January 27, 2015 Acknowledgements

By the time you read this final blog, we will have started our return trip home.  We land in Dar es Salaam at 6:30 a.m. EST on January 27th and fly out that same evening at 8:30 p.m. EST landing in Ottawa around 8:00 p.m. EST on January 28th.

Without the support and contributions from the following individuals, this BLOG would not have been possible:

•  Me - For coming up with the idea of doing a blog and for having the idle mental capacity to scribe it. Well done, Greg.

• Diane Boyle and Louise Riendeau - For being great and loving trip companions and providing some of the facts and kind of helping out with the editing by pointing out the odd spelling and grammatical error and challenging my factual accuracy for some of the details. Without their help, this blog would still have been good.

• Jeff Boyle & Lynda Levesque - For being loyal followers of the blog and the intellectual inspiration for me over the years.  Truly.....well....sort of.

• Adam & Erin Boyle - Again, for being faithful followers of the blog and for keeping silent over the years about their father's embarrassing behaviour.

• Chris "Herbs" Harber - For his sage advice on how to deal with a couple of fellows that play for the "other" team and keeping me grounded in reality over the years.

• Donna & Pete "Dad" Atkinson - For looking after Maggie in our absence and being the unwitting recipients of several barbs in the blog as well as in videos yet to be shown.

• Bob & Faye Kipp - For almost coming on the trip with us. Can we still come and visit you in Myrtle Beach? 

• Janet Leppard - For coming through as usual "guessing" what some of the words meant and coming up with hilarious interpretations.

• Marie Riendeau - who helped make this trip a reality. 

• Anita Boyle - for been the biggest fan of the blog and believing every word her son wrote.

• Nazmin Alani - a friend through work and an ex-pat from Uganda who did a similar trip to region the year before and for continuous encouragement to go through with the trip when things looked a bit unsettled.

• Maggie - For not giving a crap where we were.

• Mueima, Fred and Pascal - Our faithful drivers and tour guides throughout the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Reserve who kept us safe the entire time while over-delivering on our expectations. We made them honorary citizens of Canada by bestowing them with Canadian flag lapel pins.

• The people and the wildlife of Uganda and Tanzania - for meeting and exceeding our expectations and making this the trip of a lifetime.

Disclaimer:  The author does not take any responsibility for the accuracy of any of the statements or claims that he made as well as the factual veracity of the blog.  Further, should any individual(s) who may have been referenced in some form or fashion in the blog and feels slighted or offended, please get over it.

January 26, 2015 - Stone Town and the Infamous Slave Trade

It's our last full day of our holidays so we make the best of it.  I will forewarn you this blog is a bit of the long side.

Abdullah our tour guide is very thorough and detailed in his historical tour of the town. He starts off by explaining how the name Zanzibar was derived from the arabic words for "Coast of Black People".  All along the coast of E. Africa, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania, etc. have heavy black populations. There was no indigenous people on Zanzibar when it came under Persian rule (Iranians) in the 9th century followed by the Portuguese during the 16th and 17th century.  It finally came under Arab rule during the 18th and 19th century. This is when the slave trade increased significantly under the Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar with the flow of Zanj (Bantu) slaves from South East Africa. It increased unabated until the British forced the Sultan of the day to abolish it in 1873.

But before we get into the history of the Slave Trade, you need to know the history of the Indians and the Arabs that settled here and the significance of their doors. The East Indian homes have large balconies with balustrades so they could go out on them and greet people.  The Arabs, on the other hand, had no balconies and had bars in their window.  This was because they were very jealous and did not want other men seeing their wives.  They've come a long way. The design of the doors have real significance in terms of status, ethnicity and occupation.  Most Arabian doors have large brass studs shaped like bullets protruding form the door and arranged in a matrix fashion.  This was a carry-over from their homelands where they had a practical purpose for stopping elephants from pushing through their doors.  There are no elephants on Zanzibar.  The doors are large and have intricate, detailed carvings and we took plenty pictures of doors some over a 1,000 years old.  If they were a slave traders, they would have chain links carved around the perimeter of the door.  If Arabian, it would have the Quran carved above the door.  If there were pineapples in the carvings it meant that you were welcomed into their home.  And finally, if there was a lion(s) carving, it meant that you were part of the Sultan's family. East Indian doors were also large but very different in design.  The doors were adorned with small boxes in a symmetrical pattern but had no significance other than purely decorative.

