Tanzania part 2: relaxing in Zanzibar

We after our amazing Safari in Tanzania we took a trip over to Zanzibar. It is located about 70km off the coast Dar es Salaam, and an absolutely stunning island of Tanzania. We were suppose to go to Zanzibar by taking a bus from Arusha back to Dar es Salaam, and then a ferry over to the island, but decided to buy flights last minute. Our bus trip to Arusha was suppose to be 8 or 9 hours and turned into 16, and we just did not want to re-do that trip again. We also did not want to lose another day of vacation so we took a short flight from Arusha right to Stone Town (main city on Zanzibar). We spent one night in Stone Town, it is a great town and lots of fun just to wonder around getting lost in all the streets. At night time the city livens up with their evening food markets and beach front cafes. There is also a large influence from the Omani's in Stone Town (well Zanzibar in general) and so it was interesting to see the Arab influence mixed in with the beach/Rastafarian lifestyle. Here are some pictures of Stone Town, then a few of the different beaches/beach towns that we went to...

 The high court in Stone Town. I personally loved the building

 Here is the Arab influence coming out... this style of door was everywhere

 Main event in the evening for the locals

 Many dives landed in belly flops

 Evening food market... I could of spent hours here just watching it all happen

 Getting sugar cane juice freshly made

 Walking down all the small streets, getting lost a lot

 Our sugar cane juice

 Can't say that I tried much of the food, but what I did have tasted great! 

The little extras that make me smile. Not sure what this says...

 Nungwi beach

 Visiting with a friend who was also staying in Nungwi during the holidays

 Not a bad place to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at :)

 At a different beach now... Kendwa, another great spot of the island

 We are learning how to relax... I think that we did a good job, only took a few days to figure out how to do "nothing"

 One of our many walks along the beach

 Off for a day of snorkeling

 reaching the coral reef

 Ouch... I just got stung by a jelly fish :(

 What we love to do best, jump of boats into water :)

 Lots of fish... especially zebra fish

And that it about it for our time in Tanzania... 

Cheers,

Serena

Brad and Serena go on a lion hunt...

Ok, so really as the title says... we went on a lion hunt. I wanted to see LIONS!!! Probably since I saw the Lion King as a kid, I have wanted to do an African safari... and well I did it! I was impressed. As I have already added pictures of the Big 5, I am not going to add many on this post... well that's what I say now, but once I have to pick pictures it might be different. We went on a 3 nights 4 days camping safari trip through the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara. It was amazing camping right in the middle of the national parks, and not knowing what animals might come to visit you that night. Thankfully none did :) Our safari was also just the two of us (plus our guide and cook) so we got to take our time to look at animals, or drive away when we had see our share. Such a perfect vacation. Here are some pictures of the first half of our trip, from Dar es Salaam, our 16 hour bus ride, Arusha, and of course the SAFARI!

On the deck of our hotel room overlooking downtown Dar es Salaam

An old church in Dar es Salaam

A stop while on our "should be 8 hour, but turned into 16 hour" bus trip...

The bus in front of us... always people trying to sell us stuff

Coffee plants... not ripe yet, they still have to turn red

Coffee plantation

 OK all these pictures are in random order... I am having difficulties arranging them... grr

Awe cute hey... I am referring to the giraffes...

We did A LOT of this...

Camping in the park, 1st night at Lake Manyara

Ngorongoro Crater Park

Overlooking the crater

Masai houses... 

A Masai guy with his herd of sheep, goats, etc.

SERENGETI  national park entrance. 

They are much bigger than I expected. Apparently they are 2.5 meters tall...

Wildebeest... we saw herds of them... hard to tell since this picture is so small

Super close to Lions... did I mention that I was on a Lion hunt! 

They never stop sleeping... 

Spooning.. so cute that even lions do that :)

Ya it was that beautiful

Second night camping in the Serengeti 

Hippos!

Camping in the Serengeti.. with the wild surrounding us.

Momma hiding in the grass with her four cubs... kinda hard to see

No big deal, just some elephants crossing right in front of us

Overlooking the crater again

HYENA! 

This lady was on a hunt for her lunch. We got to watch two lions as they hunted for their food.

She is hiding behind the jeep as she picks out her lunch

Pumba and his family

Ok hard to see since the picture is so small, but the zebra in the back is making a nice smile for us :)

Blue bum...

Flamingos!

In the crater there was a lot of Zebras with new babies. Made my day :)

Ok that is it for our inland, safari experience... next to come will be pictures and an update from our time in Zanzibar taking in the beautiful beaches...

Serena