worldtraveller73

Park Hyatt Zanzibar
Park King

After one hour and forty five minutes, we entered Stonetown and were dropped off at the Park Hyatt.





We were welcomed in at the door of the hotel and our bags were loaded up the short flight of stairs to the main lobby.



We checked in. The reservation was under MrsWT73’s name since she is trying to make World of Hyatt Discoverist this year in addition to Marriott / Starwood Platinum. The reservation was honored with breakfast included, despite being on Cash and Points. This was again an unadvertised benefit. As with our experience at Hyatt Regency Dar Es Salaam, we enjoyed a complimentary buffet breakfast for all 3 days with no questions asked.

The lobby itself is a tall space with Omani Arab styled architecture.





We were led to room #3322 which was a Park Room. Since most reward bookings only offer the base level rooms, we were surprised to see a partial upgrade to a peek a boo water view. Yes – this will work!! A base level room with a view...







The room was nicely appointed and functional. In fact, it was one of the nicer appointed hotel rooms we’ve ever had in Africa. The room was spacious, although nowhere near as large as our villa at The Residence Zanzibar.













The bathroom was also spacious and well appointed. It offered a peek a boo into the living room.





The toiletries were branded as Naya Zanzibar. I appreciated having some local branded toiletries, but unfortunately, I didn’t find the products to be all that effective at actual cleaning. The soaps didn’t suds that well, and my hair didn’t feel all that clean after using them. I ended up switching back to Unilever branded shampoos that I brought with me. This is not a criticism but rather a funny observation that corporate shampoo products are sometimes more effective than local grass roots products.



Our room was on the east side of the hotel. The Park Rooms seem to face the side or the street side of the hotel (two rooms according to this map). If you’re booking a Park Room, see if you can get an east facing room like ours. The worst would be the five rooms that face the street on the bottom of the photograph.



After we had settled into the room, we ended up taking a self orientation walk around the hotel. The hotel features a gorgeous wrap around deck on the water side that is among one of the best features of the property.





There were a variety of seating areas with food and beverage service. In the daytime, it was exceptionally hot with a lack of shade. Temperatures during our visit were in the low thirties Celcius or nineties Fahrenheit. However, at night time it was a pleasant place to laze away.



The hotel also featured a small but perfectly adequate infinity pool with ocean views. Unfortunately, the area is not really large enough for a "beach resort" styled holiday. It's a perfect distraction for spending a few hours sunning between sightseeing.







The veranda also features strong views of the water and hotel beach. The hotel beach isn’t anything all to special; I saw a local urinating into the water at one point during our stay from the hotel veranda. It was a prettier beach than that of the Residence Zanzibar but not worth a trip to Zanzibar all on its’ own if you were planning on treating the hotel like a resort.









Off the veranda, the hotel had a small “library” and resting places. The lobby rooms were tastefully decorated in a manner that fit the hotel.





There was also a nice courtyard that separates the hotel from the neighbouring Hotel Tembo next door. The courtyard was almost exclusively empty the entire time we were there. It still made for some interesting photographs nevertheless.





All in all, we had a most excellent stay at the Park Hyatt Zanzibar. It was by far the highlight of Tanzania in terms of hotels and easily one of the better properties I had stayed at in the Southern Saharan Belt of Africa. The rooms were well appointed and the location of the hotel just steps from Stonetown was a great feature. While an argument can be made that they've taken a historic hotel and ruined it by modernizing it to a luxury resort, it's still a wonderful place to be.

worldtraveller73

Stonetown Zanzibar,
Tanzania

We settled into Zanzibar and went out to self-situate ourselves to the neighbourhood. We led ourselves on a self guided afternoon walking tour of Stonetown. Despite being Ramadan, there were lots of tourists out without wraps and covers with shoulders exposed. We were approached by lots of “ticks” as they are locally called; unsolicited tour guide offers for everything from boat tours, walking tours to spice tours. They were pretty persistent but alike many others you’d find in Egypt or Brazil.













We immediately came across Freddie Mercury’s [of the rock band Queen] house where he grew up in, which was right around the corner from the hotel. The house is reportedly no longer owned by the Mercury family.



We were both hungry so we ended up having a snack at the Taperia, which was a Spanish wine and tapas part immediately above the post office. It had a hidden entrance at the back.



The Taperia was an interesting and “naturally aged” kind of place. It was a bit of a hole in the wall but intriguing as a hangout place at the same time. The seats had a patio view over the streets below.











We dined on wine and blue cheese papas bravas with bacon (of all things!) in the middle of Muslim Stonetown during daylight Ramadan hours. The service was a little slow, but the prices were more than reasonable.



MrsWT73 learned that they sold wine take away’s and promptly stocked up on several bottles for the room. The South African wine was not overly expensive at 27,000 TZS ($11 USD). They must only have one wine importer as most of the wines we had seen at the resort, both hotels and throughout Stonetown, were all the same 5 brands.

We wandered over to Emmerson Spice Hotel and Tea House which was a few short blocks away. It was known for its hotel and mixed menu restaurant. We made a reservation for tomorrow night at 6 PM to start with a sundowner cocktail and dinner for 7 PM. They hit us up for a 40,000 TZS ($17 USD) deposit to hold the reservation.

We headed back to the Park Hyatt Zanzibar hotel which was a 15 minute walk. As Ramadan fasting ended for the day, many street vendors started setting up food for the night. As a result the streets ended up being a hive of activity as street stalls came alive.

We ended up at the Park Hyatt hotel lounge called “The Living Room” for some slow service but memorable cocktails on the lovely verandah. There were some interesting local drinks, including a Tangawizi; a ginger infused gin, bols cacao, sweet and sour Tangawizi (a local ginger ale styled drink).



There was also an excellent flavour chart for cocktails – a bit technical but I totally loved and used it.





We were able to watch the sunset go down at about 6:20 PM along with spectacular views across the harbour. Several African Dhows’ sailed past on their sunset cruises to and from the harbour making for some interesting cocktail viewing.







