leaving zanzibar

after almost a week on the island i am heading back to moshi.  there's a lack of prosperity and strange feeling of despair that i feel on the island.  perhaps it's the spirits of thousands of slaves that died here and are forever tied to this place.  there are many beautiful high end resorts in which you can stay, never stepping outside the bubble to experience the extreme poverty that is the norm on zanzibar.  

that wasn't a luxury i had - it was a business trip and i was constantly exposed to the less luxurious side of the island.  

the sunsets here are as beautiful as sunsets around the world and i enjoyed each one.  there were moments of relaxation and i am grateful for the chance to have seen an island that i have heard so much about.  to get in a day of swimming with the fish and turtles and other sea creatures.  

 i did take the time to get a henna tattoo and this picture probably captures the best moments of the trip.  i don't expect to get in another trip to zanzibar but i think one visit was enough for me.







the trip back to moshi was faster as there weren't any stops along the way and we get a breathtaking view of Kilimanjaro and Mawenzi [that's the smaller knob peak to the right] above the clouds that has even the pilot pulling out his camera for photos.  
it's a work day for me so as soon as i land i head into the office to catch up with the team.

north coast of zanzibar Mnemba atoll

it's just an hour or so to get to the north side of the island from Stone Town and i'm trying to stay on budget but the company's reimbursable expense is very low.  about $20USD per night for accommodations and $6.88USD per day for food.  hahaha.  i don't think i've ever come close to those numbers.  i did stay at a cheap place the first night but it was horrible so i moved the next day and ended up spending $75USD per night.  

i had a few meetings [with chefs at some high end resorts - so i do get fed a lot of good food].  in this job i've discovered that chefs love to feed you and you can't say no when they are telling servers to bring food and drinks to your table.  maybe that's why i've been putting on pounds.  

one day i get out on a dive trip and it's phenomenal except it's a cloudy day.  still the marine life around the atoll is spectacular and i see a ton of great sea life.  the beaches i visited on Zanzibar are not so spectacular but the water around the island is the turquoise blue you see around the pacific islands.  the water is really cold and i hate diving in a wet suit but it's a fantastic day in the water and i love every minute of it.

zanzibar

having arrived safely in Zanzibar and found our hotel in Stone Town we set out for a roof top dinner and sunset.  Zanzibar has a sketchy past, being most well known for it's slave trade.  they try to pass it off as a 'spice island' but that's just bad marketing.

happy hour at the ritz carlton

anyways, in between meetings in Stone Town i manage to see quite a bit of it and am happy to have some friends around as well.  one night we do a sunset boat tour and just being on the water makes me happy.

sunset cruise on a dhow

 there was a mixture of storms while i was on the island so not the best weather and more than once i got caught out in a storm.

Stone Town for me wasn't such a special place and after the weekend I moved across the island for meetings and to see what potential the island might hold for us.  

getting to zanzibar

i don't have a resident visa but remember that Tanzania driver's license i got?  well, i can sometimes use that to bluff my way into getting a resident rate on things that they otherwise charge obscene amounts of money for.

moshi airport

there is a small airline that flies around the country and it's called coastal.  they have really small planes, like the kind where everyone gets a window seat.  i stopped in to ask about some cargo rates and requested to get on their flight to Zanzibar which is direct from Moshi without going the 45 minutes to Jaro Airport.  i had already put down my business card and they could see my dl so when they said you have to wait until tomorrow for the resident rate i said ok.

so round trip to Zanzibar was $120 while the tourists were paying $350 [i know this because someone in our group could not get the resident rate].  i went on business but timed it so i could spend the weekend on the island with some friends.

the plane

like other places i've been they just have  a few airplanes and they make a circuit each day around the country like a bus would on a circular route.  

moshi from the air

so they start in the morning in the Serengetti, then stop Arusha, Moshi, Tanga, a Plantation, Zanzibar, Dar and then back to the Serengetti.  each leg is less than an hour flight but i was still three landings for me to get to Zanzibar.

it was really pretty cool to see the sprawling metropolis that is Moshi from the air.   there are about 100,000 residents and i don't think anyone has counted the muzingas but there are probably almost a thousand in the region.

first was Tanga, a coastal town and then a stop at a sisal plantation which is a hoot as the runway isn't even dirt it's more like a grass strip.  Then finally onto Zanzibar which has been in the news because of some very undemocratic like practices in the last election.  they like to think they are a separate country and the politicians run it like it is but the people don't care.  they'd rather have the protection of Tanzania and it just causes problems like you have to have a passport to enter Zanzibar. 

golf?

there's a sugar plantation, a very very large sugar plantation, just outside of Moshi.  it's owned by some Mauritians and it's a popular place for westerners.  it's about a 40 minute drive to get there but it's a really nice drive.  no lorries and no buses driving crazy speeds and passing everything on the road.  the drive is lined by trees and the fields of sugar cane surround you once you enter the premises.  it is amazing efficient for a plantation in Africa.  

they have a lot of heavy machinery and a rail system that automates the delivery of the raw sugar cane to the factory.  if the wind is right, when they are burning off the fields it blows right over moshi and can be seen for miles.


