The Swahili coast has been magnetic as we work our way up the coast line one island at a time.  We started in Mafia Island and fell in love with island life, the people are a little more relaxed and less likely to try and sell you a safari package.  Our initial draw to Mafia was the prospect of fulfilling  Ryan’s long time obsession with whale sharks.  So the story goes Gramma Sullivan had only two truly good books at her house one was Mike Mulligan and the Steamshovel and the other was Sharks, Sharks, Sharks.  The obsession started early with these plankton eating fish that are the size of whales.  When we heard it might be our luck that these beautiful animals were in our neck of the woods so B-line for the small undisturbed island of Mafia.  Flying as first mate in our twelve seater from Dar es Salam Ryan started his search from 5500ft but it wasn’t until we were inches away swimming next to these massive fish that the obsession became a reality.  Really where do you go from here??

  …Zanzibar of course.  Our initial thought was that the more popular island, Unguja would be too touristy and may have lost its local charm.  But we quick found that if you hide away in the narrow streets of Zanzibar town (Stonetown) long enough you can’t escape into the charm of this multi-cultural neighborhood.  The Swahili coast has an interesting mix of cultures brought from Africa, Arabia and India and nowhere is that more apparent than the faces, architecture, food, and attire of Stonetown.  After absorbing some of Stonetown’s charisma we headed to the islands true draw- its beaches.  The sand is so fine it squeaks beneath your toes.  At high or low tide you’ve got long spans which extend into crystal waters that you feel you could float in for days.  The only ocean we know back home has always been chilling to the bone, this is more like bath water, sometimes even boiling from the mid-day sun.

  We thought we must be on to something with this island hopping so why end a good thing?  Jumping on the first night ferry north we landed in Pemba at sunrise.  Pemba is the answer to anyone’s off-the-beaten-path island hopping dream- sign us up.  We instantly felt a part of the small community of Mkwoani, hanging out in the shade of the market and joining a local basketball team for an afternoon game.  We found our second home on the island after a random ride with new Italian friends up to the northern part of the island.  After going by a makeshift sign on our way back from the beach we made a quick decision to let them carry on without us, while we pitched a tent on the shores of Verani Beach a.k.a. paradise…think breezy nights, evening swims and fresh grilled fish…it all made us question why we would ever leave.

(Over to RyBoy)

Alas… our desire for progress, as it often does, pulled us away.  What would we do with our last couple of weeks in Africa? TBD, but we knew the first step would be to get back to the mainland.  How to do this was the big question.  Backtrack to Unguja, Dar then up the coast to Kenya?  If you know us you may know that we hate hate hate backtracking, so that option was out almost immediately.  There were two other options - passenger ferry to Tanga Tanzania, then a bus north to the Kenyan boarder OR - talk to local dhow captains headed to southern Kenya and hitch a ride.  The dhow is a traditional sailing vessel long used to move cargo around the Indian Ocean… it is the maritime symbol of the Swahili Coast…nowadays dhows come in various shapes, sizes and levels of safety.  Can’t you see it now?  Annie and I with eye patches fixed, smelling of cloves, cinnamon and ginger.. saying things like “darrrr”, “land ho!” and “matey!”,  pulling fish from the sea and gnawing them raw, having the other grisly Tanzanian sailors telling us jokes in Swahili and laughing heartily and slapping each other joyously as we understand every word… well stop picturing that immediately, the actual scene is quite different (but no less of a tale).…. Annie and I sitting atop scrap metal, working to keep all exposed skin out of the sun, trying to drink enough water to stay hydrated, yet holding in pee as the stern shows the only prospect of a toilet, not understanding any conversation although something must‘ve been funny, ‘cause there was plenty of laughin‘, and feeling bad about eating anything we had picked up at the market that morning because no one else seemed to have any food (there wasn’t enough to share among everyone)… and that was the happs.. for SEVEN hours.  But did I mention that we saved $20!  Score!

Truth be told the trip was ACE (thanks for that Sir Alex) - blue water, dolphins, flying fish, lots of smiles if not good conversation from our mates - and an unforgettable trip which would have been uneventful comfortable and boring otherwise.  That’s how you make memories… proactively.

With a week left before our flight out of Nairobi we sat in Mombasa contemplating our next and final move in Africa ….a few more days with animals, some hiking in Kenya, back to city life in Nairobbery or finish what we started on the Swahili Coast? We both decided to finish with a little more island time… off to Lamu.  Lamu is a group of islands on the northern coast of Kenya, kilometers away from Somalia.

(back to AO)

We finished our Swahili tour in Lamu, taking in as many white sand beaches, turquoise waters and friendly mixed culture faces as we could in a week.  It was great to be in one place for a week and get into the maze of narrow streets at a different level.  On our way out of town we ran into a couple we had meet two months earlier on our flight into Nairobi, a interesting cross of paths, they were also leaving Lamu but they had been there SINCE they left Nairobi.  They had rented a house and enjoyed the relaxation of staying put, getting to know a place and being able to cook their own food.  In that same period of time we had climbed Kilimanjaro, seen the big 5, swam with whale sharks, visited over 5 different islands, traveled by bus, boat, plane, land cruiser and donkey, hiked an active volcano, shook hands with Masaai, and smoked with the Hadzabe… wheeewf… I think we both realized that although we had an amazing time in Africa, perhaps it was time to slow things down a bit.  Goooooood luck with that!