Zanzibar: Chumbe Island Coral Park

Pulling up to the island.

Chumbe Island is a small, privately owned island a few kilometers off the coast of Stonetown. Some background from the internet...In 1994, the island and its surrounding waters were declared the Chumbe Island Coral Park. The park is run by the nonprofit private organization Chumbe Island Coral Park, Ltd. (CHICOP), which conducts marine research and small amounts of eco-tourism on the island. The high quality of the reef is attributable to the fact that the island was within a military zone which limited human impact on the marine life.

I was really looking for some quality snorkeling in Zanzibar and although most places all over the island advertise it, I wanted a sure thing. I normally wouldn't have thought to take a snorkeling trip based out of Stonetown (lots of sea traffic around the port town) but after reading about Chumbe I thought it sounded great. I was also pleased that the organization didn't know if they could accompany us until a few days before as they want to keep the daily number of visitors down.

We met a group of about 6 people at a hotel outside of Stonetown and waded through the low tide to a boat. The boat trip was about an hour to the island where we disembarked and walked the full length of the island in the sand. I was impressed upon reaching the main office where tasteful construction allowed for a breezy and calm vibe. The staff were extremely welcoming and laid out the day's activities before escorting everyone to their rooms.

The day basically had three activities: a forest walk, snorkeling, and lunch. The forest walk was short though they said if you stayed overnight you could explore the entire island freely during the evening and morning. There is also apparently the biggest species of crab (coconut crab) that is nocturnal so best seen at night.

After the walk we boarded boats for snorkeling. The reef was very healthy with plenty of fish and the excursion was not rushed at all. In fact, we all chose to come back inside the boat after tiring ourselves out as opposed to being told it was time to come in. We then returned for an amazing seafood lunch!

There was ample time to relax before our boat left around 4:30PM. The main office had a wealth of information on conservation activities which were highly impressive. Their education program seems to be very effective and the property is well managed. Guests were sparse and it really gave the feel of a "private island". The activities were paced extremely well, always feeling like you had both the option to participate with enough free time to grab a drink or have a short walk in between. I am looking forward to returning to Chumbe for an overnight stay!

Walking to the boat in low tide.

Huge crab.

Starfish.

The boat to take us to the island.

Boat with supplies.

Walking to the island on low tide.

Rock and sea.

Nice little bay to swim in.

This fish tried to hide in the sand. Busted.

Cool looking coral.

Love this fish.

Some crazy kind of grouper fish.

Healthy coral.

Blue fish.

Spotty fish.

Very striped fish.

Shots from underwater.

Zanzibar: Jozani Forest

Walk amongst the ferns

One of the places I didn't get a chance to visit on my first trip to Zanzibar was Joazani Forest.  Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is a 50 sq km (19 sq mi) national park of Tanzania, the only national park located on Zanzibar. Aside from an activity not typically associated with Zanzibar (walk in the forest), the big draw is the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus monkey.

The park is located centrally in the island and about 50 minute drive from Stonetown. We were staying in the south of the island and wanted to beat the crowd so we left at 7:00AM and we were the first people at the park.

The staff were extremely friendly and the park had a very laid back feel. We paid our entry fee and were assigned a guide, which I initially wasn't too excited about (they are mandatory) but proved to be very knowledgeable and tastefully led us on a walk. There were basically three activities and he asked which we wanted to do and in what order: monkeys, forest walk, mangrove walk. We told him we wanted to do them all but we requested his guidance in choosing the order.

We started with the monkeys. After working for a primate conservation organization in Nigeria and not being such a huge fan of monkeys, it's somewhat difficult for me to get excited to see even an endemic type. But I was really impressed with how well habituated the monkeys in Jozani were. Habituated means that the monkeys have become familiar with human activity and are not scared, yet they are not tame, which is usually a result from people feeding or playing with monkeys. Tame monkeys usually steal your food and poop on you while habituated monkeys investigate your presence but continue with their normal rituals. It really feels like you are watching them in the wild as opposed to disturbing them.

Our walk to see the monkeys was only about 10 minutes and we watched them for a good half hour. They were grooming, feeding, and playing and it being my sister's first monkey experience, I had as good of a time watching her joy as I did watching the monkeys.

