Egypt and Zanzibar

Wednesday, June 30 – The morning began with a quick hour flight back to Cairo. After checking into our hotel, we had a few hours to relax before heading to Khan al-Khalili – the local souq. My Lonely Planet described it as the following: “Cairo's frenetic, vivacious bazaar is a sprawling mass or narrow, canvas-covered alleys lined by markets and crammed-to-the-ceiling shops.” We did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the hotel to call it a night.

Thursday, July 1 – Today was a do nothing day. We had an 11:30 pm flight out of Cairo so we had the whole day to kill. We wasted the morning by staying in bed and watching movies. We were running short on Egyptian pounds so in the afternoon we just lounged around the hotel lobby and had lunch at KFC. Finally around 8:00 pm we headed to the airport to catch our overnight flight to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.

Friday, July 2 – We arrived in Dar Es Salaam around 5:15 am. After clearing customs and hanging around the airport for a few hours we caught our puddle jumper to Zanzibar – about a 20 minute flight away. As soon as we landed we hopped in a cab to head to Zanzibar's legendary beaches. It was about an hour drive to Nungwi – a small village on the northern tip. When we arrived where we were staying it was sadly very cloudy and had even started to rain a bit; however, that could not take about from the absolutely beautiful scenery that was all around us – it was the stuff postcards are made of. After doing a little finagling, we managed to get an ocean view room with our own private balcony. We went for a walk along the white, fine powered beach and had some lunch. By the time we arrived back at our beach bungalow, the clouds had cleared and the sun was out. We caught a few late day rays and relished the remainder of the day. Keith and I enjoyed some wine while watching the sunset from our balcony and then had a delicious dinner. We were both exhausted, as neither of us had been able to sleep on the plane (we were going on roughly 40 hours without sleep), and we both quickly feel asleep while listening to the crashing waves. We were in a little slice of paradise.

Saturday, July 3 – Today was a wonderfully relaxing and lazy day. After sleeping in and having some breakfast Keith and I lounged by the pool and then by the ocean. In the afternoon we went for a long walk along the beach, stopping for lunch along the way. Late in the afternoon Keith napped while a I read on our balcony. We once again enjoyed a bottle of wine while watching the sunset and had a delicious dinner.