Ruaha and Zanzibar - September / October 2014

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 07, 2014. Blue Oyster Hotel, Jambiani, Zanzibar.

Jambiani looked to me like one of the most authentic beaches on the island during the planning stage of this trip and the reality proved that I've done well my homework. Blue Oyster Hotel proved its reputation as the best accommodation in Jambiani - an establishment perfectly managed by the owners (a German family) with the best possible seafood restaurant in the region. Special care for preserving the authentic look of the premises has been taken, can not think of anything that we could have had better during our stay at this place.

Here in Jambiani we gave up our alcohol diet (on safari we usually would not drink any alcohol, because we wanted to be able to get up at 05:00 in the morning and go on a game drive with a fresh mind) and tried the various brands of local beer (I am sure that most participants in this forum are quite familiar with those brands):

 

 

 

We had a great room on the ground floor - no glass on the windows and no air-condition. Huge bed with mosquito net, felt like in paradise:

 

 

 

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing on the beach, eating various local seafood specialties and sipping Tusker and Kilimanjaro beer. Once in a while I would take a photo of local folks walking on the beach in front of the hotel:

 

 

 

Oct. 08, 2014. Jambiani Beach, Zanzibar.

This morning I woke up early and went out to photograph our first sunrise in Jambiani:

 

 

 

Although there were other restaurants and hotels around, Jambiani didn't feel as developed as the Northern beaches of Nungwi and Kendwa:

 

 

 

Mrs. FlyTraveler on the beach in Jambiani with Blue Oyster hotel in the background:

 

 

 

Kids playing on the beach:

 

 

 

 

 

For more photos from this morning in Jambiani, you can visit my blog for Travel Photography here

 

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 08, 2014 - traditional dhow sail boat snorkeling tour

 

After breakfast we decided to hire captain Zappy's dhow boat for a snorkeling trip to the nearby coral reef. Since it was a low tide, we had to wade in the shallow water for about 15 minutes until we reached the boat. Unfortunately for captain Zappy we were the only passengers on this trip, but we enjoyed very much the fact that we were alone on the boat with the captain and his two-men crew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tourists have taught the elderly Captain Zappy (grandfather of many children) to pose like a clown:

 

 

This member of the crew (1 out of 3, including the captain-owner of the boat) had a hat from Jamaica and a T-shirt from the island of Cozumel, Mexico, obviously gifts from tourists:

 

 

 

The snorkeling although not the best on the island or the best we have seen in our lives was actually better than we expected, there was a relatively well preserved coral reef, the usual types of tropical fish and lots of sea stars. The major advantage was that unlike our previous experiences in the Caribbean, Red Sea and Andaman Sea, there weren't any other snorkelers around.

No underwater photos, since I did not take my underwater casing on this trip.

After an hour and a half, we decided that we had enough of underwater experiences, went back to the boat and the gentle breeze took us back to the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jambiani Beach panorama as seen from the boat:

 

For more photos from this morning in Jambiani, you can visit my blog for Travel Photography here

 

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 08, 2014. Jambiani Beach, Zanzibar.

 

After we returned from the short dhow boat trip to the nearby coral reef, we had lunch at the hotel and spent time watching and photographing the activities of the locals - collecting seaweed for the women and loading/unloading/fixing the fishing boats for the men:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the adults were going after their business, the kids were playing on the beach and in the water:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more photos from this day in Jambiani, you can visit my blog for Travel Photography here

 

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 08, 2014. The local village of Jambiani, Zanzibar.

In the afternoon we visited the local village of Jambiani, which was located very close to our hotel. The most houses in the local villages in Zanzibar have stone walls unlike the villages around Iringa and Ruaha National Park where the walls were made of wooden sticks and clay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front door with a goat:

 

 

 

The local public transport (Dala-dala truck):

 

 

The beach in front of the village:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more photos from the village of Jambiani, you can visit my blog for Travel Photography here

 

 

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 08, 2014. Jambiani, Zanzibar.

