Escape to Prisoner Island

Since arriving on Zanzibar 5 days ago I have done pretty much nothing! Really! I've made a couple of shopping forays into Stone Town but beyond that and hitting the spa at the hotel, my only adventure was the ride on a traditional Zanzibarian fishing boat (Dhow) to Prisoner Island for a little snorkeling, a quick tour to the prison which has been converted into a resort (oddly it works), and a tortoise sanctuary.

Zanzibar Dhow (not mine)

The cruise started off late but as I haven't really paid too much attention to time for the past two months what do I care! It was wonderful to be back on boats again! The crew wasn't too sure what to do with me as I was willing and able to wade into the water, hop into the boats, and jump back out again - all without assistance! I think I threw the guys totally off when I insisted on checking out the mask and snorkel before we even left the beach! :)

The Dhow ride was about 30 minutes of cruising across a relatively narrow strait to Prisoner Island which is visible from my hotel. Unfortunately we didn't travel under sail but rather a rattly old outboard. On the plus side I was confident that I could pitch the 'captain' overboard and control the boat myself if necessary... I beginning to think that I've read too many romance novels as I keep imagining pirate scenarios (of course I'm not always throwing the pirate overboard)!

Once we reached the island we headed over to a small patch of coral reef that was my snorkeling grounds. I had been warned before hitting the water that the fish populations are not all that good and man did I see that. Not only is there very little diversity in the fish stocks but the numbers are really low as well. The corals show evidence of a lot of damage but seem to be redeveloping in many areas. By far the healthiest animal population (other than coral) was spiny urchins!

Picture the purple sea urchins that we have growing on the BC coast but add spikes that are at least one foot long!!! It was crazy how many there were and how long the spikes were. These ones have spikes so long that there was no way you could consider picking one up with your hands! They also had something (breathing hole??) that glowed florescent orange! Way too cool. The upside of not being blinded by the amazing number of fish is that you end up seeing so many different things!

Sea Stars Prisoners Island

I watched a sea cucumber feeding - too cool! It has a mouth (?) that looks like a bouquet of flowers (5?) that it leads with and I can only guess that it was somehow eating algae or something (not familiar with sea cucumber food!). I also saw the mantle of a clam buried into the sand. I kind of looked like it was a scallop but the mantel was zebra striped...too cool! The sea stars were somewhat similar but glowed with vibrant colours and had some serious bumps. The ones in the photo were collected by a young kid but they are representative of what I saw. There were also sea stars with long arms (about 1/2 in diameter and 6 inches long) that were bright blue!!!

After snorkeling for a while we headed to the island and after a brief and somewhat odd tour of the former prison - which is now a lovely resort (closed for renos) - we headed to the sanctuary for the giant tortoise! Incredibly habituated animals and I'm not sure the real point but I have to say the tortoises were very cool! Some of them were upwards of 150 years old!!! They have a breeding program but I'm not sure if they end up as food or sent to other places.

While on the island we also saw two small Dik diks! No that is not an obnoxious Zanzibarian (though I have met a few of those) it is a small antelope! We saw a few of these while in the Serengeti but they are very shy so I haven't gotten a decent picture before.

Back to the tortoises! They are these huge lumbering animals that literally creak like old leather creaks when they walk! It was kind of creepy as you could hear them moving towards you. If you had the lovely greens that they snack on you could hear them turn towards you and start moving at a slow but steady pace to get the food! Their legs are very short and more shuffle/drag than really lift and move. Their toe nails are something out of a horror story - long, dark, and in need of a pedicure! Combine that with them moving along concrete paths ways and you could sample the sounds of them moving for the next Wes Craven horror movie! Attach of the giant tortoise!!

After that there was time for some shell gathering and a quick swim! On that note - I have enough time to gather up some Zanzibar sand before packing my bags and heading to the airport for my trip to Nairobi. I hope you enjoy the pics below of the animals/sites of Prisoner Island.

Dust up my nose then sand between my toes – My Tanzanian Adventure

I’m currently sitting in a lovely seaside sports bar at the Mtoni Marine on Zanzibar, Tanzania. I sun is blinding as it reflects off the white sand and blue waters of the Indian Ocean. The bar is at the head of a little lagoon and there is a man standing at its mouth fishing as the tide rolls back in.

Sunset on Zanzibar!

This spot has become one of my favourites on Zanzibar as it is home to great bar tenders, fast and free wifi, and the best sun set view around! Oh yeah – it’s got a decent menu and more than one or two hotties stopping by to watch rugby or football (not women’s world cup of course L). Most nights I sit here, up-dating facebook or email, while watching the sun go down and hundreds of bats return from the offshore islands where they nest during the day. If I get really bored with all that I can watch the locals who are building boats further along the lagoon!

I digress however; Zanzibar is the final stop on my Tanzanian adventure – not the first one!

Tanzania has been a series of ‘interesting’ experiences for me! My excuse for extending the trip to TZ was to attend meetings for the Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction project that VIU is part of (with partners from Ghana and Tanzania). The general schedule was a couple of days of meeting at Usa River (near Arusha) and then off on 6 days of field trip to Mugumu (north of Serengeti National Park), and then back to Moshi (base of Kilimanjaro) for another day of meetings. After that I had about 10 days and no plans… except that I need to be back in Nairobi by 9:00 pm on July 6^th to catch my flight home.