Our Cocktail hour was interrupted by the call to prayer from the mosque immediately across the street from the hotel. MrsWT73 commented astutely commented that “everytime the call to prayer happens, we have a drink in our hands”. LOL and my apologies to those that are offended by this...





We had a beautiful and interesting sunset views along with a kaleidoscope of greys.







We eventually left the hotel after dark and wandered down for dinner. There weren’t a lot of restaurants around and we hadn’t pre-planned or picked one in advance. There was a bit of a strange charm to Zanzibar after dark; a mix of eerie seedy-ness and mystery.





We ended up at the Terrace Restaurant. It was the hotel restaurant of a 3 ½ star property that was featured in the Lonely Planet guidebook. On arrival at 8:30 PM, the place was totally deserted. We had a simple dinner upstairs on the outer deck. A simple clubhouse and fries with a Kilimanjaro Beer for me under moonlight.











From there, it was a short walk back to the hotel for the evening to get ready for a great day of sightseeing tomorrow.

worldtraveller73

Stonetown walking tour
Stonetown, Zanzibar.

We took it easy this morning. We woke up and enjoyed a complimentary breakfast at the Park Hyatt Zanzibar. It had a beautiful setting outdoors in the shade.



There were lots of interesting items on offer. Things appeared fresh and very edible for Africa. I would have even tasted the green salad if I was feeling adventurous; something I would usually totally avoid due to food safety!









I enjoyed their version of Zanzibarian Poached Eggs on Toast; avocado, poached eggs and coconut lime sauce paired with a hibiscus juice. It’s fair to say that I can’t make that at home easily since my supply of coconuts and hibiscus are severely lacking. =)



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We started off the day with a bit of sun by the Park Hyatt Pool. As always, there was really interesting viewing from the Park Hyatt verandah.

[img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1774/30028399458_b4588c83ab_b.jpg









For the afternoon, we decided to talk a walking tour around and about. Stonetown, Zanzibar is a bit of a tough place to self guide as a tourist. There are lots of interesting features that aren’t easily marked. We ended up booking a 3 hour walking tour through the hotel for about $60 USD. We ended up getting a lot of value out of the walking tour and I'd recommend it for anyone coming through Stonetown.

We started our tour right next door at the Zanzibar Serena Hotel. We had an overview of the hotel which was previously an omani master’s house.





We passed through the back alleys, including a Tangazo joibi tree for cosmetics and face creams.





Then through to the Dhow Palace Hotel – one of the first hotels in Zanzibar. It had a very nice pool and atrium. It also had one of our very first orate doors we had the pleasure of looking at that Zanzibar is well known for.













We then headed over through various alley ways and intricate door ways to St George’s Cathedral, the only catholic church in Stonetown. It wasn’t open for viewing. It was reported to be open for catholic mass on Sunday’s but never was on the Sunday during our visit. As a result, there are no inside photographs of this particular aged beauty.








We then headed over to Jaws' Corner and had a detailed explanation of it’s significance. Jaw’s Corner is a five-way corner that was the cross roads of this particular neighbourhood. It was used as a meeting place and had a blackboard (pictured) for communicating the town news. Local residence would announce births, marriages and other important news. For some reason, it even offered free international phone calls (also pictured). It also appeared to be a general hang out place.







Just adjacent to Jaws’ Corner, we past the most intricate doors of our Stonetown visit. These ones had birds and cats in them.







We had an explanation of overall tolerance of Zanzibar society with mosque and Anglican cathedral built right next to each other.

We headed onwards to a local supermarket stop with an explanation of the products for sale. Bridal parties were described as typically coming to get the houseware gifts after the marriage. The X are a coconut cutter that you sit on and core your coconuts.





We walked over to the East African Slave Trade Exhibit (museum). It was $5 USD to enter for the museum with a brief explanation of the slave trading industry that used to thrive here on the island.





There were some interesting pieces of history within the walls. The slave trade was initiated by the British and ended by the British. Overall the exhibition was quite well done. We had a few minutes reading about the history of the slave trade in Africa through richly detailed panels outlining their stories.





The main event here was to see the two remaining slave chambers that are left underneath the mission. The tiny compartments (now fitted with old medicinal shelves) were only about 5 ft high. Wow – what a gross and disgusting place to have stored slaves. It’s hard to imagine humanity resorting to storing the human race in such a manner.











On our exit from the slave chambers, we passed by some sculpture that was representative of the market. It was of slaves chained to the ground.





Within the same complex, we walked over through the Anglican Church. It was very pretty and serene, although it a bit of rougher shape than the usual English Anglican churches that I’ve been through during my travels. Even the stained glass had rock chips taken out of it if you look carefully.













After the Slave Trade Exhibit, the sun started to set signalling the end of the day. We headed over to the nearby Darjani market. It is the local market near the local transit connections. I remain convinced that I would have been murdered here if it wasn’t for our guide (laughing). Surprisingly, thanks to having a guide, we were totally left alone by the merchants and customers wandering through there in company with our touristic protector. It was an authentic experience of a local African market where everything is on the barter system; at least for those with the color of our skin. Ha Ha.























We wandered over through to the fish stalls where there were all fresh fish being sold. One thing that was interesting was that there were no places to eat directly in the market for take aways. Even our guide asked us to hide our bottled water due to Ramadan.







We left the market (MrsWT73 was happy to be out of the market smells of there) and headed over to the waterfront with the Beit el Ajalb (House of Wonders). It’s an impressive house on the shoreline that had the first of almost every modern technology in Eastern Africa. It was the first house to have running water, TV and an elevator, among other things.











We walked through the Forodhani Gardens on the water front. There were a few Portuguese cannons left on the island after the Portuguese were driven out of Zanzibar’s Stonetown.





We headed back towards the hotel through the Old Fort. The Old Fort was built by the Omani’s to drive out the Portuguese. It was nicely attired for an event sponsoring the breaking of the fast.









With that being our last stop, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before dinner. The walking tour was well worth it. It was invaluable to have a guide in Stonetown; for the historic explanations and for the peace and quiet of being left alone by touts while you are walking throughout the area. I’d highly recommend it for your first time visit to Stonetown.

offerendum

I guess this side of the beach they don´t show at the prospect.

