Hello all!
Well time for another post. If you're wondering why I'm so crap at updating my blog, it's for the perfectly salient reason that I'm crap at updating blogs... Also the computers here rarely exist, if they exist they don't work, if they work then the internet doesn't, if the internet does then it is slow and I usually end up losing half my e-mails half way through the session - ending up in a heated exchange of words with the owner of the internet cafe / campsite and a joint decision that no money would change hands.... (actually joint = my decision)
But now I am in Zanzibar - the historical capital of Africa's slave trade - and also one of the major spice producing areas in the region. But just to update you on the activities on the past few days. Well I am now fighting fit after my brief sojourn in hospital - although my bank account is probably not feeling as great - and after saying goodbye to Zambia, we headed on upwards into Malawi. We stayed for a couple of nights on the shores of Lake Malawi - one of the largest areas of fresh water in Africa - and possibly one of the most pristine, beautiful and peaceful places on Earth. Warm as a bath and as clear as.... erm.... well a bath - we went swimming, canoeing etc. etc. etc.
We spent the afternoon at a great market which was just outside the campsite. If you have ever had a trader persistently try to tell you something, I can tell you it was nothing compared to how this market was. I heard every sob story under the sun. In the end, I decided to have a little fun with them. I managed to barter on guy down from 4 dollars to 2 dollars for some jewellry - still a very good deal for what was effectively just copper wire and string. I gave it to him in US dollars. 20 minutes later he came up to him asking me to change it into Malawian Kwatcha for him. I said "Yes - but it will cost you" and promptly gave him a very poor exchange rate. He absolutely loved it! He said "ahhh - you are businessman like me!" and laughed his way back to his stall.....
So that was that - then we came up in Tanzania. We spent a couple of days going through some game reserves - and now we are in Zanzibar. It's sunny, quite humid and if you can get past the multitude of touts which approach me every minute asking me to come down a backstreet and visit their shops - or whether I want to take some of their tours, or whether I want to buy their wooden hippos which will supposedly bring me luck (my stock response is that they should keep it for themselves, then perhaps they wouldn't need to sell wooden hippos on street corners ;-) - then it's also a fantastic holiday destination.
We are here for 4 nights - then from here we head onto the Serengeti, and finally up into Kenya - then my tour of Africa ends, and my tour of India begins :-)
Until then my friends - ciao for now!
Rich xxx
