Zanzibar is a place I often heard of as a child like Timbuctu and Madagascar and I never really thought that they existed outside of the story books. Well Zanzibar does and it’s perfect! I decided that my trip to Tanzania would not be complete without a few days on this island so I traded up the opportunity to go on yet another safari and put this money towards 10 days by the see with just me!
For approx $240 AUD return you can get a 1 hour flight with Precision Air from Arusha airport to Zanzibar International airport. Most of the workers here go into town and pay the travel agent cash only to organize flights, accommodation etc but me being me decided to organize my own itinery and flights. Thanks again to the user friendly www.rumbo.com I was able to quickly work out which airline covered this route and book it using credit card, unlike the painful travel agents here.
Arusha airport is about a 30 min drive from town and 25,000 taxi ride (yes muzungu price as it should be much cheaper). I was a little nervous at the airport as we sit outside in diamond wire fenced off areas and wait for them to call us up – there’s no departure board - ok there is a chalkboard but it hasn’t been updated in a while. Checking was only one counter open for all destinations (Dar and Zanzibar ) and you remember those old scales you could stand on and put money to weigh yourself outside supermarkets – well that’s how they weighed your bag then some guy carries it off for you.
Some Italians nearby (and there were many for this next part of the trip) anyway, these Italians had the giggles as they watched staff push and pull out on of the smaller planes for people to board – glad this was not my flight but I certainly was worried when I saw it! The Precision Air plane came and it was smaller but brand spanking new – thankfully! The ride was smooth and I even got to see the snow-capped tops of Mount Kilimanjaro .
I wasn’t too sure what to expect in Zanzibar , all I knew is that it was Ramadan and the majority of Zanzibarians are Muslim so many businesses would be closed and that I should be covered. I was greeted by a young guy holding a A4 paper with my name scribbled on it and followed him to his van. It was as usual a little crowded with touts fighting for business but I’ve decided when I arrive in new places now, I’m a little over the excitement of getting a good deal for a transfer, so avoid the headache and pay a little more for the luxury ;). I had booked him through Eco & Culture Tours and was really happy with the manner they dealt with me over the email – fast, courteous and we understood each other. It took us about 20 min to get into Stonetown where I would stay for the first 4 days of my stay – it was not as “Arabian Nights” as everyone was making it – more a bunch of run down buildings with the white paint peeling and rusty corrugated iron roofs.
I arrived at the Hotel Shangani and was pleased with the façade and hoped the inside was equally as welcoming. It wasn’t over the top and at $55USD per night perhaps it was a little steep in comparison to guest houses near-by, but I got my own bathroom, TV, double bed, fridge and mosquito net – as well as a nice sunset view from my room. I could hear the call to prayer from my room - although I must admit it lacked the exotic sounds of those in Istanbul, Turkey.
I went for a walk around Stonetown that night and decided to sample the food at the Lonely Planet recommended Archipelago - part owned by an Australian woman. The servings are generous, reasonably priced and the staff polite. I was just disappointed that the ambience just didnt exist - I was really hoping for something with a Zanzibar feel rather than a typcial cafe from back in Australia. Also there were only a couple of true Zanzibar dishes on the menu and I found this a common problmen throughout the area - then again can I dare say this is true for all cafe's targeting tourists throughout Tanzania? I also tried Monsoon - the staff harassed me on my first night in town with all sorts of compliments and then when I decided to give them a chance a few days later the place was empty and I just didnt feel like I was in Zanzibar with a menu of burgers and salads.
I had a cocktail during happy hour at Livingstones - another Lonely Planet recommendation and at least this had some ambience, great staff and a perfect sunset location on the water - if you enjoy watching the locals argue about who is unloading the trucks and their goods as they come off the ferry - which I thoroughly enjoyed the circus! Strangely enough one night I ended up in a Indian restaurant and I must say the chicken tikka rocked! It's on the corner opposite Monsoon and Archipelago and is beautifully decorated. Everyone says that you must try the foods at the evening food market in Fordhani Gardens along the water and yes I agree. It;'s got a great atmosphere with tourists and locals out enjoying the cool evening air and a stroll within these gorgeous parklands - a real treat if like me you have come from Arusha where the closest thing to a park that I can find is a golf course!