The meetings in Usa were good but very busy! It was great to get an overview of what others have been doing and I got to report on the work that the students did in Ghana. It was also a good opportunity to spend more time with the Ghanaians as talk about next year… I’m putting in for sabbatical and if successful I’ll look at spending 6 – 8 months in Ghana. Even better – Donna and Joy were there as well so I had another couple of days hangin’ with them.

After the meetings we over we quickly headed out on our field trip. We took 3 4X4’s to Mugumu and I was joined (or rather I joined) by Grant and Rick from Work, Leslie King (X-VIU now Royal Roads), Joe & Hjalmer (FN from Tofino), Bob Hansen (Parks Canada), and 5 Ghanaians including Nat and KAS, as well as a couple of Tanzanians but I wont’ begin to guess on the correct spelling of their names now! J

Our route too us through Ngorongoro Crater Reserve (we looked into the crater but did not go into it until later) and Serengeti National Park!! A major contrast between TZ and Canada is that we can drive through the parks without paying… not so much here! The cost to drive through each park is $50/person/24 hour period (or part there of). The distance to Mugumu is quite far and since we headed out of Usa late we were basically only stopping if the wildlife was AMAZING! I spent much of my time taking the Gods that I had already gone to the Masai Mara as I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the same (and I was right! J).

Pissed off buffalo!

Along the way we saw elephants, giraffe (more of these then I ever saw in Kenya) and some buffalo. Mostly though I was struck by simply how dusty it was! You could see clouds of dust on the horizon and knew that there was a group of tourists flying along the roads! It was also clear that animals were migrating to Kenya for green grass, as the plains were brown and dry for most of our journey through the Serengeti.

Our arrival into Mugumu was quite late (after dark) so other than our hotel I didn’t really get a good look at anything. The hotel was typically of many African places outside of the primary tourism zones – something that was originally quite beautiful but is currently showing signs of age and decline. Once we arrived there seemed to be a flurry of activity including new construction and increased focus put into the kitchen! I have no real complaints except that their mosquito-breeding program is out of control!!! I woke up one morning with over 30 bits on my arms alone!!!

While in Mugumu we attended meetings with folks associated with game reserves, a wildlife management area, 2 local communities that are study sites, and the tourism coordinator for Serengeti. The community visits were my favourite and I totally loved their reactions to Joe when he would sing and share stories of traditional life for FN in Canada. Bob indicated that the trip was a like grad school in human-wildlife conflict for him! For example, one village we visited had just had a conflict with a herd of elephants coming in to raid the crops… 100 elephants!!! I cannot begin to imagine that!

The two highlights for me on the trip were doing the game drives in Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. The first one was a major learning experience for me! I was in a vehicle with Rick (we have similar viewing/atmosphere needs I think) and two Ghanaians were shall remain nameless but who were on their cell phones the majority of the time! For those of you who do not know what this means… it also means that they were talking at the top of their lungs!!!!!!! Of course when the elephant (nursing with her calf beside her) decided to walk VERY close to the vehicle in front of us and then walk past ours, I did point out that turning off the cell was a good idea so as to not scare her!! I got some great shots of hippos that day but the highlight was walking huge herds of wildebeest on migration – knowing that they were heading to Kenya. They ended up crossing the road in front and behind us – way too cool!!

Ngorongoro Crater is something that simply needs to be seen! I have never seen that many species living that close together except for a coral reef!!! It was simply amazing! It starts with a long drive down into the crater where we saw Masai herders moving their cattle and goats down for grazing and water (allowed on small scale only) I have a great shot of cows, wildebeest, and zebra in the same shot… just outside of the frame is a spotted Hyena picking out lunch!

Spotted Hyena - with Wildebeest Leg!

Not 5 minutes later we came across a large pack of hyena snacking on the remains of a wildebeest! Later on we saw some lions (5 lioness in total and 4 males lions), buffalo and one cheetah (through bino’s only). The drive out of the crater was one of the highlights – a few folks were scared of the steep, narrow road full of switchbacks – it was the type of road that would make Gran’s knuckles and lips white!!!

Once back in Moshi I turned my attention mostly to figuring ut what I would be doing with the rest of my days. With the help of Donna’s friend Evalyn I booked a trip out to Zanzibar and here is where I am now!! I’m staying at the Mtoni Marine resort which is a about 10 minutes (10,000 TSH cab ride) from Stone Town – a historic and economic centre on the island. I am happy to not be staying in town; however, it would be fun to be able to access the variety of eateries and coffee shops there too!

Pineapple & Coconut Rum and the Henna Tattoo!

While on the island I’ve been the ultimate in lazy and decadent! My resort has its own spa so I started my stay with a massage (contemplating ending it with one too) and have since enjoyed a pedicure and hot-oil scalp treatment! Oh yeah – I am now sporting henna tattoos on my right hand and left foot!! I am also taking advantage of the wonderful menu – I ate warthog the other night (better than the buffalo I ate in Mugumu) and will either have impala or ostrich for dinner tonight! Nothing beats a candle light dinner on the beach with a great glass of red wine and fillet of warthog! Okay! Doing all that with a hot guy would be an improvement but I’ll worry about that later! J

Well I’m going to have to continue my ramblings about Zanzibar later – my hand tailored garment is ready and I must go try it on!! More later details later!

AG