Capturing the Moment

Walking the markets of Zanzibar Welcome to the Spice Island   While walking through the open air bazaars and ancient Persian architecture of Zanzibar's Stone Town we couldn't feel farther away from the dancing Maasai and hunting lions of East Africa. It is like walking through a different continent. Monument to the slaves  Known as possibly the most famous of the Spice Islands, Zanzibar's main hub is Stone Town. For years it was the haunt of the ruling Omani class. In 1840 the Sultan of Oman moved his seat from Muscat, Oman to Stone Town. This is when much of the stone work was begun.  In the late 1800's it was also the site of one of the most prolific slave markets in the Indian Ocean. A lot of Americans think that the slave trade was limited to the Atlantic Ocean, so the group was surprised to hear about a second major trade from the East coast of Africa sending slaves up to the Middle East. However, once the British outlawed slavery the fortunes o...

Heading to the boat After our first day of diving in the warm, beautiful waters around Mnemba Island the group woke up ready for more today. We decided to head out as a united front today, scuba diving in one large group so everyone could share in the experience. Emperor Anglefish Fire dartfish ( Nemateleotris magnifica )   I wasn't able to bring my big camera setup this trip due to the weight limitations of all the small safari planes, but I did bring Heidi's compact camera, a Canon PowerShot S110 in an underwater housing to record some of the underwater action out here off the coast. All of these pictures were taken with that, and you can see the underwater video capabilities in the previous post . Clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean Fi in her element   We saw many of the same fish and nudibranchs from yesterdays dives, although the schools were even bigger and denser today. A couple of beautiful angelfish showed up as well as a sleeping green sea ...

  Often when I tell people about the beautiful tropical coral reef off the coast of Kenya and Tanzania to people back in the States I get a lot of blank stares. I feel like it is one of East Africa's great secrets. People know about the incredible savannas filled with antelope, and big adventures like climbing Kilimanjaro, but scuba diving off the coast around the ancient Spice Islands can be right up there.   Here is a quick five minute video I put together to give you a feel of that beautiful underwater world that won't remain a secret forever.

  After a wonderful night listening to the sound of waves outside our open air bandas everyone awoke excited for our first full day on Mnemba island. A stay here comes with two scuba dives daily included in the price. They also offer different PADI level scuba classes which some of the group was going to do. So after devouring a delicious breakfast which magically showed up on my front deck, I went off to the boat house to meet up with the group. Pipefish   Jack, Fiona and myself were all headed out for a fun dive in the morning and another right after. Mary, John, and Maggie were all going to do a refresher dive and then dive with us for the second dive. And Moira was going to do a discover scuba course since she is not certified...yet.   For most of the group this was their first time taking a dip in the Indian Ocean. We went to Little Wall and Cabbage Reef and had a couple of wonderful dives. The critter hunting was nonstop as we came across cool finds like p...

From Ngorongoro Crater to Mnemba Island, Zanzibar Archipelago Our 12 seater plane View from Seat 1   After sleeping in and getting a wonderful breakfast at the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, the group set out on a long, but exciting travel day. We were headed towards the coast of Tanzania where a series of beautiful islands dot the clear turquoise waters like something out of a postcard. We were headed to the only private island among the Zanzibar archipelago, called Mnemba. But to get there we will need an hour and half transfer by road, then a short jumper flight to Arusha, then a longer flight to Zanzibar, followed by another hour and a half road transfer, and finally a ten minute boat ride. But I knew as soon as the group saw what was waiting on the other side they would think it was all worth it.   All of our flights were on small 12 seater Coastal Aviation planes. Flying out from Lake Manyara airport took us right off the edge of the plateau. It was a beautiful...