 

 

In the evening we had a fabulous seafood dinner at the terrace of the Blue Oyster Hotel restaurant, here is the view from there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more photos from this day in Jambiani, you can visit my blog for Travel Photography here

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 09, 2014. Jambiani, Zanzibar.

This was our last day in Jambiani and the owner of the hotel was kind enough to let us use the room until our scheduled transfer to the airport in the very late afternoon. I got up early again and was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over the Indian Ocean:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early morning view from the hotel:

 

 

 

The same two guys who took us on the snorkeling trip the day before were cleaning the hull of the dhow boat with fire:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women collecting seaweed:

 

 

 

 

For more photos from this day in Jambiani, you can visit my blog for Travel Photography here

 

 

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 09, 2014. Jambiani, Zanzibar.

Second post with photos from our last day in Jambiani.

 

"Nobody likes traitors" reads the sign on the sail in German:

 

 

 

 

Around 18:00 h. we had to grab our baggage and hop on the car for our transfer to the airport. I had booked the last possible flight to Dar es Salaam, so we could stay on the beach the entire day.

On the way to the airport we passed next to Jozani Forest Reserve and stopped for a while to take a photo of a Red colobus monkey (Procolobus kirkii). I was glad that we saw it, since we didn't have the time for a special visit to the reserve.

 

I kept taking photos of local people from the moving car on the way to the airport.

A running Muslim girl:

 

 

Local people:

 

A barber shop:

 

We flew to Dar on this Precision Air ATR turboprop. A very short 15 minutes hop, too dark to take any photos.

 

For more photos from this day in Jambiani, you can visit my blog for Travel Photography here

 

Edited October 20, 2015 by FlyTraveler

[FlyTraveler]

An error, doubling the previous post.

Edited October 20, 2015 by FlyTraveler

[xelas]

@@FlyTraveler

 

Your local life photos are as great as your wildlife photos, and for me personally, even more interesting. Beaches with such water colours and such local life on it, they definitively drew my attention. Blue Oyster Hotel bookmarked.

[Gregor]

Once again, Fantastic trip report, and fantastic aerial photos.

[FlyTraveler]

@@FlyTraveler

 

Your local life photos are as great as your wildlife photos, and for me personally, even more interesting. Beaches with such water colours and such local life on it, they definitively drew my attention. Blue Oyster Hotel bookmarked.

 

Hi @@xelas,

 

Thanks for your attention. My mid-range zoom lens is a lot better than my telephoto (kind of) lens, so usually my non-wildlife photos are better Wildlife photos are also more difficult to take

 

Regarding Zanzibar - it is very important to choose the right place for that kind of local atmosphere and activities around you. The northern beaches (Ningwi, Kendwa) are pretty much like any other tropical resort anywhere in the world and full with tourists. The East Coast beaches are more local and Jambiani has the seaweed "farms", so lots of local population activities there. Blue Oyster Hotel is truly remarkable and I would not hesitate to recommend it to any of my friends.

[FlyTraveler]

Once again, Fantastic trip report, and fantastic aerial photos.

 

Thanks for the good words @@Gregor. I took quite a few aerial photos of Sahara desert over Sudan and Egypt during the commercial flight from Dar es Saalam to Istanbul on the way back and will post some of them when I have time. I photographed even two Egyptian pyramids close to Cairo.

[TonyQ]

@@FlyTraveler

I agree - the photos on Zanzibar are really enjoyable - very colourful!

[ZaminOz]

@@FlyTraveler

Fantastic photos!
A lot of people do a great job of photographing wildlife in Africa. You have beautifully reminded us that there is a lot more life in Africa to photograph than wild-life. Thank you.

[Marks]

An amazing sunrise, incredibly vibrant water, and even more vibrant scenes of daily life. Sorry for all the likes at once!

[Atravelynn]

On the way to the airport we passed next to Jozani Forest Reserve and stopped for a while to take a photo of a Red colobus monkey (Procolobus kirkii). I was glad that we saw it, since we didn't have the time for a special visit to the reserve.