The Slave Trade which was the reason why we hired a tour guide was beyond what we expected in terms of cruelty and brutality.  The slave trade in East Africa served primarily the Arab countries and the spice plantations on Zanzibar island.  Whereas, West Africa slave trade primarily served the plantations in the U.S. When the British abolished the slave trade along with the Sultan in 1873 they erected a Anglican church on the site of the slave trade. Of note, of 1.4 million population of Zanzibar, 97% are Muslim, 2% are Christian and 1% are Hindi. This church is one of only two Christian churches in the country, the other being Catholic. The inspiration that the English missionaries had behind building their church on this site was to replace the bad with something good. In front of the alter there is red marble with beige marble in the centre.  The beige marble was where the "whipping" tree stood and all slaves were whipped there and if they survived the whipping they would go into the auction two weeks later when their scars heeled.  The red marble symbolizes the blood spilt during these brutal whippings that trenched the ground around the tree. Many died from the brutality in an already weakened state.  Behind the alter is the grave of Edward Steere the designer and builder of the Church. Steere became friends with another famous Brit name Dr. David Livingstone of famed explorers, Stanley & Livingstone. Livingstone, as my siblings Jeff and Lynda pointed out to me, achieved fame when he discovered Victoria Falls trying to locate the start of the Nile.  Livingstone told the British rulers about the plight of the slaves in Africa that resulted in England sending missionaries to East Africa which ultimately led to them abolishing the slave trade.  Livingstone loved Africa so much that he had his heart buried under a tree in Zambia.  A cross carved from that tree hangs in this church in his name.  At the back of the church, there are 12 marble pillars representing the 12 disciples of Jesus. While Steere was away on a short trip, the labourers installed the pillars upside down which is how they have remained.  And finally, also at the back of the church is the baptismal font.  The reason it is located at the back of the church instead of its normal place at the front of the church is because all slave children under 5 years of age were slaughtered on that actual spot.  

Seventeen years ago a tourist from Sweden named Clare Sornas was so moved by the history of the slave trade that she financed a monument of 5 life-size statues of slaves made out of coquina stone linked together by chains in a slave chamber.  The 5 statues represent slaves from 5 different tribes chained together which was a common practice to prevent them from organizing an escape.  The final part of our tour involved us going under ground into the slave chambers.  This was actually hideous.  The ceilings were no higher than 5' 9" with elevated slabs on either side where the slaves slept  with a trench down the centre for when the ocean overflowed and to use as a toilet.  The elevated slabs were less than 3 feet from the ceiling.  The larger chamber was perhaps 25 ft. X 15 ft. and housed 75 slaves at a time, chained together at all times made up of women and children.  The smaller chamber was about 15 ft. X 15 ft. that housed 50 males.  Three slits in the end wall allowed for air to come in but they were maybe an inch wide.  The rooms were incredibly claustrophobic.  Again, no food or water for 3 days and those who survived were deemed strong enough to sell.  You will need to see the pictures to believe it. Di and I found this to be more disturbing than Dachau which we visited it in 1985. I thank the tour guide, Amilcar, who took us through the history of the slave trade and could not resist asking him if he was a descendant from the slave trade.  He smiled and said there were no black people on the island before the slave trade and there is no distinct tribe on the island.  He then simply said "yes".

