Transit to Mauritius

Coast of Madagascar from Seat 9A

Last Tanzanian Tusker Beers in the Tanzanite Lounge, Dar es Salaam

Today I flew over Madagascar! It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be – it took about an hour in our plane to traverse from west to east – but I was able to capture a clear picture of the east coast beaches from my left side window seat.

The reason I’m flying over Madagascar is because I was en route to Mauritius. You may not have heard of Mauritius, but it’s an island about 500 miles east of Madagascar and is known to be a beautiful vacation spot for Europeans. I had heard about Mauritius first when I was telling my friend Martha about my plans for my trip –she mentioned that she and Sonny, friends from my India rotation, had spent a wonderful week there, which sparked the thought in my mind. My plans to visit were confirmed after speaking with another Deloitte friend – Andrew S. – and I thought that it would be a good place to rest after the Kilmanjaro hike and my time in Kenya. At the time, I was still planning on arriving from Nairobi, and I assumed I would be due for some nice accomodations and some beach time. I had no idea that I’d be coming from Zanzibar, but as my plans changed, I decided to not cancel this leg of my trip. I had cashed in quite a few Starwood and AmEx points to book myself at a Le Meridien here for free for three nights, and to be honest, I can’t wait for a nice bed, decent pillows, and a swimming pool.

To recap a bit of the past couple of days….my last entry was on my second day in Zanzibar. The place is truly paradise, and I highly encourage any of you to visit. It’s just a bit difficult to get there given all of the connecting flights, but it is certainly worth the trip. On my second evening, I ended up sharing dinner with some of the other European patrons and went with them to a bar down at the end of Jambiani beach that night. They kept talking about the cool “drums” at this place, but when we arrived, I found it to be one of the best bars I’ve ever been to. It was LITERALLY on the beach, such that everyone was barefoot…I kicked off my flip flops immediately and spent the night barefoot on powder fine white sand. I met five Danish girls there as well, all of whom had been traveling for over a month and had intended to journey up the coast of Kenya but ended up settling into their inexpensive hostel across the street instead. They had been taking Swahili lessons from an Italian-now-Zanzibari woman and were good friends with the bar owners. By the ocean, a fire pit had been dug, and some of the owners would occasionally wander down (with my European friends) to play the drums I had heard so much about. One of the Danes had brought their Ipod and was playing some great music through the stereo. All in all, a wonderful, memorable, and very fun evening.

The next morning, I woke up fairly early and prepared for my snorkeling trip on Captain Zappy’s boat, which cost about $12. If you’ve ever been on a snorkeling trip, you’re probably imagining a nice, white speed boat, complete with a crew and some rum punch. Not so much here. The boat was an old vessel, made out of mango wood that held a total of five of us – including one person standing near the sail. The crew consisted of Captain Zappy and one other man who took three of us out near the reef to snorkel. The snorkeling was fantastic – thanks to all of the live coral, I saw hundreds of colorful fish and even was able to pick up a starfish. We were out snorkeling for almost two full hours and was definitely one of the best snorkeling expeditions I’ve been on. We enjoyed a view of the long, pristine white sand beach and the palm trees that seemed to line every inch of the coast. The best part was walking back in at low-tide, when all of the beautiful Muslim Zanzibaris were harvesting the seaweed that they farm. I was able to see the organized, clean rows of seaweed that are normally hidden at high tide and watch them sift through the crop to determine what was ready for harvesting. Of course, I was dying from the heat and humidity, but they were dressed from head to toe in beautiful dresses that were soaked up to their waist. What a contrast.

After a short lunch, I spend my last afternoon in Zanzibar on the beach and then made my final trip down to the internet café. I had made friends with both of the women working at the café, and despite the VERY poor connection, they deemed me to be a good customer. They also were amazed at the capability of Skype and asked that I give them a short tutorial. I know have two new Skype contacts in Zanzibar J :)

I enjoyed a peaceful last dinner at the Blue Oyster and then left yesterday morning from Zanzibar. I met a kind, retired couple from British Columbia who is spending over three months traveling the beaches of Africa and Thailand. I also met a wonderful Australian couple – Tiffany and Jon – who were on their honeymoon and were traveling back to Johannesburg on the same flights as me – first to Dar es Salaam, with a five hour layover, before our next flight to Johannesburg on a separate airline.

I was chatting with Tiffany and Jon at the Dar baggage claim, when they mentioned that they thought about taking a cab into the city to pass the time over the long layover. I invited myself to join (I’m not getting shy about asking anymore!), which was the start of a very fun day in Africa. We shared a hot taxi to a downtown Dar lunch café that I had found in the Lonely Planet. Fortunately, the café had much-needed air conditioning and provided a good respite from the humidity and hustle outside. Isaac, our cab driver, was waiting for us when we finished, and then we routed back past the Dar-Zanzibar ferry port to the airport. Although Tiffany and Jon had unfortunately experienced significant flight issues, they had been upgraded to business class, which meant that they also had passes to the business lounge in the Dar airport.

As I mentioned previously, the Dar airport is not great. I was shocked at the idea that they even had a lounge, but sneaking in with Tiffany and Jon was a highlight of my day. Not only was it air conditioned – which the rest of the airport was NOT – but they actually had a television and free water, cokes, and beers, too. While this is a standard at home in the lounges, I wasn’t sure that the neon-signed “Tanzanite Lounge” sign was going to fulfill many promises, but it was great. A wonderful place to rest, chat, and wait before our flight, and I enjoyed one last Tanzanian beer before we left.

Flying back into South Africa made me feel like I was returning a bit to civilization. By far, Tanzania delivered what I pictured True Africa to be in terms of scenery, population, and society, and I had two wonderful weeks there. But I would also be lying if I said that seeing all of the paved roads, street lights, and order when arriving into Johannesburg were not welcomed. All yesterday afternoon, I was amazed at how advanced everything seemed. Similar to visiting Thailand after India, I suppose.

Before leaving on my trip, traveling in and out of Johannesburg had been one of my biggest worries. I had heard horror stories from other travelers about the city, but thankfully, Tiffany and Jon let me tag along with them. Not only had they been to the Joburg airport before, but we ironically had both booked at the same hotel that evening. Again, another crazy coincidence of my travels. Anyway, they saw me to the airport shuttle, were with me checking in, and even invited me to join them when they went to the local casino that evening.

In a word, the casino was just random – it seemed to be in a middle of an office park, close to the airport, in Johannesburg, South Africa. But it was also PACKED! We had a wonderful dinner – the first time for me to eat beef in a couple of weeks (I couldn’t bring myself to do it in Tanzania, given how sad the cows looked there), and enjoyed a great bottle of wine before walking around the massive building. We managed to get the bartender to sneak us into the evening show, which was terribly hysterical. The show basically consisted of a man who resembled an old Abba singer playing a keyboard, while an older woman danced around in white jeans. She kept asking for requests from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, but when anyone actually made a request (like mine for Billie Jean), she told the individual to come back next week. It was so bad that it was funny, and definitely a very enjoyable night with my new friends in South Africa. A special thank you to Tiffany and Jon – you guys were so gracious to let me join you and crash a day on your honeymoon, and you are certainly one of the most fun couples I have ever met. I hope to see you when I get to Sydney, and best wishes for the rest of your vacation.

(P.S. – watched the news for the first time yesterday since leaving on New Year’s Day in the Tanzanite Lounge and then caught some International CNN at the hotel. In addition to the news I’ve caught online here, it’s clear that the coverage of the primaries is gripping the international media and is more incentive to make sure that you VOTE, regardless of where you live in the U.S. Certainly shaping up to be an exciting few months for U.S. politics!)