National Museum, Dar es Salaam

For ivory.

I visited this museum for TZS 6500. There is a nice origin of man exhibition, and a modern historical section dealing from about 1500. I quite liked this, but it would be better with a clearer exposition of the tribes, their circles of influence and what the Germans were doing there and how the colonisation and deconolisation took place. Indeed I am now seriously considering reading the historical section of my guidebook. The natural history exhibits were all closed except for a stuffed lion. I was tempted to ask for a partial refund, but did not do so as the man giving back my bag said he had never seen a German camera before. There's also a small, expensive cafe. Melachi reflects that this is the only sight worth seeing in Dar, and it is half shut.

From East End to Land's End - Susan Soyinka (2010)

This is an extraordinarily well-presented tale drawn from a mixture of oral, documentary and photographic sources about the evacuation of the Jews' Free School in London to Mousehole in Cornwall during the Second World War. The picture of both the East End and the fishing villages is vivid, tender and uplifting; and almost entirely without sensation -- except that it seems to have been  true. Possibly the best 'history book' I have read (and I have read a lot of them).

Hail the jumping 'brother from Mozambique'

I lunched on grilled red snapper which was very nice for TZS 20k with beer at 5k at Gerry's bar, which is on Nyungwi beach next to the Doubletree Hilton, Zanzibar. In the evening there is live music, loud on Tuesday and quiet on Sunday. On my Tuesday it started with a general Caribou with excellent lead guitar but covers (such as 'Sweet Caroline'), and though I like 'Hotel Cal-ee-fornia' as much as anyone it was not quite what we were expecting - the promised reggae set finally appeared following the belated arrival of the jumping "brother from Mozambique", with much dancing into the small hours -- as the mainland Rastas slowly emerged from the shadows, bringing remedies herbal and female, for a small consideration. While they were distracted in their ascension, I made my escape along the beach back to the hut, though was accosted by a further brother demanding 10k for no obvious reason, who finally gave up. Though if he had mugged me, using his African skills, he wouldn't have got much more than the 10k as Gerry's is rather expensive. And thus I left the glampackers swaying by the shining ocean -- while the inland locals cowered in foul hovels, and drew their plans against us.

Jambo Brothers Bungalows, Nungwi Beach, Zanzibar

I stayed 4 nights at the Jambo Brothers Bungalows, Nungwi Beach, Zanzibar in November 2016. They are half a dozen concrete huts directly by the sand next to East Africa Divers, being charged USD 30 per night without aircon on walking up, having been kindly guided there by a gentleman who met the dalla dalla (bus) from Stone Town (which is TZS 2000). It has wifi from its Waves restaurant, a shower with hot water, and a little patio. The room was large and could do with at least some plastic chairs as furniture to add to the bed, which had a net, and its bedside table. The manager is Mr Ali, an older man in a Swahili hat who likes his payment in advance. It has no sunbeds, though some are available at nearby bars for the price of a drink. The location is on the Nungwi strip -- the area roughly between Spanish Divers and the Doubletree Hilton having a dozen or two bars and restaurants, most of which serve meals at around TZS 15,000 and beer at 4000. Breakfast was included with omelette, instant coffee, juice, and fruit. The beach is beautiful but there are lots of Massai and people from the mainland selling things which can be annoying, though they seemed harmless. The village itself is a kilometre inland; gloomy locals reside in a miserable collection of half-demolished concrete slab huts. Possibly there are some slightly better bungalows for a slightly lower price elsewhere; I was not sufficiently bothered to search them out.

The Bedroom Hotel, Dar es Salaam

View

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did visit the Bedroom Hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I confess I was a little intimidated on entering this place due to the demolished ambience of the street and the suspicious attitude of the receptionist. However, the room was fine with aircon and ceiling fan and was nicely cleaned. The construction was not too noisy, possibly because the aircon was very loud. It is in a maze of small streets close to the market of Kariakoo and the Fire metro station, a medium walk to the centre of Dar, though this is not a centre one would feel obliged to visit more than once. There are a couple of barbeque stands a block to the east and even two bars, though generally rather dark and muslim at night. The breakfast left a great deal to the imagination. They quoted me TZS 25,000 for a taxi to Coco Beach and I said I had last paid 15,000 (not precisely true as I have never visited the country in my life); which is what they then charged. Though the taxi driver seemed quite pleased with himself so you could probably get it lower. This is a safe hotel at the price but if I stay there again it would mainly be due to familiarity.

Taberna de Nino, Calle Tanausu, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote

The food at this taverna was very tasty, copious and well presented, though the kitchen was a bit slow. These facts my be related.  They also charged for the bread though offered gratis a vodka and caramel digestif.

Endeavour Sailing School, Puerto Calero, Lanzarote

I did a week's 'Competent Crew' course at the Endeavour sailing school in Lanzarote, in June 2016, not having previously stepped on a yacht. Whether I am now remotely competent I rather doubt, though I did finally manage to tie those rather tricky knots to secure the boat to the pier at the end! The staff, instructors and other students were very pleasant and patient.

Download 2016: Rivers

Let it stop!

Following a mysteriously flat battery we arrived and were equally mysteriously directed without any queue to a prime and dry parking spot at the near side of the west car park and set up in time to watch a customarily commanding performance from Rammstein. The evening was notable for strange circus acts including 'sword swallower' and 'Mongolian Boy' and heavy disco to 3am in a general mud.

Next day the mud had churned itself into a fine, thick ooze.

Rivers

I was able to confirm that the traditional noodle stall had more and better noodles than the chain-like 'Noodle Hut'. One of the music stages had been replaced by some wrestling arena and, unless I misunderstood, some wrestler was later offered a 'most metal' award on the main stage. Just as there is only one true Dr Who, there are only two true wrestlers, and this gent was neither Big nor Giant. But the people to their own.