Our next stop was the Palace Museum, originally built and ruled by the Portuguese from 1804 t0 1856 when the Arabs kicked the Portuguese out of Zanzibar. Several Sultans would call this home and they all proved to be a "randy" bunch.  The two sons of the first Sultan came from different women in the Sultan's concubine because his formal wives did not give birth to boys.  One was the son of a Russian slave and the other an Ethiopian slave. They ultimately warred when Barghash attempted to take the throne from his brother Majid which ended up being a short-lived failed coup. Nothing of consequence happened and they resolved their differences with Barghash took over as ruler from 1870 to 1888.

We then visited the market to see the fish auction which also houses a vegetable and a meat market.  You really need a stomach for this because it was very hot, open sided and dingy inside and festered with flies and an odour that was revolting. Having said that, we stomached watching the fish auction and a bunch of buyers and sellers (couldn't tell them apart) with an auctioneer did their trades.  Bare handed, fish right on the floor, everyone is slimy clothes, we lost our appetite for fish.  The meat and the vegetable markets were marginally better but they appeared to be doing a brisk business.  We think we are going to stick to coffee and only fruit that you have to peel!  LOL

Our last significant stop is the "House of Wonders" built by Sultan Seyyid Said Barghash (same one who took over after a failed bloodless coup).  The reason it was called the House of Wonders it was the first home/building on the island to have electricity and running water. Later on, when elevators were invented, he had one installed by none other than Otis elevators.  Ultimately it became the seat of government in 1913 but the last Sultan to rule there greeting Princess Margaret in 1953 with a portrait of her sister Queen Elizabeth at her coronation 1n 1952.  The last surviving Sultan of this clan now lives in Portsmouth, England.

This is our last full day and last blog covering our journey. In a few short hours I will post an acknowledgement of all those people who helped, encouraged and supported our "trip of a lifetime".  You might just be in it.

January 25, 2015 - Spice Tour and Dhow Palace, Stone Town Zanzibar

Our driver, Haji, picks us up at the Pongwe Beach Resort at 9:30 a.m. to take us to Stone Town via a guided tour of the Spice Trade. 

Zanzibar has been a major trading hub for spices for over 2000 years with Persia (Iran), India and other Arab countries. The spice farm has over 500 hectares where they grow the spices. A lot of the spice industry is controlled by the government especially cloves because of its importance to the Zanzibar economy.

Our guide's name is Abdullah who is very conscientious and gives us a tour involving more than 30 spices and several fruit trees.  Most we willl never remember so we take lots of photos. We are amazed at the variety of purposes that some well known spices are used for.  For example, cinnamon is used to treat high blood pressure and the roots of the plant are used as degongestant.  They cut a piece of root for us to smell and the scent is identical to Vic's vapour rub. Did you know that nutmeg is a natural aphrodisiac and women take it when they are planning children? Women also use it as a form of whiskey.  They make a powder, add water to it and drink it before going out dancing or meeting people to give them confidence.  We also were entertained by a local who skillfully climbed up a very tall Coconut tree with only his hands and a rope wrapped around his feet for traction.  He sang a song most of the time (called Hakuna Matata....no worries) and did some very skillful acrobats.  He then opened up young coconuts that Di and Louise drank coconut water from and ate some of the coconut pulp.  I passed on it.  The tour takes about 2 hours and Di and Louise buy some soaps and spices to bring back as gifts to Canada. We arrange a guided tour of Stone Town tomorrow with Abdullah.  It will help avoid the dozens of unsolicited approaches from street merchants.

