Jambo Zanzibar & Dar es Salaam, Kwaheri Africa

The end of our African adventure is here, and what a bittersweet feeling it is. Inevitably, you miss your family and friends and most of all your mom’s home cooking, but when you realize that there will no longer be little children running up to you saying “muzungu” or when mangoes and those cute little bananas won’t be readily available, it’s easy to get a bit teary-eyed.

We already foreshadowed that our last week in Africa wouldn’t disappoint us. We ‘Google Imaged’ “Zanzibar” before we arrived, and what we saw in person was 10x more beautiful than even the most stunning image we found. Instead of enduring another long and tumultuous bus ride, we sprang for the $90 flight from Mombasa to Zanzibar. In the 50-minute flight, we were served drinks and a wonderful little sandwhich. Besides the creepy Indian man who was snapping pictures of us through the crack of the seats, the flight was just lovely. We arrived and we were so lucky that one of my best friend’s dad lives in Zanzibar and was gracious enough to let us stay with him! We went for a lovely Indian dinner with him to a restaurant called The Silk Route and then headed to bed as it had been a tiring day. We were given some great advice by Dr. Feroz (who shares a house with my friend's dad) to check out the Sandbanks the next day in addition to Prison Island. You know, when you see TV commercials with images of beautiful beaches and stunning scenery and you wonder if those places actually exist? Well, let me tell you that they do. The Sandbanks was absolutely breath taking. It is literally a bank of white sand in the middle of the ocean. You have to go there early enough for the tide to allow the boats to come in, and leave in time for you not to get stranded! The water was so warm, and with a boat all to ourselves, we played and frolicked in the water, jumping off of the boat (but making sure to avoid the sea urchins!). After that we took our boat to Prison Island. Prison Island is home to some of the largest turtles in the world, some of them over 150 years old! We were allowed to feed them and pet them and take pictures with them which was so amazing! Unfortunately, my stomach decided it was upset with me and I was out for the next two days :( I made sure to rest because on Wednesday we had a big day planned! After having a great breakfast, we headed to the South of Zanzibar to swim with the dolphins. Now, for all of you who have been to all-inclusives, you figure that "swimming with the dolphins" really just means hanging out with them and maybe giving them a little kiss. Not in Zanzibar. Without any sort of gear (mainly because no one told us we should take it), we took a small boat out into the middle of the ocean and waited for dolphins to surround our boat. It is quite a sight to see them in their natural habitat. As soon as they approached us, the guide told us to jump out. Now, I'm a swimmer, but by no means a strong swimmer. But when once in a lifetime opportunities knock at your door, you pretty much have no choice but to grab them by their...flipper in this case. So although scared, all of us jumped out into the middle of nowhere, and swum around with the dolphins literally next to us. After that incredible experience, we headed to Jozani Forest to see rare monkeys which only exist in two parts of the world, here and in Brazil. They were super cute and let us come right near them, so of course we took about 100 pictures. After that we went on a spice tour which we were told was one of the must-do's in Zanzibar. We got lucky because not only was ours a spice tour, but a fruit-tasting as well! We tried some amazing fruit (our favourite was the Zanzibar Egg Apple) and some not-so-amazing fruit (our least favourite was "sweet lime" which tasted like Kenyan body odour - - don't ask us how we know what that tastes like). Our next few days in Zanzibar were spent roaming Stonetown, buying jewellery, bargaining for the hell of it, drinking fresh fruit juice (our favourite, virgin pina coladas) and hanging out at the beach. On our last day, we headed up to the North of Zanzibar, to Kendwa beach. The reviews go either way, some saying that Kendwa is nothing but drug-filled, but we decided to check it out since we heard the beaches were slightly nicer than Nungwi. We had a great time and ate tons (I mean tons) of food!  No better way to end off a difficult (haha) ten weeks!

