Some of my favorite moments in Zanzibar!!!

Possibly my favorite picture from Zanzibar!
Could sit and watch the sunset everyday!
Zanzibar, I will miss you dearly!

One of the many beautiful doors in Zanzibar! Variety of colors and handles!
Different colored paint around the doors seemed standard.
Stone Town was so vibrant!

Playing jacks with the local children!
Was so hard... they all kept laughing at me!
The little girls never missed!
It was a very entertaining afternoon!

Little dhow that we took from Stonetown to Prison Island..breath of fresh air in the heat!
No nausea thank god!

Adorned me with a bag, necklace and hat while on the
Spice Tour. Felt like a Princess and then just before leaving a small boy gave me
a ring made of local leaves! Best part of the spice tour was being able to interact with
the local community!  

128 year old MASSIVE tortoise on Prison Island!! Irfan took a video of me
feeding it! So cool. These things move a lot quicker than you think
they would. Almost stepped on me multiple times.
 Also saw small babies, size of my hand! Very precious!

Aga Khan Madrasa in Zanzibar supporting early childhood education.
We took a tour with the head facilitator there. Was a lovely center, very holistic in their
approach to early childhood teaching. It was the weekend so we didn't actually
get to see kids at play :(

Prison Island...beautiful sandy beach and water was so warm! 

Breathtaking!

Pads, this is for you courtesy of Irfan! He said I have a
big collection of your candid moments so made me promise I would post this
especially for you! He actually put it on my HEAD! Eeek!

One of my favorite moments on the Spice Tour!
This boy was INSANE!  He climbed this coconut tree in 20 seconds MAX,
singing the entire time and brought us the best tasting young coconuts!
Was a nice end to the Spice Tour!

Zanzibar Part 2

Habari,

Flight is delayed from Zanzibar to Dar...apparently the Dar airport is closed for some VIP? WTF!

Today we were introduced to a non-government regulated spice farm where we were introduced to a variety of different plants and spices that give the island its name. We pretty much walked through the bush, literally and got attacked my machers (mosquitos). Of course, I spent half the time worrying about the bugs (they were everywhere) and kept picturing a snake ready to pop out at me! It was very interesting, plants ranging from cloves to lemongrass, and vanilla. The queen of spice being cinnamon! Also sampled iodine, peppers, aloe, tumeric and a variety of fresh fruits.

One of the highlights was a plant called "touch me not" which you touch and it literally closes for five minutes! Was pretty cool to see. The theory behind the naming of this plant was that if a woman was married and someone came to their house when the man wasn't home it served as a signal that someone entered their house. Interesting security system eh?

Another bit that was cool was watching this young guy climb a coconut tree to get us fresh coconuts all the while singing in such a sweet voice. We had an oppportunity to play with some of the local kids and learned their version of jacks. I was terrible but the little girls were amazing, never missed. Also had a chance to smell "ylang ylang" and watch how locals apply lipstick with a local fruit, name has slipped my mind.

Completely forgot to talk about the Foradhani garden experience. Are you people kidding me? I did not eat any seafood there. Maybe, if I hadn't experienced the sights and smells with a million flies circling the fish at the fish market I may have been more keen but god knows how long that fish had been out in the sun. Not to mention the merchants using a skewer with octopus tentacles as a pointing stick, touching all the other types of fish and meat skewers in the process...beware, especially if you have food allergies! Mishkaki was excellent though and the sugarcane juice was my favorite. Watched the sunset there yesterday evening while watching locals cliff jump and aerialists entertain large crowds. Made for a nice early evening stroll.

Also for anyone heading to Zanzibar, be sure to visit Spice Route. Excellent Indian food and wonderful service! Chicken biryani and kulfi were so yummy. I think I have definitely put on weight here. Still another 1.5 hours to go and off to Oyster beach tonight for some live music and festivities and then the work week begins. Another fabulous weekend in a place I will absolutely miss.

Xoxo

Zanzibar Part 1

Mambo,

Thank you all for the lovely cards, text messages, facebook messages for my birthday! I felt very loved! It has been awhile since my last entry and have tried countlesss times to blog about both Irfan and my health care experiences here in East Africa but no words can express what we have had an opportunity to be part of. I have been journaling everyday so am hoping that by early next week, I can take some of those entries and re-write parts on this blog. What I have seen is truly heartbreaking and makes me count my blessings daily!

On a lighter note, we flew into Zanzibar yesterday for the weekend. Zanzibar is blessed with incredible beauty, spice, culture and FLIES! They are everywhere!!! No but seriously, Zanzibar is filled with so much warmth and very kind hearted people. It is also the birthplace of the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury.

