The rise and fall

This evening we saw the moon "rising" from the sea and tomorrow we will go up incredibly early to see the sunrise over Zanzibar. But now we will go to bed since we are really tired after today's adventures at the blue safari.

Custard apples without apples and custard

Does that sound strange? Well it actually isn't that strange! Here in Zanzibar they have a fruit named "Apple custard" and it doesn't taste like apples but a little bit like vanilla (hence the name, we guess). The consistency is a little bit like soft avocados, but the flavor is one of a kind and quite difficult to describe. But we can say that it is one of the best fruit we have ever tasted!

We got an opportunity to try this fruit and a lot of other fruits when we went for a spice tour last Sunday. There are many spice farms at Zanzibar due to the history of Arabic and Indian influences, and many of these spice farms are situated close to Stonetown. So we went for a visit during the drive from Stonetown to Paje. It might sound a little strange to go and see how spices grow and how the plants of the spices look like but it sure was interesting!

We saw how cinnamon, cardamom, pepper and many other spices grow. We also got a chance to see a lot of fruits; big ones like jackfruits, strange ones like red bananas and the most surprising one the pineapple plant! Look at all these amazing plants:

The benamed custard apples. 

Arabic coffee beans.

Two unripe vanilla pods and one ripe. 

Jack fruit, they look like Dorian but they don't smell bad (at all)!

A lemongrass plantage.

The beautiful nutmeg.

Clove

A djungel of pepper plants climbing every tree possible.

The cinnamon is taken from the bark of this tree.

The pineapple plant, not as one would have expected.. or?

50 shades of red

We were very careful sunbathing the first day using sun factor 30 and 50. But unfortunately I (Linnea) forgot about the backside of my legs. So now they are 50 different shades of red…

The sunburn got a little worse today when we went snorkeling by a reef. The reef is dead since about 300 years, but there are still a lot of life there – fish in many different colors, “sea spiders”, octopus and some corrals. This was all very nice to look at for the familiarized snorkelers, but hard for the untrained ones.

This is the kind of boat that we took to the reef.

We had to walk some distance to get to the boat since it was low tide.

All of us in the boat.

Look at the hurcheon our guide picked up. The reef was full of them!

The starfish were also in 50 shades of red!

We arranged the starfish to make a good photo.

A nice one and a special one.

We also saw some clams but unfortunatly we did not get any pearls. 

Proof of us snorkling.

We found Nemo! ;)

Over all the food’s good, water’s nice (although quite algy), and the scenery is beautiful!!

African time and a buss without springs

Finally, we have arrived to Hiliki House in Stone town, Zanzibar! It feels good to be here after two and a half months in Nkinga, it is just to bad that our luggage got lost somewhere during the journey! But hopefully it will arrive in just 10 minutes, that is what they told us 30 minutes ago… one can never know when Africans speaks about time. There is a reason why it is called "African time".

The journey here was very long, first we took a cab to Nzega early in the morning (4am), from there we went by bus (4,5 hours) to Mwanza, it was a horrible bus ride! The bus had no no springs so we just kept bumping up and down... 

In Mwanza we took the airplane to Dar Es Salaam where we switched planes. The airplane from Mwanza was late due to “circumstances that were out of their control” and the airplane was to small for all the luggage so some of it got left behind. We wonder if it might had something to do with us bringing 24 kilos more than allowed… hope not!

Here are some pictures from our B&B, which by the way is really good and very cheap.

Bye bye Nkinga...

...and hello Zanzibar! :) Ready or not here we come!

Christmas gifts with a good purpose

Now when it is about time to start buying Christmas gifts for your friends and loved ones we want to make some advertising for the tray selling that is made by Nkingas Vänner. Many of the friends of this organisation transport African fabrics to Sweden. The fabrics are then cut by hand for each tray and then moulded in birch veneer into fabulous trays in one of Sweden’s most well-known and respected tray-company; åryTRAYS in Nybro. 

The money that the selling raises makes it possible for many poor women to safely delivery their babies at Nkinga hospital. The tray selling has also resulted in the renovation of the premature ward and that one nurse could be hired to take care of the premature babies. 

The traditional African fabrics are called kitenge. One can buy it in an incredible number of colours and patterns and most Tanzanian woman uses the kitenge. A translated quote from the back of the trays explains this in more detail:

"The kitenge is a part of the African woman's identity. It protects against both heat and cold, it expresses sadness after the death of family members and friends. In it she carries her baby and everything that is brought from the field and the market. The working hours are heavy and long but the kitenge gives the weekday colour and pattern. This tray is made by African kitenge." 

