After breakfast, we transfer to Arusha airport for a 11:00am flight to Zanzibar.
We transfer to Amaan Bungalows to a gorgeous sea view room for the next 5 nights.
To quote their website:
"As we are on the north western point – we are able to view beautiful sunsets. As we are in Nungwi, the northern most part – we have wild tropical surroundings and pristine white beaches, and as we are on Zanzibar, we are surrounding by the unforgettable turquoise water of the Indian Ocean. A postcard picture for sure."
Um.. need I say more?
THAT'S WHAT THE BROCHURE SAID AND THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Hee hee - how naive! Friday the 13th - IS Friday The Thirteenth.
I woke up feeling a little 'weird'. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but opted out of breakfast.
We had most of the day to relax - our flight was at 3:30, so our driver was to collect us at 1:30.
They (2 drivers) turned up at 10:30 (a little too early!) and kept asking to check my ticket, not entirely believing me that my flight was later in the afternoon (odd - because they were the ones who changed my flight from the 11:00am one to the later one - yup, good old Leopard Tours again...)
We wondered around the hotel, spent some time in the Internet cafe ($5 for one hour) and then had some coffee. Er for the coffee lovers.... this was great, they brought us a flask of hot water, 2 cups and a little plate with packet sugar, packet milk and oh yes.. packet instant coffee.... hmm not bad for a fancy hotel, hey? :(
Anyway we eventually headed out to the Arusha airport. By this point I was feeling decidedly worse - I didn't know what was wrong with me... I was just feeling WeIrD.
Then, about an hour before we took off I headed to the bathroom. This was first of many, many trips over the next 24 hours. I had picked up a stomach bug of some or other description.
Lucky me - I'm squirting out both ends and just about to take a 1 hour flight to Zanzibar... not good!
Oh, and just before we left, we were told by a Leopard Tours rep that our baggage wouldn't make it on the flight. We were to take out all essentials and take them as hand luggage. They said that when we get to Zanzibar we'd have to fill in a form which would have the airport deliver the luggage the following day.
Irk! To say the least - but there we are (for a second time in a week) unpacking our luggage and trying to fit the essentials into the limited hand-luggage.
So off we go...
I managed to sleep (or at least trick my body into thinking that I was sleeping) for the duration of the flight.
On arrival at Zanzibar (and it was very humid again!) I tried to find the 'guy' that I am supposed to fill the forms out with. He suggests we check to see whether or not the luggage actually made it. So back to the luggage retrieval area we go (there are no conveyor belts... only people throwing luggage around). And after 10 or 20 minutes - there was our luggage... all of it!
So why we were told it wasn't going to be on the plane is beyond me.
We make our way outside where we are supposed to meet another Leopard Tours rep (who was supposed to have our Ferry tickets for the following week) but he didn't bother turning up.
We were also supposed to meet the driver for Amaan Bungalows - who thankfully did turn up. We had a trolley with our luggage and as we were following the driver back to the car about 5 other locals followed us, all with a finger touching our luggage (which was still on the trolley!) all shouting out 'porter' 'porter'! They actually (all 5 of them) wanted a tip for following us and ensuring that our luggage didn't magically fall off the trolley. And then they had the audacity to get pissed when we didn't tip them!
Anyway we eventually made it to the sanctuary of the car which had the aircon on full blast, thankfully. I was feeling worse and worse as the day went by...
It took us a further hour and a half to get to Nungwi Village. Along the way we were stopped at no less than 5 military / police points. Some of them wanted to see the driver's permit, some were bribed, another demanded a lift in our taxi to the next military stop. All very odd...
On arrival at Amaan Bungalows, I was vaguely aware of my beautiful surroundings but I was just so ill that I went straight to bed.
I spent the next 18 hours between the bed and the bathroom... not pleasant At All.
Oh and just as a treat, they turned the water pump off so I ran out of water in the middle of the night... nothing to drink, no flushing, no cleaning... it was and I was really gross.
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