Zanzibar – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

Canadian Guests On ‘The Experience’!

Meet Tom, Lisa and Kate Marr-Laing (above) from Alberta, Canada, part of a family group who stayed last month at Chanters Lodge in Livingstone. Other members of the family, Chris Kate’s brother, as well as Tom’s parents remained at the lodge while Tom, Lisa and Kate appeared as Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The show airs every Sunday from 20.30-21.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station and is sponsored by the lodge.

Tom told listeners that he and his family were just a day or two away from the end of a month long trip to Africa which had included several members of the family climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. “Wow!” We said, and meant it! They had also visited Kenya and Zanzibar as well as of course Zambia. During their Livingstone visit they had also crossed over to Zimbabwe and had travelled to Botswana, via Namibia, as well. Tom and Lisa are both involved with an NGO in Canada concerned with worldwide social justice, as well as having one or two businesses, one which supplies mini storage facilities and the other dealing with the recycling of empty drinks containers. Kate, sweet sixteen, told listeners she is still in high school. Tom and Lisa have been married for 21 years and had met when they were both involved in protesting the US involvement in Nicaragua. “Was it love at first sight?” Wondered Milli Jam. “Pretty much!” They said.

The music on the show was good – we opened with Canadian outfit Magic!’s hit ‘Rude’. We also featured tracks from Cheryl Cole, Gesh ft Kantu and Franciar. Our oldie of the week was ‘Book of Love’ from Peter Gabriel but no-one won the prize of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge which we give to the first person to text us the name of the artist. It was a tough one! “Tune in to dine out, next weekend!” We said. Our pick of the week was Bastille’s ‘Oblivion’ and we closed with a new track from Pharrell Williams ft Miley Cyrus.

Tom and Lisa told listeners that they had loved their high tea on Livingstone Island right on the lip of Victoria Falls where they had swum in the ‘Angel’s Armchair’. They wished the guides would not balance right on the edge! They had also thoroughly enjoyed their one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana, as well as their view of the Falls from Zimbabwe on the day of the show. Tom and Lisa had also very much enjoyed a visit to Livingstone Museum and had been lucky to catch a performance of traditional dancing from the Zambia National Dance Troupe while they were there. They said they would be sad to leave Zambia the following day at the start of their long journey home to Canada.

When asked about his taste in music Tom revealed that he plays the bagpipes and therefore loves music with a Scottish feel to it. Kate told us that Mumford and Sons are one of her favourite acts though she was sorry that they had recently broken up. Talk of UK football was curtailed on this show as our Canadian Guests were more into ‘hockey’ and triathlon!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Kate said she would love to be back in Zambia working to promote social justice. Lisa wanted to have grandchildren, while Tom would still like to be working although he would have reached retirement age! ‘Good luck!’ We said.

1
AUG

Africa, Botswana, broadcasting, Canada, Chanters, football, livingstone, music, Namibia, radioshow, Tanzania, tourism, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe

Tim and Diane Seaborn Brown on ‘The Experience’

We were delighted to have guests all the way from San Francisco, California on the most recent edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild Kaufela’ our weekly Sunday night radio show, airing at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station and streaming live on the internet. Our popular show is known locally just as ‘The Experience’. Each week we offer a great mixture of local and international popular music, interesting and entertaining conversation with our guests of the week, as well as pop chart news from the UK and USA. One thing that makes our programme popular is that we give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge every Sunday to the first person to text us, telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week the track was Dionne Warwick’s ‘Heartbreaker’ – I thought our audience would struggle but we got a text with the correct answer very quickly!

Our guests Diane and Tim Seaborn Brown (above) told listeners they’d been married for 39 years and that Tim had recently retired from his job as a high school teacher of maths and computer science. When we asked Diane if she’d also retired she was rather hesitant with her answer. She did tell listeners she’d owned a pre-school for 25 years educating 100 students at a time and employing 10 teachers. She’d also spent time as a stock broker and as a recreational therapist for children with Down syndrome. Tim hailed originally from New Zealand where he and Diane had first met on a blind date, organized by mutual friends. “Was it love at first sight”? Asked Milimo (as usual). “Yes!” they agreed in unison! “One of the first things we did together was to watch a rugby match” Diane told listeners, explaining that as an American she’d understood very little of the game and totally didn’t understand that no-one was yelling and screaming when one of the teams scored points! “Quite different from the States!” She observed.

The music on the show was as entertaining as it should be. Flo Rida’s UK number one ‘Good Feeling’ opened the account, back to back with One Direction’s ‘One Thing’. George chose ‘Kawilo’ by B-Flow, Maureen Lilanda and Danny, coupled with Ozzy’s ‘Chimutengo Chamango’ for our local tracks, and Milli Jam picked ‘Oh Yeah’ by TI featuring Trey Songz and ‘Party’ by Beyonce (this latter track in honour of Beyonce’s recently born baby.) My tip of the week was the haunting ‘Home Again’ – Michael Kiwanuka’s UK hit. ‘Troublemaker’ by Taio Cruz closed the show.