But this wasn´t the hotel, right?

DanielW

A great stay in Zanazibar, worldtraveller73. Looks a bit like the old town of Saint-Louis on the other side of the continent.

Looking forward to Seychelles.

worldtraveller73

Emmerson Spice (Restaurant).
Emmerson Spice Hotel, Stonetown, Zanzibar

For this evening, we had a dinner booking at Ememerson Spice Tea House in the Emmerson Spice hotel. In our visit during low season, we were able to walk up in the afternoon and get a reservation for the next evening’s service with a 40,000 TZS ($17.50 USD) cash deposit.

Emmerson Spice offers a 5-course tasting menu at $40 USD per person that changes daily according to the availability of ingredients. There is only one service which starts at 7 PM and has only 22 seats available each evening. The restaurant is on the top floor of the Emmerson Spice Hotel in the heart of Stonetown. The Emmerson Spice Hotel was on the Conde Nast Traveller Hotel Hot List in 2012 but despite this rating, it seemed mostly empty on our trip. The Emmerson Spice Restaurant has inspiring 360 degree views of the surrounding Stonetown buildings. Being Africa, these aren’t views similar to what you’d get from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, it’s still an interesting and exotic way to spend the night in an experience that you wouldn’t get at home.



We arrived for 6 PM to take in a sundowner cocktail. We climbed up the 5 flights of stairs to the top; there was no elevator.

We had an opportunity to peek into some of the unoccupied rooms at the hotel. The rooms were uniquely decorated, although most appeared to be without air conditioning. I found the decor a little odd and retro for my tastes. It wouldn't be something that I would personally pay a premium for. The photos are from the night before when we came to make the reservation.













More stairs up to the Tea House restaurant on the roof top…



When we made it to the top, we each had a sundowner cocktail. I had a Gin based "Sunset Glow" cocktail whereas MrsWT73 had a sparkling Cap Classique wine from South Africa. Despite being Ramadan, there was no problem ordering cocktails or alcohol.

















What made the sundowner so unique was the fact that at 6:15 PM and 7:25 PM the Adhan is called out by a muezzin from the mosques that surround the restaurant. There are over 52 mosques in Stonetown so this was quite an echoing experience up here on the roof. It was a highly unusual travel encounter to be seated on a roof top over downtown hearing the call to prayer echo all around you watching the sun go down drinking a cocktail.

We happened to be seated towards the back of the restaurant near the small roof top kitchen where all the magic happens. MrsWT73 had the best view of the “back of house” where all the preparation was occurring behind me… not to mention the local dress servers were wearing. Covert photography at it's worst (laughing).





It was a peaceful but intriguing spot to enjoy the sun disappearing to grey and black over our time there.







At 7 PM, the dinner service got underway. We ordered a bottle of white South African wine to go with the dinner. Although there were 5 whites listed on the wine list, they only had stock of 1 of them. This seemed to be pretty consistent with the supply challenges of wine during our time in Tanzania. Needless to say, there was no food pairing option. It wasn't really needed.



The first course was a Dona Cake Fish Patee, Coconut Relish, Limao la Shamba Ceviche. The ceviche was served in a clam shell. The sauce was nicely acidic, like many ceviches I’ve had.



The second course was a Pweza (Octopus) Passion Salad, Chili, Lemon Beetroot, Garlic Bamia. MrsWT73 has an aversion to octopus and shrimp. The restaurant was kind enough to accommodate with a tuna peppercorn substitution for her dish. The octopus was very fresh – not tough meat like some of those local 2ndrate sushi restaurants get away with serving. The passionfruit blend with the octopus was very unique and paired surprisingly well with beetroots that tasted like they were straight off the farm.



The third course was Lemongrass Calamari, Cinnamom Mung’unye, Pickle Carrot. The lemongrass was the thin grass variety, not the giant stalks that we were accustomed to see at home. The calamari was also cut into a thin shaving, unlike the usual rings that we had at home. It was served with a sauce, which had a mild spice to it; exceptionally tasty.



The main and fourth course was King Fish with Tamarind Source, Cardamon Rice, Mbirimni Pickle. The fish was exceptionally cooked; just under so that it stayed juicy and elegant. The rice was lightly scented.



The last serving was a dessert item called Guava Givré, Mtoto wa Jang’ombe, Star Anise Pineapple. It was a delicate guava sorbet with a star anise sweet sauced over fresh pineapple. It was really unique and a refreshing end to a meal in a region that usually just serves plain fruit to finish a meal.



During the latter half of our meal, the city came alive with the sounds of families out and about as they broke the fast for Ramadan. The alleys were filled with sounds of people out and about, meandering through street stalls as they went out for dinner.

As the bill was presented, we were given a small box with our 40,000 TZS shillings returned in it. The bill came to $124 USD, including two covers, a bottle of wine and a sundowner cocktail each. It is a lot of money in this part of the world but the experience of it all made for one of the more memorable dining experiences and settings we’ve had in our travel lifetimes. Although the presentation of the food wasn't something that you'd see in New York, the taste of the food was of very high quality with exceptional local ingredients.

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As we left the restaurant, we headed to the night market in the Fodoraki gardens. The hotel and restaurant offered a free security guard to walk with you on your way home (on request) but we didn’t have any issues walking on our own. It is worth noting that I did leave the big Nikon camera and watches at home in the hotel safe.

We wandered up to the night market, which was starting to come alive. There was a fairly well rehearsed pitch for food (prawns with shells and without shells) available at almost every stall. Most of the food appeared pre-cooked and there were regular offers to re-heat everything. Having just had a massive amount of food, we just took in the show and didn't eat anything.





We had a slow walk back to the hotel after the bbq food gazing and settled in for the night.

Emmerson Spice was an interesting dining experience. It was especially surreal to eat in a small format restaurant, on top of Stone Town, drinking a cocktail, overhearing the call to prayer and hearing the city come to life. While the presentation of the food wasn’t the world’s most exotic, it was a perfectly engaging and entertaining way to spend a memorable evening in Africa.

worldtraveller73

Dhow Evening Cruise
Stonetown, Zanzibar

The next morning was Sunday. We had a leisurely breakfast and took in some time by the pool.

