Zanzibar

I have been waiting for this all along - Zanzibar, the spice island. or as we say in German: "Da, wo der Pfeffer waechst'.
And I can say, I am not disappointed. The first place we stayed in was Stone Town - a world heritage site. Lots of narrow streets, old, beautiful but not very well kept buildings. It was a bit like Lisbon, but smaller and more Arabic influences. I loved the place. My favourite so far in terms of towns. Also, it has been by far the most cosmopolitan place i have seen in Africa so far. Yes, pople do look at you, but there are no stares. All the street sellers back of quite quickly when one says "hapana asante" (no, thank you). The fresh see food is also gourgeous. I am loving it.

After a guided Spice Tour we went up North to the beach. Beautiful white, sandy beach. The water is very nice and warm and unbelievably clear. Snorkelig was facinating! I really enjoyed this place... until we went back to Stone Town to catch the ferry back to Dar Es Salam. I went to get some money and Barclays seemed like a good option. Well, the ATM "ate" my credit card, after I put in my pin number. No foreign mobile phone would call through to Germany for me to be able to cancel the card. And due to a power outage internet was not working either. T.I.A - this is africa at it's best. However, I "rented' a local mobile and am now using my back up card. So all is good. Hakuna Matata - no worries :)

Victoria Falls and LAKE Malawi

Hello again, I have now finally arrived in REAL Africa: proper street markets everywhere, people hassling you to buy stuff constantly and people, yes lots of people. Not like Namibia, where only 1.8 million people live in a huge country. Also it is getting much greener and of course, we now also have mosquitos. Great fun. But on a serious note, since we entered Zambia, we have arrived at the heart of the dark continent. Much less European and much more African. People are really friendly but many do suffer from the "money tree" syndrom (white guys have unlimited funds, because they only go into their back garden and harvest th money tree, no work involved). I am getting very good at saying "no" indeed.

But back to what I have actually seen: the Victoria Falls in Livingstone (Zambia) are great. I don't know exactly how far the water falls, but I know for sure, that these are the biggest waterfalls I have seen so far in my life. As the rainy season is starting atm, we did have quite some water. Very lucky indeed.

After this we were just lazing around in Livingstone for 4 days. Very relaxing, pool, bit of shopping in town, some food, mentally preparing for second leg of the trip. One day we went to an Orphanage, just four of us. It gives one lots to think about. The kids were very friendly and the sisters were looking after them as best as they could. We basically just talked to the kids, playing ball with them. They really enjoyed themselves (and we were suffering in the heat). Well, it definitely made quite an impression on me.

After Livingstone we made our way into Malawi. The first campsite we stayed at, there was Zebras grasing around the tents - amazing. And the next one was right at the beach of LAKE Malawi in "Mango Heaven"! We put the tents up under a mango tree and got bombarded during the night - hehe :) I loved it!!! Had about 8 mangos that day. The beach was beautiful: white sand. And the water very warm. We went snorkling and jumping of cliffs (even so I have to admit, I am no good at this anymore. Must be getting old and scared). Lake Malawi and really the whole of Malawi is a real nice place. People are meant to be the friendliest in the whole of Afrika and I definitely think this is true. You are everyones "sister (or brother for that matter) of a different mother" and they joke around with you, even if you don't buy anything. In other places, people just get annoyed.Malawi is a very relaxed and laid back place indeed.