Last Leg

Wow! It's been a while and we have a lot to update you on so this may get a bit long. =D

Back In The Dar-Es-Salaam (to the tune of 'back in the ussr')
Epic bus rides have become something of a staple for us in Africa so far. Leaving Livingston headed for Lusaka on the 8th, we hopped onto the 'best' bus company's bus bright and early at 6am. Now it's become custom for some bus companies in Zambia to get a pastor to come onto the bus before the trip and give a prayer. You must understand that the current flavour of pastor is quite soulful and enthusiastic (many surely inspired by the most rousing speeches of Jesse Jackson, et al.). So after about 15 minutes of 'damning the devil back to the pit of hell for the sanctity of the bus and all it's precious souls - IN JESUS' MIGHTY NAME!!!!!" we set off feeling much more confident and the bus PROMPTLY proceeded to break down. Probably our fault for not making a tithe. We got to Lusaka (approximately 300km) at 4pm. Best ride yet!
After a whirlwind stay in the now-very-familiar Lusaka, we set off on our flight back to Dar. Now just to update you, we had planned on taking the train and were quite excited about it but as it turns out, if a man and woman want to share a compartment they must buy all four beds - the compartment only locks from the inside and it's common to return to your compartment to find new 'occupants' that you'll need the conductor to evict. SO... given the cost would have been comparable to a flight - we opted to fly and give ourselves an extra day to go on a more adventurous excursion to an Island in Tanzania.
When we arrived in Dar (after a few customary headaches from Air Zambezi), we found ourselves in the middle of yet another festivity - our first visit fell on the Islamic New year, this time it was Independence Day. We're convinced that Dar just likes it when we visit and decides to throw a party every time we're here. Dar is also becoming quite familiar and we had a great dinner at our 'favourite' restaurant before our next epic adventure.

There and Back Again
Since we're now seasoned African travellers (NOT tourists), or so we think, we decided we could handle a bit more of a challenge than the beaten tourist path to Zanzibar. We had heard of a smaller Island, Mafia, to the South of Zanzibar that had not been discovered yet by tourism... plus it had EPIC diving for really, really cheap, so we decided to go for it! Some helpful travellers (and our guidebook) gave us good instructions for getting there, so off we went.
We took 2 dalla-dallas (minibuses) for approximately 3 hours to a tiny coastal town called Nyamisati, where running water is nonexistent, toilets consist of a hole in the ground, and speakers of English are a seriously endangered species. Dalla-dallas are an adventure in and of themselves since all of the seats being filled has nothing to do with the bus being full. Our first bus had 14 seats and 24 passengers, and 2 children who were treated more like luggage. That is not including chickens, copious amounts of fruit, and pretty much any other goods you can imagine. Upon our arrival in Nyamisati, we purchased tickets for the 4-hour boat ride to Mafia Island, and then proceeded to spend the next hour trying to locate someone who could tell us what time the boat was leaving. We’ve noticed that people here are quite unfamiliar with the concept of waiting in line, and are always in a huge hurry to get on or off any form of transportation, even if they have nothing in particular to do afterwards. So we waited out the stampede for the dhow (boat) and finally got underway. The ride was beautiful, but the tide was low when we got to our destination, Kilindoni, so we waited for maybe 2 hours for some smaller gondolas to come and ferry us, the other passengers, and their enormous amounts of goods to shore. Again, all the seats being occupied has nothing to do with the boat being full.

