Half term fun in the sun!

Sorry it has been so long. I suddenly realised that 6 weeks of what has now become totally normal Tanzanian life had past and I found myself on holiday again! 

There has been some teaching fitted in as well!

Here are some of my adventures in Zanzibar…………..

It all started on a very small plane. There were only 14 people including the pilot and some lovely views. The landing was a little bit bumpy but the pilot delivered us safely to the beautiful island of Zanzibar.

 
We stayed just outside the main town of Stonetown. We enjoyed the pool and the gorgeous views as we ate our breakfast.

One of the reasons we had decided to go to Zanzibar was to enjoy the Music festival. We got to hear a range of music from all over Africa…….some better than others!

We spent a few days discovering the back streets of Stonetown, sweating lots and finding some great little shops. The trouble with Stonetown’s back streets is that they all look the same……….”Haven’t we been down this one was already” was heard a lot.

 Finding the way around the maze was good fun though. We managed to find our way out in time for some very unusual but delicious dinners.

Some of this was my dinner one evening!

This is an Ethiopian restaurant. It's all about the sharing. There are no knives and forks and it is all served on top of  what looks like a towel but is actually a pancake type thing that you use to eat all the delicious piles of food.

The highlight of the holiday was definitely our day trip to Prison Island. We were taken on a short journey by  boat to Prison Island.

 I managed to get a great seat right near the front……………I wasn’t loving it so much after just 5 minutes when I was totally soaked through from the slightly large wave splash back!  We arrived at Prison Island and after being amazed by the stunning views met the only residents of the island, Giant tortoises.

The random wet patch is from not quite drying from the extreme waves on the boat!

When we thought things couldn’t get any better we got back in the boat so they could take us to our picnic lunch spot. A white sand bank in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They announced as we arrived that we could enjoy some snorkeling to see the reef just off the sand bank while they cooked us a Tanzanian Style barbecue for lunch.

Snorkeling was amazing! Swimming  just above beautiful corals and alongside Nemo, Dori, and zebra fish was just  like being in Finding Nemo! I discovered very quickly that swimming in flippers was much easier than walking in them (I will leave you to imagine that because to my disappointment no one got any pictorial evidence of me looking ridiculous in my snorkel and flippers). The water was fairly choppy so I think I also swallowed half of the Indian ocean as it came down my snorkel.

I never imagined that I would ever be having a picnic lunch (Well it wasn’t really a picnic as they had bought proper tables, chairs and cutlery with us on the little boat) on the top of a white sandy island. The food was delicious including mouth watering coconut macaroon sweets to finish with. The Tanzanians certainly know how to picnic!

 

There was just time for a bit of starfish hunting before the boat trip back to Stonetown.

Yes the starfish is alive and the seconded pair of glasses are
 to protect my extra pair of teacher eyes from the  36 degree sun!

 Just to make the day totally perfect we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset while we were eating our dinner.

It had been a very exciting half term but just to finish it on a high we got to sit right behind the pilot in the tiny plane on the journey back to Dar.  It was slightly worrying when the pilot held his door open until the second we sped down the runway to take off and wrote on hs clipboard as we cruised over the ocean, but when you watch the runway get closer and closer as you land you realise that the pilot did know what he was doing!

I still have to pinch myself when I think about the fact that I live just 2 hours on a plane away from such a breath taking place. It has been a struggle to get your teaching head back on after such a fantastic week..........such a hard life! Only one more sleep until I am back with my lovely class.