So we flew from Dar to Zanzibar(I didn't want to chance getting motion sickness on the ferry) with Coastal Air (teeny tiny plane, only fit ten of us) and then made it to our hotel, Dhow Palace, which is in the heart of Stone Town! We then went to the Serena for a bite to eat overlooking the water and tried Bungu juice?!! Not sure if I spelled that right but it's an exotic fruit that is very sour, Not a fan of the fruit but the juice was yummy!!! Did a lot of walking around Stonetown. The famous doors of Stone Town are quite elaborate and sturdy, made of heavy timber and pointy architecture, apparently a carry-over from asia where people were worried about elephants smashing down their doors. I will attach pictures in my next entry. Also went to Jamatkhana! People were so welcoming here, got a very detailed tour around JK. For all my non-ismaili friends, this was the very first Jamatkhana and it is now a heritage site!

Today, we went to Prison Island, and fed the giant tortoises! There is a sanctuary at the Island for giant tortoises as they are an almost extinct species! Was so cool!!!!! Island is 5.6 km from Stone Town and was a prison for rebellious slaves in the 1860s and also functioned as a coral mine. The name is misleading though, because no slaves were ever housed there. Instead, the island served as a quarantine station for yellow fever, and ebola cases! Went to the beach after to relax! Blue skies and so calming!!!

This evening we went to Mercury Lounge, amazing ambience! Had a live band which was fabulous. The day was fantastically rich with sights, sounds, smells and textures, wish I could upload pictures but forgot the adapter:( Will update tomorrow. Headed on a spice tour tomorrow morning!

Feeling amazing and loving every minute.

Life is sweet!

xo

The end of a magical adventure....plus a disgustingly gross mess!

Mambo vipi,

It's me (Ro) starting off, after some much needed time off. I have lots to update you on but very tired so will do my best (Irfan may continue if I start to fall asleep). Firstly, those mild side effects Irfan was referring to in the last post were actually more serious then we thought, had blurred vision and really bad sensitivity to light! Had to remove the scopolamine patch entirely and pray to god that gravol and some stupid wrist bands (waste of time) would work to keep me nausea free for the last day of the safari! Nausea free ME didn't last for more than half an hour! Just to clarify for those of you who have NOT been on a safari, you are basically bouncing around 24/7 in a land rover on bumpy dirt roads and are stop and go the entire time! So when you combine that with blurry vision, extreme heat and probably some dehydration = disgustingly gross mess! Although I tried to keep it together for the 6-hour drive back to Arusha, it was hopeless. Was probably the second worst day ever (the worst is yet to come). I'll let Irfan take over from here. Lala salama.

So Ro was in bad shape by the time we got back to Arusha. Nothing that some water, a bite to eat and some rest couldn't fix...or so I thought. She couldn't eat or drink anything without it coming right back out! She tried to sleep it off, but still felt horrible the next morning...not a good sign considering we were going to be flying to Dar es salaam on a local airline. She was like a zombie walking through the airport security and boarding the plane. As soon as we started to move, it was the beginning of the end. Take-off - vomit - land - vomit - take off - vomit - land - dry-heaving/collapsing into a wheelchair at the baggage carousel. I've never seen anyone actually use the vomit bags on a plane before. The flight attendant didn't even want to take them to throw away so I had to do it myself. Random people would walk by and ask if she malaria. Barely made it out of the airport, but the driver and I both agreed that a stop at a hospital should preceed hotel check-in.

Went to a local hospital in downtown :S Got her some IV fluid and anti-vomiting meds. I had to deal with registration, paying for everything they did, including 2000 shillings for the porters to carry her up the stairs to the observation ward. WTF! After her second bolus of fluid, we got out of there and finally settled into our hotel. She felt a bit better but still not very well. She basically just needed sleep, some food, and maxeran to recover. No malaria! Just a combination of heat stroke, terrible motion sickness, dehydration, and probably hypoglyemia. A scary situation but now much better and back to normal. p.s. the driver was amazing! Acted as a driver, translator, bodyguard, and friend!

That's quite enough for now. We will tell you about our experiences in downtown Dar and visiting the local hospitals next...culture shock is an understatement!

Until next time!

Roshena and Irfan

Safari Day 4-5

Jambo! Mambo vipi?

This is Irfan, sub-ing in for Roshena, who seems to be having some mild side-effects from her scopolamine (motion-sickness prevention) patch. She hopes to be back in action for the next entry. In the meantime, I will do my best to live up to her standards...