Island Adventure
We had booked ourselves in at a guest house in town for that night – allegedly the best one in Kilindoni (the largest town on the island). It had no running water (although buckets of water had been generously provided for our bathing needs), and the toilet again consisted of a hole in the ground (nice porcelain frame, though). We were soon to discover that only the really expensive lodges had toilets upon which one can sit, or running water. We found a total of 2 such lodges on the island.
It’s always difficult when you arrive in a town after dark because it’s hard to get an idea of the town’s flavour or personality, or what is available there. So at this point we were a bit discouraged with Kilindoni, but our luck was soon to change. We were lucky enough to meet three gentlemen that evening who had been travelling and working in East Africa for many months, one of whom spoke very good Swahili, and they invited us to join them on a whale shark viewing excursion a few days later. Sweet!! One of them was also planning to go diving the next day, as were we, so we quickly made some friends on Mafia.
Mafia Island is incredible – an entirely new face of Africa for us. White sand beaches, gigantic, looming palm trees and a generally jungle-esque feel all over. There are 40,000 inhabitants on Mafia scattered among the villages that only the bravest Bajaji can get to. There are only really two towns – Kilindoni and Utende (which is really a village) inside a marine park where the ‘lodges’ are located. The island is in the Indian ocean and boasts some of the most incredible sunsets and some of the best diving on this coast. We were thrilled the moment we woke up and saw our surroundings.

The next morning, we hired a Bajaji (sp?) to take us across the island to Chole Bay, (the marine park) home to Big Blu, a dive operator run by three Italians (Italians on Mafia Island... how perfect!). A Bajaji is a vehicle with three wheels that isn’t quite sure whether it’s more like a car or a Vespa. After a 20 minute ride with three of us crammed into the space of about 2.5 square feet, we arrived at our destination.
Big Blu was awesome! The staff, Mario, Nicola and Matthia were welcoming and fascinating to talk to. Our first day we did two dives with our companion Jos (a Don Quixote-esque traveller from the Netherlands). We set out in a small Dhow (diving from a dhow is a novelty unto itself) and enjoyed two excellent reefs on our first day. After the dives we looked in the ‘town’ of Utende for something to eat. There were about six buildings – all multi-purpose house/shop/tour guide/bar/guesthouse/cafes. Of those six we found ONE that would serve us a meal. The house/cafe/tour guide/guesthouse/”resta-urant” served us a plate of rice or Ugali (nshima) and a small boiled fish with a bit of sauce and beans. The ‘house’ consisted of three rooms in a space of about 16 square feet. It had a dirt floor, mud walls and a single table in the main room around which the three of us found enough space to hunch over our plates. We began to realize that we were experiencing a truly remote Africa and though the island had ‘resorts’ we got a true re-definition of ‘untouched by tourists’. Fish and rice (of varying quality and expense) was pretty much what we ate for the duration of our stay on Mafia. That afternoon we discovered the upscale lodge – which was quite nice and had about 5 guests and a great view. At the lodge we discovered a true rarity – ice cream!!! We had to indulge. It was VERY GOOD! We stayed at Big Blu that night (which was also quite nice with a real toilet, shower, running water, and a view on the beach to die for) and enjoyed a nice dinner of calamari and octopus straight out of the ocean! Fresh mango made a great desert and we tucked in for the night after some great conversations with our hosts.

The next day we set off on two dives outside the bay. We were joined by three Italian men in speedos visiting from another lodge. They were very nice. We did a wall dive and an incredible reef dive at which we saw our first ever sharks – two white-tip reef sharks and a variety of coral that we can’t even begin to describe. Despite the fact that we discovered it is possible to become sea-sick WHILE diving under water, these dives were two of the best we’ve ever had and it was an incredible day. Then it was back to Kilindoni after meeting some friendly Masai and waiting for our Bijaji.

We joined our friends on the whale-shark viewing expedition but the ‘mango rains’ had kept the sharks out of view for the past 4 days and we had no luck either. But we’ve been so lucky this trip we figured we were due for at least one no-show.
We spent out last night on a beautiful camp on a cliff overlooking the Indian ocean and saw a remarkable sunset while lounging on some cots under some palms.

The next morning we repeated our adventurous trip back to Dar which brings us to now. Our last night in Africa. We set out tomorrow on a day-long plane trip back across the Atlantic. We’re sure to be in shock as we go from 34 degrees to -10 but we’re excited to see friends and family. We’ll be in touch again to let you know how the journey ends.
Until then, much love,

-- Jenny and Jimi