Despite the fact that I use to think Zanzibar was a country
and possibly a bar called ‘zanzi’ I somehow managed to end up going on an
Easter holiday to the beautiful Island that is Zanzibar.
After a lot of preparation and organization from our good
friend Megan who planned the trip for 7 people, on a volunteers budget
(incredible girl) the day finally came when we all packed our bags (and snacks)
and headed 40 minutes north to the airport. Spirits were high and snacks were
eaten (yes before I had even got onto the plane) and we all excitedly hurried
into the airport. There seemed to be some complications and unfortunately our
ticket was booked for the day before (even though Megan has specifically told
the airline the dates we wanted) we all decided that we would buy some new
tickets for the next possible flight which was the next day. But when you have
great friends and a great community around us, nothing can get you down for
long. Our great friend Vince who had driven us to the airport came all the way
back for us and we decided to have a tropical themed evening with good food and
a movie (I was also rather pleased as I could get a nice cuppa tea (well as
good a tea as you can make in Africa)
So we were then back to the airport again and everything
went smoothly. We arrived in beautiful Zanzibar and went out to eat (yes I was
starvvvvnig) to a restaurant called Mercury (after queen) I ate a scrumptious
Zanzibar special curry and splashed about in the sea.
We were staying in a place called Aquarium Bungalows, sweet
little shallets 2 minute walk from the beach and overlooking a beautiful salt
water pool filled with beautiful tropical fish and a whole herd of turtles (I
am not sure whether herd is the correct term for a bunch of turtles) It was so incredible
that we could just swim with these fascinating creatures. That is until one bit
my bottom, and I had a mini breakdown in the pool, a few Tanzanian men came
running towards me making sure I was okay. (Which I was, and when they saw that
I was not dead, bleeding or actually hurt, but just a bit shocked that my
bottom had been pinched they walked away)
The beautiful Turtles I got to swim with!
Oh and by the way this is the one that bit my bottom.
As we ended up only having one full day in Zanzibar (which
was totally worth it because it was amazing) the majority of the group went off
snorkelling in the Indian ocean, myself and my friend Megan decided to stay and
explore the beach and all the expensive posh resorts. Before we left we put some sun tan lotion on,
I thought one layer would be plenty for the day as all we would be doing was
walking (how wrong could I be) Lets just say my face (minus sunglasses marks)
is as red as a tomato and somehow the sun burnt me behind my knees (ouch) so as
you can imagine walking is rather difficult. I have to remember that the sun
near the equator is hotter than anywhere else (pretty obvious, you’d think)
So back on track, we had a lovely walk down the beach. What
I found interesting was, the view looked like a postcard, the beautiful white
sandy beaches, that greeny, bluey sea that you see in the expensive holiday
brochers, the sun beating down from the bright blue seas. However you can never forget for long that
you’re actually in Africa, and these gorgeous little children reminded me of
this. Its funny people can (if they have the money) pay thousands for a holiday
like this and stay in on all the best resorts, whereas these children live
here, and amuse themselves with creative homemade toys and sing songs.
The further and further we got up the beach the posher and
poshe the resorts appeared. By this time we had been walking goodness knows how
long and my belly was getting frustrated. Luckily for us this happened in front
of a very incredible looking resort so we thought we would go in a see if we
could have something to eat. The staff were very welcoming (whether they
thought we were staying in their resort or not, we don’t know, but hey we
weren’t going to walk away) We had a cocktail (non-alcoholic: s) and laid in a
double sunbed enjoying the view and then headed to the restaurant, but not
without have a little sneaky swim in their breathtakingly stunning infinity
pool. (I promise we didn’t see a sign that said “For resort customers only.”
Any way we had a scrummy lunch and then made our journey back to the bungalows
where we met the rest of our party.
The next day we were travelling back and took a wagon type vehicle
where people were literally stuffed in with no thought of personal space. It
was definitely an experience, especially when a woman brought in her big bucket
of dried fish, lets just say it was a bit pongy to say the least.
We were travelling by ferry to inland Tanzania to catch out
flight back to Moshi. We had reservations for our ferry tickets so everything
should have gone to plan. But oh no, Zanzibar had another challenge for us to
face. After lots of discussions with the ferry people after they told us the
ferry was booked and said our reservation never went through, we purchased
ferry tickets for a later time, which meant our getting on our flight on time
was put at a very high risk. We yet again made the best of it and were able to
explore the beautiful streets of stone town (if only we didn’t have to carry
our heavy bags around with us, which grossly left massive sweat patches on my
back….yuk)
We thankfully got to the airport on time and made our
flight. Zanzibar was incredible and if possible I will definitely be returning.