I'm glad you saw it too. Such brilliant blue water. And that moon!

Edited October 25, 2015 by Atravelynn

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 09, 2014. Aerial Photos of Sahara Desert.

 

The Turkish Airlines flight from Dar es Salaam to Istanbul was at a very inconvenient time - something like 03:50 in the morning. I had a reservation at a motel close to the airport, so we can take a shower and rest two-three hours. When we landed in Dar after our short flight from Zanzibar, we decided to hang out at the airport, instead of going to the motel just for a few hours. That was a mistake since the motel charged my card anyway, I had forgotten the reservation no show policy.

We flew again on the brand new Boeing 737-900 ER, my second flight with this model after our flight from Istanbul to Dar es Salaam.

The lights of Dar after take off:

 

 

 

Flying to the moon - photo taken over the Sahara desert in Sudan on a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-900 ER flight en route from Dar es Salaam to Istanbul.

 

 

 

The Sahara Desert at dawn over Northern Sudan:

 

 

 

Glory (optical phenomenon) at dawn over Northern Sudan:

 

 

 

The confluence of the White Nile, coming from Lake Victoria (the one with the bridge at the bottom of the photo) and the Blue Nile, coming from Ethiopia (seen just at the right-top corner of the photo) at Umm Durman, Khartoum, Sudan:

 

 

 

I really like taking photos of deserts, both aerials and on the ground and after Rub' al Khali (UAE and Saudi Arabia, it is also part of Yemen and Oman), Namib (Namibia) and Wadi Rum (Jordan), Sahara was the third major desert in front of my lens. While Sahara is the largest desert in the world, Rub' al Khali is the largest sand desert (Sahara is not sand only).

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Nubia (the Sudanese part of Lake Nasser) near Wadi Halfa Salient, Northern Sudan:

 

 

Lake Nubia (or Lake Nasser) close to Abu Simbel, Aswan Governorate, Southern Egypt:

 

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 09, 2014. Aerial Photos of Sahara Desert.

 

 

Aerial view of the Sahara desert near Dunqul, New Valley Governorate, Southern Egypt:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nile River Valley at Bani Shiqayr, Egypt. Roughly on the right side of the river is the Red Sea Governorate and on the left is the Assiut Governorate:

 

 

 

 

 

Approaching Cairo:

 

 

 

 

Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid located just south of Cairo (not the Great Pyramids of Giza):

 

 

 

 

 

[FlyTraveler]

Oct. 09, 2014. Aerial Photos of Cairo, Egypt.

 

 

Aerial view of the Nile and Cairo, Egypt:

 

 

 

 

 

Cairo International Convention Center and Cairo International Stadium are visible on the next two photos:

 

 

 

 

 

Aerial view of Burullus Lake, Al Burj, The International Coastal Road and the Mediterranean coast of Egypt:

 

 

 

 

 

Here we left Africa to cross the Mediterranean and this is the end of this epic report of mine:

 

 

The End

[Marks]

What a ride it's been. The last few posts are very cool; the earth takes on a completely different character from that vantage point.

[ZaminOz]

Excellent!

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful Zanzibar photos, love the colours and the Portraits. It is such a beautiful place - thanks for showcasing it!. Glad you found the Colobus. Hard to believe this report is really at its end now - epic indeed.

[TonyQ]

@@FlyTraveler

Thank you for this epic! Very enjoyable writing, great sightings, excellent wildlife photographs - and of the landscapes and Zanzibar.

Finishes nicely with fascinating views from the air - who would think you could see pyramids?

[AfricIan]

Echoing others posts @@FlyTraveler , many thanks for taking us on the journey with you. As well as the wildlife, you've captured so much of the other aspects that so many of us see but never "put on film" (If you can still use that terminology these days). It may well be an epic but it's been a highly enjoyable one.

[FlyTraveler]

Thank you all for your kind attention and good words! Looking forward to seeing your future trip reports!