Quarantine Bay

I awoke at 4am to discover I was drowning in my own snot. Damn, I thought I’d escaped this trip without getting sick. Guess not :(. At least I had a large amount of the 30p aspirin left, so I took one and got back to sleep.

Not much luck in the morning through, I was even worse. Tired, high temperature, sweating profusely, upset stomach, general weakness, and of course the aforementioned snot. Good job snorkelling was the main activity I had planned here! I managed breakfast, as you are supposed to feed a cold, and so also flu I guess. Afterwards I texted mum (a pharmacist) to see if I should continue with anti malarials. Yes, she said, and she also decided I might have malaria and so grilled me about the symptoms. Our conclusion was no malaria, though I discovered that rather than knowing the symptoms previously, she had just looked them up on google. I’m surprised I didn’t get a web diagnosis of cancer like normal!

What my view would have been if I could’ve summoned the strength to face sunlight

I lay about feeling sorry for myself all day, until 4 when I had to go and make sure I had a room for tomorrow, as Exodus had passed none of the additional information about rooms to this hotel. Thankfully everything was sorted, and I got some chips and a coffee to keep myself alive.

At 7:30 was the final group meal, which I decided I had to go to. I hadn’t given Patrick his tip for starters, and he has been an excellent guide, maybe the best I’ve had! I did not have food, but I had a cup of tea to soothe me, and managed to acquire 2 small bags of peanuts from Andy and Suzanne to take tablets with (we got them on the plane to Zanzibar, and I ate one bag and the time, and used the other to take my malaria tablet at lunch). I said goodbye to Patrick, found out what time everyone was leaving the next day so I could lurk in reception and say goodbye then, and went straight back to bed.

I took an aspirin again, and tried to sleep... but wasn’t overly successful, the reason being that I was feverish and somewhat delirious. Thankfully there was no mosquito assaulting me like in Madagascar (Africa is bad for delerium huh), and this time instead of attempting to clear the phlegm from my lungs one tube at a time (Madagascar again), I was on safari. But the safari still involved phlegm somehow, and the location we were touring was my bed. I started in the mountains (where I had piled pillows in an attempt to sleep upright), and moved to the plains (lying flat on the bed where your feet should go) and back many times. I’m not sure what I was looking for on my imaginary safari, but I know that we didn’t find it. Also I had the chorus of one of the songs on my Safari playlist going on repeat in my head for ~5 hours (“Call Shotgun” by Lauren Hibberd: I always have a playlist I play on repeat on big holidays, then when I hear a song from the list I’m reminded of the place). I was “waking up” every 30 minutes hoping most of the nigh had passed so I could get up. All in all not a fun time.

Thankfully at around 2am my fever broke and lucid was returned! I slept through then until 7:30, and wasn’t half so snotty, plus my fever had mainly gone, and in general I felt a lot better.

I still spent most of the day in bed, because I was horribly tired, but managed to go and see everyone off to the airport/their other destinations on Zanzibar. At tea time it was just me, Andy, and Suzanne left, and they asked if I wanted to go for tea. I had more or less recovered my appetite by now, and having had nuts for lunch I was hungry enough, so we went to a place just down the beach, with a VERY quirky owner and menu. I had Kingfish curry, which was nice, though I should’ve opted for rice instead of Zanzibar spices potatoes on the side!

T.I.A indeed!

Tomorrow would be my last day here, so I needed to charge my batteries for the night flight. No sleep training today!