MrGroover

Thanks for the TR so far. I like them because of the level of detail and photos. And you are also going to places I've never been so far...

The recliner seats on TK narrow bodies offer in seat power. If you know, where and what to look for, you can even see the proper power outlets in one of your photos. They are simply in the outer arm rest, so either near the aisle or close to the window. Plus they are rather low, so one can easily overlook them.

If you have taken DY's DXB-ARN route or AS' west coast to Hawaii routes on a Recaro seat, you will never ever complain about those recliner seats any more.

roadwarrier

They also changed the schedule to Ouagadougou so have recently been using ET for that same reason. I do miss the extra miles though

Seat 2A

Good to see you back on the road agaIn, WT73 - with a nice trip report to boot. FWIW, back in 2013 I flew Turkish from Istanbul to Kigali aboard a 737-900. The inflight service was the same as I received on the one hour flight between Athens and Istanbul. Things look to have improved somewhat. I look forward to reading of your Seychelles adventure ^

Madone59

This trip report is off to a fantastic start. I'm looking forward to the rest ^^

worldtraveller73

Hyatt Regency Dar Es Salaam – The Kilimanjaro
City / Garden View Room.

We couldn’t get to our end destination on the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania without a night at a hotel in Dar Es Salaam. Hanging out at an African airport between 3 AM and 8 AM after arriving off two international flights didn’t appeal so much, so we opted for a hotel. There aren’t many reasonable options in Dar Es Salaam. At the time of writing, there were none next to the airport so this meant transferring into town. While there were two Protea options, they didn’t look all to appealing. By default, that left us with the Hyatt Regency Dar Es Salaam which is located on the water in downtown Dar Es Salaam. We ended up on a Cash and Points rate since it was a bit cheaper to use the points versus paying a high US dollar rate for our stay here.

We arrived to the hotel by the hotel car and were unloaded promptly. Our bags and hand articles went through an x-ray and we passed through a security check in the immediate foyer. At about 3 AM, the hotel lobby was and our check in was handled by two alert and professional staff the front counter. Our Cash and Points rate was honored and the front desk even indicated that breakfast was included. I didn’t think it was available with the rate but I wasn’t about to point that out at the prices hotel breakfasts were (laughing). I suspected that it was a hotel policy but it turned out to be consistent with our Hyatt stays throughout Tanzania. The Wi-Fi policy and breakfast hours of 6 AM – 10:30 AM were explained. I also asked for a 2 PM check out and it was offered without any problem.

We were led up to the room by the bell man who set up the bags. The room was freshly appointed and clean looking. I certainly was surprised to see a room of this cleanliness and modern fit and fixtures for our stay. Some photos from that night.









There was an in room safe and small fridge. These were accompanied by the usual in room laundry items.





The bathroom was well appointed and with modern fit and fixtures. Toiletries were of the Pharmacopia variety.







We settled into the evening after some 30 hours of travel and vibration before turning into bed at about 4 AM local time.

The next morning, instead of a lengthy sleep in, we got up and went for breakfast. The breakfast featured an eggs / omelette station, cheese, middle eastern foods such as hummus, laboueh and moutrah, along with Asian specialities such as congee and rice. The service provided was friendly and warm, which again I wasn't expecting for a major chain hotel in the middle of an African city.



We took a look around the property. The lobby was fully attended by staff and security. I didn’t snap any photos here since I had read reports of other people getting confronted by management and security. I did snap this one photo from the side which showed the nice (for Africa) water feature in the lobby.



The Level 8 roof top bar was closed, but there was a pool on the first floor (3rd floor above ground) with a peek a boo view over to the bay. It’s not anywhere that I would budget time to spend in if you were looking for some sun, but it’s a reasonable place to stay if you had an hour or two to kill before a flight. It was nice to take in a little bit of the outdoor view prior to the next leg of our adventure. There’s more about the Level 8 Bar on our next stay at this hotel on our way out of Tanzania.









