hi from zanzibar!

ok, so as it turns out, our first post from Africa is actually from Stone Town rather than Dar - didn't manage to get to an internet cafe as soon as we thought. We've had a fun few days relaxing at Mikadi Beach Lodge, a beautiful place about half an hour's Tuk Tuk and Ferry ride from Dar Es Salaam. We're so gald that we've been able to spend a few nights in one place, as Africa has taken a little getting used to! Mikadi was exactly the same as we saw on their website and lui especially enjoyed the outdoor showers looking up at the palm trees. We've met some really helpful people so far, particularly our Tuk Tuk driver, who has been great- showing us around the local village etc. Being on the beach for the Eid celebrations was certainly an interesting experience! Thousands of people came to celebrate, so it was pretty busy! God has protected us the whole way, even though we feel completely out of our depth. We've been blessed in so many ways and have felt God's provision every day.

We had a bit of a fright last night - we returned to our Banda, only to find that it was swamped with mice! gross! amazingly we were able to move to another (with a broken lock) and then another banda which was perfect! We think we arrived just in time as they hadn't managed to eat through our bags fortunately.

We caught the 9.30am ferry over to Zanzibar this morning, and got a free breakfast, simple but nice. We're staying in Stone Town tonight, then gunna head to the south east beach tomorrow, to a town called Jambiani. First impressions of Zanzibar are...hot, busy, and like a crystal maze - hope we manage to find places easily!

Hope you're all well,

love andy&lui *