one day a few of us went out for a tour of the sugar processing plantation.  i got physically sick and left mid tour.  the smell was making me want to vomit.  i left thinking that i would probably never consume sugar again.  a few weeks later when i was exploring the idea of vanilla sugar as product to bring to market i found out that this factory doesn't export as their sugar doesn't meet international food safety standards.  yummy. 

it's a huge plantation and has it's own school, hospital and other administrative offices and every western convenience.  so it's a popular place for expats.

they built a lovely club house which includes a room for ping pong and billiards and the restaurant overlooks the golf course which i've only seen one person playing any time i've been out there.  the food is lovely and there is tennis and a pool so everything one needs to be comfortable.  it feels like a different world from the chaos that is the cities of Moshi and Arusha.  we did walk around the golf course after lunch and it was covered with monkeys which makes one wonder if they steal the balls.

vanilla is not boring

why vanilla?  vanilla is the second highest valued spice [after saffron] on the global market.  global demand for raw vanilla far exceeds what is produced today and it's a volatile marketplace because very few people control access to 80% of the global production.  in addition, one tropical storm can decimate the crop of Madagascar, producer of the 80% vanilla available globally.

the altitude and rich volcanic soil found in northern Tanzania and around Kilimanjaro is exceptional for the production of vanilla.  it creates higher concentrations of vanillian [the component evaluated for quality of vanilla pods].

so mom, that's why your vanilla extract is so expensive.  bad news, it's going to get more expensive.  the reports out of Madagascar are the crops will be under performing leaving a huge gap in demand vs. availability.

vanilla is used everywhere in so many things, ice cream, yogurt, baked goods, my baths [haha just kidding] the vanilla at the factory is under lock because the value is so high.

more details here...
https://epicurioushedgehog.wordpress.com/

dhl for giraffes

true story.  i spent 3 hours at the dhl office to get a shipment off to europe.  the most facinating thing about sitting there while they packed the order was this photo on the wall.  so someone, please explain to me, what exactly is dhl delivering to the giraffes?  

it's not just me, i showed my photo of the photo to another expat who said wow, i'm going to their offices just to get a photo of that.

and this explosion of clown confetti?  yeah, that's how dhl africa packs the boxes.  i can only imagine what the guy in belgium is going to think when he opens these.  but it's not possible to buy bubble wrap here so it is actually an environmentally good alternative.  every day i fight the [mostly accurate] perception that anything produced in Africa is substandard.  this does not help the fight.

yoga and puppy love

this is really about a trip to Nairobi.  it's time for a visa run so i head up to check on my distributors there and some suppliers.  remember how i said they don't manufacture anything here?  well that goes for printing as well so we get our printing of labels etc. done in Nairobi and unless i go to the office and sit with the account rep and the designer they can't be motivated to do anything.  i get to the airport and find my flight cancelled.  i have to wait an additional 4 hours which screws up my meetings in Nairobi.  i hate sitting in airports anyway but here's what i look like after 6 hours at the Jaro airport.  it's a 45 minute flight but since it's considered international you have to arrive 2 hours advance.  it takes an hour to get to the airport. that's 4 hours with no delays so any delay makes the flight just silly since you can get a 6 hour shuttle from Moshi to Nairobi for $15.  without the proper paperwork i don't want to try a land crossing of the borders here so i haven't done the shuttle.

plus, this time i'm returning friday to Dar instead of Moshi for a weekend of yoga with one of my friends.  the property on the beach where we were staying had a fresh litter or puppies so in the morning it was yoga, breakfast, then puppy time.  met some wonderful people and got in some beach time and yoga.  the ocean is wild and strong here.  nothing like the gulf where the water always seems warm and calm.

lazy sunday

not every day is a work day and with a plethora of hotels in the area i found one just a short walk away that allows guests to use the pool for 5000 TZS [$2USD] each day.  it's still kinda winter here so the water is freezing and as you can see from the photo they plant trees that cover most of the pool most of the day so the water doesn't really warm up.  still, the water is clean and it's refreshing so i wander over from time to time and lay out at the pool for a while.  the sign pointing to the hotel is like a neon light that would have been cool in south beach in the 50s.  now it's just a sad little posting that is easy to overlook when you drive down the street.

the hotel is a lower to mid market property so there always a weird mix of people there.  although the north of Tanzania is christian, there are still muslims about here and so i do see women covered from their ankles to their wrists swimming about in the pool.  i don't judge them for that and i'm comfortable in my bikini even if their men do stare but that is life in a mixed environment.  it is a good place to spend a lazy sunday afternoon and soak up some sun.  plus, i'm planning a trip to Zanzibar which is an island off the coast at the end of the month so i need to get a little bit of sun before then.  

albinos in tanzania

remember that security analyst i met in Nairobi?  well, i asked him about security in Tanzania vs. Kenya and his response was a surprise to me.  he said the big targets in Tanzania are albinos.  i looked it up and it turns out it's a real thing.  very sad.

"the albino community live in fear of being hunted down and hacked to pieces for their body parts which are treasured by witch doctors"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3452630/The-ghost-people-Tanzania-albino-community-live-fear-hunted-hacked-pieces-body-parts-treasured-witch-doctors.html#ixzz4fnbnfVIw