Nungwi

Posted on August 9, 2010 in Tanzania by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

For the final segment of our East African beach vacation, we’re camped out at Langi Langi Beach Resort, at Nungwi, on the northern tip of Zanzibar. Langi Langi came highly recommended by our good friends Brian and Kara, who spent a few days here during honeymoon #2.

There isn’t much “beach” to speak of around our hotel, except for a small stretch that disappears after low tide. However, at high tide, the ocean is like a vast swimming pool, accessible from our hotel’s deck. If only we had a diving board. And the views from our hotel, especially the balcony of our sea-view room – apparently the best room in the house – are absolutely stunning.

For more traditional beach lounging, we’ve been taking walks to nearby beaches, like Kendwa to the south, and East Nungwi, around the island’s northernmost point from here. Kendwa is a long, beautiful stretch of sand (Kenny wrote a few thoughts about it here). East Nungwi is a bit easier to reach, although the beach itself all but disappears at high tide. We had a nice walk there yesterday, a wonderful swim in the jewel blue water, and a delicious lunch at the Tanzanite Beach Resort.

Dining options here at Nungwi are a bit limited and service seems to be universally slow. However, the food at our hotel’s restaurant is good, and we had one good meal at the Armaan Bungalows restaurant next door (although our repeat visit was a disappointment). The village of Nungwi is a stark contrast to the posh resorts on the beach, with a small school house, and a cluster of tiny shops and residences along a muddy road. We’ve taken a few strolls through the village to purchase water and bread, and use the internet cafe, and we enjoyed watching the local kids play football at dusk.

Tomorrow is our last day on Zanzibar, and we are hoping to check out Matemwe Beach in the morning before we begin our journey back to Kampala.

Rainbow
Morning rainbow, viewed from the breakfast area at our hotel

View from our room
The view from our balcony

Sunset
Sunset from our balcony

Fish trap
Catching fish in a trap

Low tide
Nungwi Beach at low tide, before it disappeared completely

Journey to Kendwa

Posted on August 7, 2010 in Tanzania by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

We took a walk today down to Kendwa Beach, one of the “gems” of the Nungwi area according to the Lonely Planet. Kendwa is only two kilometers south of our hotel, but the journey is much longer than it should be due to a few obstacles.

The first obstacle is the tides. Most of Zanzibar has very “tide-dependent” beaches. While Kendwa is renowned for being the only beach on Zanzibar unaffected by tidal shifts, the same cannot be said for the northern waterfront approach, which would require a full-on swim at high tide. We headed to Kendwa during low tide, which was a pleasant walk along the beach until we reached an outcropping whose beach is only accessible during the lowest of tides.

Obstacle number two: the “Royal Zanzibar” hotel, which blocks your path and is built on top of the aforementioned rock outcropping. The @$$holes who run the Royal Zanzibar do not let non-guests walk across their property, even though they completely block the north-south coastal path. To enforce their policy, the beachfront entrance to the hotel is manned by Maasai warriors who don’t speak a word of English. They simply shake their sticks at you and yell at you in Kiswahili until you go away. It’s an extra two kilometer detour around the hotel that involves walking inland to the main road and then down a sketchy dirt path through the bush that is infamous for muggings.

On the plus side, you are amply rewarded when you arrive. Kendwa has a beautiful, long stretch of white sand with calm, very swimmable (though not particularly warm) water. The area is sparsely developed and has minimal touts. We spent most of the morning on the more remote southern end of the beach, which we had completely to ourselves. The weather today was variable, with on and off showers, but that also made for some very dramatic landscapes.

