Zanzibar for Christmas

I've been thinking of going with a group of friends to Zanzibar for
Christmas.

>From Cape Town there are two obvious routes. One is to take the train
to Durban, then drive up to Mozambique, through Malawi (maybe taking in
Lake Malawi on the way) to Tanzania and then by boat to Zanzibar.

The other is to take the train to Johannesburg, then overland to
Gaberone, up to Lusaka and then onto the Tanzam railway to Dar.

I think that I favour the latter. I enjoyed my trip the other way on
the Tanzam railway.

It would, of course, be possible to do both, one there, the other back.


Is there a better routing? I don't see any point in getting involved
with Zimbabwe and both routes cut that out.

On the World Atlas, it looks as if there is road all the way up the
coast to Dar from Durban - is the road passable? Do you need a four
wheel drive vehicle? Are there other railways that I've missed out?

Is Zanzibar a good place for Christmas? Is there anywhere to avoid or
to stay that is particularly nice and/or cheap?


Any other suggestions?

"Peter H.M. Brooks" <Peter.H.M.Brooks@> wrote in message

<Peter is planning, or at least contemplating, a trip to Zanzibar>

I've heard great things about it. Wouldn't it be frightfully hot at
that time of the year?

--
Moira de Swardt posting from Johannesburg, South Africa
Remove the dot in my address to find me at home.

Moira de Swardt wrote:
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" <Peter.H.M.Brooks@> wrote in message
>
> <Peter is planning, or at least contemplating, a trip to Zanzibar>
>
> I've heard great things about it. Wouldn't it be frightfully hot at
> that time of the year?
>
I wouldn't have thought so, it is pretty well equatorial, so it should
be much the same all year round, with four or five degrees difference
between the 'hot' and 'less hot' seasons. On an island there should be
sea breezes and showers to keep it cooler but more humid. A quick look
around shows that the average temperature is around 27C, which is hot,
but not ridiculous (I've been at 40C in Abu Dhabi and 45C in the Sahara
- that's certainly hot!). I'd be inclinded to go for a room with air
conditioning. Cold beer and G&Ts go down well in that sort of weather.
It's much the same in Cape Town then, but dryer.

"Peter H.M. Brooks" <Peter.H.M.Brooks@> wrote in message

> I wouldn't have thought so, it is pretty well equatorial, so it
should
> be much the same all year round, with four or five degrees
difference
> between the 'hot' and 'less hot' seasons. On an island there
should be
> sea breezes and showers to keep it cooler but more humid. A quick
look
> around shows that the average temperature is around 27C, which is
hot,
> but not ridiculous (I've been at 40C in Abu Dhabi and 45C in the
Sahara
> - that's certainly hot!). I'd be inclinded to go for a room with
air
> conditioning. Cold beer and G&Ts go down well in that sort of
weather.
> It's much the same in Cape Town then, but dryer.

G&Ts go down well in any sort of weather.

--
Moira de Swardt posting from Johannesburg, South Africa
Remove the dot in my address to find me at home.

Moira de Swardt wrote:
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" <Peter.H.M.Brooks@> wrote in message
>
> > I wouldn't have thought so, it is pretty well equatorial, so it
> should
> > be much the same all year round, with four or five degrees
> difference
> > between the 'hot' and 'less hot' seasons. On an island there
> should be
> > sea breezes and showers to keep it cooler but more humid. A quick
> look
> > around shows that the average temperature is around 27C, which is
> hot,
> > but not ridiculous (I've been at 40C in Abu Dhabi and 45C in the
> Sahara
> > - that's certainly hot!). I'd be inclinded to go for a room with
> air
> > conditioning. Cold beer and G&Ts go down well in that sort of
> weather.
> > It's much the same in Cape Town then, but dryer.
>
> G&Ts go down well in any sort of weather.
>
Well, that is undoubtedly true! Particularly pink ones with lime rather
than lemon.

"Peter H.M. Brooks" <Peter.H.M.Brooks@> wrote in message
news:1148763034.067571.257340@g10g2000cwb. o...
>
> Moira de Swardt wrote:
> > "Peter H.M. Brooks" <Peter.H.M.Brooks@> wrote in message
> >
> > > I wouldn't have thought so, it is pretty well equatorial, so it
> > should
> > > be much the same all year round, with four or five degrees
> > difference
> > > between the 'hot' and 'less hot' seasons. On an island there
> > should be
> > > sea breezes and showers to keep it cooler but more humid. A quick
> > look
> > > around shows that the average temperature is around 27C, which is
> > hot,
> > > but not ridiculous (I've been at 40C in Abu Dhabi and 45C in the
> > Sahara
> > > - that's certainly hot!). I'd be inclinded to go for a room with
> > air
> > > conditioning. Cold beer and G&Ts go down well in that sort of
> > weather.
> > > It's much the same in Cape Town then, but dryer.
> >
> > G&Ts go down well in any sort of weather.
> >
> Well, that is undoubtedly true! Particularly pink ones with lime rather
> than lemon.

