Moving on from Zanzibar => Kenya, Mombassa along with my 31 Sea Urchin needles in my foot

Yes, the governments still say stay away from Kenya, well the British government lifted their restriction a few days ago and only advise against travel to places in the west........ and Mombassa......... BUT, I do beleive its safe......... and I really need to get in some more diving.....

But I'll do it safely, I decided to stay another day in Zanzibar than arrive at 9pm in Mombassa... I hope to fly to Nairobi from Mombassa on the 6th or perhaps 5th rather than my way back plan of like a cheap minibus (flights are dirt cheap to get ppl travelling anyways).

Zanzibar has been great, I've spent more time walking around Stonetown than I care to admit, or that my body cares to spend in the blistering heat. The very nice gentleman at the lodge I am staying at said mid-day it was sqaying like 35 on his thermometer and thats definitly not in direct sunlight. Somewhat luckily its been overcast today and in the mornings, making it slightly bearable, but this is by far too hot for me.

Been there done that, when it comes to all things Zanzibar... my first full day I went to go for a swim and within minutes and not even really swimming yet I had stepped squarely on a Sea Urchin with long black needles.... I ended up with 30 or so (maybe it was 20 and the story keeps growing) needles in my foot I had to limp to shore with. I got back to my room and tried to tweezer them out when a kind lady noticed and provided some local medicine, which included Papaya... later as everyone asked when they say the limp their concerns where immediatly relived when I said "papayed", I just had to say I've been papayed up and thats the local remedy to make it all better. I still have nearly all of them in my foot apparently they are too brittle and break apart if you try and take them out so you leave them and let nature take its course....... Although I managed to get one out that still seemed to cause pain a few days later.

I've been on the preverbial spice tour, a aqua tour (snorking, boat execursion), 2 dives, many many hours in stone tone and last but not least a wonderful evening at a Full moon party last week (including a slightly awakening 2am boat ride home, with some modest winds and lots of water in the boat).

Its been a bit over 3 weeks, coming up on 4 weeks, meaning 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to go =(.

Doesn't seem possible to squeeze in a chimpanzee tour as its on the other side of Tanzania, it would of been neat to see up close in one trip, monkeys, chimpanzees and the gorillas I saw...... Need to leave something for my next trip to Africa I suppose ;)

Last night had a wonderful dinner on the beach, a local taxi guy thats been helping me picked it, a table in the sand, fire, candles, 2 local guys making some music, feet in the sand, warm, yummy Konyagi and Bitter Lemon (think Vodka + Sprite) finish it all off with some coconut icecream..... yummy =)

mmmmmmm, Konyagi..... they say its 40%, but double and triple shots seem far from the equivilant in Vodka, yet its similar to that and rum.. Its a cane based spirit, if it is 40%, gaw I've been drinking way too much of it at once ;)

Dapper-hiding-from-the-mid-day-sun-Dan