Inside

I cannot remember much about the music on Saturday though can confirm Trooper is better than Hobgoblin. Except for the Black Sabbath set, which recovered from a horribly out of tune guitar playing the initial tritone to a set of old material, with myself a half dozen heads from the front -- though eagle eyed observers spotted that there was at least a double of the lead vocal overdubbed. Sunday was wondrous, well, muddy, indeed there were rivers of the stuff. I enjoyed Amon Amarth, Electric Wizard, Gojira, and Iron Maiden showcased their new album, though not the really long song about the airship. It then stopped raining, though the adventures continued as the M1 was, in another mystery, closed. 

Desertfest 2016: The Sunday Sessions

Blood donor.

I did attend the Sunday of Desertfest. Camden, 2016. Highlight for me was Blood Ceremony, after which I legged it down the street to see Electric Wizard from the back of a very crowded Koko. I also quite liked what I saw of Trouble, who have unaccountably been off my radar for their 40 year existence. Godflesh, the closing two-
piece with sequenced drums, I found puzzling.

Necrowhatever

NecroDeathMort similarly, a fuzz of old style synths accompanying a bass. Witchsorrow started it off nicely.

Hesperia Lanzarote hotel

Cliff path just outside the hotel

We stayed at the Hesperia Lanzarote hotel in Puerto Calero in June 2016, on 'bed and breakfast'. It is a large, very pleasant complex on a vaguely Japanese theme with several swimming pools by a small rock beach with unfailingly polite and efficient staff.  Indeed, so nice that once I was lying by the pool, in a grizzled phase, and a manager asked if I was a client of the hotel. There is also a fine spa (with an attractive €60 package for the stay), and small gym, but with few 'animations'; however several cats. It is ten minutes walk from a dozen restaurants and some shops near the marina, but otherwise not very close to anything. A bus runs from above the marina about every hour to Puerto del Carmen, a bigger resort. Lanzarote itself is quite bleak, being mainly volcanic rock, and a day tour will see to it.

Cape Horn to Starboard - John Kretschmer (1986)

A charming, entirely unaffected story of a young man learning to sail and eventually rounding Cape Horn. Almost in passing, he mentions that two much better funded sailing vessels planning to do so at the same time, sank. I do not think anyone reading this could believe that Mr  Kretschmer was, at least by the time he got to the Cape, other than a very skilled yachtsman, but still his modesty and calm is inspiring. Though now I think I will stick to the Canal.

Doom over London 2016: the Saturday Sessions

Rumble

Sludge

I arrived at the Saturday Doom over London 2016 Session, on 26 March, to see the end of the King Goat (and admire the hood), followed by Eye of Solitude, who rumbled vocals with a magnificently slow, nosebleed- inducing bass rising to a fine double-time finale ('double-time' being relative and still splendidly slow). Though their second song was much the same. Torpor were quite interesting, a 3-piece with a more experimental sludge. Sea Bastard again mainly amazed by the tattoos on their guitarist, which however represented beasts of the sky, rather than the deep. Sea Buzzard, perhaps?


For Slabdragger, I thought I detected a riff from exposed guitars towards the end, but it was not confirmed; likewise Ataraxie entertained a dissonant three-guitar counterpoint at one point, which also failed to launch. I preferred Officium Triste, presenting a much fuller and more structured soundscape. Bossk brought an aimless though not exactly unpleasant instrumental, similar to the largely wordless Esoteric, who came dangerously close to drum and bass at some points. I found Hooded Menace heavy in a simple way, and largely uneventful. Moonspell closed with a theatrical presentation, at the poppy end of doom, a bit like Lacuna Coil but without such clear tunes or the Italian lady; although some think the Coil not that good either.

King Dude: 13 February, London

A kingdom for him
somewhere?

The venue was an upstairs room in the Lexington, a rather large pub near Islington which sells an IPA for £5.75 a pint. Where better to be insulted by a gin-swilling American 'King Dude' strumming, from time to time -- in the course of a shambolic performance -- of his love for the Dark One? In fact, I could not hear any of the lyrics, except when it came to "Lucifer's light", a song which was really rather good.

He was preceded by a guitar gentleman by the name of "Naevus", desponding like a Cohen without the poetry. But I, Melachi, liked best the first band, a three-piece "The Howling Truth" with a bass beating throughout like a heart over mixed with free-ish guitar solos.

In the Danakil depression

Convoy

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did visit the Danakil depression, in Ethiopia on the Eritreian border, on a 4-day trip with ETT, booked (for $500, after some discussion) from Ephraim at the Africa Hotel in Axum, including "free" minibus transfer from there to Mekele. I wouldn't go on this trip again if you paid me $500, because the climb to the top of the volcano in the dark was really rather tiring and only fit for the young, or experienced trekkers, not helped by Alfar guides saying "let's go" whenever I tried to have a rest on the way down. The facilities everywhere were very basic, including two (surprisingly pleasant) nights under the stars. However the driver (Sirak) and guide (Solomon) and the cook were all very good. This was just as well as I confess I booked this trip mainly to get away with some other tourists from assorted beggars, chancers, children and dogs who were making the country rather tiresome, and so was surprised to find myself alone in the 'zero' landcruiser with these fellows, from time to time augmented by 2 guards with AK47s. Indeed security was plentiful, with half a dozen soldiers on top of the mountain, and another camp
being at a military base. The landscapes -- the volcano itself, the desert, camel salt caravans and sulphur fields -- were wondrous strange.

Cook (in green)

Strange