It hadn’t gone unnoticed that many of the [armed] bank guards that I walked past had taken an interest in me. I put this down to simply being a mzungo. Turns out there’s another altogether more funny and frightening reason. According to one petrified shopkeeper, the silver water bottle that I have been swinging on […]

Mzungu is Swahilli for “white person”. As Claire and I go about our daily lives, the locals often raise their hands to us an shout “mzungu!” as we pass. Without knowing whether it’s a warm welcome or a derogatory remark, we wave back and say “jambo!” (hello) in the faint hope that our pastey faces […]

Squiffy and I stumbled upon a goldmine of a bookshop today. Amongst the numerous African social, political and economic publications, I happened upon the “Zanzibar Popular Jokes” book. We’ve spent most of the afternoon in stitches, for all the wrong reasons, as we read the jokes back and forth to each other. I want to […]

It’s high time that we shared with you an insight into the accommodation of the budget travellor. Tonight, and most nights, we stay in a cheap hotel. For two people sharing, it costs about £12 ($24) including breakfast. It’s fair to say that the hotel is in an ugly high-rise block, recessed a little way […]

Claire and I often wonder what you (yes, YOU; our friends and family) are doing right now. Why not cheer us up by leaving a quick comment below letting us know how you are and what you’re up to? (It’ll only take a few seconds, I promise!)

It’s been three days since I became deaf in my left ear. The antibiotic ear drops that I’ve been squirting away with have done nothing to open-up my inflamed ear canal which developed shortly after scuba diving in Zanzibar. Squiffy is seriously bored of having to repeat herself all the time and I am still […]

Sooner than expected, we found a place to develop Squiffy’s underwater photos. As you’d expect, the quality on an underwater disposable camera trails somewhat behind a modern ‘abovewater’ digital one, but you get the picture…

It’s not easy living in paradise you know. The inevitable has happened and we’ve succumbed to travel bugs. Not THE travel bug, as in the desire to travel, which I got when I was 7 years old, but travel illnesses,which we managed to avoid for a whole week. My symptoms of complete fatigue and dizziness […]

After a week of diving and relaxing at Kendwa Beach, in the north of Zanzibar island, we’re heading back to Stonetown and then back to the mainland. We made quite a few friends here and wanted to say thanks and goodbye. So, if you’re reading, farewell to the Ross family (Gill, Colin, David), Emily and […]

Whilst Dave was doing his basic Open Water Diver, I decided after my previous 15-20 dives, it was about time I challenged myself and took the Advanced course. I wanted to gain the skills to feel more comfortable underwater, and besides, it was one of my goals for this trip. To qualify, I had to […]