I forgot the pictures!

Daladalas

Kiteboarding in Paje

Our Classroom in Paje

Monitor Lizard at Zala Park

I have friends!

Butterfly Cocoons

Little baby chameleon!

Week Two

Since my last post, the group traveled to Paje for a few nights where we didn’t have internet access.  So I apologize for not posting for some time.  Paje, on the east coast of the Unguja Island, is known as one of the best places to kiteboard in the world because of the huge stretch of shallow water and strong winds.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to kiteboard but we did see some other cool things on our short trip.  On the way to Paje we stopped at Zala Park, a sanctuary that protects at risk animal species.  Locals often kill these animals out of fear, but don’t realize that they threaten killing off the entire species.  Zala Park protects several snakes, tortoises, lizards, and other animals to educate local school children about these creatures.

Even in Paje, we continued to have four hours of Swahili every day.  However, having class outside made the lessons manageable.  Much of our sojourn in Paje was dedicated to going over the rules of the program while we finished the “orientation” period. On our final day in Paje we went on a dolphin watch and took a trip to the butterfly center.  For the dolphin watch, we went out at 6 AM in a small wooden boat to find the bottlenose and humpback dolphins.  While our original plan was to swim with the social bottle nose dolphins, we only saw the shy humpback dolphins.  On our way back to Stone Town, we stopped at the butterfly center.  It was only a short visit, but we saw how the center breeds butterflies and maintains the threatened populations.  With the boom of tourism on the island in the past few decades, the butterflies’ habitat is being destroyed.  It was amazing to see so many different types of butterflies in such a small area. 

Upon our arrival in Stone Town, we were assigned small groups to visit various places on the daladala, the public transportation in the area.  Our task was to visit a local school, but getting there on the daladala was half of the battle.  Some of the vehicles are like pic- up trucks with an enclosed trunk, but ours was similar to a tall van.  People literally cram into these things like sardines in a can.  Ours only had seating for ten people, but I think I counted twenty at one point.  For a few stops one of the passengers held a live chicken over my head as he carried home dinner for his family.  Which, by the way, is totally normal.  You will often see people carrying live chickens around with their legs tied together to bring home to eat.  Personally, I don’t like to see my chicken die before I eat it. 

I started my homestay on Sunday and my family is so nice! But now that classes have really started up, I only really have time to eat dinner with my family before I fall asleep.  I’m keeping busy with class from 8 AM until 5 PM every day, but it hardly feels like class because everything is so relaxed.  No Swahili tomorrow and we’re going snorkeling again. Woo Hoo!!

I'm Here!!

After 2 days of travel and hearing flight safety information in 5 different languages I have finally arrived!  Despite my three layovers, I arrived with all of my luggage safely yesterday morning.  We had a little time yesterday to meet one another before we started orientation.  I’m experiencing a little bit of information overload right now because there is a lot to take in. However, there isn't as much of a culture shock as I had anticipated.  I thought wearing skirts everyday would be weird but it is so much easier and cooler in the heat.  The heat actually isn’t unbearable and we went snorkeling today so swimming in the ocean was refreshing.  The snorkeling was amazing! We took a 30 minute boat ride to an island off the coast of Zanzibar to see the coral reef and the different species of tropical fish.  This morning we had our first Swahili lesson ( more information overload), so now I can at least greet people I cross in the street. 

Everything about this trip is surreal: the people, the food, the culture, the lifestyle.  The food is great with fresh mango and pineapple at every meal. It’s fun just to sit on the porch at the hotel and watch the kids play in the street. 

Tomorrow we get a chance to explore more of the island.  Let’s just hope we don’t get lost!

The birthplace of Freddie Mercury is a 3 minute walk from our hotel. 

View from the porch at the hotel

View from the porch at the hotel

Local wildlife seen from the porch

Local wildlife seen from the porch

Kids playing in the street