After a delicious lunch at White Sands Beach Hotel and more swimming, it was time for us to head back to Nungwi. At this point it was high tide, and when we reached the Plan Hotel at the northern end of Kendwa, one of the security guards flagged us down and told us that three men would escort us along the path back to Nungwi. We were completely sketched out by this. One of the men showed us his police officer badge, but we were still skeptical. We had no choice but to follow along, keeping a little distance and hoping that we would simply have to pay a bribe and wouldn’t get mugged, maimed, or worse. As we entered the main road and civilization, we got more comfortable and the man who had flashed his badge engaged us in conversation. Turns out that the men were all special investigators who were in the area specifically to address recent concerns about tourist muggings (whew).

Overall Kendwa is a beautiful and relaxing beach, though quite a challenge to visit on foot.

Lauren chilling at Kendwa
Our sunny morning was very enjoyable and picturesque

The brewing storm
…then the clouds came in

Self-portrait under our rain shelter
…we took shelter from one of the storms under a straw umbrella

Mzungo getting braided
…where mzungos were getting braided

Dhow
Dhow ferrying snorklers around the bay

Spice Up Your Life

Posted on August 5, 2010 in Tanzania by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Armed with our newfound knowledge from yesterday’s spice tour, we spent the morning in Darajani Market acquiring some take-home scents of Zanzibar. The first few shops we walked by were staffed by aggressive hawkers that were all selling the same touristy-labeled packets of ground spices.

Further away from the market center, on a quiet street far removed from hawkers (and bloody cow parts), we stumbled across a shop with barrels of ground and whole spices available in bulk that reminded me a bit of Roopak in Karol Bagh. We were able to browse in peace, and then put together a small stash of coffee, vanilla, whole nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and ground chilies (which was nothing compared to the local who arrived just after us with a long shopping list of large quantities to fill).

Now all we need to do is think of the best uses for these spices when we get home…cardamom-vanilla bean ice cream anyone?

Kenny with potential purchases
So many spices…how to choose?

Spices
Bulk spices

Cinnamon
Cinnamon

Aniello’s (Diani, Kenya)

Posted on August 5, 2010 in Kenya by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Rating:

While in Diani, we ate our best non-Olive Branch meal at a cute little Italian place called Aniello’s, recommended by Hassan from Kenyaways. The place has a romantic atmosphere, and seems to be a popular hangout for visiting Italians. Unfortunately the mood lighting made photography with our point-and-shoot difficult. But we shared a good pizza, crab ravioli, and a scoop of tiramisu gelato. I don’t remember the name of the pizza we tried, but it was the best pizza we’ve had in East Africa and featured two types of cheese, basil, and tomato sauce. The crust was thin and flaky, with the right amount of crunchiness. The crab ravioli were extremely fresh, although one needed to be a bit careful of the stray bits of crab shell hidden inside a few of them (oops!)

It’s a great little spot, and I’d certainly recommend it over most other options in Diani – for one thing, the pizzas are much better than those at Forty Thieves.

Aniello’s apparently has two locations in Diani – the one we chose was further north, across from the Barclay’s bank and just past the Nakumatt. There is another one in the Diani Shopping Center, although Hassan told us that the one we chose has the better menu of the two, most notably for the inclusion of the pizzas.

Pizza
The pizza looked better in person than this photo attests

Crab ravioli
Fresh crab ravioli

Aniello’s
Diani, Kenya

The Olive Branch (Galu, Kenya)

Posted on August 5, 2010 in Kenya by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Rating:

The stretch of sand occupied by Kenyaways, where we spent most of our time over the past four days, is a bit isolated from the action of Diani, to the north. Even beach resorts and hotels are quite spread out on that part of the coast. As such, it is extremely convenient that Kenyaways has a fantastic and reasonably-priced restaurant, the Olive Branch. We consumed all of our lunches there, and we wished that we had opted to stay for dinner on two of the three occasions that we ventured up to Diani for mediocre food.