The hotel had a full gym that was attended by a gym attendant on our pass through. It had outdoor views but the views of anything weren’t too exciting.





There were reasonable views of the harbour from the hotel as well.



From the outside, it seemed that there was a black Mercedes embassy car here flying a Saudi Arabian flag on its front. It appeared that this hotel was used for a visiting government delegation thanks to several groups that flowed through the hotel on our visit.





I had contacted the hotel in advance and asked if they could store my rolling bag while we went to Zanzibar since we were coming back through Dar Es Salaam on the way back. They had no issues doing so free of charge. Thanks to my past ATR72 experiences with Air Tahiti, we got charged additional fees for traveling with a rolling case as they don’t fit typically under the ATR72 seats. As I turned over the bag, I asked the front desk if they needed to check inside of it before I locked it up for security reasons. The front desk lady joked with me and asked “Why – is there a bomb inside it?” She was light hearted about it but it was a funny interaction for someone like myself when there was a full security cordon and X ray screening at the front of the hotel.

Overall, the Hyatt was a reasonable choice. It offered everything that you’d need in a central African hotel where you could opt for compound African living if necessary. The nice state of our room was a pleasant surprise for our stay.

worldtraveller73

Precision Air
PW713 – Economy Class (single class of service)
DAR – ZNZ (Dar Es Salaam – Zanzibar International Airport)
May 28, 2018
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Booked: ATR 72
Flown: ATR 72

Zanzibar is located on an island off the coast of Tanzania. You can fly there or you can take a ferry boat. When decided between the two, the boats did not get a great review. The major complaints were overcrowding, hap hazard safety and aggressive touts at each end. We ended up opting for the plane from the mainland to the island both ways.

There were lots of carriers offering services but we ended up with Precision Air which codeshares with KLM and Kenya Airways. Although there were reports that they were having financial difficulties, I felt a bit better knowing that the legacy carriers wouldn’t likely let their customers get stuck on codeshare connections when landing in Dar Es Salaam.

We booked these tickets through the Precision Air website about 45 days prior to travel. The payment by American Express required a PIN code to be sent to our mobiles in Canada in order to confirm the credit card transaction. There were no seat assignments for the reservation and the flight cost $40 USD per segment.

Twenty four hours before, I was able to do an on line check in. It was very primitive (no Apple Passbook boarding cards - LOL) and I was able to take a screen grab of the barcode.

We left the Hyatt Regency Dar Es Salaam Kilimanjaro. Although we had a hotel car booked on the way in, I decided to Uber it back to the airport. When we arrived the night before, I asked at the front how much a taxi back to the airport was and was quoted $60 USD by the front desk person. I don’t know if this was a made up price on the spot or what? Our car transfer in was $40 USD and the taxi street price in was 35,000 TZS ($15 USD). I did a little on line research and decided to go with Uber since there were several cars always showing as available.

I ordered up an Uber XL and our driver collected us. We were up to the Jules Nygere Airport in about 30 minutes and only $7 USD. The wages in South East Africa are quite poor and Uber as a platform isn’t immune to this. Consistent with on line reports, the question on our arrival to the airport of whether we wanted to “pay with cash or pay with card”. I indicated that I would leave it on the card but offer a tip and gave him a $10 USD bill. The driver was most pleased at this. This worked out to about a $15 USD ride back from the city to airport.

We got some glimpses of city life in Dar Es Salaam on our way from downtown to the airport.







It is a pretty bleak drive up on a long straight road from the downtown core to the airport. We actually blended in quite well with the Toyota from Uber XL and we had a smooth ride. As can be expected, there was a lot of humanity to see on the way with people starting to come home from work and their days’ work.





We arrived to the Julius Nyerere International Airport. Although there is a new airport along the way, it wasn't finished and seemed a bit of a ways off from what we saw.







On arrival at the airport Terminal 2, I left MrsWT73 with the bags and went and finally changed some money. It was one of the first few countries that I had seen that had higher rates of exchange for higher denominations of US bills. Although my bills were clean and unmarked, there didn’t seem to me much examination of them and they were traded without question.



