Hole In The Donut Travels

Every country has its own particular energy. The same goes for every city. There are places in this world with which I resonate and others that disrupt my energy flow. In spite of the fact that it was a lovely city, Zurich was one of those places that sapped me completely and [...]

I felt a little puny today, which, if you think about it, is pretty funny. I traveled all over Southeast Asia and Africa, eating everything in sight, including raw vegetables washed in the local water, and never got sick. But two days after I arrive in Switzerland I come down with some sort of gastro-intestinal, [...]

From the moment I arrived in Zurich, Switzerland it was evident that this country is a model of efficiency. It runs like the clockwork for which it is so famous. Two immigration officials met the plane and checked passengers’ passports as we deplaned – there were no immigration forms to fill out. [...]

I have arrived in Zurich, Switzerland, following a nine-hour, overnight flight from Tanzania. Today is a day of walking and resting – but in the meantime I have uploaded all the Tanzania and Zanzibar photos to the photo library. If you’d like to take a look, just click on the above tab labeled ‘Photos’ and [...]

As I leave Africa and wing my way toward Switzerland, I have been thinking about the three words I will assign to each of the African countries I have visited. I have decided not to do this for Zambia, for I only spent a couple hours in this country and then only in the [...]

For the past five days I’ve been staying at the Sunset Bungalows on the northern tip of the island of Zanzibar, near the village of Nungwi. Initially, things did not go smoothly. On my first day I had lunch at the resort’s restaurant on the beach and tried to charge the meal to my room, [...]

The original owners of the grand Arab houses in Zanzibar’s Stone Town competed with each other over the extravagance of their dwellings. This former glory is still evident in the brass-studded, carved, wooden doors that adorn many of the homes along the narrow streets and alleyways that make up the Old City. There are more [...]

Although technically a part of Tanzania, Zanzibar has a much different feel than the mainland. Here the pace is slower and the smiles come easy – just take a look at a few of the happy people I met on my strolls around town:

From the rooftop terrace of the Clove Hotel I looked out over a sea of rusting tin roofs atop old coral and mortar buildings streaked with black mold.
At the edge of town ancient dhows – fat, wooden sailing vessels – bobbed

During my week-long safari and subsequent three-day Maasai home stay I had three showers – suffice it to say that I was definitely ripe by the time I got back to a town. While I would have loved to stay with my Maasai friends for a few more days (and indeed they invited me [...]