Zedio starts with a women's project and welcomes volunteers!

For over a month now NGO called Zedio (Zanzibar Educational Improvement Organisation) has been regsitered and more or less running.

Don't let the title fool you – education is seen as a rather wide thing here. Our pilot project has tarted in Matemwe village, where we gave a chance for artisan women to take part in it. We start with a group of talented and inspired women.

Women from Matemwe at a field trip in Stone Town. With designer Farouque Abdela (left in the background) and Khamis Rashid from Colors of Zanzibar the women got familiar with different workshops and products made in Stone Town.

The aim of the pilot project is to help the women to develop their products and to sell them to local hotels, hotel shops and tourists. Designer Farouque Abdela is in charge of helping the group, and there couldn't be a better person for the job. He is one of the most well-known East African designers. Also founding members of this NGO are Colors of Zanzibar and Panga Chumvi Hotel.

If this pilot project goes well, we are looking forward to expand this program to other villages. We would also like to create more products. Right now the main products are bags made out of dried palm leaf carpet (mkeka). They are beautiful, but so much more could be done!

Bags made out of mkeka. Other ones are traditional, the one in the front in the middle is a Farouque Abdela design bag. See how many possibilities this material has!

At the moment Zedio is working only with donations from theq founder members. We wish to get some outside funding in the future (any suggestions are welcome :)

Also, we would more than appreciate any volunteers with expetise in handicrafts, design, project management, brand and product marketing... anything that could contribute! We know we could learn a lot from each other. And we will of course provide help with all the practical issues.

So if volunteering in Zanzibar is on your wish list, please contact us!

Email: info (at) zedio.org
Also by emailing me or Colors of Zanzibar your message will be received by the right people.

East Africa by Bus, part 3: Nairobi and Mombasa

For us used to Tanzania and big cities like Dar es Salaam and Arusha, Nairobi comes as a shock. It reminds me more of some Asian cities than Africa. It's surrounded by parks and modern shopping malls. It has residental areas that have supervision at the entrance, and inside you cannot tell if it is in America or in Kenya. 

Most of our time in Nairobi went just for getting used to it. We saw some very interesting things, such as a photo exhibition called Kenya Burning, portraying the last election riots. Here's the webiste of the exhibition. It was very thought provoking and surprisingly honest, being in a state owned gallery space.

Tall buildings in downtown Nairobi

Street view of Nairobi

The one thing that I didn't like about Nairobi is that it is more expensive than Tanzania or, I guess, rest of Kenya. Taxis in particular are very expensive, but the public transportation didn't look like a very good option either. And the hotels were not cheap. We found some midrange options in the city center, and saw some hostels a bit outside the city. If you want high end accommodation, you will not have any problems finding that!

Check out these cool storks that live in downtown Nairobi!

From Nairobi we took a bus to Mombasa. The company people recommended for us was called ”Coast Air”, even though it was a bus. They promised AC, internet and a luxury bus, so we were ok with paying a bit more than the other companies would take. Unfortunately, this is NOT what we got.

Internet didn't work. Half of the journey the toilet was out of use. Air-con didn't work either. Worst of all, they kept playing same comedy shows and musics very, VERY loud the whole way. The trip was said to take around 6 hours, truth was that it took 8. This, unfortunately, is very usual.

In Mombasa we headed to a hotel in the city center. This was a grave mistake. The city center is busy, noisy, and has next to nothing to see or enjoy. A walk in the Old Town was a spooky experience – after being used to Stone Town, it felt like a ghost town, or an open-air museum. There were people living there, but no hotels, no restaurants, and all the shops were closed in the evening time.

Fort Jesus in Mombasa

Example of an interesting building in the Old Town of Mombasa

We headed back to Old Town the next day, and went to the Fort Jesus – basically there is nothing else to do in the Old Town than to visit different museums. It was enjoyable though, and if we had more time, we would have visited the other museums too.

But we needed to head to the beach to get a look at it.

First we visited Bamburi beach, and did find one nice hotel to stay in. It's just that at that time, we didn't appreciate it enough and decided not to stay there. But after that, we saw what else Bamburi beach had to offer – and we were not too impressed! Depressing, badly planned hotels with ridiculous prices, one after another after another...

