My Life in Words

Jambo Second instalment of the blog from Tanzania. Just leaving Zanzibar now and heading back to the mainland on the wonderful Precision Air. We have a 3 hour stopover at the Dar es Salaam airport (because the flights do a big Zanzibar-Dar-kill loop) and it may be one of the worst airports I've ever been in. There is one store, which is closed. And no one who works at the airport knows or cares why.  Zanzibar, however, was absolutely awesome. The beaches and beautiful and quiet and the water was so clear and turquoise. I think it’s a lot like Mexico must have been 30 years ago before all the tourists came. Only I think the beaches were nicer than in Mexico. I would definitely recommend a visit if any of you are in Africa. There isn’t heaps to do, but there are some day trips and excursions one can do (snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, some boat trips to nearby islands, etc). Seems like there are a few museums in stone town as well which might be ok.  I arrived on Mon...

Jambo!  After 10 months without a 'real' holiday (no, Mongolia and Kansas City don't count) I'm finally getting some extended time off. And it could not have come at a better time!  I had this crazy idea back in March when I was planning my annual holiday that I should do something adventurous for my time off this year. Silly me. Why go to the beach and chill out, when you can climb a mountain during your time off? And not just any mountain....Kilimanjaro. Which, for those who don't know, is 5895m tall. That's nearly 20 thousand freaking feet. Believe me, I walked up all of them. And back down. So here I am, in Tanzania. To climb Kili, relax on the beaches in Zanzibar and go on safari. Turns out Kilimanjaro has its own international airport, with flights from Doha, Qatar arriving daily. So I flew Qatar airways, which was as good as its reputation suggests. The flight from Doha to Kili was interesting - every single person on that flight was carrying trekking bac...