and I found out that she knows Narriman Jiddawi (my Zanzibari partner). She said she would stop by and say hello sometime.

I was expecting a bit of trouble at the Zanzibar immigration because there normally is but besides the woman officer being the most unfriendly person I have come across, it went off okay. I got my visa, some Tanzanian shillings, my suitcase and a taxi in very short time.

It was wonderful to arrive at the Abuso Inn! I stay at this local little hotel every time I come to Zanzibar and this time was greeted by the owner with “I don’t need to tell you anything, you know where everything is”. This morning he brought me a little local donut type thing to my table for breakfast because he remembered that they are my favourite. It is wonderful to have that personal treatment in a hotel.

The view from my hotel window

Work was supposed to get under way at 09:30 this morning but as always on the first day things took a little while. Most of the people at the workshop have been here every year for the last four years so they know exactly what is cooking. We just went through the database quickly to refresh memories and then the work really began. There were a few questions but really nothing too major. It is great that they just get on with it and I can do some database maintenance at the same time.

The tour guide stopped by to say hello and she said I must meet her for coffee after work at Mercury’s restaurant. Well here I am at Mercury’s and she is nowhere in sight. It is a cool place and one I have never been to before (it is really expensive but I think I can afford a coke J). It is right on the beach next to the Institute for Marine Science so very convenient with a great view. So that is all from me today, I am going to kick back and drink in the scenery.

Take care everyone!

The view from Mercury's Restaurant

The view from Mercury's Restaurant 2