It was actually perfect for a romantic stroll but on my first evening through this area I had to deal with a carload of Rasta's abusing me for not talking to them - needless to say my pocknt knife was ready to go in my hand as I put my head down and walked quickly to a well lit area as I was a woman alone at night - not so smart. In the actual gardens there are loads of stalls set up after sunset serving fresh seafood BBQ skewers of fish, meat, octopus etc. Zanzibar pizza - which I forgot to try so have an excuse to go back for - like I needed one! These markets reminded me of those in the main square of Marrakesh, minus the madness and with a more relaxed and romantic feel. I did get to enjoy these gardens on my last night in Zanzibar after befriending a girl working at the dive store I went out with that day and it was a beautiful walk complete with much missed ice cream :)
As usual I crammed so much into my itinery for the 10 days in Zanzibar, but I have no regrets I really had a lot to do. I managed to find a great local tour company - Eco Culture Tours - they were the one's that arranged my arrival pick-up from the airport as well as a half day city tour, dhow boat out to Prison Island and Blue Safari snorkel trip.
The half day city walking tour and Prison Island tours were both with my own private guide and affordably priced under $100 USD each. He took me on the slave trade walk, where they used to unload the slaves kidnapped from different parts of Africa and transfer them by sea bound in shackles around the neck, wrists and ankles and march them a good few kilometeres through town to the now St Monica's cathedral, where they were placed 50 persons per concrete room with a low ceiling and no food, water, lights or toilet. It was really sad and even the tour guide said that most Zanzibarian's have ancestors who experienced this terrible trade and it's soemthing they dont like to remember or talk about. It reminded me of the school in Cambodia where they torchered so many innocent people during the genocide.
After this historical insight her took me through the spice markets since the island is very well known for their trade in this as well as the central market where locals bargain daily for fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meat. My guide was a little worried to take me into the meat market incase I would feel ill as it's open air and the stench of hot meat swarming with flies - but I insisted he take me through as I'm becoming immune to such smells and sights after witnessing the kids playing with guts in Kathmandu, the severed camel head in Fez, Morrocco and the open air butchers I see daily in Arusha. I really wanted to take photos but only managed to sneak one since its a very conservative Muslim community and I didnt want to upset anyone.
That afternoon I travelled out by dhow boat with my guide to the privately owned Prison Island - no longer operating as such a thing, but now accomodation for tourists as well as home to the huge land-dwelling turtles imported from Seyechelles, weighing in excess of 100Kgs each and ageing between 150-200 years old. I couldn't beleive how fast these guys moce - I had a handfull of fresh spinach leaves and I feared for the safety of my hand as I was charged by a grouple of these giant tutles all wanting a feed - it was a slow motiuon charge!
As we walked around the island, my guide and I discussed how he felt about the fact that a) it's Ramadan b) it's a Muslim city and all the tourists paraded around in bikinis on Prison Island and the surrounding beaches of Zanzibar. He said he did understand that it's culturally acceptable for us back hom, but was a little annoyed that tourists dont respect local customs and at least cover up once they have finished their swim. I really struggled to see girls walk around in bikini's in front of men who are trying to focus on Ramadan only to have naked bodies parading around them! So when the time came for me to swim and go out for a snorkel with my guide I was a little stressed about how to handle the situation so decided to wear my boardshoarts and singlet top into the water and then wrap up once I had finished my swim in a Kanga both around my hips and shoulders. I later decided to buy a rash vest from the divwe shop to wear for the rest of my swims on the island rather than feel disrespectful in just a bikini top or singlet top.