We ended up staying in Nyali beach. Not in the beach – it was full of big, big resorts. We stayed a bit behind the beach in a reasonably priced apartment hotel, which actually made us quite happy.

All in all, Mombasa was not the paradise I was expecting it to be. And I left it with a strong feeling that maybe there was more to it, maybe we didn't find the best spots after all. I truly hope so – or I feel sorry for the travelers who waste their money to be in these crowded hotels on this not-so-amazing beach.

East Africa by bus, part 1: Dar es Salaam - Moshi

This blog has been very quiet for some time, for a good reason – we've been traveling. And now I want to share some travel tips with you.

Now in East Africa (in the world in general?) there are three main ways of transport. The most convenient one is to drive with your own car – you get the scenery, possibility to stop wherever you want and more importantly, whenever you want (toilet brakes are a bit scarse). Second most convenient one is probably flying. Not very cheap, sometimes not on time, but generally quicker than going overland. Then thirdly there's the way most of us use – bus. (There are also some train connections and of course ferries at the coast and big lakes.) Of course the good thing about buses is that they are ecological and you get to travel with locals.

You can also walk like the Maasai or bike or hitch-hike (not recommendable!) or take daladalas (local buses) from one town to the next...

Dar es Salaam skyline

Well, we took a bus to go around the region. The route was Dar es Salaam – Moshi – Arusha – Nairobi – Mombasa – Tanga – Dar es Salaam, and then back to Zanzibar. The aim of our traveling was to meet our cooperation companies and to see some hotels and tourist attractions. But there's a lot in this experience that would be valuable for anyone traveling Tanzania & Kenya by bus!

Dar es Salaam was our starting point. Now, Dar is a very chaotic city with massive traffic jams and plenty of people who are ready to ”help” you in the hopes of some extra money. As for us, we are very familiar with Dar, but less familiar with the bus companies that operate the route Dar – Moshi.

The main bus station, Ubungo, is far from the city center and in the traffic jams it might take an hour to reach the place. Also, the taxi will cost almost as much as your bus ticket. So even though the main bus station is the easiest place to find all the bus companies, compare prices and get tickets (all while at least 5 people explain to you how you should follow them and that and this bus doesn't exist), going to Ubungo is not the best choice. Then again, it is important to get your ticket beforehand, because without it you will end up in the most horrible bus that no-one wanted to book.

There is a place in Kisutu in the city center where there are several bus company offices. This is the place to go, at least if you're heading up north. You will find a square in the end of Libya Street, accross from the petrol station. Go there and ask around to make an educated choice. Dar Express wasn't good but wasn't bad either – maybe Kilimanjaro Express would have been a better choice.

It takes around 10 hours to reach Moshi, there were 2 resting stops on the way. Most buses continue to Arusha, which is another 1,5 extra hours.

Khamis in Moshi with our freshly bought ngoma (drum)

Moshi is a nice, well-organized city and therefore preferrable option over Arusha if you ask me. It's also the best place to be if you're thinking to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The mighty mountain is very near, but almost constantly covered by clouds. Hint: If you don't have time to climb Kili, you can still get near to it and enjoy some beautiful waterfalls and nature! And if you're too busy to even do that, then at least drink the beer (and if you don't drink alcohol, drink the Kili water). People in Moshi are very proud of their mountain.

There are several nice and budget-friendly hotel options in town. Also there are plenty of restaurants, and if you don't mind the taxi ride to the suburbs, you'll find even more nice restaurants and some popular bars, such as Glacier.

Kilimanjaro in the early morning, just before the clouds get to it

If you are enchanted by the mountain or just by the fact that Moshi is a nice city and the weather in there is somehow human-friendly, there are many volunteering options there. We would recommend Tanzania Volunteers.

We would have loved to stay longer in Moshi. Thanks to our wonderful host! I will come back! And climb Kili!

If you want to climb Kili, please contact Colors of Zanzibar - despite the name, we know these things. And we know the best guides now.