Saturday, December 15, 2012

The One With The Dolphins And The Monkeys (12/15/2012)


Yesterday morning began for me at 5:45 which seems to be the norm these days.  I got ready for the day and headed out with 3 other volunteers who were here early for the conference.  We walked a ways to a tour company office where we got into a cab and headed over to the other side of the island.  From there we got onto a boat and took to the sea.  After driving around for a little while we finally spotted what we came to see, a school of dolphins! We raced over to them (as fast as our 5 horse power engine would take us).  As we got close we put on our goggles and flippers and then jumped in! That’s right, I got to actually swim with the dolphins! It was amazing! We were about am arm’s length away from some of them!  After a few hours of searching for dolphins, getting in and out of the boat every 10 minutes or so and swimming around we were taken over to another part of the island where we got to snorkel.  I felt like I was in an aquarium! There were so many fish swimming around and the coral was stunning!

Finally we got out of the water and into the cab again and headed over to Jozani National Forest where we took a tour of the jungle and got to see the Zanzibar Red Colobus Monkeys!  They are totally wild but really comfortable around people so we were able to get super close to them which, for those of you who know about my love for monkeys, was a dream come true. 

Finally we left the forest and headed home.  After some walking through the beautiful streets of Stone Town for a while a bunch of volunteers and I met up at a local fish market.  Fishermen all come to sell the fish that they caught that day.  They cook it all right there for you and there are great homemade breads too.  I tried the king fish and the barracuda… both amazing! It is hard to believe that I am still in Tanzania sometimes! 

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