After we finished with the monkeys we then went deeper into the forest. As my sister isn't a huge hiker, we only spent about 20 minutes but the forest offered a variety of beautiful areas, some with ferns, some with tall dense trees and some with widely spaced trees with sparse undergrowth. It was a very unusual forest for me and I absolutely loved it. We even saw a baby cobra snake!

The forest trek wound around to the main entrance, which at this point had come alive with more park employees and tourists. We then got back into the car and headed south about one kilometer to a mangrove boardwalk. I'm a huge fan of mangrove ecosystems and I thought the walk was a very cool way to expose people to a habitat that isn't the easiest to navigate (usually by canoe/kayak).

Overall I thought Jozani was a must visit, even if you're not a huge nature/forest lover. It is such a different activity than the typical ocean draw and it can be a quick visit, even for a few hours in the morning or afternoon. I will definitely go back as I'm sure I could spend the whole day hiking around the forest!

Sun in the early morning on the ferns.

Young Zanzibar Red Colobus playing.

Having a snack of leaves.

Our guide on the trail.

A more open habitat on the trail.

More views of the trail.

I didn't get a picture of the baby cobra so I compensated with this frog.

Everyone loves crawling over a tree while hiking in the woods.

The sun came out and lit up the trail later.

Mangrove boardwalk.

View of a very healthy mangrove system.

December Holiday: Chobe National Park (Botswana)

Elephant drinking water

A cool excursion offered from Victoria Falls is a day safari to Chobe National Park in nearby Botswana. This is made easier by the fact that US citizens do not require a visa for Botswana and although it requires a few hours drive, Chobe National Park offers much better wildlife than nearby parks in Zimbabwe or Zambia. So naturally, Chobe was a great choice taking a day from our trip to Victoria Falls.

I was real curious to see how the safari differed from other countries though I realized having the package deal from the tourist hub of Victoria Falls may not be an accurate reflection. We booked a tour online and there were a variety of operators all offering the same rate. I was happy to see a 1/2 day river cruise and 1/2 day game drive as river cruises can be quite a cool experience. It was unclear how many people were in our group or how it would be arranged, just a vague outline of the day's activities.

We were picked up in the morning from our hotel and shuttled to a river that was the border of Zambia and Botswana. Our driver took our passports (there were maybe 8 of us), went around the back of the already porous immigration office, and came back within ten minutes with everyone's passports stamped. We were then shuffled onto a small boat to be ferried across the river. When we arrived, different trucks with different company names picked people up and we strangely all headed to the same destination. A small cafe consolidated even more people (now we were up to +20 people) and it was there that we received our first instructions of the morning: the boat was going to be leaving in 10 minutes.

My kind of border crossing.

We loaded up on a double decker boat, went to a park checkpoint, and spent the morning floating around watching wildlife. It was a spectacular day and although everyone seemed to be curiously consolidated together, it didn't take away the joy of seeing hippos and elephants on the shores. After the boat ride we went back to the small cafe for lunch after which we were subdivided again into safari vehicles for a game drive. The game drive disappointingly took us along the same shore we had been on for the river cruise though I suppose our options were restricted with time and it did seem to have the majority of the wildlife.

At the end of the day I thought it was a perfect taste of safari for my sister though I knew the Tanzanian wildlife would blow it away. The tour was oddly arranged though it flowed well and seemingly made best use of the multiple tour operators resources. It appeared that everyone made their own arrangements and then funneled customers to the same itinerary which was adjusted depending on the number of total people that day. It felt slightly impersonal but for the money and time, I thought it was a great value and experience.

Lots of elephants in the park.

I have never ridden in a safari vehicle like this. It was cool until it looked like it was going to rain, then everyone got real nervous. Luckily the storm didn't catch us.

A baby hippo roaming about.

Hippos chilling.

View of the Chobe River from the game drive.

Elephants after a mudbath.

Another river cruise boat getting a bit closer to the elephants.

Cute baby elephant.

December Holiday: Victoria Falls (Zambia & Zimbabwe)

Devil's Gorge waterfall on the far east end.

It's not technically Tanzania so I won't go into great detail but I did have a chance to head down to check out Victoria Falls. I met my sister down in Zambia (before meeting her I spent a day and also crossed over to Zimbabwe side) as well as did a short safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana. It was very cool to get out of Tanzania and see a bit of southern Africa. It was especially interesting to see the tourist towns of Livingstone and Victoria Falls as there were a lot of similarities with Moshi (my current tourist town of residence). I found everywhere to be a bit more developed than Tanzania though also with many similarities.

