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As I boarded the bus early in the morning in Nairobi I prepared myself for the scheduled 12 hour journey to Tanzania. Interesting sights along the way, but nothing to keep me awake for more than 20 minutes straight! Luckily I woke up in time for the border, for what should be a simple procedure of getting my visa. Should be! When I handed over the $50 U.S., the customs officer quickly smiled and stated he didn't have any change. I pointed out that I had seen the Kenyan in front of me receive his change. Amazing how the officer then said he'd ask his colleages if they might be able to scrape together the $20 owed back to me. 20 minutes later I boarded the bus with my transit visa and $20. No way is the only fight against corruption!! Bloody ironic that we then remained stuck at the border for a further 30 minutes with a flat tire!!

Aaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhh, Zanzibar

Coffeecat
2005-12-24 22:46:05

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book more interesting than him so it was back to me, my book and my beer. Sadly I seem to be saying that a little too often these days!!

Events picked up for me the following day as I joined a 'Spice Tour'. Although my fingers are not as green as all of the gardeners in my family, I really enjoyed this tour. Sitting in the back of the pickup with the other tourists was a little gruelling on the spine, but soon enough I was identifying cinnamon and nutmeg and back to the simple pleasures in life. The smells as we walked through the maze of trees and shrubs were extremely uplifting. Lemongrass, ginger, cardamon, ylang ylang, and cloves were just a few of the highlights. Even the sudden showers of rain as I stood under the peppercorn vines contributed to the buzz of the morning. We saw 1/2 of my kitchen contents and then ventured on to the next part of the tour, the slave caves.

It is so difficult to comprehend how people could just be plucked from their families and stored in such entrapments prior to being 'purchased'. The holes that had been dug into the ground had been filled with 2 levels of people that had just inches of room above their heads and no light. Zanzibar was one of the biggest 'hiding posts' of slaves. As soon as I started reading the information boards, I felt overwhelmed by a sense of needing to know more. How could people be treated this way? How could others believe it was okay? The slave trading period was recent in terms of history. A quiet reflection overcame us all as we tried to
absorb these actions. There was nothing to be said to comfort one another, and we moved on. I vowed to myself to read up and understand more of this time out of respect for the lives and souls lost to the greed of others.

The last stop on the day tour was towards a beach on the west coast. It wasn't as spectacular as the beaches on the East or North ...