Sokoine to Zanzibar (Thursday, August 6)

We packed up and left SUA first thing today, and drove to Dar. The trip was supposed to be about three hours, but with traffic ended up almost four, so we were a bit late getting to the Landmark Hotel for our lunch and lecture break. I had planned to meet up with my friend Cathy, who's here in Tanzania working on her Ph.D. on water issues in Saadani National Park, through the University of Rhode Island. She was really interested to meet Meing'Ataki, since Ruaha has been having similar water problems to Saadani, so she could compare the two. Although it was a hectic lunch, it was really nice to see her, and she met Meing'Ataki and Deanna and Liz, so I think it will be helpful for her research.

We left Dar in a hurry to get to the airport--or more realistically to sit in traffic on the road leading to the airport. But we made our flight on time, and the super short twenty minute plane flight made all the airport preparations--packing, weighing baggage, security, x-rays, the patting-down I received--seem somewhat pointless. Upon landing at the Zanzibar airport, we discovered that our luggage been loaded on to the plane in Dar, and then promptly removed from the plane, still in Dar, because the plane was overweight. So while we were in Zanzibar, our bags were still in Dar. Making the best of it, we loaded into buses to head to our hotel, happy that we had a little less to carry for the time being.

Our plane to Zanzibar

We're staying at the Abuso Inn in Stonetown for the four nights we're here--and sadly, the last four nights of Envirovet. The hotel is beautiful, and positively luxurious especially compared to the SUA dorms we came from. We have our own bathrooms with sit-down toilets, toilet paper, and showers with hot water, and the rooms are all really nice and historical, and look out over the Indian Ocean.

The inside of our room in the Abuso Inn

We had some down time before dinner, so a big group of us went out walking around Stonetown, exploring some markets, the Old Fort, and Forodhani Park on the water. The feel of Stonetown is really different from any of the places we've been in mainland Tanzania. Both the colonial and tourist influences are much stronger here. Most of the architecture in the historical district where we're staying is very reminiscent of European cities, and there are huge old buildings left from the days when Zanzibar was a slave trade island.

Nighttime food market in Forodhani Park

We met up again for dinner, and happily Liz and Deanna had figured out the luggage situation and our bags were all safe and sound in the hotel, with nothing even stolen from them. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and got to bed early in comfy, clean, and cozy beds.

Sunset in Stonetown over the Indian Ocean