New Years!!!

Hi all! This will be a brief post as I am crunched for time. Vacation continues and we are having a great time. We have left the Starfish and are now in our home in S. Jambiani. We really enjoyed our time at Starfish with Suma the general manager and Moody the rastafari bartender, they really made our stay pleasant. We left them on New Years Eve after the big ngalwa (dhow) race.

Obama Boat

Coming to the Races

Full Boat

Starting Line

And they're off!

Coming in

Pakuwa our adopted cat for two nights

The ngalwa race was phenomenal, twenty something boats decked our with excited crews and each with it own fan club dancing and chanting up and down the beach. The race took nearly two hours and the winner was a boat named Safarinjema (travel well). It was far ahead of any other boat. The ngalwa’s made there way in to the cheering of the crowd (largest I have seen in Jambiani). The winds were strong (one of the ngalwa’s masts was shredded) and everyone was festive. After the race, we packed up and went to our new home in S. Jambiani.
There were some hiccups as when we arrived at the house the previous occupants were not yet checked out. They checked out and then it took forever to get the place cleaned. No problem though. The real problem came when Sheahey the “landlord” came and he had double booked the place. After some arguing and putting up with is annoying attitude things were resolved. The poor Finnish couple (very delightful) had to find a room elsewhere, but I caught up with them later and they fared well.

 Our Zanzi Girl in front of our temp Zanzi House

Our View! (not bad for $100 a night)

We have been really enjoying a relaxing time here. We had New Years Eve dinner on the beach at Al Hapa (a stones throw from here). The evening was pretty uneventful, only that it was the first time in many years that Jess and I managed to stay up until mid-night. We walked on the beach and shared a mid-night beer at Dhow Beach Village (a beach bar) and watched the Masai who were now dressed in jeans and t-shirts dance behind the bar. There were fireworks in the distance and people jogging up and down the beach with flaming palm fronds. My second new years in Zanzibar, exactly ten years apart.

New Years Eve dinner on the beach

New Years day we went into Stonetown, which was pretty uneventful. A coke at the Africa House, some shopping, pizza on the water front, and stocking up on provisions. We headed home early and had a great feast including fresh calamarie and a picturesque grouper.

Fanta for two

Some type of grouper

Palm Frond Princesses

Today we went to the Jozani forest to see the red colobus monkeys and the mangroves. The kids loved the monkeys and our tour of the mangroves was brief as we were greeted by a downpour.
Tonight we will dine on octopus and Lala is letting Jess and I go out for a drink afterwards. Still on vacation, but reality is in sight. When I post this blog I will check the news on Nigeria as what we have heard lately is not very cheering. We hope things have calmed…More soon.

Red Colubus Monkey

The Mangrove

The End!