After the tour our Haji drops us off near our hotel, Dhow Palace.  The place is right out of a Bogart movie. It obviously has Persian influence and appealing architecture.  The only problem is it is a "dry" hotel and thus dining out will be a priority. Originally built in 1559,  The first owner/occupant was a Sultan whose family dynasty owned it for over 3 centuries until 1899.  The original walls are 70 to 80 centimetres thick made from "coquina" which is sedimentary rock with embedded sea shells.  This type of construction is very common and is what gave Zanzibar Town its more famous name Stone Town. The walls are now covered in stucco whitewash white which is a common finish in this part of the world. Remember the movie Casablanca? Anyhow the one of the last Sultans of the clan to own it in the late 1800's put Zanzibar on the map.  His name was Seyyid Said Barghash.  He gained fame for abolishing the slave trade in Zanzibar along with the English missionairies in 1873 and brought electricity to Zanzibar even  before London England had it.  However, he was also "infamous" for having 99 concubines and apparently lost count of how many children he had.  We saw his portrait and the guy was butt-ugly. You got to love it!  The Palace exchanged hands several times through the first half of the 20th century and eventually fell into disrepair.  The current owners renovated it and re-opened it in 1993 and brought it back to its former glory. From 1995 to 2003 the Palace was only 2 storeys and 16 rooms.  After that they added a 3rd floor (which we are on) and a second wing.  It took them years to complete because they painstakingly finished it with identical materials used in the original construction and there are not many artisans available today who know how to work with those materials.  Fortunately our rooms have AC which turned out to be a blessing because the heat here is oppressive (6 degrees south of the equator and very, very humid).

Regardless of the heat, we decide to do a walk-around of the town even though we will have a guided tour tomorrow.  They're not streets as we know them...at best they are alleys. In fact, the tour guide books warn you that you will likely have to drag your luggage to your hotel because the taxis can't get them.  Dhow Palace was not an exception. Lunch and a walk-around occupied us for about 2 hours and you definitely need a map because there is "zero" street signs.  The only mode of transportation, other than on foot, are Honda and Vespa motorcyles/scooters and bicycles.The interior streets are pretty run down and the only source of light is straight up because of the building height and the narrow alleys.  Every place is either eatery, souvenir shop or some form of retail.  Many will ask you to come in and look around but a polite response, "Asante hopana" (no thanks) gets the desired effect.  

Because our hotel is "dry", we book dinner at a place on the ocean called "Africa House" hotel. It is actually pretty luxurious and we book dinner on the second floor on a huge lanai for 6:30 p.m.  It's back to the hotel for a quick swim in the pool in the open atrium and it is fantastic.  Louise shows her "bohemian" side by going in the pool without using the shower in the Ladies room first.  (Thank God she warns Di and I when we came down).  I go to shower in the Gents room and I am stunned to see a full toilet "inside" the shower!  No...it is not dirty....in fact very clean as they demand but you can literally relieve yourself while showering.  (My brilliant wife has just informed me that it is very common in Asia and is called a "wet toilet".).
                                                   
Dinner out proved to be to our liking and the crowd on the Lanai was made up of well-to-do Aussies, Persians and some lonely looking femmes fatales (i.e. cougars).  It has a bar-like atmosphere with Western music. I had grilled Octopus and the girls had different versions of Red Snapper.  Right behind us were 2 Arabs smoking from a Hookah pipe.  Apparently one smoking session (called shisha) is equivalent to having more than 100 cigarettes. One of the guys tips the scales at least 350 lbs. and smokes for about 2 hours without moving.  Hakuna Matata big boy!

We were back to the Dhow Palace by 9:00 p.m. and readied ourselves for tomorrow's tour and get deep into the history of Zanzibar.

January 24, 2015 The Out-Takes for the Trip

While we spent all of today either walking the beach, playing in the ocean or poolside there is not really much to say about it other than it's great to relax by the ocean. When we move to Stone Town tomorrow, we anticipate that we will have lots to share with you about the slave and spice trade and Zanzibar itself.

So what to cover in today's blog was really not a hard decision.  We decided to let you know about the "out-takes" of the trip.  That is the "caca that happens" that we weren't going to cover so the naysayers couldn't jump on it and say...."I told you so."