After an amazing couple days at the crater, we headed off to the infamous Serengeti, which hosts the largest mammal migration in the world, which is one the ten natural travel wonders of the world. Not to mention the home of the cats!

En route, we took a 'slight' detour through Ndutu cheetah park, where we saw groups of cheetahs up close and personal, including little babies. They're amazing-looking cats. Too bad all they did was sleep. We then went off-roading to look for more cats. These drivers are crazy and awesome. As soon as one drivers encounters something interesting, they radio all their friends. Before you know it, there are ten safari tour groups at the site. We have no idea how they know where to go...there are no signs or proper roads. But somehow, someway, they all make it there within minutes! Before leaving the park, we also saw part of the wildebeast migration, a wildebeast giving birth to a baby, and a swarm of vultures devouring the minimal remains of a slain zebra. The vultures are just that, 'vultures'! They remind me of hungry shoppers flocking the free sample stations at Costco, or khana-goers on chai night!

After what seemed like an eternity on the bumpiest dirt paths imaginable, we made it to the Serengeti. What a sight! Just an immense, vast, endless space. We encountered many of the same animals as before, except from a much farther distance. We definitely needed our binoculars here. Tonnes of zebras and wildebeast, migrating together, in impressive herds, to find water. More giraffes, elephants (for Roshena), impalas, baboons, monkeys, warthogs, antelope, and birds. We also got a good look at hippos and crocodiles in the swampy water. Hippos have got to be one of the most disgusting creatures I've ever seen, next to pigs of course!

And finally...the cats! Various prides of lions...always sleeping! But still amazing animals. We almost saw a chase and kill. One lionness was stalking a zebra who got was isolated fromhis herd. Not knowing what to do, he ran...and ran...and ran. He escaped. Probably because the lion seemed to give up the chase (too lazy? no help from her pride?) who knows? We were quite disappointed, but happy for the poor zebra!

We finally got a glimpse of the last animal in the 'big five'; the leopard. We found them in trees. A mum and baby and a kill. How they get the large antelope into the tree, I have no idea. Strong cats! Really cool to see.

We stayed at the Mbuzi Mawi tented camp for two night. Large and luxorious...but still tents, out in the fence-less wilderness. We need guards to escort us from the tent to the dinner lodge. Apparently we can wake up to a buffalo staring at us as we open the zipper. Although, we didn't encounter this problem, we did almost have a houseguest one morning. We woke up to the rip of the velcro of our tent door only to stare face-to-face with a curious (or hungry) baboon. I yelled at him to scare him away, although he probably just wanted some company. Poor guy. I don't even have to describe Roshena's reaction. I'm sure you can all picture her! Great story to tell though!

The staff at this resort were amazing! Catered to our every desire. Cooked us amazing, custom-made meals, even though they had a set-menu. Got skewers of AMAZING mishkaki (bbq beef skewers)! Delicious! Quite an impressive place. Definitely recommended it to anyone who ventures out here one day.

Sawasawa, enough for now. It's late and we have a long journey back to Arusha (the end of our amazing safari) tomorrow.

Asanti sana and lala salama.

Safari Day 2-3

Karibu,

Habari yako?

Both yesterday and today have been incredible! We were up for an early morning game drive in Tarangire and watched the sunrise! Pictures below! Was breathtaking. Had a chance to see a herd of about 20 elephants up close, lots of birds, impalas mongooses, zebras, owls, and more monkeys! Sadly no cats yet! We then drove to Ngorongoro Crater which is surreal. The crater was formed 3 million years ago when a volcano erupted and collapsed on itself! It covers 260 square kilometers! Since being here, we have seen lions, elephants, eagles, black rhinos, hippos, hyenas, zebras, jackyls, and so much more. We came across a herd of 90+ elephants with roughly 20 babies and they were literally right around the car. The matriach crossed the street first in front of our car and then waited for everyone else to cross. The babies walked underneath their mothers and were always surrounded by mature elephants. Pretty sweet! I was all welled up with tears! They were so close part of me was a bit scared. Surprise, surprise!

We also came across a lion and lioness who decided to come up right to our car, The Lions hair was actually sticking into our car window, it was that close! All the cats are pretty lazy though and just want to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow we will see more cats in action.

Most eventful part of today was watching 4 hyenas and roughly 50 vultures tear a zebra to shreds. Hard to say when the zebra was actually killed? It seemed like we just missed the kill because we thought that the zebra was still moving but our driver said it is pretty rare for hyenas to take down a zebra on their own. Anyways watching the hyenas fight with the vultures was very exciting and somewhere in there, a jackel managed to run off with the zebras heart! Picture attached! What an amazing sight!

