Reykjavik - 9 February 2014

As you know, I do love a bargain and, if you combine that with a holiday, I'm in heaven so when we saw a good deal on Secret Escapes for a 3 night break in Reykjavik we were in! The package includes flights with WOW airlines (no we hadn't heard of them either!), Bed & Breakfast, a Northern Lights evening tour, a full day 'Golden Circle' sightseeing tour and a trip to the Blue lagoon.

After an uneventful flight, which took just under 3 hours, we arrived in Iceland, and jumped on a bus for the 40 min journey to Reykjavik. Our first impressions of the landscape was that it was quite barren with lots of stoney outcrops and very little foliage with snow covered mountains in the background.

View travelling from the airport

On arrival, weather wise, it was blue skies and sunny but apparently weather can change very rapidly here! It feels cold but not freezing so is bearable!

Our hotel seems nice, with a 'gentlemens club' type feel with leather sofas, wooden panelled walls and lots of art dotted about - Peter says he feels like he should be sitting down with a cigar and large whiskey! Our room is ok although the double bed is two single beds pushed together with single duvets!

Our room

After unpacking we went out to explore a little - we walked down to the harbour to admire the view. It was starting to get dark, and was getting colder, so we stopped off for an early dinner as we hadn't eaten since breakfast and we were going out in the evening for the Northern lights tour. We had a lovely meal - Peter had sesame fried chicken noodles, and I had slow baked cod with langoustines - delish!

Down at the harbour

In taking this photo peter dropped the camera in to his food!

We were picked up for our Northern Lights tour at 7:30pm to join several other coach loads of people also hoping to get a glimpse of the lights - there must have been about 5 coaches in all! We trundled out of Reykjavik in to the darkness of rural Iceland - after about 30 mins they stopped the coach at the side of the road as they could see some Northern lights but to be honest it wasn't much better than in Finland last year and I thought this must be as good as it gets! We then got back on the coach and carried on to our final stop which was quite literally in the middle of nowhere and it was freezing! We stood around looking at nothing and then decided to go in to the little cafe there to get a drink - we we supping our hot chocolate when one of the guides shouted 'it's happening'! Everyone dashed outside and we could see a green swirl in the sky....... Which got bigger and brighter and was amazing to see - it ended up as a huge ark right over our heads, dancing and swirling around - everyone was very excited. It lasted for about 20 mins - we tried to take some photos but they are quite blurred as you need certain camera exposure to get good photos but it gives you an idea of what we saw.

Swirls of northern lights

It looked a lot better in real life!

After all the excitement everyone was really buzzing when they got back on to the bus, but as we drove back to Reykajvik everyone fell asleep as it was late - we did not get back to 1am and they dropped us down the street, saying your hotel is just up that road! We weren't to sure where we were going but, sure enough, as we walked up the road our hotel appeared but we had to press the buzzer to be let in as it was locked! We fell in to bed tired but happy - although we won't get much sleep as we need to be up by 6:15 for our full day tour!

 

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Zanzibar - Wednesday 23 & Thursday 24 October

Yesterday we had a lazy day at the hotel, sitting on the beach and relaxing. The hotel has a private beach, with a fence between the hotel and the sea, so if you want to swim in the sea you have to run the gauntlet of the 'beach boys' who hassle you so I went swimming in the pool instead! Peter was quite happy as he could get internet on the beach so he was watching football and surfing the net on his ipad.

The view from our loungers

Today we went to Jozani Forest - the best bit was seeing the monkeys up close that live wild in the forest but the rest of it was a bit boring - although we are not really nature trail type people we have enjoyed the ones we have done in Hawaii and Barbados but this was really just looking at a bunch of trees!

Colobus monkey in Jozani Forest

Mum and baby monkey

'What you looking at'

Another monkey, oh sorry it's Peter!

After the forest we stopped off at a butterfly farm which was lovely but they are very hard to photograph!

Butterfly's at the butterfly farm

Tomorrow we fly back to the UK, via Nairobi. We land in Nairobi at 6:30pm and do not fly out until 11:45pm so we have long, boring wait at the airport!!!!

We have really enjoyed our time in Zanzibar - it has been a good mixture of seeing the sites and relaxing, which was needed after the safari! Our hotel is quite remote to many of the sites, and it was always about an hours drive to get anywhere, but it gave us a good idea of how the people of Zanzibar live - we saw ladies carrying their shopping on their heads, very young children out walking along the road on their own, people going to collect their water from a tap by the side of the road, buses loaded with both people (hanging off the back) and goods on the roof and cows trotting along the road pulling along carts!

 

THE END

 

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Zanzibar - Tuesday 22 October

Today we went on another tour which I thought would be interesting as it gives you a number of different experiences in one go - we did not warm to the guide much, which was a shame as we were with him for 5 hours but we still enjoyed the day.

We met him at the Mtoni Palace ruins, a palace that was built for one of the Omani Sultans in the early 19th century. Our guide is part of the restoration team that is restoring the palace so he was good at explaining how the palace used to be, and what they are doing to restore it.

Outside the ruins - our guide is the man in white

Inside the palace

We were then took on a ride around the grounds on a rickerty looking cart being pulled along by a donkey. It was an experience, not the most comfortable one, and I did think I hope the guide doesn't let go of the reigns (he was walking besides the cart) as we would never be seen again! The donkey was a bit distracted because it's foal was running about and it just wanted to be with it!

'We have got to get on that!'

Clinging on for dear life

We then went back in to the palace ruins for a coffee ceremony. As I was the women the guide told me I had to do it all (the cheek) - so first of all I had to roast the coffee beans, then grind them, then put them in to the coffee pot and fan the fire (yes really) so that the pot boiled. Once the coffee was boiled, I had to serve up, along with some local sweet delicacies - Peter of course thought this was all very funny!

