Spice Tour - Zanzibar

While visiting Zanzibar we went on a spice-tour where I learned a lot about many different types of spices :)

Some of the spices and foods which we saw through our spice tour were banana, mango, pineapple, star fruit, papaya, jack fruit, lemon, lime, avocado, tapioca plants, palm oil trees, indian almond tree, cocoa trees, coffee plants, cardemon plants, black pepper, ginger, nutmeg, turmeric, vanilla, cinnamon. cloves and lemongrass. In addition we saw the ylang ylang tree, which makes perfume, and the lipstick tree.

 

         Coffee beans                                                 Nutmeg

 

             Limes                                                      Jack fruit

Some of these are actually also used for other purposes than what we would commonly use them for and therefore go beyond just being a spice. Our guide explained how black pepper is used to increase the milk production of new mothers, especially if it’s mixed in with octopus or stingray soup. Turmeric can be used as an antibiotic or antiseptic when it’s mixed with water. This can clean wounds and also be drunken if one has an upset stomach. The tomatoe weed plant is said to be good for those who have asthma if one mixes the tomatoe together with some honey. The leaves of the plant are also used for stopping heavy nose bleeding.

                     

           Pineapple                                                   Cocoa

Our guide told us that, unfortunately due to not having the right equipment and factories not being maintained, many of these spices and products that Zanzibar offers are not being taken advantage of and processed. For instance, their many rubber trees are being exported because they don’t have a factory there to process them themselves. Also, the sugar factory there has been closed for 16 years already, but our guide told us it’s being invested in now so hopefully it will soon be up and running again. They do grow their own coffee, but not enough so they also import it from the mainland. Due to no good irrigation system they do not grow their own rice. They actually import most of their rice from Thailand – which sadly is cheaper than importing it from mainland Tanzania or Uganda!

 

             Cloves                                           Our basket of samples

Their main export are actually cloves – which originated from Indonesia and introduced to Zanzibar by the Arabs. Unfortunately, however, as the government decides the price of the cloves, which is set to rather low, many people don’t bother too much for picking them. It was so great to experience all of these different types of spices on our tour, but sad to learn that most of them are either not being processed on the island itself or not being used at all.

                                Different types of spices

Throughout our tour the guides’ local assistant gave us samples of many of the different spices and also made jewelry out og leaves for my sister and I. For my dad he made him a hat and tie. Check out the pictures :)

                      

After the tour we had a local lunch consisting of pilau rice which is spiced rice, coconut sauce, banana stew and smoked fish. It was very good, I actually had seconds!

                                           At lunch :) 

 

Ending this blog with a picture of the many beautiful palm trees on Zanzibar:

Matemwe Beach - Zanzibar

When we first arrived on Zanzibar, after our travels on mainland Tanzania was over, we hit the beach for some relaxation time! We stayed at the small Zanzibar Retreat Hotel which is actually owned by two Scandinavians. The hotel only consist of eight rooms so it was rather quiet and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves – which was amazing! On Matemwe Beach there are only a few hotels so it’s very remote and one doesn’t get caught up in the middle of hundreds of other tourists :) It’s a long streched beach with beautiful white sand, lots of palm trees and some of the most stunning ocean colours of blue and turquoise that I have ever seen.

 

                                   View from the airplane

 

    Jambo! (= hello)                                         View from our room

                      

             Cheers!                                          Zanzibar Retreat Hotel

 

                    A little neighbouring hotel where we had lunch a few times

The water temperature on Matemwe beach was around 26 degrees! Needless to say I spent a lot of time in the water :) One day my sister and I went on a boat trip for her to go scuba-diving and for me to go snorkelling. I saw an uncountable number of colourful fish and swimming amongst them was as always – incredible! I was also so lucky to see an octopus for the first time! They are very difficult to spot as their colour adapts to their environment. Everytime the octopus swam from one spot to another it’s colour changed. If it wasn’t for the snorkelling guide I would have never spotted the octopus myself. I also saw several sea cucumber snakes! And I was so lucky to see a bluespotted stingray which are a light green colour and have blue spots on them. My favourite fish that I saw, however, was a purple, blue and green parrotfish. I think their colours are absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I don’t have an underwater camera, but I hope the photos from the beach make up for it ;)

 

 

 

 

                            

                    Sending my love to all my family & friends – miss you all!

