Tanzania to Zanzibar

MONDAY We travel from Tanzania to Zanzibar today. Begin the morning "in a cloud" as my daughter describes it; we are at 7500 feet and as the clouds envelop our lodge, there is a complete white out. Gently, the breeze disperses the clouds and the magnificent view returns. From my lodge balcony, I watch Maasi herders move their cattle, sheep, and goats to higher ground for the day. The men are tall and slim, dress in bright colored cloth, most often red, and carry a long walking stick. A jangle of a cow bell is the only sound I hear as I watch them move along the path. In the mist of the clouds, it is almost a surreal picture - something from a different time. Yet, I've seen Maasi men and women using cell phones as they wait along the road for the local bus to take them up/down the mountain. As the Maasi tribes were established at Ngorongoro centuries before it became a tourist attraction/World Heritage site, they are allowed to still inhabit the land as they do not kill the wild animals. They are herders and farmers and wanderers.

Our 2 o'clock flight to Zanzibar is canceled: we were the only people on it. So, we were transfered to a 3 o'clock flight...there is something to be said for small airports. Our bags went on a old packing scale ... white faced dial with a black hand. Our three bags were fine and were wheeled out to the tarmac to wait loading. The shift from one airline to another took about 1 minute: boarding passes were printed and then, we went to wait. Sitting outside, under a shade cover, we watched our plane land about 100 yards from us, a stairway was wheeled out and the bags were unloaded. When we were called, we walked through security and our bags were checked (we all lost our water bottles) but did not have to take off our shoes!! The flight is one hour to the island of Zanzibar.