Roasting the coffee beans on a tiny stool!

Hmmm never fanned a kettle before

Peter found it all very amusing

After the coffee ceremony we were taken to see some more ruins, and then on to a spice farm which we really enjoyed. A young lad who works on the farm took us around, and we were tasting all types of spices and some tropical fruits. Then another young lad shimmed up a coconut tree and threw one down for us to drink - it was very refreshing especially as we had been out in the heat for about 3 hours by this time. And then another young lad presented us with some 'gifts' made out of banana leaf - remember we had to tip all of these kids (along with the guide and our driver).

Yes he really did climb right up to the top!

Peter enjoying his coconut

With our banana leaf hats and necklaces!

We were then invited in to the spice farmers house for lunch - it was only 11:30 but seeing as we had breakfast at 6:30 we were quite hungry. The food was homemade Swahili food and was delicious - they also served us local coffee and spiced tea.

Lovely food!

Yes, I am really sitting on aeroplane seats!

We then sailed back to the ruins on a traditional Dhow boat. As the tide was quite far out we had to take off our trainers and roll up our trousers to walk to the dingy that was taking us to the dhow. We had to wade in to the sea and the water was lovely and warm.

On the Dhow with crazy hair!

We relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the day. Dinner this evening was a fish and seafood buffet which was delicious.

 

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Zanzibar - Monday 21 October

Today we did a tour of Stone Town, the main town in Zanzibar. It was one of the trips I had arranged before we left and was a 3 hour private walking tour with a guide. The tour was very interesting, and because the tour was private we could ask lots of questions. Our guide was good but he did like to tell me when to take photographs - sometimes it was helpful so that I could get a good shot, but other times I just humoured him thinking 'I will delete this one later'.

Stone Town is quite dilapidated as they don't have the money to do up the buildings, although the whole town is now a UNESCO site so they do give money for some of the public buildings such as the 'House of Wonders' building which was once a palace to one of the Sultan rulers in late 1800's. The town is famous for its ornate wooden doors, some which are in good condition but many that aren't!

 

The front door at the 'House of Wonders'

The old Fort

Typical alley in Stone Town

Towards the end of the tour, we went to the slave market. During the reign of the Omani Arabs in the early 19th century Zanzibar was the main slave trading point of East Africa. Chambers were built to store the slaves - they had low ceilings and small windows and we were shown a couple of them which were very clausticphobic when there was just 3 of us in there, but they would cram about 50 slaves in to each of the chambers which must have been unbearable, especially in the heat.

Peter in one of the slave chambers

Monument to remember the treatment of slaves

At the end of the tour we went to the local food market which was quite an experience! He first took us to the fish market, and then the meat market which both really stunk and there was lots of flies - as we walked through I said to Peter it was enough to put anyone off meat and fish!

Street scene outside the market

Inside the smelly fish market!

We we back at our hotel in time for a late lunch, and the relaxed in the afternoon. In the evening it was Swahili night at the restaurant where we tried all different types of Swahili food which was very nice. They then had some live African music with dancers which were very good.

 

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Zanzibar - Sunday 20 October

Today we just relaxed at the hotel and boy did we need it! It gave us a chance to look around the hotel which is lovely.

Our lovely room

Our room on the upper level from the outside

By the pool where we had lunch

We have a balcony overlooking the grounds which we sat on, just reading and chatting, and were glad we didn't have to spend hours in the mini van for once.

Peter relaxing on our balcony

The view from our balcony

Man alive - Zanzibar is hot and humid! We were even sweating buckets at breakfast at 9am this morning. We were hoping for a lie in but, as our body clocks are still on Safari time, we were awake at 5:45am!

In the evening, dinner is served at an outdoor restaurant by the pool, with a different theme each night. Tonight it was Italian night and the food was very nice, with a good ambience. They had a band playing, and later on in the evening they had some Masai warriors dancing but they weren't as good as the ones in the Masai Mara (Peter said it was because they weren't the real ones!).

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Kenya - Saturday 19 October

This morning we were woken up by the sound of the hippos. When we went to breakfast they were wallowing in the water just outside the dining room.

A rare sight of the noisy hippos outside our tent

It was going to be a long journey back to Nairobi so we left at 7:30 to hopefully arrive at the airport around 3:30pm. First of all we drove through the game reserve, and although it wasn't a planned game drive we still saw lots of wildlife - we saw a group of elephants with a tiny baby, and a lion walking next to us on the road!

The elephants were right at the side of the road!

A tiny baby elephant - Ahmed thought it was 1 month old

Lion casually walking next to the road/track

After all the excitement we then got another puncture and poor Ahmed had to change the tyre, borrowing one off another driver as he had used his spare tyre yesterday! Once we were out of the game reserve we stopped off at a makeshift garage where they fixed the tyre but by this time we had lost an hour! Apart from a couple of wee stops, we were in the van for 8 hours, and we even had to eat our packed lunch whilst travelling along as we didn't have time to stop (note to self: I don't like eating in moving vehicles!).

Nairobi airport is a bit of a shambles and you don't really know what is going on. We had to check in at the airport rather than online and there was no desk for our airline, but I went up to a desk to ask where we go and he said you can go to any desk (it was not obvious). Then the gate was advertising other flights but when we asked we were told it was for our flight (even though it didn't mention our flight on the board at the gate!). We finally got to our hotel at 10pm that evening - it had been a long day. We were so tired we didn't even unpack - we just fell in to bed!

 

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