My dad is born in Dar Es Salaam and with two of my aunts still living there, there was no way I would go all the way to Africa without paying a visit. Unfortunately, because of the way our trip fell and how we booked our tickets, I only had limited time (a couple of days) in Dar, but we all decided to make the most of it. The day that we were leaving, there was a horrible ferry boat accident from Zanzibar to Pemba (not the route we were taking). Thanks to all of you for your messages and concern. It was quite chaotic in Zanzibar that day, and with hundreds of people dying in the accident, we consider ourselves very lucky. Both my aunts in Dar were so hospitable and took us around for the day that we had, making sure that we tried every single fruit that we had not tried yet, and taking us to the beach to have madafu (coconut), kitale (baby coconut stuffed with potatoes), mishkaki (bbq's beef) and sugar cane juice! It was a great time, and always amazing to see family. I got to visit the house that my dad grew up in, and it made me so happy to be there and really and truly appreciate my roots.

Our flight to London is boarding shortly, so I will sign off here. To all of you who have kept reading throughout my time in Africa, thank you and I hope you have enjoyed it. Our travels now take us to London, Spain & Portugal, and when I can, will also be blogging about my time there. I am truly sad to say bye to Africa, but am so thankful to be so lucky to have had such an incredible experience!

Love & Bittersweet Goodbyes,

Shahla

Pulling Teeth in Paradise

Hello Everyone! It’s been quite some time since my last blog! Since finishing placement, we’ve been on the go and there hasn’t been much down time for me to write! Currently we are in Zanzibar, and it most definitely has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. But for now, let me update you on the hidden paradise that I call Lamu…

Let me tell you that getting to Lamu was no easy journey. We decided (probably against everyone’s better advice) to take a night bus from Kisumu to Mombasa. How many hours you ask? 18 hours. That’s right everyone, 18, long and uncomfortable hours. Let me also tell you that when we stopped for a bathroom/go in the woods break, I stepped into a swamp, lost my Birk and had to fish it out with my hands. In other news, someone tried to sell Mary carrots while she was doing her business. Why did we take the bus you ask? Because flying would have cost us $250 and the bus cost us $10. So we sacrificed ourselves, and apparently our luggage, which was thrown in the compartment with hundreds of smelly fish. Although they assured us that none of our luggage would be with any fish, when we got our backpacks it smelt worse than a rotting carcass (and I know what that smells like since I came upon a large rotting cow in Lamu). We (finally) arrived in Mombasa at 9am and checked into our 900KSH ($9/night) triple room which was most definitely the shadiest place I have ever stayed. Broken windows, an unfriendly toilet and mosquito nets with holes all over (my parents were not pleased). We roamed around Mombasa and found it decent, but wish we had time to go to the beaches which are supposed to be beautiful. However, in the day that we were there, we managed to go to Old Town and Fort Jesus which were both gorgeous. Fort Jesus is a Portuguese fort built in 1593 by order of King Philip I of Portugal, then ruler of the joint Portuguese and Spanish Kingdoms, located on Mombasa Island to guard the Old Port of Mombasa (Wikipedia’d that). We walked around for most of the day and then booked a bus to Lamu (as if we didn’t learn our lesson the first time) which was leaving at 7am the next morning. We slept for about 4 hours (which in hindsight was better since the less time in those beds, the better) and got on our “luxury” bus. Because we booked so late, all three of us got shoved to the back. You know when we were kids, and we’d make sure to be first in line so we could get the very back seat in the bus which was supposed to be the best? Who told us that was cool? All three of us came out of the bus ride with umpteen bruises and cuts because the road was SO bumpy and the driver could care less about the fact that our stomachs were coming out of our mouths…anyways, we finally arrived in Lamu after 8 long hours, and then the fairytale begins…

When we spoke to others about Lamu, the response we’d get was “yeah, it’s really nice, you should go there”. Let me tell you that if you asked me the same, I would tell you to make Lamu a priority on your bucket list. It is a stunning island which is Kenya’s oldest living town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once you get off the bus, a boat takes you to Lamu Island. Somehow in the time that we had to get off the bus and get onto the boat, Nik managed to drop her Birkenstock into the water. Luckily, someone managed to fish it out for her and we were on our way. Lamu has no roads, just footpaths and everyone moves around by foot, boat or donkeys. It is amazing what a difference it makes when you see no motorized vehicles in a place. We had booked a hostel called “Kipepeo” (translation: Butterfly) Guesthouse before arriving and we were not disappointed. The owner, Ali, gave us the top floor of the house which overlooks the ocean. It was definitely a step up from the hole we stayed at in Mombasa! Besides Lamu Island, there is also another island called Shela which has some of the most amazing beaches, although it was affected by the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. We spent many of our days tanning on the beaches of Shela, eating some great sushi and hanging out with camels.

