FINAL STAGE OF THE HOLIDAY

When we arrived in Zanzibar it was over 35C. It took us about an hour to travel from the airport to the Blue Bay Beach Resort. It was very noticeable along the route that the houses in this part of Tanzania were much better than those we had seen in Kenya and yet the little village shops and "hotels" were just as shabby and surrounded by rubbish. Most of the houses are built on the fringes of banana plantations and the roads were lined by enormous Mango trees.

They gave us an upgraded room at the hotel but unfortunately it was up a steep hill and we decided because Dave found it difficult to climb in the heat (well 2 heart attacks what do you expect) we should not unpack until we had negotiated a room closer to the main complex. Reception were very kind and we did get the room of our choice.

As you can see the pool was fantastic, they even had a Jacuzzi on one side. Diners were served around the pool at night and the staff had to erect windbreaks each evening as the breeze off the sea could be quite strong.

The accommodation was excellent but the general demeanour of the staff was lacking - charisma by-pass I called it. Not the same exhuberance shown by staff in Kenya. The General Manager made himself known to us and his name was Kostas - now our second home as
far as holidays go is Greece and Kostas came from Corfu which is just a spit away from our favorite Island of Paxos. It was nice to be able to mix a little Greek with our limited Swahili. We were also able to mix a little of our improving French on a visiting magician who came from Paris. Multi lingual thats us.

The beach was beautiful with no local souvenir traders to ruin its peace. Impossible to sit on the sand though as it was just too hot.

The one on the near right was our room, just look at that Bougainvillea, why can't I grow it like that?

We went on a couple of trips whilst in Zanzibar. We visited the spice growing area and tasted the various spices and fruits,. It was fascinating to see how they grow. I had no idea that vanilla pods grew on a vine or that cumin seed pods splay out from the root of a very attractive palm-type plant. Our guide cut a slice of fresh ginger for us and the taste was incredible. We were treated to a variety of teas made from, ginger, mixed spices, and lemon grass. The fresh pineapple and mangos were dripping off our chins mmmmmmmm!

Our second trip was to the Johazi Forest where the Red Colobus monkeys live. This is the only place in the world where you can find the Red Colobus. They were so tame we could virtually shake hands. The were living alongside Sykes Monkeys in a lush tropical paradise.

Down the track from the area where the monkeys lived we were escorted through a Mangrove Swamp, we have often seen pictures of these places but to be actually in such an area was quite an experience. The humidity was overpowering, we were both soaked to the skin after only five minutes walk.

Nice feeling though, a bit like the feeling you get at the end of a good hard workout in the gym - yes I can still remember what that was like.

Anyway thats all from Africa. We would still like to go back to Kenya but maybe the next holiday will be to Paxos because its some time since we have been back and our friends Terry and Kate live there now so we ought to look them up. That is the main problem with living here in France, it makes the journey times so much longer. It is easier for us to travel via London because for example if we want to fly from here to Corfu we have to go vie Paris, Amsterdam and Athens and the total journey time is in excess of 12 hours!

So the next post will be soon as we have our carnival in Bize at the week-end, weather permitting, it was delayed last year because of rain and it is possible we may see rain again this week.

Our son Chris and daughter in law Penny and granddaughter India have just bought an old village house (thanks to a little help from guess who) and they have been moving in this week-end so hopefully life will be getting back to normal for them soon. Daughter Tina will be on her way back from her job in the British Virgin Islands some time in April and none of us know what she will be doing next - watch this space.

Death in the afternoon

These are not nice photos but this was such an unusual occurrance.


The crocodile had killed the baby hippo so mother hippo took revenge.














This was a very unusual occurrance, one our guide had never seen before, especially as

hippos are herbivores

Next post - onwards to Zanzibar

Animals of the Serengeti (well a few)

I love safari. I have managed to experience quite a few, all up to now in Kenya. We have been to Tsavo, both East and West, Maasai Mara, Samburu, Amboseli and Mountain Lodge on the foothills of Mount Kenya. I have seen the Big Five on more than one occasion but sadly in Tanzania it was not to be. The problem in the Serengeti is the ban on off road driving. There is a perfectly good reason for this ban, they are trying to preserve the grasslands and stop erosion and destruction by four wheel drive vehicles. In the reserves of Kenya there are many many tracks which can be used in order to get close up to the animals, but in the Serengeti the tracks are few and far between. Our guide/driver was kind enough to sneak off road to enable me to get this photograph of a lovely Cheetah, but it is the only really good close-up I got.



It is rare to see a hippo out of water in the day time and this one reminded me of myself on the way to the pool! We did have a remarkable experience one day when the guide to me down to the river (on foot) where a hippo had killed a crocodile. Apparently the croc had attacked and killed the hippo baby and the mother hippo went crazy and killed the croc. She was lying beside the crocodile and took a bite out of it which is also unusual because hippos are vegetarians. It was quite a sad sight especially as we could also see the baby hippo floating alongside the crocodile. I will post the pics after this so you can bypass the photos if you are at all squemish.