This place is truly magical and I hear it just gets better in the Serengeti where we are headed tomorrow!

Asante,
xo

Safari Day 1

At this very moment I am sitting outside of my tented camp at Tarangire Safari Lodge overlooking the most incredible lanscape! Blue sky with minimal clouds, crisp breeze, greenery everywhere! Everything looks so lush and in the distance a herd of about 20 elephants with babies!!! Am in awe of everything. This all feels like so surreal to me. I keep having images of The Lion King pop in my head.

Flight to Arusha was right on schedule, got picked up at the airport by our safari guide and then had dinner at The African Tulip! A combination of kuku choma (plain fried chicken with boiled veg). Irfan and i didn't really care for it all that much, but we also had a side of masala fries which were delicius. Somewhere between our flight to Toronto arrival to Arusha, i manged to completely lose my voice. I sound like an 80 year old woman on oxygen with severe COPD. Called it a night soon after, we were exhausted! Oh and right at this moment, i sound like a combination of an old woman and Kermit the Frog! Wish I was joking.

Our safari started the following day, drove from Arusha to Tarangire and en route stopped at the Olaciti primary school where we had a chance to drop books, toys, pencils for the kids! The school was packed with children between 6-12 and each teacher had roughly 90 students in their classroom! The headmaster Miminini took us to a grade 1 classroom where the children stood up to greet us, all dressed in uniform! They stole my heart! We left the donations for the teacher to distribute as she saw fit! They were all so excited! I wish we could have stayed to explore the entire school and play with the kids but we needed to let the kids continue with their learning! They had just had a break prior to our arrival.

The drive to Tarangire was roughly 2.5 hours and when we arrived we stopped to have a picnic lunch, apparently the monkeys thought it was their lunch time as well and they would follow us and try to steal our food! They were the cutest monkeys I have ever seen. We also saw dick dick's (small antelopes only weighing 5ibs and that's when they are full size), giraffes, warthogs, impalas, mongooses, baboons, jackels, a sleeping lion under a tree and lots of different birds! I just heard an elephant trumpet in the distance! So awesome!

------

Okay now storytime, and yes it has to do with bugs! Just got back from dinner and very freaked out! Just prior to dinner, went to freshen up, was in the bathroom minding my own business and saw this freaking massive beetle on the curtain! Obviously, I freaked but not out loud because I was terrified that it would start crawling and then Irfan wouln't be able to kill it! I calmy went outside and told him that there was a massive bug! Off course he thought I was exaggerating because he did not go into the back very prepared and then he freaked out. It took both him and Hafiz to kill that mother$&@@!$ Now I'm terrified! sprayed the entire room with raid.

Still not adjusted to this time difference so going to call it a night! Apparently they have. a guide walk us back to our tents at night because it's not a fenced site. I wonder what they would do if a lion showed up?? We could definitely hear lions early evening. Anyways, don't know how well I'm going to sleep tonight!!!! Amped for another game drive early morning!

xo

Ready For Take Off!

Just getting ready to head to the airport ...... can't wait for the adventure that awaits!!
Good-bye Ottawa, Africa here we come!!!

Gearing up for our African Adventure

Habari,

It’s the day before I leave for AFRICA, and I’m surprisingly calm and on schedule with completed to-do list tasks. I feel like a kid, about to get on a plane for the very first time with so many thoughts going through my head. Going to East Africa has been at the top of my bucket list for as long as I can remember primarily because I wanted to experience the rich culture of East Africa. The sights, sounds, climate and spirit that is East Africa, is something that has been embedded in me by stories from my grandparents and parents alike. Being able to work, as a Registered Nurse in Maternal Infant Health is something that I am ecstatic about although, not knowing what to expect is a little bit nerve wrecking. That's okay, there will be plenty of adrenaline to get me through the days ahead!

Definitely the best part of this whole journey is being able to experience it all with my best friend and love of my life. We have wanted to do something like this for a number of years now, so this definitely feels like a dream come true!  

As most of you are aware, I am OBSESSED with animals so I will blog as much as possible when we visit Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater which is our first stop on this journey!! A phrase that I will be using a lot starting day 1 is "kuua buibui" which means KILL THE SPIDER. That phrase will generally be used when running at full speed with my heart feeling like it is going to explode!  Okay, not going to think too much about that right now, I have enough RAID to last me a long time!

Until my next post,

Tutaonana,

Roshena