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TanzaniaRwanda is a beautifull country of mountains and fertile terraced valleys. Women carrying bright primary colourfull umbrellas and boys riding bicycles weighed down with green bananas. It's impossible to imagine what happened here but unfortunately Rwanda is better know to most people for the terrible genocide that occurred here in 1994. When half a nation went on the rampage and in 3.5 months almost 800,000 people were hacked to death with pangas (machetes), shot through the head or butchered with anything to hand.
I enjoyed Dar es Salaam as cities go it was both friendly and multicultural with it's African, Indian, Arabic and European flavours. Where as Zanzibar's stonetown was a bit too touristy after my recent journeys, nethertheless wandering the maze of alleyways I found it a place full of interesting Swahili culture and later history as a British protecterate. The island was important to the Arabs for both slave and spice trading and the sultan grew exotic spices and fruit from all over Asia. Nowadays the usual thing to do is go on a spice tour, I did too and really enjoyed being a tourist.

Eastern Africa - part 2

Stevemonty
2005-09-23 18:56:02

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Tanzania
I enjoyed Dar es Salaam as cities go it was both friendly and multicultural with it's African, Indian, Arabic and European flavours. Where as Zanzibar's stonetown was a bit too touristy after my recent journeys, nethertheless wandering the maze of alleyways I found it a place full of interesting Swahili culture and later history as a British protecterate. The island was important to the Arabs for both slave and spice trading and the sultan grew exotic spices and fruit from all over Asia. Nowadays the usual thing to do is go on a spice tour, I did too and really enjoyed being a tourist.
On the coast I stayed at Mohammed's on Mtwembe beach. The sand here is like the coconut puree served with samosa, resting on it are dugout canoes against a clear cyan sea. Tim from London and I played footie with some local children on the beach and we had a good laugh teaching them rugby.I went snorkelling around Mtembwe atoll with a 6 metre long whale shark! Swimming from the dive boat through deep ribbons shoals of shrimp. I was first to the spot where we'd seen it's fin break the surface. I looked around to see where the other snorkellers were heading too, then when I put my head back in the water I saw a huge jaw over a metre wide and two eyes swimming diagonally upwards, straight towards me!

I've never moved so fast in all my life as I turned 90 degrees and finned as fast as I could away. The whale shark turned around also and we were then able to swim alongside it for 2-3 minutes. Thankfully the whale shark is completely harmless to humans as it only feeds on shrimps. I snorkelled for 2.5 hours all together that day and saw some new species to me such as a brown spotted sea snake and white moray eel, but also many more familiar large parrot fish, moorish idols and giant clams.

I caught a cold and blistered my toe snorkelling and so feeling a little low was pleased to meet British backpackers, Peter and Hannah ...