Tim and Diane told listeners about their fabulous African adventure explaining that they were about half way through their journey. Before arriving in Livingstone for four days they’d spent three weeks on an overland tour through Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho in the company of 17 young Australians. From Livingstone they would leave the following day for Zimbabwe and then on to Johannesburg. A four day safari in the Kruger National Park was on the agenda as well as two weeks ‘lying on the beach’ in Zanzibar. This energetic, loving couple would then spend some time as volunteers in Arusha before taking off for another safari through the Serengeti.

Having been asked the usual closing question Tim and Diane told listeners that ten years from now they’d still like to be travelling worldwide and saw no reason why this should not be the case. We saw no reason either!

17
JAN

Africa, Botswana, charities, education, entertainment, music, Namibia, radioshow, Tanzania, tourism, travel, usa, Zanzibar

Ras Mbisi Lodge, Mafia Island, Tanzania

My first two postings overseas when I was much younger than I am now were Mombasa Beach Hotel in Mombasa and The Reef Hotel, Seychelles – I never did quite get over them!

Now…. Why am I always doing this? Having just got over the beautiful Mustapha’s Place on Zanzibar, from Twitter I now find the gorgeous Ras Mbisi Lodge and I’m immediately back in a ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’ situation! Check the beach in the picture outside the Ras Mbisi front door – if indeed they have or need a front door!

This stunning Lodge is on Mafia Island off the coast of Tanzania and markets itself as ‘barefoot luxury’! Don’t you just love that! Here’s the blurb:

“Welcome to Ras Mbisi Lodge, the first bespoke, sustainably-built lodge on the west coast of the beautiful island of Mafia, Tanzania. We believe in offering our guests ‘barefoot luxury’: a retreat that is effortless, stunning and relaxed. We combine good food, striking accommodation and outstanding natural beauty in this untouched part of Mafia Island, to give you a taste of an informal, but luxurious, piece of paradise.

We also have ready access to some truly astounding wildlife in season, including whalesharks and humpback whales. The area also has a rapidly regenerating reef, and a wealth of marine life. This is reflected in Mafia’s Marine Park in the Chole Bay area; the largest marine protected area in East Africa.”

Ras Mbisi is a small private ‘beach meets bush’ lodge set on 8 kilometres of deserted beach where we offer luxury back to nature accommodation in an informal atmosphere. We are the only true beach lodge on Mafia Island.

Put your feet up and let us look after you. We take the idea of barefoot luxury seriously, and our aim has been to provide a piece of island paradise for you to unwind and relax in. Limited mobile phone and no internet access means you totally get away from the outside world.”

Want to get away from it all! Look no further! Oh! And give me a call, I WANT TO COME WITH YOU!

17
SEP

accommodation, Africa, hotels, richard, Tanzania, tourism, Zanzibar

More From Mustapha’s Place

The latest from this awesome tropical paradise. Talk about mouth watering!

“We have a new chef now at Mustapha’s Place, and we are going to be doing Thai dishes such as crab and coconut cakes, hot and sour crispy squid and lime salad, steamed fish with lemongrass and fried fish with chilli and tamarind as well as classics such as jumbo prawns in red curry paste and massaman chicken curry. We will still be serving an array of Swahili classics as well.

We are also going to be launching our new Casuarina treetop spa shortly (mid-July) and also check out our hotel blog for travel pieces on undiscovered Zanzibar, such as the new Kiwengwa-Pongwe forest reserve, the old village of Unguja Ukuu and the Jambiani cultural village tour.”

How nice is that?!” I seriously want to spend time there, sleep and eat!

3
JUL

food, hotels, restaurants, tourism, Zanzibar

Mustaphas Place, Zanzibar

“Beam me up Scotty!”

Surprising what you find on the internet. I came across Mustaphas in Zanzibar on Twitter. I was having a lousy Friday at Chanters Lodge, which got no better as it went along, and in what HotelChatter might call a ‘cubicle moment’ I wanted to go to Zanzibar immediately! Here’s all about it:

“The rooms at Mustapha’s are one-of-a-kind. Designed organically by Mustapha, Culture and their friends, they vary from smaller bandas with access to quirky (and nearby) shared bathrooms to larger bungalows with their own bathrooms. From the African stylings of the Round Room, to the jungle charm of the Treetop Room, there is a room for everyone.

Treetop Room – nestling up high, this room built with wooden poles is airy and charming, as well as being a bargain.

Green Room – for those who prefer to stay closer to the ground, the green room is a comfortable and affordable option.

Yellow Room – this bigger room is good for those with children, or small groups travelling together on a budget.

Swiss Banda – a sizeable and characterful bungalow with space for four people, but also good for couples wanting a bit of space

Jacuzze – opposite the bar, this bungalow is comfortable and charming – good for couples but can sleep more if necessary.

Africa House – also known as “Honeymoon”, this bungalow is slightly tucked away from the rest, so good for romantics, or families with children.

Yes, we’ll have Africa House please!

Prices for the rooms at Mustapha’s are low compared to most hotels on the island and you get access to the same stunning beach and beautiful plant life as many expensive luxury hotels, but with a more laidback vibe.

Just take me there – not www.mustaphasplace.com but www.mustaphanairticket.com!

13
JUN

Chanters, hotels, tourism, Zanzibar