Zanzibar (Subtitle: Traveling with the British)

It’s official - I can now add Zanzibar (Tanzania) to the list of places I’ve visited while in Africa.    Last weekend was a HUGE music festival in Stone Town (the biggest city on Zanzibar Island), and so a bunch of the Kenay ADPers decided to make a trip over to experience African culture at its finest.  The ADPers staffed in Tanzania were our hosts - these are the same folks who we went on safari with back in December.  We’ve been planning this visit since that safari trip, and it definitely did not disappoint.

I arrived in Stone Town on Friday evening.  The first word to describe Zanzibar is HOT...the second is MUGGY.  Think Houston on its worst day...with no air conditioning.  Now imagine that everyone is Muslim, so you can’t go walking around in clothing too revealing.  This is why everyone has a nice “glow” about them in all of the pictures from the weekend.  But, I digress.

Stone Town is a quaint little town with definite Arabic influences in the architecture and people.  The streets are narrow and winding, with intricate carvings above the doorways and lots of little alleyways.  The culture is heavily Muslim, which means the women wear lots of bright colors and scarves, which adds to the mystique of the place.  Every year, there is a music festival called Sauti Za Busara (Sounds of Wisdom), which is “the” music festival in East Africa.  It’s all African musicians, and it takes place in the old fort in the middle of downtown.  There’s a main stage where the acts perform, and there’s another small area where food / crafts are sold, and a small amphitheater where they show films.  We saw 5-10 acts in the time we were there - my favorite was a group from South Africa - a woman and a man.  I’m no music critic, so I can’t say if they produced “quality”, but the beat and energy of their act was incredible.  You could literally FEEL yourself getting sucked into the music.  Amazing.

The next day we got up semi early (we had crashed in a very budget hostel with a definite lack of AC) and headed over to the east side of the island to a hotel called Arabian Nights (not to be confused with Arabian Night - turns out, that one is not as nice).  We had an amazing day of laying out, swimming, walking the beach, massages...once again, I was struck by how beautiful the coast is here.  Nothing but crystal blue waters and dhow boats as far as the eye can see.  It was pretty quiet on that side of the island (our group of 15 took up most of the hotel) but we made our own party.  Dinner was at a place down the beach called Paje by Night.  Let’s just say we ordered dawas...by the bucketful.  Yes, they came in buckets, similar to the buckets we use to chill wine in the States.  Incredible.  After a very boozy and hammock filled time at Paje, we decided we weren’t done for the night.  Thus, we had one of the waiters take us to a local “bar”.  Thus began the Harrowing Adventure of Saturday Night.  In short, we had this guide (who of course none of us had ever met before) leading us through a deserted village...after midnight...in the middle of nowhere.  We all had a moment of panic (oh man this guy could kill us at any time and no one would know) as we realized this might not have been the best choice.  After a 15 minute walk, we arrived at the “bar”, which was deserted - turns out the locals had heard us coming (probably the mumblings of fear) and, thinking we were the cops, had shut the place down.  They came back quickly though and things got going again.  The amazing thing was that this “bar” was basically a concrete slab with a fridge where they stored the beer.  The party was cut short by the power going out, but that just made our walk back with the guides (who were now our best friends) all the better as we could stare at the stars that seemed to go on forever.  

Sunday dawned bright (ouch) and early.  Most folks were leaving that day, so it was a pretty informal afternoon - pool time, more massages, and beach walks.  I did get to use my first aid kit (first time since I’ve been here!) as one of the guys stepped on an anemone - nothing serious, but we had to get the spines out.  I also had the most amazing beach nap of my life that afternoon...not sure why it is that beach naps are always so satisfying.  By early evening, most folks had gone - only 5 (Vicky, me, Laura, and Vicky’s friend Helen, who is visiting from the UK for the week) were left.  This is where TRAVELING WITH THE BRITISH begins.  It started innocently enough (with a low key dinner and a semi-early bedtime on Sunday to help us recover from all the fun the past two nights) but it was destined to be comedy.