I shall never forget the (young) barman in a motel in Musina many years ago,
who, after taking my order for a pink G&T came back after 5 minutes
searching, with the announcement that he couldn't find a pink gin! Only
white, meneer. Luckily the motel manager was with me, and he 'gently'
explained what a pink gin was.

Marc Lurie wrote:
> On 29 May 2006 01:23:53 -0700, "Peter H.M. Brooks"
> <Peter.H.M.Brooks@> wrote:
>
>
> Even if the railway were still running you'd be dissapointed anyway
> because the railway went way inland most of the way up Mozambique due
> to the awesome flood plains on the coast, the numerous rivers that
> would have to be bridged, and the estuaries of the various big rivers
> that become huge at the coast.
>
That makes sense.
>
> >> >
>
> >We've got tons of fairly empty beaches in Cape Town (well, not on Bank
> >Holiday weekends), so we're not really looking for beaches at all. I'm
> >not, anyway! A quiet holiday with interesting places to see and good
> >food is more the objective.
> Fairly empty beaches!!! In Cape Town!!!! GET REAL :-) I mean EMPTY
> beaches. In parts of Mozambique you can still be the ONLY person on a
> whole stretch of beach for hours... and the water's warm, gentle, and
> gorgeous.
>
I know what you mean, it is relative.
>
> If you like great down-to-earth food, then Mozambique is ideal.
> Prawns, squid, mussels, clams, fish, crab etc. are plentiful, as is
> chicken.
>
The Prawns used to be legendary, both for their huge size and their
cheapness - known then, of course as 'LM' prawns.
>
> BTW, the Zambezi is the third longest river in Africa after the Nile
> and the Congo. It is about 3000km long, and is bridged only 4 times
> along it's entire journey through 6 countries. Once by, a now damaged
> bridge in Angola, once at Victoria Falls/Livingstone, and twice in
> Mozambique, at Tete, and at Santa Ana/Mutarara
>
That is interesting. I didn't know that and it does circumscribe the
options quite considerably. I've been over the Livingstone bridge,
coming down - I didn't realise that it was the only bridge for hundreds
of miles in both directions!

I'll look up Tete and Santa Ana on the map.

I suppose an alternative would be some sort of boat along the coast to
Dar. I know you can't get berths on commercial boats anymore on that
route, because I've tried - they're too afraid of pirates.

There are presumably, though, some boats that ply the coast that are
bigger than pirogues but smaller than supertankers or cruise ships.

wowwee I'm jealous! seen a few things about it but don't know much.
looks beautiful, who doesn't enjoy sandy beaches?

Robert Kay wrote:
>
>> Well, that is undoubtedly true! Particularly pink ones with lime rather
>> than lemon.
>
> I shall never forget the (young) barman in a motel in Musina many years ago,
> who, after taking my order for a pink G&T came back after 5 minutes
> searching, with the announcement that he couldn't find a pink gin! Only
> white, meneer. Luckily the motel manager was with me, and he 'gently'
> explained what a pink gin was.
>
It's odd, given how nice they are, compared to the straight G&T, I'd
have thought that everybody would drink them.

They don't, of course. I suspect that the reason is that people find the
bitters a bit bitter for their taste - not realising that their job is
to cut through the sugar in the tonic, whilst complimenting the quinine.

Talking of which, why is is so difficult to find sugar free tonic in SA?

"Robert Kay" <robertkay@home.net> wrote in message

> I shall never forget the (young) barman in a motel in Musina many
years ago,
> who, after taking my order for a pink G&T came back after 5
minutes
> searching, with the announcement that he couldn't find a pink gin!
Only
> white, meneer. Luckily the motel manager was with me, and he
'gently'
> explained what a pink gin was.

The main reason I believe that story is because it's happened to me
before. In Bronkhorstspruit.


--
Moira de Swardt posting from Johannesburg, South Africa
Remove the dot in my address to find me at home.