Out-Take #1 Louise throws down the gauntlet, day 1 in Uganda

After a series of flights through the night that take us through Kigale Rwanda, Entebbe and Kihihi Uganda, we arrive at our first African destination Mahogany Springs in Bwindi.  The check-in goes smooth until they take us to our suite, which is not the President's suite that we reserved.  Louise immediately and firmly expresses her displeasure to the poor hotel clerk and we are given two separate accomodations.  She really drives home the point and all Diane and I could do was listen in silence.  By this time, we just want to relax.  That evening for dinner, the hotel manager comes and sees us and profusely apologizes for their error and will move our stuff in the morning to the two bedroom, two bathroom President's suite.  By now Louise has cooled off to a simmer and the manager in recognition of our inconvenience offers us a bottle of wine of our choice from the wine list, on the house. We choose well.  After we get the wine, both Diane and I compliment Louise on her strength of conviction and I simply ask her, "Louise, it's not like you to be so forceful.  Why did you feel that you needed to say something?".  She quickly responds "I didn't want you to make a scene".  I am stunned and find myself speechless. She might as well have kicked me right in the cojones.

Out-Take #2 Louise suffers a foot injury

While at Katara Lodge, I took a picture of Louise and Diane on our outdoor open balcony overlooking the Great Rift Valley and then asked Louise to take one of Diane and I.  Without looking, Louise walks over to get the camera from me only to stumble on my hiking boots and slashes her left foot open.  She berates me for leaving the boots in the middle of the balcony and Sister Sledge joins her in criticizing me (a French coup d'etat). It goes without saying that I don't take it well and Louise bleeds like a pig all over our floor. She somehow manages to get to her banda (hut) limping where she has this unbelievable elastic foot bandage that slips over her foot that she brought for just such an occasion.  Talk about being prepared.  Anyways...Louise is no worse for the wear and is now the proud owner of a  one inch scar on her left foot that resembles a smile.

Out-Take #3 Diane get ticks

No kidding. She wakes up one morning in Olduvai and said she felt itchy in the middle of the night and thought she had something thorny stuck in her abdomen.  I look closely and sure enough, she has a few blood-sucking little buggers attached to her tummy and back.  I freak out but she surprises me with a pair of special tweezers that she brought for just such an occasion. And I thought Louise came prepared! I pluck them out for her with these special tweezers accompanied by the occasional yelp.  We believe it was a result of hanging our laundry on low hanging branches of an acacia tree at our previous camp at Dunia.  I'm still not convinced that this is a permanent remedy so I seek out a Masai warrior named Luwinda who had holes the size of silver dollars in his ear lobes.  Luwinda accompanies me to our tent and while Diane has already changed for breakfast, we convince her to allow him to provide her some Maasai treatment.  He breaks off a piece of an aloe vera plant and immediately a syrupy yellow sap (not clear like our North American aloe vera) starts to drip.  We lift her "white" top and he liberally applies this very yellow liquid to her stomach and back. You can imagine what her shirt looked liked after.  Bottom line is everything cleared up fine and the stains in the white shirt washed out.

Out-Take #4 Greg gets sinus treatment from a Maasai medicine man

It seemed the minute we arrived in the Serengeti I reacted to pollen in the air and my sinuses were overflowing.  By the time I got to Olduvai, I was going through a 1/2 box of tissues a day. Pascal our driver, convinced me to visit a genuine Maasai "medicine man" who just happened to be sitting under a tree next to our Land Cruiser the day we trek to the Olduvai Gorge.  The guy couldn't speak a word of English and he looked like he belong at the hostile on George Street in downtown Ottawa. I'm kind of stuck amongst several Maasai warriors and this medicine man so I put on the brave face and say "sure...yah....why not....ha....ha".  So money exchanges hands and this scarecrow of a guy takes my water bottle and from a cheap plastic container start filling it with a concoction of bark, saw dust-like stuff and roots from a variety of acacia trees.  He then shakes it somewhat vigorously and then hands it back.  Kitende and Kone who had accompanied us on the trek also give it a shake and then hand this amber coloured, loamy water to me to drink.  Remember, I've got four of these Maasai, my driver and the two women staring at me in silence. So I drink it. Gawd.  It takes me about 15 minutes to drink all of it and they turn around and re-fill it!  I'm thinking this would be a good time to find religion.  Anyhow, I struggle through another whole bottle of this quite dirty and gritty concoction and await the much anticipated reaction.  Whether purely in my head or real,  my sinuses clear up that night.  I stopped short of another medicinal treatment that they wanted me to take that involved cow's blood.

