Well this is it. Our final activity. The Emerson Spice Hotel has a tasting menu on the rooftop, one seating per night, 5 set courses, and cocktails for sundown. The way it works is the fisherman go out each morning and bring back various seafoods, and on the way to the hotel they pick up produce from the market. The chef selects from these and designs the menu accordingly. The hotel has 10 breeding pairs of Norwegian goats, and there is also a farm at a nearby Catholic convent. At 99% Muslim Zanzibar is not exactly ripe for missionary work, so the nuns have devoted their time to farming. All the food was organic. Each plate had 3 or 4 individual items. My favorites were the crispy goat and all of the deserts. The kingfish was also yummy.
Sigh, it’s over. This is the end. I type this as we wait for our flight to Nairobi, then on to Amsterdam, and then on to New York. It’s been an incredible few years on these trips. Thanks to Alex, Layla, Sarah, and Gilda for a wild ride. Great friends, great trips.
Lady Boy Time, signing off. Continue reading
On our final night in Zanzibar, in Tanzania, and in Africa we drove to Stone Town to be closer to the airport for our 5:45am flight. Plus this hotel looked amazing, which it was. The photos do not do it justice. We had two rooms, and one was a two-story suite with a balcony. Continue reading
The beach hagglers succeeded, and we bought a sunset sail and snorkel. $10 well spent. The boat kept tipping to the side, and all the people on top freaked out and tried to hold on. Not many chose to snorkel. The sunset was, of course, perfect. Naturally everyone looks chic in the snorkel selfies. Continue reading
You get a panoramic, and you get a panoramic, and you get a panoramic… Continue reading
Oh, Z Hotel, how I miss you so. You were kind to us. Your Phillipe Stark interiors were fun. Your sand was soft. Your rain storms were brief. Your beach hagglers sang soothing jingles of “coconut, fresh, coconut, fresh, coconut, fresh, tourist, juice, coconut, juice, coconut.” Your massages were cheap and plentiful. Your nearby restaurants/bars were delicious and casual. Your water was clear. Your geckos were festive. And your pool, oh my that pool. We had three rooms, all facing the ocean. Mine was approximately 9 seconds from the pool. The WiFi was…adequate. Continue reading
In case you were wondering, this is what it looks like to fly from the central Serengeti airstrip! This is a single engine Cessna with room for 12 passengers, 1 pilot, and 1 copilot…or in this case, Alex! Maybe my dad can figure out which exact plane this is. We ended up switching planes at the Arusha airstrip layover, we think because the air conditioning didn’t work. We had the same pilot. Continue reading
Lions are very sleepy. It’s amazing now much they remind you of house cats. I mean, my cats look like these lions 80% of the time. We saw in the neighborhood of 35 lions, and most were on the final day in the Serengeti when we saw at least 3 prides. The huge male that you can see standing facing left came from the distance, crossed the pond, went right up to our car, paused, and then walked on. We all got silent. Needless to say the windows and doors were shut tight. They can go 4-5 days between meals. They like trees, dirt hills, and shade. All great places to sleep as you can see. Continue reading
These photos are from two troops of elephants plus one gigantic single elephant (the first photo) that we saw in the Serengeti on the final day. The group near the river crossed the road and stopped to roll around in the mud. The adults circled the baby and were aggressive towards us. They flapped their ears and made thundering noises. Nothing happened, but we all got silent. I liked the footprint.
Sadly, later this day we lost Gildita. This was her last confirmed sighting. She never got to sport her Zanzibar outfit (on the reverse side). She will be deeply missed. She’s probably still out there in the Serengeti, or at least that’s my hope.
I feel like I keep repeating myself, but seeing a cheetah in the parks is very rare, especially for such a short safari. We saw dozens. We saw cubs. We saw cheetahs stalking gazelles. We saw them run! We were really lucky and had a great guide. Continue reading
Lady Boy Time 