We saw some local boats passing by. On their return trip, the people wanting to get off near the hotel would just jump in the water without the boat stopping for them. Funny.

We wandered through town. Although our walking tour guide had assured us that most services would be open on Sunday, we got a little bit stuck looking for a money changer and many appeared to be closed. We passed by both the post office and the two other money changers that we had seen without any success. The Park Hyatt, for whatever reason, was also not in the business of money change services so we were unsuccessful changing currency at the hotel. We were able to scrounge some USD cash so that MrsWT73 could purchase a brass Arabic coffee dispenser as a souvenir for a non negotiable $30 USD.

Since not much was open, we went back to the Park Hyatt for an afternoon drink on the deck at The Living Room. A Killimanjaro Beer for me and a Spier Sauvingon Blanc for her that arrived as some other wine (not Spier) as we watched the traffic on the bay.

The highlight of today was that I had booked a sunset dhow cruise for tonight through the hotel. I had initially wanted to go through Vanora Zanzibar thanks to it’s fantastic Trip Advisor reviews. After several prompt and helpful back and forths by email, it turned out that their boat was going to be in dry dock during our visit and we wouldn’t be able to use them after all. We ended up booking cold and going through the hotel. It was $60 USD for two for a “shared” boat with an option for a private version at a much higher cost. The payment was cash only and not able to be charged to the room. It seems to be the way things work around here. I was going to ask for a receipt but didn’t bother. After we were confirmed, the hotel staffer arranged to escort us to the boat at 5 PM.

As the meet up time rolled around, we met up with our guide and walked over the short distance to the dow dock. Dock was more of a misnomer (laughing). It turned out to be a wet launch with a small ladder up to the boat.

The “group” dhow experience only had one other French couple on it. They didn’t speak any English or Swahili at all so I did a fair bit of translating for the evening cruise. We headed out immediately past the House of Wonders and into the harbour.







The dhow had snacks and even an unlabelled house white wine. The boat host indicated that the owner was Italian. There were chili cassava potato chips on board in the local packaging that were really good with a nice mild spice.



The dhow took us out past the harbour towards the mangrove trees on the north east side of town. The dhow used the sail almost 90% of the time, but they did have a motor on it to get us through some of the difficult spots.







We passed by the commercial harbour, including the fast ferries used to travel to Dar Es Salaam.





Our Tanzanian dhow host had a good chat with us asking us about life in North America. She had been fortunate enough to travel to Sardinia, Italy and was shortly headed to London, United Kingdom. She indicated that her parents had helped her buy a place in town.

On the way back, we had a mild sunset, along with many other water views. We had a light grey sunset for the tail end of rainy season.









A photo of the Park Hyatt Zanzibar from the water as we floated back into town.









We bid the hosts and our fellow traveling French couple good bye and ended up having a post dhow drink in the nearby Livingstone Beach Restaurant. I’d typically describe it as a dive bar. The interior was terrible and completely deserted but the outside was pretty neat. According to the Lonely Planet guidebooks, it used to be the British Consulate. It now offers a sandy chair outside under Indian Almond Trees that provided a great deal of shade.



I enjoyed a large Kilimanjaro beer to settle the rest of the day. All in all, it was a charming place under the streets while the heat of the summer cooled off ever so slightly.







By the time we were done here, it was about 8:30 PM. It took us a bit of time to get the bill. We ended up getting lazy and instead of venturing out to attempt to find dinner in a mostly closed Sunday town, we just ended up having dinner at the Park Hyatt. A local ginger ale (by Coca Cola company) of Stoney Tangawaisi with ice absolutely hit the spot.





The dhow cruise is always a treat when you're in Africa. Although we had some shady and grey weather, it was nice to get out on the water for an activity. Although we missed out on Vanora Zanzibar, the current arrangement with the hotel with the Italian owner was perfectly reasonable and enjoyable.

worldtraveller73

Precision Air
PW423 – Economy Class (single class of service)
ZNZ – DAR (Zanzibar International Airport – Dar Es Salaam)
June 4, 2018
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Booked: ATR 72
Flown: ATR 72

It came to be departure day from Zanzibar. We took a hotel car / van to the airport. Mid way to the airport, I realized that my phone was missing. I had about 60 seconds of sheer panic before I realized that it was on the floor of the taxi. Thankfully we didn’t have to go back. We had some interesting sights on the way out . . .







We arrived at the airport and I paid the driver 33,000 TZS ($14 USD). There was a document check, followed by a cargo and hand luggage security check to get into the airport. The process of getting into the airport itself was moving very slow and we had about 15 minutes here despite having only 7-9 people in front of us. Once we passed the security check, we entered into a very austere and African airport. It only had the bare necessities and just the minimum of what was needed to function as an airport.

The Precision Air check in desk was not marked so we went to the only manned counter and self-identified ourselves. Our checked bags were weighed on large scales but they didn’t have any interest in our hand luggage.



Boarding cards were printed off and we proceeded around the corner to what we initially thought was the holding area. Instead, it was a loop around to where the international passengers cleared immigration and the hand luggage security check occurred. We passed through both and waited on the secure side. We were amongst a large German tour group that seemed to be waiting for the daily Ethiopian Air flight to Addis Ababa via Kilimanjaro.



There wasn’t much here to keep you entertained. There were a bunch of flat screen televisions that were showing local news and a Zanzibar Transit Duty Free Shop. I managed to find a few Zanzibar “Remove Before Flight” styled hang tags (without the text) for 6,000 TZS ($3 USD). They’re now rolling around attached to my carry on.





We didn’t make an attempt for the Ethiopian Cloud Nine lounge; also a Priority Pass location at the time of writing.



Our boarding tine of 1:50 PM that was printed on our boarding cards came and went. Before we knew it, our flight departure time of 2 PM also came and went. There were no flight announcements, nor was there a flight display screen in the hold area (or anywhere else in the airport for that matter) to keep people updated. At about 2:15 PM, a Qatar Airways flight arrived so the few ground crew appeared to be more pre-occupied with them.