During our four day stay, we sampled many different dishes, including the ceviche and smoked sailfish salad, falafel burger, Thai fish cake, prawn and avocado salad, grilled prawns, butternut-lentil-coconut curry, big garden salad, and the hamburger (Kenny, not me). The ceviche, served with toast, was quite tasty, although its consistency was more like a tuna fish salad than most ceviches I have tried. The falafel burger was certainly a standout, a delicious chickpea patty on a homemade bun, served with a fresh salad. I also loved the butternut-lentil-coconut curry, which tasted like Thai-Indian fusion, and was served with rice and chapattis. The Thai fish cakes were two juicy fish patties, pan fried but not greasy, served with a large helping of salad. They were delicious, and could also have been great on a bun as a fish burger. The big garden salad was extremely fresh, and featured greens heaped with a big spoonful of feta-like cheese, tomatoes, avocado, capers, and several types of nuts. Yum.

The restaurant staff, Alex, Hassan, and David, were always helpful and amazingly friendly. Hassan told us that the Olive Branch was the best restaurant in the area, and we believed him. He also recommended Aniello’s in Diani, where we had a very nice Italian meal.

If you find yourself at Galu Beach, definitely stay at Kenyaways for the laid-back kite surfing vibe (even if you don’t kite surf!), excellent balcony views, and perfect beach. And while you’re there, you could do much worse (trust us, we did!) than eating all your meals at the Olive Branch.

Big garden salad
Big garden salad

Falafel burger
Falafel burger

Ceviche and sailfish salad
Tuna ceviche and sailfish salad

Prawn and avocado salad
Prawn and avocado salad

Thai fish cakes
Thai fish cakes

The Olive Branch, Kenyaways
Galu Beach, Kenya
+254 (0) 728 886 821

Galu Beach

Posted on August 3, 2010 in Kenya by kenny. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

We’ve had a very relaxing four days here on the Kenyan coast. The conditions that make Galu beach a world-renowned kite surfing destination (fairly constant north/south winds, water free of rocks or obstacles) also result in wide expanses of level, pillow-soft white sand.

It’s been great to catch up on reading, swimming, and sand castle building. We were also fortunate to stay at the lovely Kenyaways, a small beach-front guesthouse staffed by some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Not only did we have an amazing view of the sparkling blue water from our balcony, we also enjoyed consistently delicious food (review forthcoming), and excellent massages. The area is also home to large families of monkeys. We had two up-close encounters with monkeys on our balcony; one ran away when I stood up, the other was a thief that absconded with our closed jar of almonds!

Tomorrow morning we head to Zanzibar. While I’m excited to check out the famed spice island, I could also happily spend another week here…and maybe even learn how to kite surf. Here are a few photos, the full set is available on Flickr.

Galu beach
Site of our morning (and afternoon) walks

Camels on the beach
Camels on the beach

Lauren in the Indian Ocean
Lauren enjoying the Indian Ocean

Synchronized kite surfers

Big jump
Kite surfers in action

Sunrise
Sunrise over Galu beach

Enjoying the beach

The Cave (Diani, Kenya)

Posted on August 2, 2010 in Kenya by kenny. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Rating:

To celebrate Vid’s birthday last night, we had dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town – The Cave. The restaurant is set inside two chambers of a natural coral cave that is open to the sky. While mildly gimmicky, the setting is really interesting, and the tasteful lighting added to the romantic atmosphere.

We started off with some of the house red, which was a surprisingly good cabernet-shiraz. We tried to order a few things that we thought Vid would order if she were with us in person rather than just in spirit. For appetizers we had the soup of the day (cucumber-mint), and a goat cheese tart. The soup turned out to be hot, which was unexpected, but it was enjoyable with primary flavors of chicken broth and cucumber (I couldn’t detect the mint). The goat cheese tart tasted like a frozen quiche from Trader Joe’s. I like TJ’s, but at Seattle-level prices I was expecting (at least a smidge) better.

