Coming to Zanzibar gave us all a chance to relax and really reflect on all that we saw on our safaris. I simply cannot express in words how it felt to be that close to wild animals; animals that seemed undisturbed by our presence. I came to Africa wanting to see as many animals as I could, but I also wanted to try and do as little harm as possible. I know that poaching is still a problem - hence the 19 remaining black rhinos - but once I saw how calm the animals were with our presence there, I felt as though we were playing a role in protecting them, patrolling, if you will, a sector of the parks thus leaving the park personnel free to monitor the more far-reaching areas.
When planning our trip to Zanzibar, we toyed with the idea of swimming with the dolphins - oh my goodness what a thrill that would be!!! But we decided against it because we had read too many articles about the stress the visit of tourists cause the dolphins.
It didn't really bother me. Well, maybe a little, since swimming with dolphins was sort of a childhood fantasy! But I do not regret our choice. I want to feel good about this trip, and I have already had an amazing adventure - a trip of a lifetime. What memories ~
And this is the view to which we awoke ~ We had a great room right up next to the Indian Ocean. The sun and salt air was all so healing!!!!
We all loved the chance to recuperate, but luckily, our adventure was not over, though. With our trusty driver, Eddie, we trekked across Zanzibar, navigating the corruption with 1000 shilling bills, and had an experience that thrilled us!
We had the chance to swim with and feed some sea turtles! I know, I know - what about the stress? The impact on nature? Well, I don't know for sure (and maybe I'm fooling myself because I wanted to have such an experience), but I felt good about what we saw. The turtles, many brought in my local fishermen apparently, seemed healthy and were not frightened by us. We were told that they were re-released after about three months.
I chose to believe that.
At first, it was a little intimidating to get into the water with these large turtles, but David and I were brave and got in right away. Kelly, fearful not of the turtles, but of the fish! chose to stand on the ledge and simply feed them seaweed! (Remember the fish in the Arabian Gulf off the shore of Oman?!)
I guess we were having too much fun in the water with the turtles, because the next thing I knew, there was a splash and ~ Kelly was in with us!!!!!
What an experience!! It felt so weird when the turtles bumped into me, but soon I became more used to it. Well, sort of..... ;)
When planning our trip to Zanzibar, we toyed with the idea of swimming with the dolphins - oh my goodness what a thrill that would be!!! But we decided against it because we had read too many articles about the stress the visit of tourists cause the dolphins.
It didn't really bother me. Well, maybe a little, since swimming with dolphins was sort of a childhood fantasy! But I do not regret our choice. I want to feel good about this trip, and I have already had an amazing adventure - a trip of a lifetime. What memories ~
And this is the view to which we awoke ~ We had a great room right up next to the Indian Ocean. The sun and salt air was all so healing!!!!
We all loved the chance to recuperate, but luckily, our adventure was not over, though. With our trusty driver, Eddie, we trekked across Zanzibar, navigating the corruption with 1000 shilling bills, and had an experience that thrilled us!
We had the chance to swim with and feed some sea turtles! I know, I know - what about the stress? The impact on nature? Well, I don't know for sure (and maybe I'm fooling myself because I wanted to have such an experience), but I felt good about what we saw. The turtles, many brought in my local fishermen apparently, seemed healthy and were not frightened by us. We were told that they were re-released after about three months.
I chose to believe that.
At first, it was a little intimidating to get into the water with these large turtles, but David and I were brave and got in right away. Kelly, fearful not of the turtles, but of the fish! chose to stand on the ledge and simply feed them seaweed! (Remember the fish in the Arabian Gulf off the shore of Oman?!)
I guess we were having too much fun in the water with the turtles, because the next thing I knew, there was a splash and ~ Kelly was in with us!!!!!
What an experience!! It felt so weird when the turtles bumped into me, but soon I became more used to it. Well, sort of..... ;)
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