We went through the security check point and an X ray and went to the Precision Air check in desks. Our bags were weighed on giant dial scales as we were checked in. Thankfully they didn’t weigh our hand luggage as they were a bit fuller than expected.



We proceeded through to security into the most “African” airport that I’d been in for a while. It was quite dated and run down. The facilities were quite old. Most people were waiting in a general waiting hall. Despite this, there was a coffee shop and a non duty free liquor / souvenir store on the secure side of the airport of all things.





Our boarding time was marked at 3:30 PM but in all things African, nothing appeared to be running on time. There was an angry mob of about 20 people swarming a lonely Fastjet (lower cost carrier) representative who had to convey the news that their Kilimanjaro flight had been completely cancelled. Thankfully, at about 3:50 PM, or T-10, our flight was called to board.









We had a crush at the gate and walked down towards the tarmac to get on the plane. I selected Seats 2C/D at on line check in, and goofed when I realized that on the ATR 72’s that there is no door at the front of the aircraft. There is only boarding via rear stairs on this aircraft type. Attempting to be the first on / first off by sitting near the front didn’t work with this low number seat assignment. We ended up having several empty rows around us so we split up with myself in 2D and MrsWT73 in 3D for the short flight over. We both ended up with window views in this manner.







The captain came on to announce a flight time of 20 minutes and a cruising altitude of 5,000 feet. We had an immediate departure while using only half of the airport runway.

Unfortunately, the windows were a little scratched up and dirty on the plane so the views and photos on the ride over today were not all that great.

Before we knew it, we came in to descent at Zanzibar. Our approach over Stonetown had a big u turn at about 1,000 feet. There were some strange communist style apartment blocks that could be seen from the air next to local houses.





Once we were led out of the plane, we were ushered into a small mini bus to be taken over to the terminal. There was a FlyDubai and a Qatar aircraft that were parked on the apron. Entertainingly enough, the arriving passengers were being processed in the same arrivals hall (international passengers intermixed with domestic arrival ones) as the international groups were filling out their arrival cards in the hall itself.











As we arrived over to the baggage hall, it was old school style with no conveyor belts. The bags were brought in on carts and just dropped off in the hall. It was a free for all to get them. The flights were all mixed up too so you really had to check your tags.




Precision Air was the right way for us to transfer to Zanzibar. It was reasonably comfortable and thankfully we didn’t have any cancellations. Everything worked as it was supposed to and things operated mostly on time.



Zanzibar,
Tanzania

We exited the hall and moved through the throng of taxi mafia. We had at least two unsolicited approaches before we got to the row of drivers holding the hotel signs where we met our driver for the Residence. Our bags were loaded into the car. We were given fresh towels and water as we headed down for the drive to the residence.

The driver announced a drive time of about 1 hour and 20 minutes. It was a bit longer than I had bargained for but it was actually an enjoyable experience. It certainly wouldn’t be something that I would enjoy arriving straight from an international flight. The traffic and people around Stonetown and the airport were much heavier. We passed through Zanzibar’s urban area, passing through neighbourhoods and mosques as we made our way south.











At the end of rainy season, we had some flooding on the drive down. We rode through progressively more rural countryside, passing villages and local towns. As time went on, the traffic and countryside grew thinner and more scenic. We passed through groves of mango trees and monkey forests as we made it to the Residence. We passed through the Jozani Forest which is known for it’s red colobus monkeys. Our driver slowed for us but we didn’t happen to see any monkeys crossing the rope bridges across the road. There were banana and strawberry vendors just off site of the park. It was pretty quiet for when we passed through.

worldtraveller73

The Residence Zanzibar
By Cenizaro
Ocean Front Deluxe Villa

I ended up locating this place as MrsWT73 was insistent on going to an all-inclusive resort. While the resort is not wholly an all-inclusive property, they did offer an advance purchase deal via their website where a 35% discount was offered in addition to half board. The booking was handled by the website without any issues and was “confirmed” within 24 hours by email. Indeed the property looked much more appealing that the older DoubleTree, Hilton and independent hotel properties scattered around the island. Overall, the massive luxury property is an interesting statement on where companies believe that tourism is headed in Eastern Africa. Nevertheless, we had a very interesting stay.



