Final days of what has been an amazing experience. Our Exodus guide doesn’t have a license to operate in Zanzibar so once we were deposited safely at the beach resort we were left to our own devices. Probably because of this, Exodus tucked us away in a very nice tourist resort where we could come to no harm.  Or so you might think! More about that later.

The resort was in an enclosure with beauty salons, restaurants and bars. But the beach was open to all so we still had interactions with locals which was great. It was a nice opportunity to chill out with what had become good friends over the past couple of weeks. The safari was full on with little down time so up until now we didn’t really have a chance for idle chitchat.

The entrance to our resort

Day 1 in Nungwi and the start of the rainy season

The Indian Ocean is beautiful

Holy cow!!

The rainy season has just started and our first day wasn’t one for the beach so Margaret and I struck a deal with a salon and treated ourselves to a full body scrub and massage.  Always good to do this before you get a tan. And of course after all that vigorous work we had to head off for cocktails. We also found a wonderful Italian restaurant run by Italians so I abandoned the diet and promised myself lots of walking and swimming to make up for the indulgence.

Margaret got up early every morning and went for long walks on the beach. I didn’t. She found a village with lots of little shops with very chatty owners. She traded an old pair of Birkenstocks for some jewelry. I just lay on the beach reading and listening to music. Bliss.

The next day was to be cloudy in the morning but sunny for the remaining days. So we organized a snorkeling trip for myself, Margaret and our friend Laurie. Because the other 2 were unsure about their snorkeling abilities, we hired a private tour so we could dictate the swim lengths and return time. The water here is warm and clear. The coral is amazing and lots of little fishies.

By time we came back to the resort the tide was out so were let out of the boat a good distance from shore in shallow water at some rocks.  This is where our boatmen let us down. Only one guy was holding the boat steady, but from the bow so the boat was able to swing.  Which it did as I stepped off. I saw a wave coming and just knew I was going to be pushed onto the rocks. So I started to roar at him to steady the boat otherwise things could have been a lot worse. But as it was, both ankles got pushed into the rocks. At first I thought I had just been scratched but when I reached the shore I saw a number of long black spines sticking out of both ankles. Sea Urchin spines. I had no phone so couldn’t check how long I had to live. So I just pulled out the ones I could get a grip on but about 20 more were imbedded.

I raced up to one of the boat hire huts wondering if my racing heart was spreading the poison even faster. Always the drama queen, right? I was reassured (briefly) when told this is a common occurrence and they had just the cure for me. I was less assured when after what felt like the longest wait, this guy approached me with a long knife. I thought I was about to be butchered. But no, the local cure is to use the knife to punch holes in a papaya and after smearing paraffin on my ankles the papaya juice was applied. The stinging, which is fierce by the way, immediately stopped and after a second application a couple of hours later, the imbedded spines melted. Take that Bear Grills!!

The sunsets, as you can see are spectacular. All in all a perfect end to a perfect trip. And now we have both set foot on all 6 continents. Who knows what the next adventure will be. Whatever it is, I can’t imagine a better traveling companion than Margaret.

There’s nothing like a trip to Ikea

Our wonderful guide, Julius