We have arrived in Africa! After 3 flights and 2 days, we found our way to Zanzibar. The flights were very smooth, the first being 7 hours to London, England, the second 10 hours to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and the third from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar island took about 20mins. We took some time to check out London since our stopover was from 8am-7pm. It was pretty cool to be there but we were both a bit tired since we flew overnight and didn't really sleep on the plane. We slept off and on during the second overnight flight. The third flight was on a little 12 seater plane that was much smoother than we expected! Sooo cool to fly over the Indian Ocean in this little plane, seeing different little islands and boats in the ocean. We got a lot of great shots. This was a little scary because of the small plane, but not nearly as scary as I thought. It made me laugh when all the safety instructions that were given were "oh ya...in case of emergency over the water, there is a lifejacket in the seat in front of you." Very different than the other flights!! Fortunately we didn't need to try out the lifejackets and arrived safely.
We met up with David and Christina at the airport and drove back to the school where we will be staying until the 28th. They have 5 adorable children. There are also a couple of other Canadians staying here until November. Zanzibar is very beautiful and full of life. There is a lot of vegetation and a lot of people! The school is located along a paved road, where you will see various forms of transportation. Some walk, some ride bicycles, some drive and some ride in cow-pulled vehicles! It's decently warm here but there seems to be a nice breeze most of the time. We are staying in the guest apartment on the third floor of the school. I (sarah) had another fear to overcome (along with the flying over the ocean one!) with a winding staircase outside the building. It's the only way up to the third floor so it had to be done. Completely terrifying the first number of times but it's starting to get better.
The first day we arrived we slept for a chunk of it and just relaxed. Great food so far! The next day we travelled to another area where we got to see monkeys, turtles and mangroves. Ryan and I both got a bit carsick on the way there. The driving here is a bit different than what we are used to! The monkeys were totally comfortable with us and we could have touched them if we wanted, which we didn't want to, lol. They are a kind I've forgotten the name of, but they are unique to this area and only about 5000 here. The turtles were fairly large and we fed them seaweed. These turtles can be about 300 years old and can get really huge! Ryan held one that was about 50kgs. We walked through the mangroves on a boardwalk and saw little crabs in them. It was very nice walking through them, seeing the roots coming out of the water.
After we finished up there, we went to a restaurant where we ate sitting on cushions and pillows on the floor. It was really comfortable and again, very good food. Then we walked around in Stonetown and checked out some of the shops. It's close to the water and a very touristy location. We negotiated prices and managed to come out with a couple neat things.
Everyone is very friendly here. We are loving it so far! Ryan has begun setting up the computer lab and there are plans to get the room up and running soon. The school kids are on vacation this week and next but there will be some training sessions for the teachers to learn about the computers and the internet. Things are moving along here and we hope to have many more stories soon. We've already taken a ton of photos that we will share when we come home. Keep praying for us on this road ahead, it's a great journey full of new experiences.