Our check in was handled in the lobby. We were offered a terrific lemongrass and ginger fruit juice that was super tasty and regional tasting Our bags were loaded up into a golf cart and we were taken over to Ocean Front Villa 116.



Our arrival host showed us the features of the villa as we settled in. All the rooms at this property are villas in separate detached buildings. The villa itself was absolutely massive. It featured a separate bedroom, bathroom, living area, outdoor shower. Outside there was a private plunge pool and deck area with lounger and a table and chairs. A combination of photos from the night of our arrival and the next morning in the day time.

















The bathroom itself was absolutely massive. It contained a soaker tub with ocean views.











Our room also featured a cold water outdoor shower, along with an indoor shower that I never used.







The room was well equipped with bottle water throughout our stay. There was also Nespresso coffee available in room.



There were mosquito coils for both inside and outside of the property.

We caught the tail end of the sunset as we settled into our villa. The sun set fast notably fast here with some stellar views from our lanai. Thanks to a west facing villa, the view was specular right from the deck. It was super serene and pleasant.



The first night we had a beach dinner as a themed middle eastern buffet. MrsWT73 was super pleased with this as it offered her all the hummus she could ever want. The buffet was included in our half board package. I’m not usually a buffet fan since I don’t enjoy self gorging myself. Admittedly, a buffet is easier to swallow when you are not paying a high price out front or out right for it. The buffet also had a themed African trio of singers that entertained us, adding a faux but at the same time authentic African feel to the atmosphere.

We turned in for the evening. We were happy to be at our destination for the next four days.

worldtraveller73

South West Zanzibar,
Tanzania

I was up the next morning and had an espresso on the deck at about 8 AM while MrsWT73 slept as she adjusted to the time zone changes. It was beautiful out and we had great views from the lanai. It was breezy, which was okay because it kept away the mosquitos and I didn’t need to apply off / DEET insect repellent. I had visited the Traveling Medical Clinic before our trip and the registered nurse had recommended malaria pills for Tanzania. I ended up taking Mylan – Atovaquone Proguanuil for the duration of our time in Tanzania. It worked out great for me with no side effects.

One thing that is interesting and unique about this property, is that the tide goes way out. It’s both fascinating and an irritant. Unfortunately, and I think this is the only drawback about this property, is that it doesn’t have beautiful sand bars and beaches that you see in the brochures of Zanzibar. The low tide goes way out… perhaps a mile or so. It leaves behind awake of seaweed and ocean debris in it’s wake. When the tide is in, the water is a bit murky, which is not ideal for swimming. On the plus side, the area seems to attract a lot of locals that appear to harvest the seaweed and low tide fishies buried in the sand.

The tides were way out; a remarkable scene for a morning coffee. It was a peaceful wake up in an area that had no one around.











We eventually made our way down to breakfast. We walked along the beach from the villa to where breakfast was being served. We were able to take breakfast outside, which was always an excellent way to wake up.









Breakfast itself was of very good to excellent quality considering we were in the middle of East Africa on an island and 90 minutes from the nearest town. There was an omelette station, a salad station and an excellent bakery section with fluffy croissants. What made the breakfast even better was the setting of eating outside on the beach.









After breakfast, instead of staying at the villa plunge pool which wasn’t facing the morning sun, we headed down to the main pool area. Occupancy at the hotel wasn’t very high so we had most of the place to ourselves. The Residence has a beautifully large infinity pool which was one of the better features of the property.













Hanging out here was a relaxing way to start the trip.

After the day, we retired to the villa for sunset. It was quite comfortable having sunset from the comfort of our deck. It was a bit of a cloudy evening being the shoulder of rainy season. Like the beach, the photos were less than spectacular.

worldtraveller73

South West Zanzibar (continued)
Tanzania

Our second full day in Zanzibar offered more strange weather. It was the perfect storm. It was cloudy today with no sun break. We ended up sitting on the property and reading my book.