Monday morning we woke up and headed over to the north side of the island, looking for a bit more of a lively atmosphere.  An hour and a half later, we were checking in to Flame Tree Cottages, which were quaint little beach cottages with verandahs.  No pool here, but more amazing views, and a great sand filled terrace with hammocks and sun loungers.  We immediately made for that area, and the rest of the afternoon was filled with drinking talking and relaxing.  I was (constantly) made fun of for my American ways, which apparently are nothing but amusing to my English counterparts.  They were rolling in laughter when I explained about Baylor’s live mascots and that we teach them to do the “sic ‘em bears” symbol.  They couldn’t seem to get enough of the fact that we get new bears every two years, and that students get to keep the bears.  Sadly, the “sic ‘em” hand signal (which I very clearly showed them) is now mocked by everyone in our group...it resembles jazz hands more than I’d like to admit.  They also loved the fact that I have become very picky since being in Africa - for example, I studied the lunch menu, and, finding nothing that suited me, proceeded to make my own order.  In addition, my English (and the tone in which I say things) has definitely become “British” tinged...being around the English all day has made me start saying things like “please may I” and “golly gosh” with alarming regularity, which of course makes them laugh all the harder.  We started our evening off with a good old round of Ring of Fire (who doesn’t love that game) and using accents “not your own” was one of the rules - “proud to be an American” (said in a very low gravelly voice) became the catch phrase of the night.  After Ring of Fire, we headed down the beach to find some dinner - we nearly had a catastrophe as most of the restaurants had closed down (we didn’t realize it was already nearly 11), but Laura, being the ace that she is, managed to convince one of the local restaurants to do take away fish and chips.  I have to say, that was the BEST fish and chips I’ve ever eaten - sitting at a table by the sea scarfing down fresh fish...amazing.  Afterwards, we headed to a post-music festival party, where we danced like crazy people until the morning hours.  I’m definitely becoming much more of a dancer here in Africa - can’t say I’m getting any better at it, but it’s more fun than it used to be!

Tuesday we headed back to Stone Town for a bit of shopping and sightseeing.  We ate lunch at a great little cafe, then it was time to jump our flight back to Kenya.  I really hope to get back to Zanzibar before I leave Africa - I know I say this every post, but this was definitely one of the best weekends I’ve had since I’ve been here.

Stage at the music festival....

Part of our group at the fest....

Enjoying the music

Food at the festival...fresh seafood, naan, chipatti, fruits, kebabs...needless to say, I made several stops here

Relaxing by the pool at the east shore

Best nap of my life...well, okay...best nap of that afternoon

Sundowners at Paje by Night...aka pre-dawa buckets!

 A few hours later...shots and dawa buckets begin

Hammock time starts...

And keeps going...

And then I start surfing my way home

Photo from the "bar" (aka table and fridge) later that evening

North Shore beaches

Valentine's Day in Zanzibar...life is rough

The best fish and chips EVER, thanks to Laura the Legend

 

Post fish and chips....very happy...and funnily, we ran into our friend Natalia, who we know from our ex-pat community in Nairobi...small small world

Helen, me, and Laura dancing to my new favorite song - "One More Night"

Views of Stone Town

Back home in Nairobi - finally, some cool air!

SUPERBOWL (early morning) MONDAY!!

I’m not the world’s biggest sports fan, but I do enjoy watching games - I’ve definitely missed football and college basketball while I’ve been here in Kenya.  I try to keep up on ESPN.com and baylorbears.com, but it’s just not the same.  So, I knew I just HAD to watch the Superbowl, even though it started at 2:30am on Monday morning.    So, me, Miss “I hate mornings” Hinsey woke up at 2am on Monday and took a cab across town to a Superbowl watching party at one of my pal’s apartments.  It was hosted by a Packers fan, and it was a great time - we had chips (Tostitos!!! from the Embassy store!!!) and salsa/guac, plus spinach and artichoke dip, brownies, popcorn - it was almost as good as watching at home. 

The most hilarious part of the game was that it was broadcast on AFN (armed forces network).  The actual game was the same (they just tap into the Fox broadcast), but the commercials are totally different.  They all seemed to fall into one of four categories:  1) speeches by important military figures, like Robert Gates, who I swear is dead inside - he didn’t blink once during his entire 30 second slot, 2) informative shorts about influential Americans like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jimmy Carter, and Teddy Roosevelt, 3) tutorials about military items (I now know the origins of counting ship speed in knots) or 4) public service announcements for soliders (examples:  “don’t waste your overseas deployment on the base...get out and see the city” and “don’t bottle up your feelings inside...share them with others!!”).  So, in short, not quite the commercials that everyone else was seeing, but funny just the same.  And I loved, loved, loved the halftime show...even if you couldn’t hear it very well.  

I managed to stay up for the entire game - what a match!  It definitely made me want to watch more sport - fair warning that I am going to hog the TV next time I’m in the States!

After the game, it was back home for an hour nap before diving headfirst into work - it’s the final week of this phase of the project so lots to do!  More updates on what’s next for me coming soon...

Weekend in Nakuru

This past weekend, I went to Nakuru with some of the folks that I met through the Hash.  One of the hashers, named Hina, has an uncle who owns a flower farm in Nakuru.  There are actually many flower farms in that region - flowers are one of the main Kenyan exports.  He and his family were going to be away for the weekend, so they invited Hina (who then invited us) to stay at his house and tour the farm.  We left on Saturday afternoon for the 2 hour drive up to Nakuru.  When we arrived, I felt like I was being taken back in time - the house is straight out of the colonial period (see below).  Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.  Wood floors, all old paneling, open room structure.  There was even a maid (in a uniform!) that was there to help us cook for the weekend.  Needless to say, we settled right in on the porch and had a bit of an impromptu happy hour.  Next up was a tour of the flower farm.  We walked (well, some of us ran) between the rows and rows of greenhouses that hold the roses.  Then it was back to the house for more Tuskers and relaxation.  Hina had prepared a wonderful dinner of Indian foods - but as we were pretty busy with our happy hour activities, we ate very late.  It was all very relaxed and homey - definitely just like being at my house.  We stayed up waayyy too late, just talking and goofing off.  Carol was teaching Lidia and I how to dance “African style”, and I broke out the Texas line dances - hilarity ensued.  Round about two a.m., we started to wind down and head to bed.  Some of the folks slept outside, under the stars...I opted for the very comfy beds in the guest house.  No outdoor sleeping for this Hilton-lover!

