The ending to our "Wright Around the World" tour

A long overnight flight from Egypt to Dar es Salaam (where our seats on the plane wouldn't recline), another short flight to Arusha, and a bout of food poisoning later, we had arrived at the last stop on our "Wright Around the World" tour... Tanzania.
Unluckily for me (Riley), I was supremely ill the day before our safari. Lucky for me, we are travelling in the low season so we were able to postpone everything by one day to allow for my recouperation before setting off to the Serengetti. 
Over our 5 days on safari we toured 3 different parks, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, each with its own unique habitat. Seeing animals familiar to us only in zoos and on the Planet Earth movies, it was amazing to experience them in their natural habitat. We saw baboons and various other monkeys, antelope, gazelle, hyenas, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, lions,  a leopard, heards of water buffalo, and hundreds of thousands of zebra and wildebeast at the beginning of their migration north. We could write pages and pages on all the sights, but in a word...spectacular.
Two of our nights were spent in a fancy safari lodge overlooking the Serengeti with views of the plains, lightning storms and all. The other two nights, in true Riley and Q fashion, were spent camping. Although it's camping much more simplified because someone else sets up the tent while you eat popcorn and they cook and do dishes.
We started this trip on the beach and that's how we ended it, on the beaches of Zanzibar. We are back to the land of fresh fruits and our tummys are thankful after the land of carbohydrates in Morocco where breakfast consisted of crepes, pancakes, crouisants and bread all in one meal. We do miss the "Berber Whiskey" aka mint tea, but there is an equal replacment here, some sort of spicy tea that tastes like Christmas.
We had 9 days on Zanzibar and most of the our days were filled with the same routine... Me waking up at 530 in time to watch the sunrise from bed, reading until Q woke up at 830, breakfast, lounging on the beach, lunch, a game of crib, a pitcher of sangria, a walk on the beach, supper at sunset and asleep around 930. 
We strayed from this routine a few times. The first was a walk to the local village where we toured their school with one of the guys who worked at our resort. He had brought balloons with him so he was a favorite among the kids...so cute! The second event off schedule was to take in a Zanzibar cooking class, again with the guys at the resort, 3 young men who were fabulous chefs. And the 3rd experience was a short, but adventurous fishing trip. The fishing trip started with us heading straight into 10 foot high waves breaking over the reef in our little 15 foot boat. Despite our many doubts, our 15 horsepower motor drove us through the reef break safe and sound where we anchored ourselves among huge rolling waves that were now being produced by an incoming storm. All the rolling waves, coupled with our small boat,  weak stomaches and lack of prophylactic nausea medication, resulted in one of us getting sick and calling it an early day. Thankfully our guide truly was the real deal and he was able to catch 6 snapper in a matter of 20 minutes so the trip wasn't a total wash and we didn't have to go hungry at supper. 
Along with us, the boat took out two spear-fisherman geared with snorkeling equipment, spear guns and their safety line  (a rope with a bouy tied to the end). When we had to cut our trip short, Q and I were baffled when we just left the two snorkelers out in the big waves to fend for themselves until the boat could track them down again. I have no doubt that such an event is a normal occurrence for them.

It's hard to believe we are only two days away from being back in Canadian soil. After a few busy months of travelling we had planned Tanzania to be easy and relaxing. It has rejuvenated our energy and we both have mixed feelings about the end of the adventure. In the end, the excitement to see friends and family wins over.
 We have daily "therapy" sessions with eachother discussing our feelings about reentering society. Hopefully we will adjust.

The things we are looking forward to:
#1- Seeing our loved ones (Weins included)
- Food!! Q has literally made a list of all the food he intends to indulge in as soon as the plane lands
- Ice in our beverages
- New clothes. After living out of a backpack wearing the same clothes for 6 months, our closets are going to seem brand new.
- Laundry days. Bye-bye hand washing in the bathroom sink.
- Consistently hot showers and even the option of a bath
- Bare feet in the shower, no more stranger hairs on the bathroom floor
- No ants, cockroaches, rats, geckos or or other critters
- Fixed prices/no bartering
- Trading in my attractive theft proof purse (no offense Kim)
- Routine, not having to plan daily what to do, where to go, how to get there and how much it will cost
- Wearing my original wedding rings (I left them at home in safe keeping)
- Not having to wear a pony tail!


We fly home on Monday and we will be sure to do at least one more post with pictures of the safari and Zanzibar and updates on how we are coping with reality.

Thanks to everyone for sending their love in emails, phone calls and facebook posts. We can't wait to see everyone in the flesh.