Don't cry for us Tanzania

Yesterday we celebrated the friday like real Swedes. We invited Maggan and her friend for tacos á la Africa and Swedish candy for dessert. We tried to make tortillas but failed so we ended up buying chapatis instead. But it worked out very well!

It was our last dinner with Maggan, Fanny & Alexandra at Nkinga so it sure was something to celebrate! Fanny and Alexandra are the two nursing students from Sophia hemmet who have lived together with us in the house. Luckily, in a week we will meet them again on Zanzibar! It is sad to be the ones that everybody is always saying good bye to when leaving Nkinga for new adventures, so we are really looking forward to be the ones who get to say good bye! ;)

This weekend will be designated to the project. We are at the end of the data collection and it will feel really good when this part is finished! Wish us good luck!

A cat fight without cats

A quick update: Right now I am sitting in the sofa and watching Fanny and Linnea boxing the crap out of each other. Before that they stood on their heads... All just for fun! Nothing to worry about! :)

A short visit to the Rock city

Last weekend we went to Mwanza. A small vacation felt like a good idea after being here in Nkinga for eight weeks. 

The vacation started with a bus ride of 5 hours. The road between Nzega and Mwanza is really good. It is big and paved! Not at all like the roads in Nkinga, where big dust clouds form after every passing vehicle. Like here:

Upon arrival to the hotel we felt very spoiled, our room had a bathtub, a hair dryer and a view over the hotel swimming pool. The bed however, was extremely hard so one of us slept on no less than 8 pillows! Guess who...

Our hotel room!

Even though it rained every day we got a chance to try out the pool.

Maria relaxing in the hotel pool.

Mwanza 

Every part of Mwanza is not beautiful.

One of the thing we have missed the most is shopping. So upon arrival in Mwanza we walked the short distance down town and explored its various shops and markets. Some parts of the town are very nice while others are not.

When going to Mwanza we absolutly had to take a boat trip on the lake Victoria. We went to the national park Saa Nane island (two o'clock island). Us, two tanzanians and our guide had an adventurous journey out to the island. The boat ran out of gas. So the crew had to the only oar to paddle to shore to get some gas. 

After this episode we got safely to the island. We took a walk around it and then the tanzanians decided to go back while we stayed another couple of hours exploring the island by ourselves. This is what we saw:

Impalas were everywhere on the island.

Saa nane island has a very impressing nature with a lot of rocks.

The animals were not afraid of us.

However we were a little afaid of the crocodiles occupying the island. They hid in the vegetation lurking on us. That is what it felt like anyway!

The crocodiles' nest is just behind Maria.

A crocodile relaxing in the sun.

The last day in Mwanza was spent endulging in a luxorious dinner. We had Tilapia at hotel Tilapia. Whit a spectacular view of lake Victoria and good wine to go with it. 

We had dinner at Hotel Tilapia. 

Yummy yummy.. tilapia and mashed potatoes. 

Going home we met up with our new room mates, Fanny and Alexandra from Stockholm. We took the bus back to Nkinga together. Upon arrival in Nkinga we felt like home!

The view from our bus seats.

Time is quickly passing by…

And Internet has been really lousy the last two weeks. Maggan told us that it might be because of the rain. So we have not abandoned the blog it is just the Internet that has abandoned us.

We are going to Nzega today but we will try to upload some pictures from our visit to Mwanza later. Wish us good luck!

See you!

Ouch! You should not wish for too much...

Yes, we wanted rain! We even looked forward to the raining season! It has been so warm during the last two months so who could blame us?

However, we did not wish for rain during our mini vacation to Mwanza. So we were not exactly glad when we saw the weather forecast... it promises rain every day! Luckily for us that we brought our rain coats to Africa...

I'm singing in the rain...

At last the raining season has begun! We joyfully welcome it since it will bring a more favourable weather. It will be nice being able to stay outside more, now when it is no longer incredibly hot during the day! And maybe our soar noses will heal when the air is no longer so dry…

We greeted the rain in a good manner by going out for a walk just before the thunders and showers started. The result was an enjoyable but wet experience, a lot of peculiar glances from the villagers and completely drenched clothes.

In was nice to come inside and put on the fleece jacket! 

A drenched Linnea.

When we came home we warmed up some rose hip soup and ate it together with coconut cream and almond bisques. It tasted like a gourmet chef had made it! Thank you Linnea’s parents who sent the delicacies to us. 

Yummy yummy!