As Lamu was on the main Arabian trading routes, the population is largely Muslim. With Ramadhan just ending, we were lucky enough to be in Lamu for Eid! When I told my parents that, they were so excited for me, because I would be able to experience what Eid is like in a country where everyone celebrates it, and were they ever right! We met some people the day before who invited us to celebrate Eid with their family. We couldn’t believe how nice they were to just let us into their celebration, but I for one was not going to turn the offer down, and Nik and Mary were more than excited to experience Eid! Our friend, Mohammed, told us that it would be a busy morning, but we had no idea what we were in for. Usually in Canada, everyone lives so far apart that you usually make it to a few houses within a day, or gather at the house of the eldest relative. In Lamu, everyone lives in such close proximity to one another, that by the end of the morning, we had gone to 12 different houses! As we went from house to house, we were offered some Swahili coffee (kahawa), juice, sweets, and Mary & Nik’s favourite – samosas. They were having the time of their lives, and Mary indicated that she would probably start celebrating Eid yearly (but would leave out the fasting part). It was an incredible experience, and everyone was so welcoming to us that even though I missed my family a lot on this day, I couldn’t have asked for a better morning! In the afternoon, a dhow boat competition was to take place. Once again, Mohammed and his friends and family invited us on their boat to watch the race. We thought we’d be on some sort of speedboat, but when we arrived, we were led to a huge boat, complete with couches, a flat screen and surround sound. It was such a great day! At night, we took a boat to the “floating bar restaurant” which is literally that – a hut that floats in the middle of the ocean and if you step too much to one side, you will actually fall into the water!

Although I was having a great time in Lamu, my wisdom tooth was giving me an insane amount of pain. I have been avoiding this tooth for forever, dreading to get surgery back home. Usually at home, the pain comes and goes within a day and then I forget that I ever have to deal with it. But of course, when I’m finally on vacation and it’s time to enjoy, I have nothing but pain. I tried to numb the pain with 4 advils/day but it just wasn’t working. I spoke to someone on the island who told me that I could get it checked out at a free clinic at a children’s orphanage and that he could take me there. I didn’t even ask Nik & Mary to come, because I thought it would be no big deal. But as soon as I got there and opened my mouth, the dentist told me that it had to come out! Going to the bathroom in a hole, I can handle. Showering with a bucket, I can also handle. I can even handle petting a cheetah in a cage. But getting my tooth extracted on a tiny island in the middle of Africa was on a whole other level. I told him that maybe I could do it in Canada and he said that there was no choice in the matter. So without anyone with me, I went into the room, sat down on a chair upright, got a few needles in my mouth to make me numb and out came my tooth with a pair of pliers (or at least it seemed so). He threw some gauze in my mouth, gave me a few pills, and told me to be on my merry way. I asked him about swelling and pain and all that good stuff, and he said not to worry about any of it. I couldn’t believe it really since getting your wisdom teeth pulled back home is always such a big deal. So I trotted him, waiting for 20 minutes, took the piece of gauze out of my mouth like he instructed, popped a couple of pills, and I was fine. Until now, I have had no pain and no swelling – just a big hole in the back of my mouth which makes me very happy and saved me $1000. It’s like I won the lottery!

I realized I have now babbled on for what seems like an eternity. I have so much more to say, but will save it and post pictures in the near future instead. All three of us felt so incredibly lucky to experience such a beautiful place. Lamu is truly a hidden paradise.

Love, donkeys and healthy teeth,

Shahla