A safari would not be a safari without lions and we did see several, but not up close enough for me, still this was a big pride with an enormous male who seemed to be camera shy

Another rareity, a one eared giraffe!

To me this picture just says AFRICA an Umbrella Acacia standing on its own in the vastness of a remarkable land.

Tanzania - The Serengeti

We flew our of Arusha and dropped of some passengers at a small air strip just inside the Serengeti.

We changed planes and David was lucky enough to be able to sit next to the pilot for the flight to our final destination, well inside the Serengeti. We could see Buffalo and Giraffe as we flew low over the plains. The man in the foreground with the big gun was there just in case of lion attack!

They tell you " if you see a lion, don't run"

This was our room at the Serena Serengeti. It was lovely and overlooked the savannah. The lodge was not fenced so the rules were that if you wished to leave/return to your room after dark you had to telephone for a guard. Apparently buffalo and leopard have been spotted in the grounds and hyena often raid the bins at night.

We were lucky enough to see a variety of birds within the confines of the lodge and in the early evening we could sit on our balcony and watch the dic dics at play just below us.

The lodge looked spectacular at night with big terracota bins glowing in the dark.

The pool was lovely, with bar service of course, its only downfall was the number of flies which made it impossible for anybody to have a snooze. As usual the service and accommodation at the Serena Serengeti was second to none. I can recommend their chilled Cucumber soup which was to die for.

The big disappointment for me was the fact that the well publicised animals of the Serengeti were obviously on holiday at the same time as us!

We took a holiday In January - Stage 1

We had intended and indeed booked a holiday in Kenya but politics put paid to that idea and so, at the last minute we changed our plans and flew to Tanzania for a three night safari and two weeks by the beach in Zanzibar.

We spend our first night in Arusha, and the Mountain Village lodge which is one of the Serena Lodges. We have been to Kenya six times now and we prefer to stay in Serena accommodation as the service is, in our opinion, second to none.

Dont just take my word for it, splash out and book a holiday yourself

http://www.somak.com/


Our room at Arusha Mountain Village was in typical African style and was airey and comfortable It had the most fabulous views over the gardens and lake beyond.

The plants and trees in the area were beautiful and varied and there were lots of colourful birds in the gardens which covered several acres.

We had an excellent eveninng meal at the Lodge and a very filling breakfast the following morning.

Our guide arrived at around 9am to take us back to the airport where we boarded our "little" plane which was to take us on to the Serengeti





This photograph shows the view from our room at Arusha .

Some photos of last years flora and fauna

This is a very exciting place to live if you are interested in wild flowers, insects and experimenting with plants in your garden. The garden here as I have mentioned looked just like a concrete jungle, with hard baked clay and rocks. I took good advice from those who have gardened here before and decided to concentrate on plants which I have seen growing in other peoples gardens. To date I have probably spent about £600 on plants and havent even scratched the surface! This was our Plumbago which was covered in flowers on the terrace last summer but which looks now as though it is probably "done for" with the frost. They do say that these plants can recover from the base so we will just have to wait and see. I have also got an evergreen honeysuckle, we had the same variety in England and it is also prolific in Greece, and a jasmine. I was warned not to even try Bougainvillea but I bought a baby from the local supermarket and it gave us a lovely show last year, it has spent the winter wrapped up in garden fleece and I discovered the other day that there is still life after the frosts (which are not over yet), so fingers crossed for this summer.

Whilst out walking with Eddie, our Jack Russell, I was lucky to find an Swallowtail Butterfly just drying out its wings and got a rather good photo. We also found an ENORMOUS Emperor moth on the garage wall one day which was also rather photogenic and later in the year we found the caterpillar of the same moth. What a whopper!

So to sum up the garden, I have planted several roses because they really seem to grow well here. I have one or two trees including olives, a bottle brush plant, clematis, palms, lavender and several oleander bushes which we hope will form a hedge and protect us from the wind when we are supping the vino on the terrace.

THE SURROUNDING COUNTRYSIDE

Bize Minervois is located in the heart of the Languedoc Roussillon, the most productive grape growing area of France. Bize is situated on the river Cesse with a very pleasant summer bathing pool formed by partially daming up the river. Bize is surrounded by vineyards and is also well known for its olives. Just down the road from Bize is the village Pouzols. It is here where we go to buy our wine from the Cave. Wine on tap at just over a Euro a litre, or wine in the bottle or a box. The Garden of Bacchus, near the Cave is home to 87 varieties of grape. Each year in the garden the children pick the grapes and the resulting wine is sold in aid of charity. The Cave has an interesting museum of items related to wine making and offers visits to vineyards in the summer.

We are equidistant from Narbonne (on the coast) and Carcassonne which is a fascinating medieval city. We have yet to visit Carcassonne so hopefully an account of this city will follow at a later date. The Canal de Robine runs through the centre of Narbonne and joins the Canal du Midi. The Canal du Midi runs for 235K from Toulouse to the sea and has over 100 locks. There is nothing nicer on a warm summers evening than a meal or a walk alongside the canal.