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Lunch at Didi's Pub in Dar es Salaam on Monday
Apparently Didi's is a babber as well as a pub!
It's actually pretty decent looking place
The locals hanging about having a few beers
Some dude was walking around selling pirated dvds
They weren't in plastic cases, but flattened cardboard boxes
I can't remember the last time I had coke in a bottle like this
A meal fit for a king - this cost around R50
There's another pub, with another barber, across the road
Unbelievably, the taxis are even worse than in South Africa

The Movenpick Hotel
This is where the dinner buffet is laid out
There were about 3 or 4 tables dedicated to dessert :D
More of the dinner area, in the morning.
And more
You could rent a hookah and smoke it in this tent
Giel pretending to be a sheikh
Vodacom's head offices are in the blue building - walking distance from the hotel
Me, being sexy as ever
The building that Vodacom is in is called the PPF tower, and the product we develop for Vodacom is called the PPFE. Coincidence?
The hotel from out back
The view from outside the front of the hotel

Roads in Dar
I have no idea what this poster is advertising, but the guy on the right looks like Vishal
These Miaka 8 posters were on almost every light pole in Dar - it was Vodacom's 8th birthday.
The traffic lights are very weird
We almost lost a wheel when we drove into this pothole the first time we went to the Seacliff hotel

The Seacliff - Lunch on Wednesday
It's close to the sea
On a cliff over the sea, in fact
Some awesome sea views from the deck
More awesome sea views from the deck
More awesome sea views from the deck
More awesome sea views from the deck
More awesome sea views from the deck
More awesome sea views from the deck
More awesome sea views from the deck
More awesome sea views from the deck
The bar
The rest of the restaurant
Some of the hotel
Cliff view
Another cliff view!

This weird metal thing got in the way of me taking pics of some palm trees
We decided not to try this fine roadside cuisine

Addis in Dar - Supper on Wednesday
Addis in Dar is an Ethiopian restaurant in Dar. It took us almost half an hour to find, in a journey that took us through many incredibly dodgy places, before we finally got there
I don't normally drink coffee, but apparently Ethiopian coffee is supposed to be pretty grand, so I ordered some
It was not a disappointment at all - strong coffee, served with popcorn and scented coals. It tasted even better than it looks
The whole restaurant looks great
Most guests sit outside - there's only a few seats inside
And the indoor seats have grass all over so you can pretend you're outside I think

The burger shack outside the Total garage - Lunch on Thursday
Edgar ordering us lunch
Chefs at work
The burger stand has a water tank to wash up afterwards
At about 145 shillings to one rand, petrol is more expensive in Tanzania than South Africa

On the way to the ferry - Friday midday
A random building - probably a church
The harbour
Lots of people hang around near the harbour

Zanzibar!
In the taxi leaving the port
I didn't ask about this, but it's probably the only cinema on the island
This dude was just moving along with the traffic
Mr Chimbeni, musician, tv actor, tour guide
Mr Chimbeni stars as a character named Mashaka

Mbweni Ruins hotel
The hotel room
A view from the hotel room
The Mbweni Ruins are the remains of a school and church built for freed slave girls a few hundred years ago
They had a pretty awesome location for a school
This is probably part of the school
The outside of the church
Inside the church
I'm not sure if the church was supposed to be open at the top, or if the roof disappeared over time
More ruins
The bench is new
The hotel is right on the beach, which is nice
A boat
The sea!
I'm guessing this is used to launch boats. Or is an elaborate diving board.
This hotel also has a deck over the water
Some nice private-ish swimming spots
Another picture
And another
The hotel dining room
This monster protected the stairs up to my room every night

Stone Town
A house on the way to stone town
A road running through a building
The roads dont get much wider than this
Stone town is right on the water edge
The only best hotel in Dar es Salaam

Slave market
One of the big things about Stone Town is that it used to house a popular slave market
This room used to hold 50 slaves at a time. I'm at the entrance
This one held 75 slaves at a time. I'm at the entrance
When the slave trade was abolished, a church was built over the slave market
Its a big church
Still used every Sunday for services
This pipe organ was installed sometime in the 1800's, and still works today
A monument to the slaves

Stone Town
A normal market - no slaves here
This is where most people buy their fruit and veggies
This is not a one-way road

Palace museum
Outside the palace museum
A cannon used in the shortest war in history - it lasted 45 minutes
some sultan lived here
He had a pretty decent view
And had some fancy looking furniture
Probably didn't see all these boats tho
When the sultan didn't feel like going to the bathroom for a wash, the bathroom was brought to him

Another museum
A dhow
A model ship
Stanley is the guy that found Dr Livingstone in the middle of Africa after a couple of years. This is his journal
The palace museum, from the back/side
The first elevator in Zanzibar
Quite possibly the first car in Zanzibar from the looks of it

Old fort
A cool kind of theater
The fort seems pretty solid
It's pretty big too
And has those rounded turret things on the corners
Inside the fort
It seems to have aged well
It's now mostly a flea-market
And art gallery
These benches cannot be comfortable
According to Mr Chimbeni, they have "discos" here. I think he may be mistaken though

The narrow streets
There are a bunch of narrow streets lined with shops selling souvenirs
Cars won't fit here, but I spotted a motorbike or two
I have no idea where the actual temple is
It could be in this building

Lunch!
I could get used to these restaurants on the beach
Mtomi Marine hotel

On the way to the spice tour
The load on the right of the picture was being pulled by a guy on a bicycle
Dr Livingstone's house
The taxis in Zanzibar aren't much better than the ones in Dar
Lots of palm trees
Even a twisty one

Spice tour
This is where the tour starts
Jackfruit, hanging from a tree
Guess what these are!
Pineapple!
Lemongrass!
Palm trees!
A tree that I can't identify!
Cinnamon tree!
Cinnamon bark!
Cinnamon bark again!
The root of the cinnamon tree gives you camphor!
These might be sweet potatoes, but I'm probably lying
This is where henna comes from
The henna tree!
Cacao!
The guide climbing a nutmeg tree
Nutmeg!
Cardimom!
This is how we're usually used to seeing it
Ginger!
Red bananas!
(at this point my camera battery died, so i used my cellphone for the rest of the spice tour)
They called this the lipstick fruit
Cos you cut it open, and crush the seeds
And then wear it like lipstick. Or something
I'm reasonably sure these are cloves
Our fearless guide prepares to climb a palm tree
He has a rope ring, twisted into a figure 8, which he places against the trunk. He then puts his feet into the loops of the 8, and starts climbing
It's quite impressive that it actually works
He chickened out when he got this high
A young coconut
It was full to the top with coconut milk
After drinking the coconut milk, I was crowned king of the spice farm
Quinine - the bark is used to treat malaria
Is this vanilla? I have no idea

The beach when the tide is out
In the evenings and at night, the water recedes a lot
You can walk all that way out, on mushy sand
Not much swimming going on here
On Saturday night I tried walking out to find the water to take a swim, but cut my foot instead

Tanzania airport
Checkin counters
Yes, they are right on the road
Waiting to board
A very ironically named plane
Our ride to the mainland
It wouldn't be difficult to hijack this plane, sitting a meter away from the controls

And thats it!