After we had enough of the bad weather, we took a walk around the property to self-situate and check it out. The shoreline had some small cliffs with villas set back from the shoreline. Surprisingly, there was no beach access or beach at all.









We eventually made our way up to the spa. The Residence property was massive and it was easily a 7 – 10 minute walk. The spa was nice, remote and tranquil. It had a jacuzzi pool which was not heated. There were one hour massages being offered for special rate of $65 USD or two for $130.













We wandered back to the room for self-catered sundowner cocktails. It was a grey sunset by the villa pool tonight.

For dinner tonight, we went to the Zanzibar buffet. One of the highlights of the trip to Zanizbar were the excellent regional foods. We were able to try delicious Zanzibar chapati. The bread was rolled from dough and fried in front of your eyes fresh. We were also able to try Zanzibar Pilau rice, Zanzibar Coconut Rice and Zanibar Prawn Curry. The prawns were super fresh with juicy prawns that were so well cooked, I can still taste them six months later.

I also got to try some strange local Okra stew, which was tasty without being too exciting. I also had the Urogoyo (Beef and Potato) soup – surprisingly a good combination and tasty. It was somehow thick but not chunky.

This was finished off with dessert – malwa pudding – thick and sweet textured.

Thankfully, there was also international food for MrsWT73 who doesn’t have my adventurous exotic tastes.


On our third day at the property, we awoke the next morning to cloud but it was sunny after breakfast. We quickly had breakfast and went to the pool. I didn't take many photographs again as it was the same scene again.

Tanzanians are charming people. True to perhaps british form, they spend a little time exchanging pleasantries before getting down to business. Many have holdover british names like William or Nancy. We had an easy day at the pool enjoying a little relax time.

The day closed with sundowners with awesome La Motte from South Africa. We collected these from the Istanbul Duty Free store and hand carried it over to the island.



It was very windy and storm at the property with rain and wind up against the villa all night. It was a certainly unique way to spend a night in Tanzania.

worldtraveller73

South West Zanzibar, (continued)
Tanzania

Today was get away day. We had our last breakfast at the restaurant, which was covered inside this morning thanks to the wind. Sadly, there were no more morning patios with a view of the ocean for us.

I ran out onto the pier to take a few last photos of the incredible low tide that this property has. It seems to leave and deposit a lot of sea weed against the shores; which didn’t make for a great brochure quality photograph.

The beach didn't look all too good from land, but makes for some interesting photographs when out on the jetty.



















We had a truly and interesting and amazing stay at the Residence Zanzibar. It would be unlike any other beach holiday that we have had in the past, thanks to the uniqueness of the environment, the isolated nature of this property, and the interesting Swahili cultured food that we experienced. The hard product was exceptional. Unfortunately, the beach was not the best one out there. You won’t get terrific beach photographs, great snorkeling or a clean Maldivian swimming experience here. However, in terms of relaxing and chilling out, it’s hard to beat the remote nature of this particular resort in East Africa.



Our hotel arranged driver was there to pick us up promptly at around noon for our 1 hour and 45 minute drive up to the Park Hyatt in Stonetown, Zanzibar. Our host left us a kind letter cautioning us on island life during Ramadan; absolutely no drinking or eating while off the resort.



The drive was again a fascinating insight into the life on Zanzibar. We passed from exceptionally rural areas, past several masjid’s through the highway which was the vertebrae of many towns. We got to see many small families as we passed by, growing ever more urban as we passed north.















The drive got more commercialized as we approached Zanzibar. This included passing by several markets and older architecture apartment block complexes with spaceship styled observation posts.