January 23, 2015 Hakuna Matata Pongwe Beach Resort, Zanzibar

No...I'm not going to go native on you. Just that "Hakuna Matata" really sums it up.  In Swahili it means "no worries" (Something Ad likes to say a lot...not always sure he believes it.LOL)

They have great food here.  We start off the morning with an early breakfast around 7:45 a.m. We have mango and papaya fruit and for those of you who have never tried them (likely most of you) they taste really good.

We do plan a beach day to catch some sun rays because we were in pants and long sleeve shirts for most of the safaris in Uganda and the Serengeti to avoid pests and nettles. Try that on the equator! Anyhow, I wouldn't bother reading a blog about beaching so I won't bore you with covering that.  There was too many other ridiculous as well as interesting things to report on.

Each time we landed at an airport, our travel agency had arranged for a driver to meet us at Arrivals and take us to our accommodations.  For Zanzibar it was a nice Muslim gentleman names Haji (named after the Haj....look it up Janet). He was hired to take us to our first destination, Pongwe Beach Resort.  When we explained to him what we hoped to see and do while in Zanzibar, he proposed a package deal to pick us up and take us to our second destination and on the way, stop and wait for us while we did the Spice tour. For some unknown reason he also took the time to explain to us that there is a thriving drug industry in Zanzibar including the distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, etc. This morning, my dear sister-in-law "Weezie" read from the book we purchased prior to our trip on Tanzania informing us that many of the tour guides in Zanzibar are heroin addicts.  Oh, oh.  Hakuna Matata.

On this same drive, we travelled through an area that looked like a market and Haji informed us it was called Bububu.  There use to be a train on the island and this is where it was headquartered.  According to Haji the region got it's name from the sound that the train made......bu....bu...bu.  The hotel manager at Pongwe Beach, on the otherhand, told us Bububu is where all the bottled water is processed for the island and the area was named after the sound of bubbling water.  Bu.....bu....bu.  Strike 2 for Haji.  Hakuna Matata.

The people themselves, have proved to be very industrious. As you might expect, there are a lot of "village industries".  One of these industries is fishing with nets during low tide which we witnessed this morning.  The fish they catch is called "dagaa" and they sell it in the local markets. Two individuals stretched out a fishing net in the ocean that was about 50 feet long and slowly created a corral in the water.  A third individual started splashing the water to direct the fish into the corral as well as the two individuals at either end of the net. It took them about 1/2 hour but they successfully filled a bucket only about a 100 feet offshore in the shallow water.

At the same time, there was several muslim ladies in full garb in the receding tide with baskets on their head picking up "tuale" (pronounced twal-ee) which are small crabs and "mwani" which is a seaweed that they extract oil from, again, both to sell at the local markets. They don't seem to be concerned that their "saris" are getting wet and they spend the next 4 hours in the shallow waters working away until the tide starts coming back in.

During the low tide, we decide to walk towards a nearby village to explore the area.  By now the ocean has receded about 1/2 mile allowing us to walk further afield.  Again we observe several women collecting large quantities of seaweed and hanging it on racks to dry in the midday sun.  We see literally hundreds of these bundles of seaweed on racks along the shoreline.  We are told by the Pongwe hotel manager that this seaweed will be exported to Japan and used in the manufacturing of rubber.

It is really remarkable that everything seems to have a purpose especially in generating an income similar to what we experienced on mainland Africa.  The people seem really content and fulfilled with what they are doing.  We try to imagine if this will always be the case. Hakuna Matata.

January 22, 2015 Gibb's Farm departure and off to the Island of Zanzibar

Gibb's Farm was definitely a place where we would have like to stay longer. The accommodations were probably the best of our journey in Africa so far but experiencing a working farm combined with walking tours in the surrounding jungle and the farm gardens had been a real treat.  As well, we got to sit out both nights in large Muskoka-type chairs and sip on wine before dinner overlooking the farm valley. Absolutely relaxing. I managed to put a good dent in the bottle of Abelore that Di picked up fo me at duty-free in Entebbe. I'm certain Zanzibar is going to be quite different but hopefully as rich in history and experience.