My snorkel of Prison Island was nice - a little scary since I have a fear of open water and here I was jumping off a dhow into the middle of the ocean by myself and totally going against my odd's minimising policy of always swimming in the ocean around big groups of people in order to minimise my chance of shark attacks :) I stayed close to the boat but once under the water didn't really care too much about sharks eating me since the coral and fish were so beautiful. I saw an abundance of sea urchins and starfish and these cute little zebra fish. I love the fact that my camera goes underwater as I have gone so snap happy this trip!
The following day I was driven out of town approx 45min to an area called Fumba where the dhow boats loaded with approx 14 tourists depart everyday as part of the Blue Safari tours. I think the owner is a Dutch lady and she is making a killing! She employs local staff to take out a dhow to different island for snorkelling and a delicious lunch on a private island. My boat had a mixture of Russians and Italians - there are an sbundance of Italian tourists in Zanzibar and I'm sad to admit that the majority of them are rude travellers. The family on my boat complained that they were getting wet on a boat (?!) and then I noticed that the wife's figers were laden down with heavily encrusted diamond rings - in Africa!!! Needless to say I changed boat as soon as we got to our first destination and met a lovely South African couple whom I became their 3rd leg for the day. The wife admitted as I was leaving she wanted to take me home and look after me - I have a feeling she was missing motherhood, but they were very sweet and we had some great conversations - like I learnt South Africans have a whole vocab of slang going on and I wrote out so many words in fits of lafter as they told them to me.
Aside from the great Eco Culture Tours, I thoroughly recommend One Ocean Dive Centre in Stonetown and also with a branch in Matemwe. You can get the 7am shuttle from Stonetown with them for $10USD and it takes an hour to their Matemwe branch where at 8.30am you board a dhow out to see for a fantastic if not the best snorkelling I have ever experience in the WORLD! Move over Great Barrier Reef I say - I felt like I was in an aquarium there was soooooooooo many fish around me - I just had to put my hand out and I could touch them. I saw sea snakes, puffer fish, octopus and so many fish I have never seen in my life. As we stepped out from the Matmwe dive centre onto the beach it took my breath away - I had only seen photos of white sandy beaches so beautiful and the sand was so soft. All I kept saying was wow and smiling. We boarded the boat and thank goodness I took sea sickness tablets as everyone was looking green about 30 min into the choppy ride. We dropped off the divers at one point then boarded the dingy boat to a reef that was mindblowing - I just cant describe the beauty of the marine life.
This reserve is called Mneba Atoll and I would snorkel and dive there a million times over and over again! Our snorkel guide was brilliant - there was me and a couple on their honeymoon and we would follow him around as he dove down to point things out to us. I was of course miss snap jap happy taking a million photos of everything that moved. One fish even came up to the camera and smiled - I was so happy. The whole hour of snorkelling here I had a dumb grin on my face and kept swallowing water because I would get excited and dive under forgetting to blow out. On the boat wwe were given a delicious feast of fresh fruit, samosas, chapati and some other local cuisine. I really didnt think that Indian food played such a huge part in the Zanzibarian cuisines - of course Im very happy about that fact!
Our second snorkel was equally as beautiful but with a few more snorkellers from other boats coming around. At one point there were these huge reefs that looked like cactus plants maybe 10mts below us and we swam over them I felt so insignificant but mesmerised! The water was so clear!!! We didn't manage to see the school of dolphins the divers saw on the way back, but I had my fixed of dolphins when I did the Blue Safari the day before and they had come up to the boat.
At the end of the day we pulled into a beach and had to get a daladala back to Matemwe as the tide was too low for the dhows too take us in. As we pulled into the shore a swarm of local kids ran towards our boats as they obviously know they will get paid to carry all the dive tanks and gear - all hell broke out and it actually got scary for a few seconds as they were just grabbing at everything and fighting to ensure they got to carry something. One of the white guys freaked and pushed a kid over who was getting rough - I didn't like that scene one bit and was closing to whacking him in the head with a tank I was eyeing off. Eventually they calmed down and all carried the gear up to the daladala's - we loaded into the back with the gear and prepared ourselves for a 45 min bumby ride along a dirt road back to Matemwe. It wasn't so bad as I befriended an Italian from Rome who works for Cisco,s o we hit it off and started talking our heads off. We were so similar in personality, life expereiences and interests that it spun me out. Then we found out we were both staying at Nyota Beach Bungalows, so agreed to do dinner that night.
