Homeward Bound

After a relaxing few days at the Reef and Beach we have now all headed back home, Paul and Terri and family via Rome and Paris and Nancy and I via Cairo where we managed to squeak in a visit to the Museum of Civilization, a camel tour of the Pyramids and the Sphinx and a touristy sunset Nile river cruise that we would rather forget.  

This last entry will wrap up the blog for this trip which has certainly lived up to its name which (full disclosure) was chosen for me by Chat GPT’s artificial intelligence chatbot.  

Some things that surprised me or that I didn’t expect:

- how close you can actually get to the mountain gorillas and other animals on a game drive, literally being able to touch them if you wanted to.

- how on time all of the drivers were for pickups and how smoothly all of the entries into the National parks and border crossings were. In the vast majority of cases we were the cause of the delays or late starts. You often hear the phrase “African time” and that you should expect things to take extra time and for people to be late but that wasn’t the case. 

- that East Africa would actually be more pleasant and temperate weather than Europe. 

- the lack of clear communication from our guides as to what we could expect on each leg of the trip, we were left guessing most of the time on the length of a journey, procedures at border crossings and just general heads up on what was going on.  A lot of this comes down the language barrier but also the constantly evolving and shifting rules that happen on the continent.  This could be an issue for a control freak as you had to “go with the flow” a lot and just follow people with blind trust that things would just work out.

- the extreme friendly attitude of the locals in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, less so in Uganda in the main towns. 

- how quickly things spoil and melt in the intense tropical heat (literally 5 minutes for chocolate and yoghurt and cheese can turn in less than 10 minutes. 

Some things that didn’t surprise me:

- the abysmal state of the roads and the crazy driving with many near misses. 

- other than Rwanda, the proliferation of plastic trash on roadsides and around peoples homes and businesses.

- the constant bargaining games to purchase goods and services although Egypt has seemingly turned it up a notch or two since I was last here or I just conveniently forgot how truly awful it was there.

The days in Zanzibar were spent in a routine of one of us early to rise to secure prime spots on the jetty for the group followed by an ocean dip when the tide was right, breaks for lunches and snacks and pool time later in the day.  Our only excursion was a disappointing trip to Prison island with a dodgy boat, crappy and disappearing guide and poor conditions for the large tortoises that inhabit the island, all descended from 4 original animals which were traded by the Seychelles for cuttings of native plants in the mid 1800’s.   one of these poor creatures is now almost 200 years old and has to bear a daily onslaught of tourists who rip off branches from what is left of the native vegetation and try to force feed the poor animal to take the obligatory selfie to post on instagram.  The other “attractions” include a seemingly abandoned hotel complete with empty swimming pool filled with leaves and other detritus and the former prison which we never did find out any real information on.  Suggest this is a “must skip” for any trip to Zanzibar. 

The extreme tides at the resort made our stay interesting as the landscape changed so dramatically from waist deep calm water to deep water with rolling waves to no water where you could walk out for literally 1,500 metres and explore the tidal pools.  Ladies in colourful dresses roamed at low tide tendering their seaweed “farms” which consisted of a series of sticks inserted into the seabed on which nylon or cloth string was tied to “seed” the seaweed and encourage its growth.  Paul found out that they harvest it to make shampoo, whether for local use or for sale to tourists or larger companies we didn’t find out.  Men also roam at low tide with drift nets that they drag to catch small fish, or spearfish in the shallows. I try to make it out to the outer reef during one low rise and end up with 2 knees full of sea urchin spines which tempered my enthusiasm to attempt it again.  

On our last day we have to depart 12 hours before Terri and Paul due to our early morning flight from Dar Es Salaam the next morning so we have to take one of the Fast Ferries to the mainland, which turns out to be a very good experience, proving that Fast Ferries can work for the right routes.  We cover the 50km distance in about an hour and a half which works out to an average speed of around 30 knots, very impressive and very smooth operation other than some rolling on the choppy waters as we approached the port. 

After a quick walkabout in Dar Ed Salaam which is the most modern city we have been so far in Africa, it’s time for bed as we have a 2am pickup to head to the airport.  It an uneventful flight to Cairo and we purchase visas for $25 USD each and are out of the airport within 45 minutes having booked a tour to the Museum of Civilization, the Pyramids and Sphinx and a Nile river cruise with the local government agent, proving that you can actually see some of the main attractions in Cairo if you have 6 or 7 hours between flights. We just missed the new Grand Museum of Egypt that is 99% complete next to the Giza Pyramid complex which after many years of broken promises and missed opening dates appears finally ready to open this fall.  Key artifacts have now been moved from the original museum in downtown Cairo as well from the Museum of Civilization so frankly we could have skipped this entirely.  The Pyramid tour was also a maze of negotiations, scams, ripoffs and broiling hot but still worth it as these structures are always awe inspiring. The capper was an awful River Cruise with bad food, worse entertainment and we felt that if we could have swim for it without putting out lives at risk we would have.

Almost 10m people now call Cairo home and the air is filled with a choking smog most days from the masses of automobiles, tuk tuks, motorcycles, trucks and buses of all types and sizes.  Cairo traffic is as I remember it, a constant shifting and moving ballet of lane changes and merges which somehow avoid impact. 

Our driver deftly navigates the ubiquitous construction (no fewer that 3 major subway lines are under construction at one time), confusing entry and off ramps onto the scattered freeway and ring road system that is flanked by rows and rows of 5-8 story brick and block apartment houses, festooned with air conditioning units and in various states of repair and disrepair.  Some of the buildings look like they could come down in a strong wind and a lot did in Cairo’s last strong quake in 1992 where over 6,500 died.  It’s not hard to see why given what I see as we whiz by thousands of these shoddy housing blocks.  

We are now back in the airport having changed clothes in an effort to get most of the eau de camel off our bodies and we are waiting for our flight which again departs in the wee hours of the night. We’re looking forward to heading back our home and natives land and are eagerly awaiting the moment when we can find the time to look back at the literally thousands of photos we have taken and curate them into a slide show so that we can re live this great adventure in all of its glory. 

I hope that you the faithful readers of this blog enjoyed coming along with us on our trip and that it inspires you to go off the beaten path even a little as that is the secret spice of a life well lived.

Till our paths cross again, adieu and farewell.