The airport did have fast and free wifi. It was actually faster than at the Park Hyatt. I tried to get on Flight Aware and the usual websites to track where our plane was but didn’t really get anywhere; other than understanding that the flight was coming in from Arusha and continuing onto Dar Es Salaam. It seems like Africa doesn't really flow into these tracking systems as much as North America or Europe.

At about 2:35 PM, the plane landed. We headed out on to the apron for the walk to our plane. We passed by the Ethiopian and Qatar planes that had recently arrived.





No jets for us… instead another ATR-72.





We ended up getting on board at about 3 PM. There was a freaky family of four that was travelling along that had about 6 carry on’s between them in the form of backpacks and camping bags. They were a bit upset at the gate crew for “losing all their luggage’ on the way over so they somehow got permission to carry six bags all on board with them.

The take off had us on a due south course which took us over some beaches and what appeared to be new sub divisions under construction. Like on our flight out, the plane was full of dirty scratchy windows.

There were some beautiful sand bar islands as we passed out of the bay of Zanzibar.











On approach to Dar Es Salaam, we flew over the city harbour. I was a bit surprised to see a golf course just outside of the downtown area. It was a bit surprising but I didn’t realize that the city actually had a population of over 5 million people.









The communal housing appeared to be close to the airport as we started touching down.



We landed and we disembarked without any issue. The plane was continuing onto Arusha again so most of the passengers appeared to stay on board.

We went into the domestic baggage hall where about 10 bags were put out on the conveyor belt. Mine was put out, but unfortunately MrsWT73’s checked suitcase bag was not. Having had it with missed baggage throughout Africa, we promptly got a hold of someone. It turned out that the freaky family was right. MrsWT73 ended up practically crawling through the baggage portal on the conveyor belt to spot her back buried underneath the connections bags. Thankfully we were able to get it thanks to a little pro-active work and avert any delays.



We met our driver outside and transferred to our hotel. The 20 minute flight of only 45 miles took us over 5 hours door to door by the time the flight and baggage delays were all said and done. I had heard of a reputation of delays with Precision Air and unfortunately, we did get struck with the delay brush. The service was friendly as a whole and mostly efficient. However, I figure if we had some problems (like a lost bag or a connection to an onward flight) we would have been thoroughly stuck with little interest or speed on their part to get the issues resolved. Make sure you plan for lots of extra time if you fly with them!!

worldtraveller73

Hyatt Regency Dar Es Salaam
Regency Suite

We met our hotel car driver outside. I was apologetic for the flight & baggage delays since we were about 1 hr and 20 minutes behind schedule. He shrugged it off and simply laughed: “That’s Africa”. He led us out to a grey and unusually clean for Africa Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and we headed into the city.



It was rush hour on our drive and we had a long 50 minute drive to the hotel. The distance door to door is less than 8 miles and it ended up taking over an hour. Since it was rush hour, we spent a lot of time standing still. As a result, we had a lot of vendors and beggars approaching the car. There are homeless people on the street back home in Vancouver, Canada begging with signs. These people were much worse off. You know you have it bad when you are on the street begging with kids in Tanzania.











We passed a billboard for Air Tanzania’s newly acquired sole B787. Unfortunately, they have taken delivery of it July and at the time of publication here in October, it still does not appear to be flying.





On arrival to the hotel, we had another baggage X-ray. We had a friendly and prompt check in. Despite booking on cash and points rate, we were fortunately upgraded to a Regency Suite facing the city side. We were led up to our room by friendly staff. The arrival hallway had all the appeal of a North Korean hotel; austere and institutional.



The suite itself was an older suite; in much older generation than our earlier room. Access to the room was immediately though a short hallway that led to the sitting area.



The suite featured a sitting area and a table. There was a small desk with stationary supplies. I couldn't help but wonder how many meetings and shady African business transactions had taken place in this room.











Off the suite portion, there was a tiny balcony. This suite appeared to be one of the few that had an outside balcony. It offered a view of some relic buildings that you can only find in Africa.





Also off the suite entrance, was a tiny second bathroom. There was also an institutional kitchen that was sparsely decorated.





The separate bedroom had a comfy king size bed. The room also featured a convenient long bench seat which we used for our bags.





Behind the bathroom, there was a very spacious bathroom with separate vanities. The main bathroom was in great condition and had likely been upgraded.









After we settled in, we ended up going up to Level 8. Level 8 is the roof top lounge and bar at the hotel. The place was advertised in the elevator directory, but the button didn’t work on the last visit and I never bothered to ask about it. It turned out it is only open certain hours and is locked off otherwise. In all forms somewhat African, the hours aren't posted so you need to ask about it or use the "guess and check" method.

Wow – what a little surprise and welcome part of our stay. It’s often compound living when we stay over in Africa. We don’t usually leave the hotel after dark for safety reasons. Level 8 was a beautiful space right at sunset. The lounge had both indoor and outdoor seating.





We located ourselves a spot outside in the sunset. There was a large patio area that seemed to be filling up as we arrived.









The sun set behind us against the buildings and lit up the harbour with a nice glow. The skyline at sunset reminded me of Miami with some of the buildings lit up close to the waterfront.











We were able to see some of the passenger ferries disembarking from the roof top.



We enjoyed a glass of wine along with some “forty minute” French fries to take off the edge of the bite. They took something like that amount of time to arrive...



After sunset, we opted for dinner downstairs in the hotel restaurant. The hotel didn't seem to have many restaurants around it that were walkable and I wasn't getting any great suggestions from Google, Trip Advisor or the Lonely Planet guidebook. We were both feeling like having something light. MrsWT73 had a cheese pizza that didn’t agree with her. I ended up having a Quiche Lorraine with Mixed Greens. In true African style, the mixed greens never made it on the delivery truck as nothing is usually as advertised. It was only a few accent pieces tonight. LOL.



We turned in for an early flight the next day.