There were other neat things about our stay at Gibb's.  

Certainly an eclectic group of tourists made up of Canadians, Americans and yes, good ol' Brits.  In fact there was an ancient Brit who has been coming back to the same place since 1947 even before it had a lodge.  He was quite old and stooped and still mostly there but had that British "air" about him of days gone by.  Nothing pretentious about him and he reminded me of the deaf old Major on Fawlty Towers holding his hand to his ear when he talked.  He told us his wife was going to be "right good mad at him" because he misplaced/lost $400.  (Been, there done it, got the damn T-shirt).  Anyways, he was off to a big game hunting reserve (yes...they still have them) and I doubt he could hold up a pistol let alone a game rifle and shoot it.  Nice old lad....not like my "bush baby" buddy.  There was also a table of well-to-Americans and wouldn't you know, one of them grew up on Wellesley street in McKellar Park in Ottawa.

As I mentioned in our previous Blog, they put hedges of "nettles" around the vegetable patch that the baboons like.  If you have never experienced nettles, you will be happy to pass on it.  Little stingers that radiate stinging pain once they pierce your skin.  Regardless, Di got one of the grounds keepers to shoo baboons away from our cottage since they were outside the washroom window while she was showering.  LOL

While their wines and beers were all new to us, they were tasty and enjoyable without exception.  Everything was very affordable and all the food (including meat) was farmed or raised on the property.  Everything 100% organic and service was excellent. 

Enough on Gibb's Farm.

We have a 1 1/2 hour road journey to Arusha where we will catch a regional flight over to Zanzibar.  For the first time in our entire trip, to date, we are on a smooth paved road between destinations. It's almost boring if it wasn't so comfortable. It is a very smooth and quiet ride through hills and the Rift Valley.  We immediately noticed the absence of wildlife and it makes us realize that large areas of Africa have given way to farming and herding and have forced the wildlife out. The Maasai control the land all the way down to Arusha and you see herds of cattle mostly and herds of sheep and goats during the drive.  Kind of sad when you think about it for such a large expanse of land with no wildlife but fortunately the country had the wisdom to put aside large tracts of land like the Serengeti and the Ngrorongoro Crater Reserve to protect and maintain a stable population of wildlife.

We finally arrive at the airport in Arusha and board a 12 seater to fly over to Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean (Did you know that is where it is Janet? Wildebeest......I'm still chuckling).  The flight from the mainland takes 1 1/2 hours and we are looking forward to a couple of days of beach time before heading into Stone Town for the last couple of days touring the area and learning more about its Portuguese and Arab history and the infamous slave and spice trade.  (BTW.....There are 10 passengers on the flight, 8 of which are Canadians).  Go figure.

It's a long drive to Pongwe Beach but well worth it.  Right out of a Somerset Maugham novel.  We get private villas with large Lanais and we are about 100 feet off the Indian Ocean.  We have a palm thatched roof umbrella with two chez lounges on the beach in front of our villa and two hammocks tied to palm trees.  (We haven't figured out where Louise will sit.). We get changed and get right into the ocean.  Very warm and the salt water is not too strong.  They caution us not to step on sea urchins that apparently are in the water. 

As my brother Buck and sister Lynda reminded me before heading out on this trip, the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama first set foot upon Zanzibar in 1499 when he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope.  (Damn it was inspiring growing up with such well informed siblings). Since then it has undergone several regime changes and was once considered for a protectorate of the U.S. of A.  But we will wait until we get to Stone Town for more on its history to do it justice.

For now, it is off to the large open dining room for fish stew, beef biriyini and a French Bordeaux.

