On our second day in Zanzibar,we took a dhow (a type of small fishing boat) to an island called Kwale.

On our way, we stopped at a sandbar that was unconnected from the mainland. When we first got there, it was low tide and we could walk out a ways on the sand and coral. Also when we got there, there was no one else there (photo on left). By the time we left, it was high tide, the island was shrinking and it was covered with people (photo on right). We also saw this starfish (Protoreaster lincki) and crab holes, and we enjoyed playing in the sand.

After playing at the sandbar, we went to a lagoon for some awesome swimming and snorkeling. While I was snorkeling, I saw an awesome brittlestar (Ophiactis modesta). We also saw a cool cream-colored fish.

On Kwale Island, there is a GIANT baobab tree! We got to climb it. It had fallen over but part of it was still alive and growing upward.

There were also GIANT land crabs! I thought that they were only found in pet stores! He’s not super happy so he’s coming out of his shell. It’s great for pictures!

On the way back, we got to sail in the dhow and the sun was so pretty on the sail. We also saw dolphins at the end of our trip!! They were so cool! It was a great way to end a great day.

by Sylvia

(Rachel’s note: Sylvia was going to post photos from our trip to Zanzibar last week, but she got pretty sick and was not able to sit up/do a blog post until today!)

One week ago, we took a trip to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an archipelago that is part of the United Republic of Tanzania. We took a 90 minute ferry from mainland TZ to Zanzibar. We spent the night on the biggest island, called Unguja but took several different trips to other islands in the archipelago. About 99% of the population in Zanzibar is Muslim.

One of Zanzibar’s many attractions is Stone Town. There are lots of old buildings all made out of coral. In this picture, you can see one of them that is starting to fall apart.

Most of the doors in Stone Town were old wooden ones like this. They were very ornately carved and had spikes on them to keep the elephants away! No need to worry now, though, there are no elephants left on the island.

We went to a fish market where fishermen were selling fish that they had caught. Some of the fishermen would go out at about 6 pm and would stay out all night. Some of them would go out early in the morning, and come back at around midmorning. The fish was sold wholesale by auction (photo on left) and also directly to individuals (photo on right). I liked the fish on the right because they were so flat!

Later, we took a boat to Prison Island named for the prison built on it. However, this prison was never used and was instead used as a quarantine for people with yellow fever coming to visit Zanzibar. First, we stopped and saw giant tortoises. There were about 100 of them just roaming around in this enclosed area which took up about half of the island. They had to be in an enclosure so that no one would steal them, kill them, and take their shells. After that, we went snorkeling. It was really fun! I saw giant sea urchins with spikes about 6 inches long! But then we ran into jellyfish and Lily and I got back on the boat. 😦

Five days ago, we ventured out in search of Coco Beach, a public beach north of downtown Dar, and only about 7.5 miles from our house. We hopped on a daladala (public transport) and about 10 minutes into the trip we were stuck in traffic for nearly 30 minutes. But we successfully navigated a transfer to a different daladala, communicated where we wanted to get off and walked the rest of the way. The whole trip took us about an hour. But after all that, we were rewarded with a delightful day at the beach. (And we took a taxi home – it just seemed easier after a long day).

Checking the City Maps to Go app to make sure we were going the right way.

Walking through a wealthy neighborhood (complete with razor wire around the walls) in search of the beach.

Ah, here it is!

The girls loved playing in the waves with Jon (and with life jackets!). And yes, we did stand out.

Lunch with a beautiful view. Jon and I had fish, the girls had hamburgers. No surprises there.

After lunch, we rented a paddle boat and the girls were taxied around by Jon. The girls loved the water and I loved hanging out on the beach listening to the waves and feeling the breeze.  🙂

by Sylvia

On Saturday we took a trip to White Sands Beach.  It is about 30 minutes from our place on the University Campus.  Here are a few pictures from our day at the beach.

This is me at the beach.

It was low tide when we arrived.  It was disgusting walking on all of the trash that had washed up on the beach.

This is the ocean with Dar es Salaam in the background.

There was a cool swimming platform.  At low tide it was sitting on the sand but at high tide it was floating and we had fun playing on it.

There was an awesome swimming pool.  All of the buildings had cool thatched roofs.

By the time we left it was very windy and all of the trees were swaying in the breeze.  Lily was worried that a coconut would fall on her head.

We left Decorah, IA one week ago today! We are STILL adjusting to the time zone change – last night we were all asleep by 1 am, which is a big improvement from the 2 and 3 am bedtimes a couple days ago. The transition has been a little bumpy and I think sleep deprivation has had something to do with it. But today, our 6th day here, we are finally starting to feel a little more settled.

We’ve gone food shopping twice: once at a grocery store very much like ones in the States (similar to a WalMart because there was also furniture, books, housewares and large appliances – in fact, we even saw packages with the Great Value label!).

We also went to the local stands – a road lined with fruit, meat and street-food stands. Oh, and stalls that offer clothes, hair braiding, household goods, phone cards – you name it, you could find it at Survey and Mwenge Markets.

Thankfully, Paulina, a contact at the University, came with us the first time to help us understand how to buy things! She also did a bit of bargaining for us. 🙂

Some of our purchases: watermelon, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, garlic, red onion and avocado!

We have cooked at home but have also gone out to eat a couple times. Here we are at UDASA, a restaurant on campus. The girls shared chicken and fries (chipsi na kuku) and Jon and I shared ugali (cornmeal mush) with chicken and sauce – it was delicious. It was dark by the time we got our food, otherwise I would have taken a picture of it! It gets dark here so early – both times we ate out, we were eating in the dark at 7 pm.

Jon taught the girls how to play chess and there have been many games so far!

We left Decorah on July 30th, 2016 for a 5 month adventure in Tanzania. Jon is coordinating a study abroad program with 10 students from 9 different colleges around the midwest. We arrived after hours and hours of travel: mini-van to Madison, bus to Chicago Airport, 2 planes to Tanzania and a truck to the University of Dar es Salaam, where we will be living.

We were happy to be greeted at the airport by a driver who took us to our home which had beds with clean sheets and food in the fridge – both a welcome sight!

P.S. After a long break, I am trying to relearn how to do this! If you click on each photo, you will find a caption.

At the Chicago airport with all our belongings for 5 months!

Our new house: 24 Killimahewa Road. It is a large house on the University campus.

We took an exploratory walk on our second day. We went at noon which was not the best idea. I think we’ll take future walks first thing in the morning when it isn’t quite so hot!

We have a large backyard complete with mongooses running around!