Day 13 - 16
As we enter our third week, we’re still coming down from the high of an amazing weekend in Zanzibar! The flight, via propeller plane, took around 15 minutes from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar, which was actually smoother than you’d imagine!
We booked to stay for 3 nights at Poa Poa Bungalows, a small and friendly resort on the east coast, right on the beachfront. From the moment we arrived it was pure bliss, white sands, clear blue sea, beautiful pool and everything and more we imagined it to be! Anna, the hotel manager was fabulous and couldn’t do enough for us. The bar and restaurant was also incredible, lots of fresh seafood, salads, curries and the cocktails were definitely of the very strong variety!
Most of our weekend was R&R, however on Sunday we went on a dolphin boat trip which didn’t turn out as we imagined a boat trip from a paradise island to be! It was raining, windy, had vibes of the North Sea and far too many boats were doing the same trip. In the end we asked to leave that particular area and we were then taken snorkelling around Mnemba Island, which is apparently owned by Bill Gates. In typical sod’s law fashion, the heavens opened again and then Laura was stung on her leg by a jellyfish. It was clearly one of those days, so needless to say we cut the trip short and went back to our slice of paradise at Poa Poa Bungalows (not before Laura urinated in a bottle and poured it on her leg to help then jellyfish sting… and don’t worry, there’s photo evidence!).
Also another not so ‘insta perfect’ part of the trip was being woken up every morning at 4:30am. This was not due to the sound of waves crashing on the shore but The Adhan (the call to prayer). And all we were praying for is a full nights sleep, having been in the bunks for what feels like eternity!
However, all in all we had a wonderful escape this weekend and we’re lucky enough to be heading back to Zanzibar this weekend, on the back of some not so great news…
Unfortunately our Village Healthcare Experience has been cancelled. This is due to bureaucratic issues out of Work the World’s hands, so we’re unable to travel to Melela rural village next week (our fourth week) to work in the clinic and live with a host family. Work the World have been really supportive and we have made other arrangements for our final week, including another few days in Zanzibar then we’ll travel back to Dar Es Salaam for our final few days. We’re both devastated that we won’t be able to go the village, as it would of been a great experience and opportunity to understand further the way of life in rural Tanzania.
Anyway, we’ve done our first couple of shifts this week in the hospital and we’ll be there all week getting involved as much as possible before we leave on Saturday. The time here has flown by and there’s so much to reflect on when we return and probably for months afterwards.
We hope you enjoy the photos from Zanzibar and we’ll post an update at the end of the week from our third week hospital placement.
Asante sana for reading.
Jennie & Laura x
Note to Nina: We’r still trying to perfect our silly salmon… don’t worry you’ll definitely get the outtakes!
Comments