Zanzibar

January 7^th, 2025

We didn’t have to get up so early this morning, and we were able to have a leisurely breakfast looking at the scenery from Lion’s Paw before putting our bags in the Land Cruiser and heading for Lake Manyara airfield.

We drove along the crater rim and we stopped at a view point where there is a spectacular view over the crater.

After that stop we left the rim and started our descent to the Lake Manyara airfield. It was about a 2 hour drive from the lodge to the airfield, and we were on paved roads once we left the park.

We said goodbye to Steven and the Land Cruiser

and went into the terminal to wait for our plane.

Several planes came and went, but none were ours.

Finally our little plane arrived and off we set for Arusha.

The plane was full, and seemed to take a rather long time to get off the ground, but eventually we were airborne. It was a good thing too because as soon as we left the ground, the ground fell away beneath us. We had not realized that the airfield was at the end of a plateau.

We had a good view of Lake Manyara as we flew over.

There has been massive flooding and the lake is now much larger than it was, and the lakeshore forests are now underwater, as are several houses.

When we arrived at Arusha our plane was parked quite a distance from the terminal, so we had  another dirt road to contend with. This time on foot.

The Arusha airport is very modern and well organized, quite a change from the dilapidated terminal in Zanzibar.

There are also several good quality souvenir shops there so I took the opportunity to do some shopping of course.

Our flight to Arusha had been on Air Excell, and our flight to Zanzibar had originally been on the same airline. Only that flight was cancelled but luckily, they had transferred us to an Auric Air flight, so all was good, except of course the flight was delayed.

I must say I was quite relieved when the plane touched down in Zanzibar, although later than expected.

Our taxi driver had waited for us and I had previously given the taxi company instructions about where to drop us off so we could take the tender back to the ship.

The original plan had been for the Sojourn to dock overnight for the first night in Zanzibar, and then leave the dock as a cargo ship was expected to be there, and it would be at anchor for the next 2 nights, and the passengers would come ashore in the tenders, and disembark at the tender pier.

Well, unknown to us, the ship actually never left the port, and was waiting for us on the dock at the cargo port. Meanwhile our driver was having a problem finding the tender drop off pier and it was seeming like we would never see the ship again.

Then I remembered that on our cruise cards there was the number for guest services on the ship. This is really handy for these exact situations. I called the ship, but the directions I was given to the pier were very confusing. It seemed like we were being directed to the main gate at the port, rather than the tender pier. Our driver was also on the phone trying to work out what to do with us.

Suddenly I looked up, and there was our beautiful ship right in front of us. It was exactly where it had been when we left it. We had arrived! We were at the port gate. We thanked our driver and were directed to a minivan that took us the short distance to the gangway. In no time at all we were being welcomed back on board. Back to our home away from home as Captain Hamish keeps on saying.

I was already missing the animals in the crater, and the thrill of being on safari, but here we were back safe and sound on our beautiful ship.

We didn’t get to see much of Zanzibar this time, but we did have a wonderful time on our mini safari, and I got to see elephants so I am so happy.

We watched us sail away from our balcony. Good bye Zanzibar until next time.