"Tell the waitress I'll come back to Zanzibar"
Do you know how a Giraffe drinks water? From Safari to exploring Stone Town in Zanzibar
Trekking Kilimanjaro 2003 - Seven friends and I undertook the most amazing trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2003. These pages recount the original diary that I kept during our trek. Photo galleries exist of the climb, the safaris to Tarangire and Ngorongoro and our trip to Stone Town, Zanzibar.
Tuesday October 7th
Safari Day 1 — Tarangire National Park
The pictures speak a thousand words — we were able to see all sorts of neat stuff. Interesting points — Mike finally comes down with the stomach sickness on this night. The night we spend at Nguni Permanent Tented Camps which are actually cabins. Our guide and driver is Godfrey.
Wednesday October 8th
Safari Day 2 — Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
Mike is feeling better and even seems to be like his old self on his return to Arusha. Zara finally figure out that Colin isn’t supposed to be on the safari. I talk them into having him only pay for half the safari — that seems like a good deal. Arusha Resort Centre is not the best of hotels, it’s more like a dorm room. Our flight out to Zanzibar is at noon or so the next day. We plan on going shopping the next morning. At night I have several coughing fits almost like I am breathing acrid air. In the morning we discover my sock had landed on Chris’ mosquito coils and had burned throughout the night. It’s a good thing we didn’t burn the hotel down.
Thursday October 9th
Arusha (morning) — Zanzibar Stone Town (afternoon)
We do all sorts of shopping in Arusha in the morning. I find this old guy who is a rather interesting character sitting outside his shop carving.
In the afternoon we all go to the Arusha airport to go to Zanzibar. Colin will join us if there is space. It’s an interesting experience as they take our bags and calculate our weight (this is one time you don’t want to multiply by the wrong number!). We find out the reason shortly — we will be flying on a very little cessna — just the 8 of us and the pilot. The pilot, on hearing about Kifaru’s flying experience invites Colin to the cockpit to be his co-pilot. It is a very cool flight, we see Kilimanjaro from the air.
We arrive in Zanzibar in the afternoon and plan on going to this neat restaurant called “Sambusa — Two Tables”, It’s got two tables, and is in someone’s house, their 10 year-old kid is watching “Fists of Fury” as we go through the living room to the outside patio where the tables are set up. There is no menu — very neat. This was a dining experience with the family’s children even dancing for us.
All of us (minus Mike, Aaron and Santhi) go out to a night club that night and dance to cheesy eighties music — even Chris! Barafu seems a million miles away. We’ve convinced Mike that Chris and I get up at 3am to practice singing. On returning to the room late that night, Chris and I stand over Mike’s bed to give a rather stirring rendition of “I Feel Pretty”.
Friday October 10th
Stone Town, Zanzibar
Our penultimate day in Tanzania is spent exploring Stone Town. Sujji and Colin go off to the beach. We eat lunch at a Freddie Mercury tribute restaurant where I have a drink called a “Monica Lewinsky” which is described as “find out what lies behind a bubbly blue dress”.
For supper we eat at the Forodhani street market — very neat. I am seriously out of money after I bought this rather unique painting — one of three. Keli and Chris picked up its partners.
Sujji shows up in the evening having stepped on a sea urchin. Aaron and Santhi run off to the hotel with her to pull out the painful needles while we retire to the Sweet Eazy bar to drink some Tusker. Aaron, Santhi, Sujji and Colin join us after performing emergency surgery on Sujji’s foot. She seems better and in less pain.
We drink late into the night and I realize how special my friends in general and those seven are. It is likely the last time we’ll all be together. About 2am I stagger off for the hotel after we had consumed all the Tusker at the bar. In fact Aaron’s last Tusker was encased in an ice block with the bartender having spent 5 mins searching the freezer at Aaron’s insistence.
I learn later the next day that Keli was mugged coming back to the hotel with Chris. Her purse containing her new expensive digital camera was taken. Luckily her passport and tickets were in the safe at the hotel. Chris and Keli spend much of the morning giving statements. A horrid end to an otherwise fantastic vacation.
Saturday October 11th
The Journey Home?
We all prepare to leave in the morning. Our 15 min flight from Zanzibar to Dar is at 12:30. We are about to leave the hotel when on a whim I ask Sujji about her ticket. We are flabbergasted to see she’s actually flying a day later! This is very shocking. We re-book her flight to Dar for the next day, Colin plans to spend the next day with Sujji. Hopefully all will be okay (Ed. Note — Sujji did in fact make it back to Canada, as did Colin).
The rest of us head on for the flight back. What more can I say. The vacation was marvellous — not perfect by any means but the camaraderie, the achievement — all unbelievable.
I sit on my flight from London to Calgary and I close a chapter — my dream to summit Kilimanjaro. I have done it, but more importantly, I have done it with the best of friends.
I can say — “Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the frostbite”.
Here’s to Aconcagua 2006.