The dive centre gave us a lift to our hotel along with an Israeli couple on their honeymoon. All four of us blabbed our heads off and the Israeli's later invited us to their bungalow for lunch - they only eat Kosher so had brought a cooker and food from Israel with them. We ate the most delicious falafel, labne and some other great food - who would have thought in the middle of Africa!!!
Nyota Beach Bungalows are a small but very cute traditional beach bungalows with an amazing set-up right on the water. The thing that killed it for everyone though and I think the business will struggle in the future if they dont sort it out - the rooms are cheap at only $40USD per night but the food and drinks are ridiculous. $2USD for a bottle of water and you have to select for a small preset lunch and dinner menu each day and pay $12-$15USD for really average food of tiny portions. This is also where I need to say single female travellers be warned... it was the perfect location for a couple or group of friends, but single women need to be careful. That night at dinner my Italian friend and I were joined by the owners friend who helps out in the restaurant at night. We are talking about a kid - 22 (sorry Luke)he was polite enough and we had a good chat between the three of us. So the next night when my Italian friend had left and I was eating dinner alone we sat and he taught me the traditional Tanzanian boardgame with rocks - i love it! Many of the staff joined us at some point but then he started towards the end making comments and I started to feel uncomfortable so excused myself for sleep. Within 10min I hear a knock at my door and I think surely it could not be him, so I wait and this time the kncoking is harder. I get up to answer the door and there he is asking to come in and spend my last night with me!!!!!!!! At first I laugh thinking he's joking but then I see he is deadly serious and I'm thinking how do I get him to leave. I'm starting to worry once he wont take no as an answer and am looking at my bed to see where I left the damn pocket knife! I'm thinking he could push me in through the door any second, but them am arguing with myself saying he's only a kid he's harmless.
After he begged me to change my mind and Im not exaggerating he really was begging and saying that I leave tomorrow why not have company - he finally understood I wasnt happening and was wasting his time. I shut the door and moved every piece of furniture I could across it and then attempted to cover the window with a towel as a curtain - needless to say I didnt sleep much that night and was very happy to leave the next day. It's a real shame as its a gorgeous place just the cost of things and this little adventure with him screwed things up. Not to mention they charged me $25USD to get to Kendwa a 23km drive away but there was no other taxi's around.
Kedwa and Nungwi beach are perfect - there are not as picture postcard perfect as Matemwe, but the calm water and open air beach bars make it perfect for swimming all day and lazying on the beach beds. I really really really became lazy here for the first time in my life! I finally learnt to take it easy and not oreganise activities. Granted I did book another snorkel tour with the dive centre but I cancelled as I just wanted to laze about. I checked into a perfect room for $65USD per nite - exy but worth it. It overlooked the beach bar and had my favourite daybed on the outside balcony which I feel asleep on that night listening to the african drumming down on the beach. I changed rooms the next day as it wasnt available and did a bungalow down on the beach - its a fair walk to the beach but directly infront and I had my own hammock. I really loved it there and was spewing that I would miss the full moon party the following night.
For mny last couple of nights I headed back to Stonetown to do the dhow cruise and sunset - which I realised is nice but a)more romantic with a partner rather than a family from Oregon and b) you get better photos from the shore of the dhows with the sunset behind them. Then I got a taxi to Mtoni Marine where on Saturday nights they have a delicious seafood beach bbq for $25USD along with live performances of traditional tarab music and Zanzibar dances - it was again very romantic alone ;) But I loved it.
I spent the night watching TV for the last time before I headed back to Arusha and enjoying the endless channels of Bollywood movies - god bless Zanzibar! I really love it there and would love to live there anyday! It has the best fusion of my 3 favouriet cultures - India, Africa and the Middle East. I'll be back Zanzibar just stayt there!
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