We had missed the Level 8 Rooftop bar on our last swing through here; thanks to our 2 AM arrival. The Level 8 bar was a great way to wind down after a day of waiting and traveling “African style”. It’s actually one of the nicer African Hotel bars. Although similar to the roof top bar at the Hilton Windhoek in Namibia, Hyatt has done a nicer job with this space thanks to upgraded fittings and furniture. Overall, we enjoyed the Hyatt Dar Es Salaam Kilimanjaro and would easily stay here again.

worldtraveller73

Thats correct offerendum. The hotel itself is completely restored inside and out. It's almost too institutional looking compared to some of the other historic and stonewashed buildings around town.

Thanks DanielW. Your past trip provided some great inspiration for a visit to the Seychelles.

Bretteee

I met a South African lady who told me she was harassed in Zanzibar though she was well covered. It was frightening. Also a few years ago 2 British girls had acid thrown on them. Anyway it looks fascinating. I just got bac k from the Seychelles so I am interested to read your trip. Thanks for the nice pictures.

Goaguy

That is actually not correct. It has been flying for a while now (I believe for several months) though only on domestic routes. Plan is to start flying to Mumbai in the near future, which was even mentioned on the front page of one of the local newspapers today.
I actually saw this 787 taxiing in DAR airport a few weeks ago (arriving), while I was boarding another aircraft.

worldtraveller73

Kenya Airways
KQ481 – Economy Class
DAR – NBO (Dar Es Salaam – Nairobi International Airport)
June 5, 2018
9:00 AM – 10:20 AM
Booked: Embraer 190
Flown: Embraer 190


While I was researching this trip on how to get from Tanzania to the Seychelles, I came across a discounted fare on Kenya Airways. It was very cheap – the economy base fare was only $35 USD per person with free baggage allowance. We didn’t bother with business class (at about $600 USD per person) for this one way trip as there was a lack of interesting lounges available at the airports (if any at all), minimal connection time between flights, we didn’t need any extra baggage allowance, and we don’t have any points in the Flying Blue frequent flier program that would have contributed towards a balance what so ever. While there would have been some African Priority Pass lounge options, I didn’t have a Priority Pass membership at this time either. Given our early morning departure, this wasn’t a major issue.

I was happy to report that online check in worked, even as an international one way ticket. The hardest part was finding Wi-Fi that could handle the check in as the bandwidth at the Park Hyatt Zanzibar wasn’t even strong enough to process this.

We woke up at 5:30 AM to get ready for our trip to the airport. Unfortunately, the included breakfast started service at 6:30 AM so we missed out on that opportunity. I would have loved to stay for breakfast but getting to the airport won out over a slow breakfast and the possibility we might miss our flights.

We took an Uber X to the airport. There were lots of cars available at 5:30 AM when I first checked. Unfortunately, there were no Uber XL’s available, so we stacked our bags on the front passenger seat of a small car and throughout the trunk.



It was a quick 30 minutes up to the Dar Es Salaam Jules Nynere International Airport and we arrived at about T-120. The ride ended up costing $5.17 USD and I gave the driver a $5 USD cash tip; which he appeared to be very happy with.

After a baggage X-Ray, we checked in at the 3 Kenya Airways desks in the International Departures Hall. Our checked bags were weighed on the large scales for weight. The check in agents paid no interest to our hand luggage in weight or any efforts to tag it. The check in agent asked me, with curious inquisition, if we had $150 USD per day to cover our stay in the Seychelles. He seemed outright flabbergasted when we said that we did. Since we were on a one way ticket, he asked to see proof of onward travel, which I had as a paper copy. He was even interested about our the hotel reservation which I had to show him through my SPG App on my iPhone. I didn’t get the impression that he was being nosy, instead just ensuring that he did his job in an otherwise bureaucratic African world.







We headed for international customs where we had to provide right hand fingerprints and complete a departure document. It was pretty slow and this took us 10 minutes to get through with only 1 desk working for “non foreigners”.

We then headed up to the “final security check” for a hand luggage search. We ended up in the departure hall at about 7:40 AM with boarding set for 8:15 AM. There wasn’t much at all to do here.

The Tanzanite Lounge appeared to be downstairs, but we didn’t notice anyone use it at all during our visit. It is reported to be a Priority Pass lounge.







The only other flight that was departing DAR this morning was an Air Tanzania flight to Monoria, Comoros. The next listed departures were in the late afternoon. The Dar Es Salaam airport was easily one of the most “African” airports that I’ve been through. It’s pretty tired and about 30 years out of date. It even has giant portable industrial air conditioners set up throughout the hall to keep things cool.

The Swissport ground staff eventually opened the departure lounge area at about 8:00 AM. We had a boarding pass check and identification verification to get into the holding area. While we were there, an older man in a suit arrived in picked us off as Canadians. It turned out he was a Canadian Member of Parliament Rob Oliphant travelling with Jenny Kwan (another Canadian Member of Parliament and the official opposition critic for Immigration) and representatives from the Canadian Embassy in Dar Es Salaam Tanzania. They were here as a delegation on the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration; looking at quality assurance for the Canadian Immigration processes and policies. We had a nice and short discussion about Africa and travels throughout the region. They were headed from Dar Es Salaam up through Nairobi to Uganda for the week.

When boarding called, it was all at once and a free for all for the door. We wandered down the jet bridge and onto our seats 14 A and 14C. There was no row 13 and economy numbering started with row 11. This meant we found ourselves in the third row of economy.

A shot of business class as we walked by…



The seat featured an in flight video screen that was never turned on for entertainment (a welcome message only). We got underway quickly with the plane fully boarded at about T-20.



We departed the old airport. On our taxi, we passed by the construction of the new international Julius Nyerere Airport. Construction was initially announced in the year 2013. The new airport has sustained several construction delays and seems like it may open in late 2018.







We got underway fairly quickly. We had a nice take off over a very green Dar Es Salaam.





With such a short flight, I wondered what kind of meal we would be provided. The answer turned out to be a “very small one”. We were served a coffee, some yoghurt, and a bun in cello wrap.



