Four Days at Sea

After leaving Zanzibar, we are at sea for four days, as we travel 3577 km to Maputo, Mozambique.  Papa and I are reading, exercising, eating, watching movies, and going to at least one lecture a day about the places we are visiting.  I’ve taken a few photos of the ship, including some I took this morning before I walked at 6 a.m.  Most people were sleeping.

   

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Stone Town is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago.  Stone Town is the former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate.  It’s history is quite interesting.  The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot on the island of Zanzibar.  They ruled the island over 2 centuries and built Stone Town’s first stone structure, the Old Fort.  Toward the end of the 17th century, the Sultanate of Oman took over the island and completed the fort.  Stone houses started to be built in the 1830’s, replacing an earlier fishing village.  The Sultan of Oman moved his seat from Muscat, Oman to Stone Town in 1840.  In 1861, the Omani royal family had a war of succession and separated governance of Zanzibar and Oman, with Zanzibar becoming an independent sultanate.  When the British outlawed the slave trade in the Indian Ocean in the 1876, the Sultanate of Oman’s fortunes crashed.  The Muscat economy was in shambles and many Omani’s migrated to Zanzibar.  The increase in the Arab population on the island meant growth and more building sprung up in the town.  The Sultan had 2 palaces built over the coming years.

In the 19th century Stone Town thrived as a trading center, known for its commerce of spices, particularly cloves, and slaves.  Several immigrant communities from Oman, Persia, and India sp sprung up.  The Sultan of Zanzibar encouraged immigration of foreign traders who became very wealthy and settled in the city, building large homes and commercial buildings.  In 1890, Zanzibar became a protectorate of the British Empire, but remained under the rule of the Sultanate of Zanzibar until 1963, when the United Kingdom terminated their protectorate.  In early 1964, the Sultan was deposed during the Zanzibar Revolution.  The Sultan fled into exile and the Sultanate was replaced by the People’s Republic of Zanzibar.  Later that year, the republic merged with mainland Tanganyika and the country was renamed, blending the two names, as the United Republic of Tanzania.  Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region.  Today, the majority of people in Zanzibar are of Swahili heritage.  Swahili is the national language.  About 98% of the population is Muslim.  Stone Town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

We had an excellent guide in Stone Town today.  We were very interested in Zanzibar’s history and he delivered!  We visited the Old Fort, the Sultan’s Palace Museum, the Old Slave Market, Christ Church, the meat and fish market and fruit and vegetable market.  We walked through the narrow streets of Stone Town, with our guide pointing out the various carved doors and their meanings.  We enjoyed every minute!  We visited a second fish market on our own.  It was where the fishermen were bringing in their hauls.  We also walked into the Dhow Port, and loved seeing the handmade dhow boats used for fishing.  Our only regret in Stone Town, is not feeling comfortable to take as many photos as we would have liked.

Shimba Hills National Reserve, Kenya

We arrived in Mombasa’s Port by 7:30 this morning.  We were greeted at the port by a band playing drums and singing and dancers performing native dances.  I had arranged a driving trip from the port to Shimba Hills National Reserve with a local guide, who was waiting for us and ready to go.  The drive took about 1.5 hours to get to, as we were in morning traffic, had to wait to take a ferry, and the roads aren’t all in great shape.  The drive out of Mombasa went through neighborhoods with the direst poverty we’ve ever seen, with very primitive living conditions where trash (plastic, metal and wood pieces, cloth) was used to cover their dwellings.  Kenya is tropical and grows a lot of food, so people were well nourished.  As we continued driving away from the coast, the terrain became more hilly and more lush, beautiful!

Shimba Hills National Reserve is 115 square miles of coastal forest, about 25 miles from Mombasa, rich in wildlife and plant life.  We saw warthogs, sable antelope, buffalo, giraffes, a wildebeest, monkeys, and beautiful birds.  Salim, our driver for the day, drove through the park, stopping at several overlooks.  We drove a short distance through a rural village to Shimba Hills Green Lodge for lunch, with a spectacular view over the Manolo River.  Salim is Masai and grew up in the bush, in a family that continues to live the traditional way, raising cattle and goats and enough crops to feed their family.  His father has two wives and each has six children, and they all live in a single compound.  Salim moved to Mombasa with his wife.  He is the first to leave, to make his own way.  We had an interesting day!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today, we are cruising from the Seychelles toward Kenya, through the Indian Ocean.  We are having a wonderful trip and counting our blessings... for family, friends, health, and so much more.  We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Praslin, Seychelles

We spent the day on the island of Praslin, Seychelles.  Praslin is about 15 square miles in size with 5,000 residents.  The island is quite hilly and covered in big granite rocks and a forest of tropical trees and palms.  The island is surrounded with coral reefs.  The beaches are white sand and most have big granite rocks, that look as if they have been tossed onto the beaches.  The whole island is beautiful!  We took a taxi from the port to Cote d’Or Beach and then to Anse Lazio, recently voted one of the top ten beaches in the world.  We had a wonderful day!  We love the Seychelles!

Victoria, Seychelles

Our ship cruised through the Seychelles Archipeligo for a few hours this morning.  The sky was thick with scattered clouds and the islands were absolutely beautiful!  We arrived in Victoria’s Port with a band playing and girls dancing, to welcome us.  It was a warm welcome!  We set off for the Botanical Garden, where we saw about 40 giant land tortoises, coco du mer palm trees, exotic flowers, and beautifully landscaped gardens.

We walked to downtown Victoria, through the market area and then looked for transportation to Beau Vallon Beach.  We opted to take a “city bus” for 5 rupees each, about 14 cents.   I sat next to a young woman studying international trade in college.  She helped us get off at the right stop.  Beau Vallon Beach was incredibly beautiful, with granite boulders scattered at one end and the white sand beach making a big half circle in the opposite direction.  Papa found a nice rock to rest on while I walked on the beach and into the warm water of the Indian Ocean.  We had a wonderful afternoon!

Reading While at Sea

We are at sea for two and a half days, while cruising from the Maldives to the Seychelles.  Papa and I have been reading.  Over the past two days, I finished Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri, and Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo (and recommended by cousin Renee).  I’m now reading Sea of Poppies, by Amitov Ghosh.

We’re also exercising and getting plenty to eat.  We’re going to history lectures each day, by a British professor, about the places we’re visiting.  We’re staying busy and enjoying our cruise.

Cruising Through the Maldives

We left our anchorage, just off Male’ around noon, and cruised through the Maldives Atolls for several hours.  The water around the small islands is shallow and beautiful.