Zanzibar, Kenya and more about that Harare Incident

Today is our last day in Zanzibar or the "spice
islands". Very beautiful part of the world. Have had 5
nights over here, relaxing in stone town and at the
beach resorts.

Tomorrow we head back to Dar Es Salam on main land
Tanzania and then up to Ngorogoro Crater for some more
game viewing before hitting Nairobbery in Kenya. Only
1 week of the trip left! Will be very sad to see the
end.

The 2nd leg of the trip has been much more relaxing
and a lot less adrenalin filled. Except, of course,
for being arrested in Harare in Zimbabwe. That was
pretty adrenalin pumping. Yes, I did say arrested.

Dad and I were in Harare to obtain emergency passports
after Dad lost ours in Vic Falls. We had to spend 2
days there waiting for the passports. The first day we
spent wandering around the town. In the afternoon, Dad
suggested we walk past the President's place, which
was marked on the map we had been given at the hotel.
On arriving at the State House, Dad decided to cross
the road, walked up to armed guards and say "G'Day.
We've been told this might be where the President
lives". Yes, he did this, despite knowing about the
political tensions in Zimbabwe and despite being
warned to stay away from military personnel. He, of
course, thinks he was just being a friendly Aussie. I
have another name for it!

Anyway, as soon as he crossed the road, the Zimbabwe
police came out of the gate and started questioning
him as to why we were there. Needless to say, the
things Dad was saying to them did not improve the
situation and then showing them the map with the
President's place marked on it convinced them that we
were terrorists coming to scope the place out.

We were detained at the gates for about an hour while
they questioned us over & over again and wrote report
after report. Of course, when they asked for our
passports, we could not give them! At one point we
were surrounded by about 12 police officers, sentries
and armed guards. Eventually we were escorted back to
our hotel in the tray of a police utility vehicle to
get the police report about our stolen passports and
then taken to Central Harare police station.

In the meantime, at the hotel, I rang the Australian
High Commission in Harare, which was closed, so I
called an emergency number and spoke to a consular
assistant in Canberra and told the person that we were
being taken to the police station. He then contacted
the High Commissioner in Harare who arranged for
someone to contact the police.

After about 3/4 hour in the police station and a total
of about 21/2 hours detention, we were finally
released. Luckily we did not have to pay a fine or a
bribe.

The 2nd day in Harare we decided to try to keep out of
trouble and went to see a movie to get off the
streets!

Next day we flew from Harare to Lilongwe in Malawi to
meet up with the truck.

We spent 2 days relaxing at Kande beach in Malawi and
then another day at Chittembe, also on Lake Malawi.
The people of Malawi are very friendly and the country
is beautiful.

Then a couple of long, uneventful drives up to Dar Es
Salam for the ferry ride across to Zanzibar.

With only a week to go, I am hoping we might survive
the trip. However, there is still the possibility of
being speared by a Masai warrior if Dad tries to take
a photo of one without asking!

That's all folks.

love Meagan