Since there was no entertainment, the entertainment of the flight turned into staring out the windows. I was really happy to see that our flight path took us past Mount Kilimanjaro. We were really lucky as the clouds broke just right so that we could have a clear look. At times, it’s supposed to be obscured from the top. I was a little surprised to see the top covered in snow in the summer months of June. The pilot made an announcement of our pass by the mountain which sent a few people around the plane clambering for a sneak peek. I hope to get up top one day.











We descended toward the airport. We passed over the Nairobi game park reserve on the final approach but I was sadly unable to see any wild animals. The only interesting thing was the airplane boneyard on the north side of the runway at JKIA.







We landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya and pulled up to the gate. As expected, we were surrounded by Kenya Airways planes in their main hub in Kenya.



The last time we were through Nairobi (in November 2013), they had just had an electrical fire through the airport and the new terminal was still under construction. There are new modern visionary airports in the world like Singapore’s Changi, Hong Kong International Airport or even Beijing Capital international airport. Others tend to take a more institutional approach. The new Terminal 1A of the Jomo Kenyatta Airport is one of those institutional varieties. It had great wide new spaces, but was painted in a gold and yellow coloring that looked more at home in a swimming pool of the seventies than a brand new airport designed to be the pride of a country. There also seemed to be quite a few places where the project didn’t look completely finished: fixtures and covers were missing and liquid appeared to be leaking around certain structural steel supports.

We entered out into the new terminal at Gate 15 and found the international transfers desk. Kenya allows international to international transfer without clearing immigration, customs and the necessity of getting a Kenyan Visa. The surroundings seemed a bit more organized than Jules Nyerne in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. We bid goodbye to the other Canadians and headed for the security screening. We were screened through the nude-o-scope and into the departures hall.







Entering onto the departure concourse, MrsWT73 stopped at the new duty free area for an Absolute Lemon while I looked at and debated buying some overpriced $16 USD Tusker Beer fridge magnet bottle openers. We only had a 50 minute connection so we ended up finding our gate right away. We still hadn’t eaten breakfast but by the time we had gotten to the gate area, the gate agent indicated they were going to be boarding in the next 5 minutes. We skipped the sit down food service and forwent the take away options since the tummy was feeling a little delicate for both of us.

worldtraveller73

Kenya Airways
KQ250 – Economy Class
NBO - SEZ (Nairobi International Airport - Mahe)
June 5, 2018
11:10 AM – 3:25 PM
Booked: Embraer 190
Flown: Embraer 190

We had our identification and boarding cards scanned at the entry to the departure lounge. We sat down for 5 minutes and then boarding was called. Although boarding zones were printed on our boarding passes, it was another free for all for the gate today. Access to the plane was via a bus gate. We were on the first bus to the SkyTeam grey livery Embraer 190 which was parked nearby.



We boarded through a ramp stairway to L1 and found our way to seats 19A and 19C. I gave MrsWT73 the window for this leg since she was feeling a little delicate. I couldn’t get us seated any closer to the front for this flight, despite trying at on line check in and during the reservation process.









We got underway on Runway 6. This took us out over Nairobi in a straight easterly direction. There wasn’t much to see on the outbound other than road traffic headed into the city. The cloud cover today was also quite thick.

The Seychelles Immigration Cards were passed out, along with a Seychelles Health Authority card.



A disposable towel serviette service was offered, which was a nice touch for economy class.

We got a free meal (in economy no less) that was presented as “Beef, chicken or vegetarian” I had the chicken, which was chicken in a ginger sauce with a saffron styled rice, a bread roll, and a heavy cake of some sort. I asked for a bottle of wine from the drink cart and was presented with two individual bottles of Stonedale Reitvallei Chardonnay from South Africa which kept me held over for the flight. MrsWT73 commented on the flight “I forgot how tight it was back here [in economy]”.



There was AVOD entertainment on this flight. The system featured 5 new release movies, 5 classic movies and 2 television shows. Each of the shows were pre-empted by a series of advertisements for Kenya (tourism), Kenya Airways and the Flying Blue frequent flier program. Unfortunately, the moving map feature wasn’t available, nor installed. I had some difficulty with the system in that it continually crashed. Some headphones (non-cancelling) were also provided.





We had a few bumps out throughout the 2 hr and 40 minute journey towards the Seychelles. There really wasn’t much to look at out the window other than the thought that we were flying through one of the more remote and infrequent air corridors in the world.

We started our descent. As we did, we got a look at some of the surrounding islands of the Seychelles. It appeared to be very pretty. I was particularly interested at the size of the mountains that were on the island. At one point, I looked across aisle at the passenger side windows and noticed that we were below the mountains in altitude on the final approach.







We arrived to the Mahe Seychelles airport. Pulling up on the apron, we parked next to an Ethiopian Boeing 737 and a Qatar Airways wide body. I had always thought that we’d be one day arriving to the Seychelles on Ethiopian since it is the only Star Alliance carrier that flies through here. For many years, Star Alliance was the largest points currency that we owned so it was bizarre in my mind to be arriving on some other carrier.





We offloaded at a non gate position (no gates here at all) and walked into the immigration hall. The hall itself was really clean and left a great first impression. We had a very officious customs entry. We were asked and had to produce a paper copy of our hotel reservation AND our departing air ticket. We were staying in two separate places and I didn’t bother to print off the other one. I think the whole thing was a bit for show since I offered to dig out my laptop for the second hotel and the immigration official told me not to bother. Surprisingly though, he only gave us 7 days of entry and stay permit; enter and remain until June 11, 2018 which seemed a bit bureaucratic if you ask me. What if I fell in love with the country and decided to stay another week? I always take note of this as departing Peru in 2011, our outbound flight was cancelled but there were issues in us re-entering the country.



We collected our bags; thankfully both had arrived. My bag had all it’s external pockets opened and rifled through it. It was a brand-new Briggs and Riley and hadn’t been used before this trip and had all the outside zippers closed when I had left Tanzania. I hadn’t shrink wrapped it but it was locked. We had a bag X – Ray before customs and went outside to meet our driver.



