Zanzibar, August 18th

Mambo,

Hope all is well back home, everything is peachy her as I am currently chilling on the tropical island paridise of Zanzibar!

Continuing from where I left off, I spent Friday night larging it with a couple of Austrian aid workers at the fashionable New Cadillac in Kigali. A good time was had by all, but I don't feel I was in the best shape for the bus to the Parc National des Volcans 2 hours away. On arriving in Rhuengeri I spent a pretty standard weekend watching wall to wall premier league football(why the name change someone?) at "Soccer City". My verdict on the weekends games; Bolton were aweful, Newcastle were pretty good, Liverpool were very lucky as it was never a free kick, Man Utd should have won but midtable obscurity becons, Chelsea played well (sadly) and the mighty Arsenal should have won about 5-1.

Monday morning came all too fast and before I knew it I was at the park centre waiting for my Gorilla trek to commence. As I was roughly 15 years younger than the next youngest American/Candian/German tourist I was selected to visit the Susa family comprising 36 members which is 5 percent of the Mountain Gorilla population worldwide. The reason for my selection became rapidly apparent for 2 hours we hiked uphill through dense jungle. Through my Ethiopian escapades I had become very used to altitude and given the horrically slow pace happily plodded along with the porters as the guide became increasingly frustrated with everyone lagging behind and demanding breaks. None of this mattered once we found the trackers and after 10 seconds found ourselves surrounded by the beasts!

We had been told to keep a distance of 7 metres but none of this mattered to the gorillas who wandered about us at will, seemingly unaware of our presence except when the guide made stange throaty noises to keep them pleasant. It was an amazing hour with the group of gorillas ranging in age and size from just a few weeks to Poppy, a celebrity gorilla on account of her friendship with Diane Fossey. They just went about there daily business, chiefly eating 300 kilos of plant matter, but occasionally wrestling, chest beating or just wandering through our group of 8 tourists. The hour was quickly up, but I got some amazing pictures and it was fun just standing there while a baby attempted to eat my shoes. Totally worth the monstrous $500 price tag!

The next day saw me head back to Kigali in preparation for my early flight to Kilamanjaro International Airport Tanzania, a stupid name for the airport on account of it being nowhere near the damn mountain which appeared as a tiny far away speck out of the window just before landing. Anyhow the airport was in the middle of nowhere and since I wasn't going to pay $50 just to get into town I hitched to the end of the airport road and then caught a bus to Moshi. I stayed at the lovely Kilamanjaro backpackers, where I think I was the first person they had met who wasn't going to climb the mountain. They did do a lovely line in chocolate milkshakes and I felt quite sick before crashing out.

Another day on a bus got me to Dar-Es-Salam. It was nice to be in a big city again, but to be honest the traffic was horrendous, it was too hot and my hotel didn't have a mosquito net, bathroom or fan. From Dar it was relatively simple getting out to Zanzibar, but being excessively frugal I caught the painfully slow MV Azziza which took 5 hours to cover 70km and lost me any chance of diving today. That said I managed to find the only budget hotel in Stonetown, featuring my own balcony, fan, mosquito net and bathroom. This thanks to a legendary rasta (highlight of the trip - he used Hakuna Matata in the right context and in a constructive manner), who once I was settled in took me to Fordani gardens for the most unbelivable seafood. You walk along the market stalls and select your choices for the barbeque and then they cook it and give it to you with chips, salad, chapati, chilli sauce and sugar cane juice. I had Calamari, marlin, tuna, white lobster and octopus. It was out of this world and I will definately be back there on Wednesday night for more! The open tables were packed with travellers and I met someone doing med at Cardiff who knows Carter!("He's the one who goes to the gym a lot"). I was also told the didving is better in the north and the beaches are unreal so decided to head to Nungwi first thing. After some kids stole everyone's bottles losing people about $10 in deposit fees I headed back to the hotel and became impossibly lost in the maze that is the narrow alleyways and beautiful white buildings. I caught a cab.

This mornings journey was entertaining as the local transport is all open buses and we even had a massive blow out at exactly the halfway point. Still we arrived safely.

Nungwi is a tropical paridise. The sand is amazing, the sun has been shining all day, the tide never goes out and the water is that fake turqoise colour you see in films. My main reason for comming here is the world class diving and so for the next 2 days I'm gonna be out with "Spanish Dancer". Tommorow were going to "the big wall" a place famous for sharks and turtles. I have only one fish to find however as I have been promised a definate sighting of the elusive Napoleon Wrasse! My diving early tommorow probably means I wont get to enjoy the full moon party tonight down the coast in Kendwa, but I'm sure it will be a blast anyway!

LOL

Jx