It wasn't before long before we were up at the walls of Stonetown and a great stay with the Park Hyatt Zanzibar...

worldtraveller73

Thanks 757. I am pretty sure they use this aircraft on their lower capacity routes throughout Southern Saharan Africa, or other areas of the content. Seat 2A took a trip from Istanbul to Kigali and was one of the first to document it here on FlyerTalk if I recall correctly. The service on board the narrow body was consistent with the other medium haul flights I've flown with them on wide body aircraft. We certainly didn't see any noticeable difference.

Thanks Goaguy. I didn't mind the B737-9 seats myself in terms of a leisure traveler. Although if I was connecting for work, I certainly wouldn't have been overly impressed. I am happy to see that they have up-gauged the aircraft with the A330. I am a bit sceptical of the 737 MAX as the initial reports I have read across industry haven't been wonderful in terms of seat comforts. You are right about the "O" class - that must have been left over from another report. I have fixed it.

I think that the fleet is so large FlightNurse that they have a variety of configurations. Just looking at Seat Guru, it seems they go from an all economy cabin, to a euro business as economy seats with a blocked middle, to larger seats on their Airbus and B737-900 series aircraft.

That seems pretty accurate TPJ. Thanks!

I guess we will find out roadwarrier when the new airport actually opens!! I think it will be a work in progress for a number of years with the construction, transportation and labour issues.

Thanks flying_blue_white. We didn't see much of the new DAR terminal although it will be welcomed when it arrives. The outside looked mostly complete but there were no signs advertising its start date. The old airport is pretty "old school"; which in airport language isn't necessarily a good thing.

I must have missed the power outlets MrGroover! I agree that the Recaro seats look great, but are oh so uncomfortable.

You're really putting in the miles roadwarrier. It can be some challenging conditions throughout Africa.

Thank you Seat 2A. I am enjoying your most recent report. I haven't had the opportunity to "connect" through Africa like you have without a stop over. It makes for some interesting travel flying!!

Thanks again for your support Madone59.

Goaguy

Contractor has some nice inside-shots on their website:
https://www.baminternational.com/en/...alaam-tanzania
What I am most excited about is the possibility of more and better airport lounges. I spoke to someone from Tanzania Airport Authority (TAA) that confirmed that "Some airliners have showed interest in operating their own lounges". Not sure what to expect, but I wouldnt be surprised if TK, KQ or EK would be aiming for this .I hope for *A! I also asked the guy from TAA if priority through security would be a feature, he said yes. But let's see if they go ahead with it.
They floated a tender some time ago for the operation of a new lounge. I sincerely hope it wont go to the same people that operate the current lounge.

flying_blue_white_red

Wow, many thanks for the link, it looks awesome - despite the limited international network, ATLC (Air Tanzania) should get one different, then *A with 5 carriers could use their own too. but hey I will believe it when i'll be sipping a Serengeti in it
Due to WT73 comment below, between DAR and ZNZ, which terminal will open first according to you? at ZNZ structure seems all done, but finishings take age to be completed since it was supposed to be operational a few years ago...

flying_blue_white_red

Obviously this sector is too short for any entertainment (and not sure if this the case for their -72 version also), but I like to fly Precision Air ATR42 because they have drop down tv screens and each time cabin crew put movies/series even for 1h flight.
Looks like you enjoyed your stay in Zanzibar!

It reminds me the stay at Diamonds Dream of Africa in Malindi - Kenya back in June 2018, the property was sublime, but the beaches around due to seaweeds, not really nice!
Any beachboys to escort or harass you everywhere?

worldtraveller73

flying_blue_white - I would guess the DAR terminal. . . the shell seems complete. Things seemed pretty old school in ZNZ; not really sure if a new construction terminal is happening there.

That's an interesting comment flying_blue_white_red. I checked out the Diamonds Dream of Africa website. It's pretty snazzy but, as you mention, there are not many photos of the beach.

The situation of the Residence Zanzibar is so remote, it was way off the tout tourist rail. There weren't any locals around to chat with, other than the staff.

Thank you for the link Goaguy. The interior, as posted, looks vastly different and improved compared to the old airport experience. I am sure that the priority features will be available to all at the right price.