It was the end of the dry season at Victoria Falls and although I found the falls to still be gorgeous, it lacked much of the water found in many of the iconic pictures that I've seen. It was advantageous to view from the Zimbabwe side as it offered a much better view of the falls which were nearly absent from the Zambia side. The low water allowed us to do the "Devil's Pool" which consisted of taking a boat to the edge of the falls and swimming in a small pool on the very edge. Although a bit overpriced, it was a cool experience for sure. And I suppose you can't have everything because during the wet season the spray from the water renders it impossible to really see anything. Plus, the views of the dry canyons were beautiful even without any water.

Some ladies posing for a pic, Zimbabwe side.

Couldn't really see a great view, Zimbabwe side.

Climb down to the "boiling pot" on the Zambia side.

Looking over to the Zambia side. A few pictures down you'll see me standing on the edge of the opposite side shown here.

View from the far east section, Zimbabwe side.

View from the far west section, Zambia side.

About to enter Devil's Pool. If you look carefully you can see people swimming.

A view of me breaking the rules and standing on the edge. See a few pictures above for the opposite side view. Zambia side.

Devil's Pool, peaking over the edge.

Oh, just chilling on the edge of a waterfall, no big deal.

Oh, just fifty billion dollars, no big deal.

Kindroko Trip VI

Checking out a Mountain Buzzard in the distance.

My family is coming to visit next month and one of the activities I have planned for them is a trip to one of our favorite spots, Kindoroko Forest (Part I,Part II,Part III, Part IV, Part V). The last time we went, the trail was a bit overgrown in two sections and I wanted to see if we could find an alternate route that didn't require us to clamber through a mess of overgrown vines (with many thorns mind you).

Residents of the area have said the rains should finish this month and the ongoing rain is obvious by the lush and green nature of the landscape. During even the dry months the area is characteristically green, but now it seems there isn't a piece dirt without something growing, and even the trees seem to be covered head to toe with moss and lichen.

It was raining on Friday when we arrived but Saturday morning looked somewhat clear. We began the hike and realized at the higher altitudes there was a mix of clouds, rain, and sunshine. As long as the rain isn't a steady downpour, I LOVE the rain in Kindoroko; it simply fit. And the weather was fleeting and passing throughout the day making for a very comfortable hike.

We explored some new trails but ultimately realized we would have to take my family on the "normal" trail. However, we both agreed that the "normal" trail has the nicest bit of montane rainforest that other trails do not have. After all, I think my family might even be slightly disappointed if I don't put them through a challenging situation!

The peak when it is clear.

Massive tree fall.

A river runs below allowing for a rare open view of the forest.

Lots of lichen on the lianas.

A bit lower in the forest, sub-montane.

Extremely overgrown.

Climbing up!

Clouds initially met us at the peak.

Ridgeline at the peak facing north.

Lake Duluti Trip IV

Top of the ridge with the plains in the background.

This year, Tanzanian Independence Day (commemorating December 9th, 1961) had an interesting twist with the newly elected president canceling traditional (and expensive) celebrations and instead mandating the citizens of Tanzania to participate in a "cleaning day".  These types of populist decisions prove popular with people, though I found it somewhat misguided that instead of celebrating Tanzania's independence and remembering the history, as well as looking forward to the future, the government commanded citizens to voluntarily do what the government systems should be doing (keeping streets and public places clean). However, people get overly excited at these decisions and tend not to look too deeply into them, and luckily for us, our house and yard are very small.

This allowed us to do our cleaning quickly and embark on a midweek trip to Lake Duluti (Trip I, Trip II, Trip III). It was a pretty average day for as at Duluti with very few other visitors and some relatively nice weather. There were a lot of clouds which was nice during the first half of the day when we walked the ridge, but this later gave way to rain, which wasn't so bad inside the forest but still less than ideal. We were also happy that the main ranger seemed to be recognizing us as though we were becoming regulars.

The rain resulted in fewer pictures, but this entry goes more for posterity sake than anything since Lake Duluti trips are all more or less the same. Beautiful walk in the woods!

Taking a walk along the ridge.

Checking for some birds inside the forest.