Fishing Trip

When I first researched 'What to do in Zanzibar' there was quite a big list of activities most of which faded into oblivion leaving deap sea fishing at the top of the list. There were some extremely expensive 'reputable' companies and some far cheaper let's call them gambles. So if you're gonna gamble then go big or go home - that is our boat on the left and jumping out of it is the inebraited captain....what could possibly go wrong?

6am and we really didn't know what to expect.

Our fixer headed out to the boat as we helped organise fishing gear that looked like it had been robbed from an antique museum.

As we set out on our voyage spirits were high!!

Things got even better when we made ourselves a coffee and the day started in earnest...

Things went pretty quiet for the next hour but it was incredible to see fisherman who had rowed some 2 or 3 miles out to sea, fished for a few hours more and then had to row back to shore against the tide.

As we were all wondering if we would even get a bite or if the tackle we were using was as useless as it was rusty, the line went making an almighty screech and everyone leapt into action.

My Dad (the old pro) was injured but talked me through what I should do. He probably also knows all about the pain that surges through your arms and also where the pressure is being directed.

Effort personified 

The first glimpse of bringing the fish to the surface. 

Everyone was relieved to see it gaffed and brought up on the boat.

Giant Trevally weighing 27kg/ 60lb

Afterwards it was time to relax and have a drink.

We were all chilling out and feeling very relaxed

Until we saw this vortex appear on the horizon. It was about 200 metres away and carrying water hundreds of feet into the air. Even the crew looked pretty worried and kept shouting "this is bad, really bad" and motioning a spinning movement followed by a crashing signal.  As they urgently packed everything up and started the engine we watched it for about a minute heading straight towards us and then it just stopped. Afterwards we were pretty keen to get back on dry land. If somebody asked me my top 10 things I don't want to see if I'm on the ocean in a small wooden fishing boat in Zanzibar then here is my first choice 1. A vortex.

Here we are just before we sold our fish to a hotel, happy to be alive, happy to be back on dry land and going to enjoy happy hour.

Zanzibar - Nungwi

Ever since I first heard about 'Zanzibar' I have wanted to go there if only for the simple reason that the name conjures exotic images of powdery white sands and turquoise waters so we tried to work out where we could find that...

The answer was 2 hours north in Nungwi.

Fishing boats

Building a bigger more expensive boat than your average smaller fishing boat.

At the small fish market.

One of the more upmarket resorts on the island.

The Pier

Whoever decided to put a bar, restaurant and comfortable seating is a genius.

Zanzibar: Stonetown

After a four day safari through the Serengeti, it was time to head down to the beaches of zanzibar to unwind, relax and meet my Dad who was flying from England to meet us.  

Stonetown: On the streets

Heading down to see the local spice markets

I didn't know there were so many types of rice

Fish market

A little bit of Spice

At first the labyrinth of narrow alleyways seem intriguing and exciting but the heat and dust soon make it chaotic and claustophobic.

I'm never sure about visiting places like this and afterwards I still don't know but in this chamber there would have been around 30 male slaves stacked into this tiny, disgusting place.  They would then market them by taking the slave to a tree, tieing them up and whipping them. If the slave yelled then they were seen to be weak so would be sold for a lower price.