January 21, 2015 - The History of Tanzania through Gibb's Farm and a Walk to Elephant Caves

When we chose Gibb's Farm as one of our destinations on this trip, it was primarily because its easy access to the Ngorongoro Crater.  And why we chose it over other lodges was because it was still a working coffee plantation and a throw-back to colonial times.  Little did we expect it to play a part in the rich history of Africa pre-dating Tanzania as a country.

During the Berlin Conference of 1885, Germany and England carved up East Africa's as part of their empires.  Uganda and Kenya came under British rule and the pre-cursor to  Tanzania, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, came under German rule.  Both empires would establish large coffee plantations and the Ngorongoro Game Reserve all of which flourished in the region.  As we know big game hunting was the sport of the rich and famous and  the term "The Big 5" was the successful killing by a big game hunter of a lion, elephant, rhino, cape buffalo and leopard some to the brink of extinction.  This practice is illegal today.

By this time the Germans had started the coffee plantation in the area and had built some buildings as sleeping quarters and for the manufacturing of coffee.  It remained  much that way until the end of World War I when the League of Nations declared it a British mandate and the territory served as a military outpost up until World War II.  The Germans left the region temporarily only to return in 1929 since the King of England and the Chancellor of Germany were on friendly terms and agreed to let the Germans farm the land. They built the first farmhouse where the reception area and gift shop sit today. 

Along comes WW II and by this time the coffee plantation is well established and has flourished.  The Germans lose the war and abandoned the coffee plantation and it declines into a state of disarray. James Gibb who was a war veteran who fought for the British in Egypt,  travels through the region on his way to South Africa and like so many former British military officers to seek his fortune.  The governor of Tanganyika meets with James in Arusha and convinces him to stay and rehabilitate the farm with the help of locals who barters their employment in return for food. In 1958 and pushing 50, James is encouraged to find a wife and marries Margaret, the daughter of two British missionaries who was born in Tanganyika. She becomes the driving force of the farm.  In 1961, Tanganyika gains its independence and in 1963 joined up with Zanzibar and they become one country called Tanzania.  In 1967, a socialist President nationalizes all industries but Gibb's keep their working farm because Margaret is a natural citizen.  She maintains good relationship with the socialist government and the Gibb's coffee plantation flourishes and she hires a local German experienced at running coffee plantations to work for them.  In 1972, the government encouraged Margaret to build a guest house for all the business people and diplomats that visit the region. She carefully expanded the lodge to 20 cottages and created large vegetable gardens to feed the guests. James dies in 1977 leaving her with 3 children so Margaret married her German plantation manager.  She remained owner until 2003 when she sold it and now in her late 80's lives on a hill overlooking Gibb's farm.

We did the tour walk of the farm property and were amazed at its size and diversity.  Our host is a Mbulu tribesman whose name is "Honest". Whatever vegetables that you know or you think you know, grows here.  No chemical pesticides and all vegetables consumed at the meals are freshly picked that day.  The vegetation is in such abundance that all staff on the lodge and plantation (120 plus)  have access to the gardens.  Insects are not a problem (they grow Marigold and spread ashes around the plant) but a couple of times a month they have to deal with baboons and elephants.  The elephants are easy to scare off by simply burning a fire but the baboons keep an eye on the plantation and raid when the farmers are not there.  They grow hedges of "nettles" around the favorite plants of a baboon and if you have never experienced the sting from a nettle plant, you're lucky. Apparently, not much is lost to these pesky night-raiders. Gibb's farming techniques are manual labor intensive and traditional plowing with oxen and donkeys.  The upside is it provides a lot of employment to the local region.

The Elephant Cave walk which we did in the morning with a Maasai warrior named Leskar was very interesting.  A little more than a 2 hour walk at 6,000 feet above sea level, we come to these dug out caves in thick red soil. The purpose of the caves is not for sleeping or hiding but instead elephants dig  with their tusks for much needed minerals - arsenium (spelling?), iron, magnesium and phosphorous.  This is particularly important to female elephants during gestation and they visit early morning and evening to dig for the minerals.