The next morning we woke up and had a lovely breakfast of eggs, sausages, Kenyan bacon (never as good as American bacon), and toast on the terrace.  The highlight for me was the spiced tea with ginger - I have definitely developed a tea addiction while I’ve been here.  Then, we embarked on a “self safari” to Lake Nakuru National Park.  I say “self safari” because we drove ourselves - well, to be specific, Jonathan (who owns a car here) drove us.  It was definitely different than being on a tour - much more flexibility, which was great!  Jon has a tendency to drive fast though...good thing there were no animals on the roads!

Lake Nakuru Park is one of the smaller parks in Kenya, but it’s the second most visited.  The park is known for the lake in the middle that attracts all kinds of birdlife, especially flamingos and pelicans.  There is also a very large rhino population - rhinos are regularly spotted here, which is rare - to give you an idea, I saw at least 8 rhinos in one drive in Lake Nakuru, and only one the entire weekend we were in the Maasai Mara.  We saw lots of other animals as well - giraffes, zebras, buffalo, baboons and monkeys (terror!).  Actually, we had quite a funny run in with the baboons - we drove up to the Out of Africa lookout point, and there were TONS of baboons around - one even climbed up on Jonathan’s car!  Totally scary.  The females aren’t too bad, but the males can get really aggressive and chase you!  I sound like a total wimp, but if I can’t handle what was (probably) a tame dog on my last camping trip, I definitely cannot handle a baboon climbing all over the car!

After leaving the park, we met up with the rest of the group for dinner at a roadside cafe (chicken curry, yummy) and then made the evening drive back to Nairobi.  As soon as I got back (around 10) I went right to bed, because I had to get up at 2am for SUPERBOWL MONDAY.

Below are some shots of the house that we stayed in - total colonial style.  There was even a maid - in a uniform -  who cooked all of our meals.  This, my friends, is the life.

Here we are on the patio, enjoying a freshly cooked breakfast.  No breakfast tacos, sadly, but amazing eggs, and sausage and spiced tea.

Rows and rows of greenhouses that make up the farm - each one filled with....

Rows and rows of roses!  Every color imaginable...the smell was amazing!  Not to get too nerdy, but the technology used to power these greenhouses is unbelievable - irrigation and connectivity and power - very cool.

Setting off on our safari - I'm pretty directionally challenged, so it's a good thing I was not in charge of the map!

First stop, lion hill.  No lions (think it was too hot to see them) but we did get some great views and photos for our scrapbooks!

Here's one of our zebra friends - completely unfazed by the fact that our car is less than 3 feet away from him.  I think zebras are my second favorite (behind elephants) - as Lidia says, they are totally "class"

Pelicans and flamingos on the lake - stunning

Jonathan, me, Jason, and Lidia next to the lake...can someone say bird flu?

Ah birds....not exactly my favorite, but I'm starting to learn to love them.  Maybe the bird community and I will have a reconciliation, since I'm spending so much time around them in Africa...I'm not holding my breath, given our history

The color of the birds really comes out when they open their wings - this group of birds kept opening and shutting their wings, almost as if they were moving to a beat.  Bird aerobics!

View from the Out of Africa lookout point.  Stunning.

I told you these baboons are not to be trusted!!  This one is climbing all over our car - I'm actually inside, in the backseat, quivering with fear.  It reminds me of my disastrous Oklahoma camping trip a few years back - I do NOT like wild animals approaching me!

AHH! It moved to the front of the car!  Go away, baboon!!

Okay, so I felt bad about all my negative comments about baboons.  When they are little, they are actually kind of cute - this little guy was sitting on one of the picnic tables at the lookout and playing with a plastic water bottle.  Even I had to admit it was entertaining...except for the big baboons (mama and dad) right behind him!!

 Buffalos and flamingos together in harmony....singing "Circle of Life" in my head...

Look how long these birds necks are!  Sort of like ostriches...wonder if I could ride them...

The pride of the park - the large number of rhinos.  As you can see, we were able to get very close.  This was definitely the highlight of the day, especially considering I only saw one rhino when we went to the Mara.  In Nakuru, every time you turned around, another rhino was there.  We even saw a mother with a baby...but they were too far away for a good picture.

Rhino buddies :)