On to the main course, with higher prices and greater disappointments. Little Vid’s mushroom crepes tasted much better than their caterpillar-like presentation. They were very cheesy, with lots of mushrooms inside. While it reminded me of upscale diner food, it was still satisfying. Our “pan-seared catch of the day drizzled with homemade pesto” was a breaded and fried tasteless brick that was doused in green lines of goo. We couldn’t bring ourselves to finish it. Given the mediocre results for dinner, we passed on dessert, but fortunately we had already satisfied our sweet tooth with a pre-dinner scoop of mango-coconut ice cream at Kenyaways (as Vid would have done).

Overall, The Cave has nice atmosphere, and the bar area would be a lovely place to have a glass of wine. However you should plan on going elsewhere for dinner, as the food is forgettable and very expensive.

The Cave
The Cave’s main dining room

Lighting
Mood lighting

Little Vid and her appetizer
Little Vid was also surprised by the average-ness of her appetizer

Little Vid and her main course
Main course: mushroom crepes

Forgettable fish
Veering away from the vegetarian side was not well-rewarded, this fish was terrible

Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant (a.k.a. The Cave)
Diani, Kenya
+254 (0)40-320-2033

Wooden it be Nice

Posted on August 1, 2010 in Kenya by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The Mombasa area is famous for its popular beaches, and somewhat infamous for its “beach boy” phenomenon. Beach boys are young men who roam up and down the beach and sell anything from trinkets to snorkeling tours to safaris (and according to some sources, they can also offer much more). People are generally split between those who find their services quite useful, and those who find them an annoyance.

This afternoon Lauren and I decided to build a sandcastle, and two beach boys approached and asked if they could help out. We acquiesced, and they sat down, started digging, and introduced themselves as Felix (whose real name is Suleman, Sule for short), and Jay (whose real name is Juma, and also goes by “Doctor Bushman”).

We played with sandcastles for awhile (Jay made what looked like a crocodile), and we talked about politics. They wanted to know if Obama was making a difference. We told them that we’ve been mostly unplugged, but briefed them on health care reform; I told them how it takes a long time to turn a big ship around (they seemed to get the analogy). They told us a bit about local Kenyan politics. They are about to have a vote on a referendum to ratify their new constitution. The big vote is this Wednesday (which is also Obama’s 49th birthday). They mentioned that they are a little concerned about possible riots, given how the 2007 election played out, but that there is overwhelming support for the referendum in the Mombasa area, so hopefully things should be ok this time (at least near Gulu beach).

After about 30 minutes of chit-chat and sand castle building, they finally made their sales pitch. They sell personalized key chains made of ebony wood that they carve into the shape of an animal with your name on it. We normally dismiss these types of overtures, but the boys were very nice, we decided they’d make for nice little souvenirs in our shadow box, and we agreed on an ok price. A few hours later, we were the happy recipients of a rhino (for me) and a lion (for LL).

We also learned a few facts about the ebony wood; it comes from Tanzania (they don’t have any ebony trees in southern Kenya), and you want to use the pieces that are in between the bark layer and the inner core. This is the strongest section of the wood, and also allows for the tree to regenerate the harvested piece.

The beach boys
Me and the beach boys

Animalitos
Our ebony carving purchases

Sound for Hire

Posted on July 31, 2010 in Kenya by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Seen on the street in Mombasa, Kenya:

Sound for Hire

…sometimes all you need to make your crusade (or your spooky confrence) successful is some sound for hire.

Beach Birthday

Posted on July 30, 2010 in Uganda by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

To mark the midpoint of our sojourn in Africa, and to celebrate a few birthdays – mine, Vidya’s, and Barack Obama’s (the latter two celebrations to be attended in spirit by the honorees) – we are heading out early tomorrow morning on a ten-day beach vacation. We have booked four nights on Galu Beach, south of Mombasa, Kenya, and six nights in Zanzibar, to be split between Stone Town and Nungwi Beach, in the north. Perhaps in part because we have worked our tuchuses off over the last week to prepare for our time out of the office, we are both extremely excited for some beach relaxation time.