Maasai Village

After our safari and before we left mainland Tanzania we went to visit a Maasai Village. The Maasai tribes mainly live in southern Kenya and in northern central Tanzania. They are pastoralists and live a semi-nomadic way of life. Their culture centers around cattle which are considered rather sacred to them and makes up a big part of their livelihood. The Maasai also have artistic traditions which are obviously seen in the many colourful body decorations and beaded jewelry that they wear. The women are known for wearing the plate-like necklaces and the men for wearing a red-checked blanket called shuka.

At the Maasai Village we were first greeted by the Maasai performing their traditional dance and song. My sister and I actually got to join in! Afterwards we got to walk around their small village and see how they live. Their houses are simply made out of cow dung, straw and wood. Inside there is a place to sleep and a small fire which is used for heat and cooking. It was very dark inside as there were only a few small holes in the walls for air circulation and some light. The holes and entrance are intentionally made very small because this is to keep the dangerous wild animlas they live amongst out.

We also got to visit the small kindergarten of the village. The kindergarten is also made out of cow dung, straw and wood. Although it didn’t look like any kindergarten that we are used to, where there’s usually lots of toys, desks, chairs, colour and light, the kids acted just like any other kids as they were laughing and joking around. Most kids are simply the same all around the world :)

 

SAFARI!

Finally I have some good internet acces again, although it’s limited so be patient please :)

Here's a bit about our AMAZING three day safari:

We had our own driver and jeep with a roof that popped up for us to have a great view. The animals we were so lucky to see were zebras, giraffes, chettahs, baboons, elephants, lions, antelopes, gazelles, impalas, wildebeest, warthogs, cape buffalos, rhinos, hippos, hyenas, flamingos, white pelicans, ostrichs and many different types of birds.

  
              We’re ready to go!

                 

The first day we went to Tarangire National Park which is well known for the beautiful Baobab trees. The wildlife here was incredible! The park is rather dry, but had a small river part. Once we came to where the water was there was wildlife everywheres! Most of the animals where simply walking amongst each other, drinking and bathing in the small river, it was incredible to see.

 
 
    

                          Hyena

            
The next day we drove to Lake Manyara National Park. This is a soda (alkaline)lake. The park is 329 square km and the lake covers 231 square km. Here the landscape was more green and there were several water streams throughout the park. Therefore there were also many hippos here relaxing in the waters. They are really funny to watch! After another great day of safari we drove to stay at the Farmhouse Lodge. This is a beautiful hotel resort which is also an old coffee farm. The property had lots of colourful flowers and coffee plants surrounding it. In the evening there was some traditional dance and music.

                   Hippos :)
 

     Coffee fields & the Farmhouse lodge
 
Our last day of safari we went to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Here there is a huge crater which formed from a volcanic eruption some 2-3 million years ago! Here we were so lucky to see the rhinos! (Although from far away). Nevertheless, we were lucky to see them because there are not very many rhinos left. Their horns are worth more than gold and they can unfortunately only give birth once every five years so no wonder there are not very many left. In Ngorongoro we also saw flamingos which made up a beautiful pink line from a distance. The most interetsing thing here though, was when we had our lunch. We drove down to the picnic area where many other cars were parked and only about 30 meters from the picnic grounds a male lion was spotted. He was simply just laying there watching all the people! He then got up and slowly strolled away. I feel so lucky to have been able to see all these wild animals in their natural habitat and I’ve finally fulfilled my dream of going on a safari :)

 
 


My journey continues with more updates coming soon!