The Kenya Airways experience was perfectly “adequate”. Although by no means one of the world’s best travel experiences, we were fed, served and delivered to our destination on time. The catering was reasonable and although the entertainment system could be improved upon, for such a short flight it wasn’t a critical mis step. Although not quite to the level of South African Airways, Kenya Airways was much better than our southern African British Airways Comair flights. The best part was flying the odd dog leg route through Kenya on the way to the middle of the Indian Ocean.

worldtraveller73

Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove
Beau Vallon, Seychelles
Seaview Deluxe Non Smoking Room

We ended up at the Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove thanks to a great Starwood Cash and Points Rate. We had a “very good” 3 night stay here at 6,000 SPG Starpoints and $110 USD per night. The regular rate was approximately 280 € ($330 USD). The Seychelles isn’t considered a value destination and had I paid a cash rate, I might have been a little less thrilled about the place. While not the greatest value redemption in terms of return on investment, I was happy that we redeemed points as the hotel hard product was a little tired. I don’t know what it is about the Le Meridien properties but I think they are the second most tired brand in the Starwood portfolio behind the Sheraton hotels as there haven’t been many that I have visited that have been in great condition.

Our driver transferred us in a small Hyundai SUV twenty minutes from the airport over to the Beau Vallon area. I was really struck by the prettiness of the Seychelles and like the airport, the countryside left a really good first impression. We passed through the capital city of Victoria which had rich colonial buildings and seemed (from the car) to have a really easy going vibe.





We passed along the Beau Vallon beach and arrived to the Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove, Beau Vallon. The first impressions weren't the greatest. The first sight of the hotel on arrival turning into the main complex is an older style open lobby accented with a large dark black plastic tarp covering holes in the thatched roof of the La Capella Restaurant.







I was a little worried about the initial appearance of the property when we arrived but we had an overall very nice stay for what we paid.











We got out to the lobby and presented the passports. I knew from checking at SPG.com that the occupancy appeared totally full for the first night of our three night stay. I had applied Suite Night Awards and they had failed to clear. I asked at the front counter about SPG Platinum Upgrades and indicated that we would be willing to move mid stay if an upgrade opportunity presented itself. We were asked to take a seat while they processed everything.

I didn’t really feel like sitting down after all that flying so I wandered around the lobby which overlooks the bay. At about the 7 minute mark, the General Manager came over and introduced himself. He indicated that we had been assigned a Deluxe Seaview Room (a one category upgrade). He also said, without any prompting on my part, that a suite had opened up and would we like to see both before committing to a room? I quickly agreed and thanked him for the options. It was a small touch but one that I greatly appreciated being on a personal vacation stay. With that, and two sets of keys, our porter took us first to the Suite. The suite was on the ground level right across from the ocean. Although it had a proper seating area consistent with a suite, it wasn’t separate from the bedroom in any way. The room was also set back from the ocean a little bit and somewhat shady. I would describe it as the poor man suite in the inventory pool.

Leaving the suite, we checked out the Seaview Deluxe and actually opted for the original room as assigned. It had a great outdoor space and was tiered on a higher level than the beach, meaning that it had a great view of the water.

The décor of the room was a bit tired… I would call it past mid span in the room life cycle. The room had white tiled floor that was looking a little shabby.







One of the strangest features of the room was a shower in the middle of the room. It was taking the open concept to a whole other level.



The living area of the room contained a couch near the windows. It wasn’t used that much, but it was the main couch for the room. It was very thin and super uncomfortable. The Seychelles isn’t somewhere where I would come to spend time sitting on the couch but in the event that you enjoy watching television, I would prepare yourself to watch from bed or in short duration periods.





There is also a small desk at the opposite end, in addition to a small minibar. There was also a small tea and coffee station, which we never had the opportunity to use.





The bathroom was located at the land side of the room. It had two vanities and was perfectly acceptable. Like other Le Meridien properties, the toiletries were Malin & Goetz branded.





We also received a welcome letter from the manager. The main benefit of the letter was to alert us to discounts around the property and spa.



The deck offered a private view space with a deck and chairs, in addition to two loungers. The view was immediately over the pool. Despite this, it never got too loud or distracting.













Since we arrived at 4 PM, we took in an absolutely beautiful sunset on the lanai of our suite. It was simply gorgeous and made me really happy that we stayed on property instead of heading off and exploring right away. Despite the cloudy weather, we had some terrific views.













After enjoying sunset after our arrival, we opted for dinner on the property tonight. We ended up at the casual “La Cocoloba” Bar; a croque monsieur for MrsWT73 and a baguette sandwich for me.

The next morning, we had an morning breakfast at the hotel restaurant. The buffet breakfast was included as part of the SPG Platinum Breakfast benefit. The set up for breakfast was pretty typical. Being that it was very hot outside, they had portable fans set up around the breakfast area.









We set up at the pool for the first day. The pool is nicely decorated in a small format area. Despite bering a small format, it was pretty empty for our stay and it was easy to find chairs.















The property offered on site snorkeling from shore. As with other Le Meridien properties, they offered a posted snorkeling trail, complete with underwater mailbox. Unfortunately, the snorkeling off the house reef is nothing to write home about. I did see some angel fish tangs and parrot fish but they were few and far between.



One of the only negatives of the hotel, aside from the slightly dated product, was that the hotel was a little bit stingy on the bottled water. We only had the usual 2 X 500 ml bottles with the room every day. None were offered by the pool, although it was for sale in the restaurant at 500 SCR ($3.70 USD) for 500 ml. It doesn't seem like a little amount, but when it is upwards of 30 degrees Celsius outside, you tend to go through the water really quickly.


This hotel participates in Make a Green Choice and we received our 1,000 points without any issue.

The Le Meridien Fisherman's Cove is an older property that happens to be in a great location on Beau Vallon Beach. Although probably not the best property on the island, it still offered good value along with receptive service. It's not likely somewhere that I would return to in a hurry, but I wouldn't stay away if it was the only choice left. The pro-active service on the part of the manager was a nice welcome touch and despite giant tarps over the entry ways, it was still a mostly nice visit.