Catch up on Zanzibar and Southern Tanzania

We had a great time in Zanzibar and even met the son of the president of Zanzibar. I love mixing with the rich and famous! Although I don't know how posh it is to be drinking warm beers on a beach in Zanzibar but at least he was an extremely interesting guy and we had a great day with him. We spent our last day in Stone town buying souvenirs which now make our backpacks even heavier and we still have one month to go. We took a fast boat back to Dar, as apposed to a slow ferry, and had a super fun ride. I felt like I was ten again and back on the Demon at Great America. The ocean was pretty choppy and the wind was blowing hard and with our speed it all combined together to make a stomach dropping ride. Every once in awhile the boat would lift up and then plunge back down into the water. Every time I did that I wanted to throw my hands up in the air! We also had dolphins swim along side of the boat and at one point in front of us. Silly things didn't they know that we were flying and they could have been run over. Back in Dar we were deciding whether to go straight to Mbeya (near the border of Malawi) by train or stopping along the way by bus and maybe joining in on a Safari. We eventually deciding, because of the cost $$$, to go by train. I had been trying to call all week,with no luck, to book the tickets and so finally the day before we went to the train station. We took the local transport, Dalla Dalla, which is a small mini bus. For 20 cents you jam in there with about 50 other people and hope you don't get stepped on or pick pocketed. I have seen many of these buses from the outside with people hanging out the door and others faces smashed up against the window, quite a sight. By the time we got to the train station the booking office was closed so we just decided to risk it and show up the next day for the train. The next morning before we took the taxi and left our guesthouse I tried calling one more time and this time got thru and was told that the train was all sold out! Again our train trip was foiled and we now had no other option than going the next day by bus. That following morning we got on a supposedly 5hr bus trip to Iringa in southern Tanzania but as usual it wasn't 5 hrs but instead 9hrs! Aside from stopping in every single town on the way to pick up and drop off customers we also had a lot of road construction and many delays due to that. Luckily we had a TV on board and got to watch tons of music videos by local artists and even some Swahili comedy shows. The music videos got old pretty quick as you can't really tell one song from the next and they usually last like 20 mins each. The comedy show was even worse since we don't understand Swahilli and the humor was not evident. But the bus driver seemed to enjoy the show and has he drove he would crane his neck back and glance up at the TV! Then at one of the stops, due to construction, where we sat on the road for about 15mins Antonio nudged me and pointed to the driver. I was quite surprised to find him taking a little snooze! Poor guy must have been really tired! The rest of the trip I was kind of freaked wondering if the 15min cat nap did him any good or maybe wasn't enough for the next 3 hours that he still had to drive. Finally at about 7pm we arrived in Iringa and were glad to get to our guest house which is quite nice compared to what we have been living in for the last few weeks. We actually have one big bed, yes at night Antonio and I both roll to the middle but so what, we have hot water and breakfast included. We finally have signed on to a Safari with two others and tomorrow leave for a two day one night Safari! I am hoping to see lots of lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!


After that it is off to Malawi.