First time I see a welcome greeting at the airport that’s so informal. The person who planted the plants must only know how to spell through txt. Lucky no space for a smiley face :)
Our guide (cum driver) was taking us around the safari when suddenly he swerved to the side of the road and stopped. Then he looked out the window… what do you know, a crab!
Who’d expect to see a crab on an African safari!?
Apparently they live around the puddles that form in the safari. But they can withstand long time without water too. So, be careful while driving around, you might just accidentally squish one.
Zanzibar was once grew a lot of spices to support its economy – mainly cloves. But now that the economy turned to tourism, they’ve made “Spice Tours”.
So in the tour they bring you around some plantations to see the different spices and fruits. Being in a tropical climate, most of the spices and fruits are similar to the ones you can find in the backyards of Malaysia.
See fruits like jackfruit, starfruit and even the durian. Spices like cloves, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, lemon grass, nutmeg and vanilla. However, there are some local fruits too like the elephant apple (fruit not edible, but can be used for hair gel instead), golden mango (which taste kinda like a ripe and sweet ..err.. that little green thing which I cant remember the name).
Yes, they have the durian! It was brought over from southeast Asia long time ago during the slave trade days. And now the locals eat it too. Though you still don’t get that nice smell like you can find on the streets of KL.
This is a sign posted up at the YWCA in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
In Dar Es Salaam, it did felt a bit unsafe to stay out too late at night. And there were lots of people who would greet you with the standard greeting (usually “Mambo” or “Jambo”) and they would wait for your greeting back (reply with “Poa” or “Jambo” - respectively"). Even when you get tired of saying it, they will try to teach you to say it again and again. Mostly it felt like a passing-by type greeting, and no intention behind it.
I also went to Kariakoo in Dar Es Salaam, supposedly Africa’s largest covered market, though you’d be disappointed coming from Asia or Thailand (Chatuchak much much bigger). There was nothing much there, and it basically didn’t feel safe there. I heard a lot of them shouting “Cina! Cina!”. And although I was very careful with my belongings and camera (didn’t dare take it out to snap some pics), someone still manage to try and grab my gold chain. He managed to snap it, but his stubby fingers didn’t manage to grab it. Scarily, he just stood there and stared at me while I was wondering what happened and walked away. It was broad daylight and crowded!
However, that said, the other parts of Tanzania felt safe – in Zanzibar or Mikumi. Though you’d still hear the Mambo Jambo everywhere, and some hassles as usual in touristy places. And oh, most people don’t like their pictures taken too. But you can feel that many of them were genuinely friendly.
Malaysia would be the last thing you’d expect to see on the other continent. However, walking through the lanes of Stone Town in Zanzibar, you might bump into this…
What’s the truck carrying??? Boxes of oil…
Closer look… its palm oil…
From Malaysia! (aahh… effects of globalisation)
Here you are in the safari enjoying the perfect picture.
Until you look closely, and realise life in the wild ain’t so perfect after all.
Getting attacked by lions is not fun. Run faster next time!
First… look for footprints…
Then look for groups of animals that are on high alert…
See how the animals below are looking in one direction
Then search in the direction they are looking at…
See if you can spot anything or any movement in the grass.
See anything?? Look closely…
Ah hah!
Then get your driver to go off the road and get face-to-face with a lion!
“We’re moving mountains!” on the truck for Kilimanjaro Beer! Cracks me up…
For those who don’t know – Kilimanjaro is also Africa’s tallest mountain. Hah – get it? Get it!?
I have zebras on my desktop (wallpaper). Do you?
Click on pic to download for your wallpaper. Enjoy!
Went to Mikumi National Park in Tanzania, which is only about a 4-hour drive from Dar Es Salaam (the capital). It is much less crowded than the popular Serengeti at the north. (Our guide says you don’t spot for animals there, you just need to watch out for the cars/people, and there will be animals – takes the fun out of a safari).
Anyway, after just entering through the main entrance of the park, we spotted animals! Was so excited. So, out comes the binoculars and this was what I saw:
Giraffes!!! Yes, right in the centre are 2 giraffes. Can you see it? This shot above was taken with my longest zoon lens. Let me magnify it for you:
TA DAA!! Giraffes!! Yeah, now we’re in a safari!!
Then we drove around in the safari… and 1 hour later:
Giraffes were everywhere!! And we got pretty close to some of them
Took the very long flight via Doha to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. If you calculate it right, it should be about 24 hrs of travelling, including an excruciating 7 hour wait at Doha airport for the next connecting flight. It was between 3 to 10am Thai time (or something like that) – which was sleeping time, but of course, how could anyone sleep on uncomfortable airport chairs. And there was no free wifi too, what a shame.
Anyway, I finally arrived in Dar Es Salaam, and walked around the hostel area. There’s also the beach! And everyone was very nice. So far, so good. :)
Posts
All Comments
