Zanzibar 1:20pm - Yes, we have found tropical paradise AND clean clothes!!! Stan is the MAN. We awoke at 5:45am on Saturday (worse than a work day!) to drive back to Arusha (a 4 hour drive) to get to Kili Airport to see if we had luggage. Upon our arrival at the airport, a bit of fanagelling...voila...2 bags belonging to Kim and Grant!!! We also found 2 lost Italian tourists who don't have a grasp of Swahili or English - so after discussing their options with their travel agent in Italy who did speak English, Kim convinced them to join us. So with our bags and 2 Italians, we headed back to Arusha to grab lunch and then grab our flight to Zanzibar!
The Arusha airport is very small...and everyone is looking for a tip...if they talk to you they want a $1. After walking about 1km to the plane filled with 21 excited vacationers - we were off! After having found our luggage, we were a bit hesitant to check them again, but ZanAir seems to have their luggage department functioning on all cylinders. The 3rd man powered luggage cart arrived with our bags on it - now off to find a driver! After 1 1/2 hours driving - the last 40 minutes over very bumpy roads - we caught a glimpse of our "resort". The drive took us through some very poverty stricken locales - we both wondered in silence if our "resort" was going to be a resort or not.
At the reception area, Michael, Sazani's English proprietor (picture John Cleese from Faulty Towers) greeted us and showed us to our room. He said he would give us the full rundown of the joint over a beer at the bar...fine by us! As we approached the bar (pictured above) we knew were going to enjoy this place! Michael explained how the bar system works...you grab two beers, you write them down - part of his cost saving mission - self bartending! We inquired to the price of the beers - $1.50 US and still 500ml - we thought beers were cheap before! Kim quickly inquired about the wine price - which are good South African wines - Michael responded that they were outrageously price at $16US per bottle!!! Kim has been outrageous ever since!!
The other photo we have attached is the view from the deck attached to our room...sorry to rub it in, but we have earned it!!!
The weather today is cloudy and off and on rains. But the food is great, the other guests are fun - and Michael has never ending stories!!
Along with the great deal on drinks, inexpensive room rate - internet is $3US...for our whole stay - unlimited!!! If we can pull our selves away from snorkeling, diving, sleeping, eating, cheap drinks and the rest - we'll keep all you addicts up to date very frequently!!
Shel - glad you had the faith in us to make it to the top...what is Gord thinking??? And I have continued to be amazed at Kim's ability to find a bottle of wine and enjoy it no matter what the circumstances!!
We have also posted some corresponding pictures on the other posts...at this point it looks like the pictures aren't posting...I'll continue to work on this issue...
g&k
1 comment:
Robin,
Congrats on the 60k walk...we understand those sorts of things better now!!! Great amount of money raised too!!
We'll put next years event in our calendars - when we have calendars :) We want to come cheer you on!
Get the boys to look up the Serengeti on a map and tell them about the huge elephants we saw there...we can show them the pictures once we get back (this is from Kim - the teacher in her is kicking in!)
k&g
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