Zanzibar, Unguja Island (much delayed)

We were sitting on the open air dalla dalla half on someone’s lap and half squashed up against the back of the benches. Something flew down from the roof and splattered on Camilla’s arm – blood. From that point on and for the rest of the hour and a half long ride we were both continuously splattered with blood that was dripping from a someone’s dead animal tied onto the roof. With no room to budge an inch, we had to sit and watch the blood stain the clothes that we had painstakingly handwashed. It was awful. Later that day we were lying on a hammock on a white sand beach in Kendwa watching the turquoise ocean lap at the feet of women clad in traditional kangas as they walked along the beach, buckets on their heads. Our trip to Zanzibar only enforced what we had learned earlier – if you keep a good attitude and laugh the bad moments off, a day can turn around drastically!

            We didn’t start our trip in Kendwa though – we had to pass through Dar Es Salaam first. We decided to visit Slipway – a western market outside of town and the only place in Tanzania you can get real ice cream! We did some tourist shopping then headed back down into town for some Indian dinner food and then to buy our tickets for the 4pm ferry to Stonetown. It just so happened that we arrived during the Islamic holiday Eid al Baraka, and seeing as Stonetown is predominantly Islamic, everyone was dressed in their best outfits, sparkles everywhere, and out on the town. We met Wendy, a VSO volunteer who was kind enough to offer us a bed in her house, and wandered down to Forodhani Gardens, where they have a nightly market of freshly caught fish and other delicious food. We had a Zanzibari pizza, a glass of sugar cane juice and some beautifully grilled mahimahi fish. We ended up eating at that place three times during the week! Stonetown is gorgeous – a maze of ancient buildings and narrow streets that seem to exude island culture. Taarab music blared out of every shop and every few hours the mosques would siren, calling the citizens to prayer.

            We spent a couple of days in Stonetown – we joined onto a spice tour and went into the plantations in the centre of the island to taste cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, ginger, tumeric, and many others! One of the guides climbed a palm tree and brought us fresh coconut, which was delicious! We also went with Wendy to the place of the old slave market and saw the chambers in which they kept the slaves, and the site of the old whipping post and auction. It was really interesting to see – in case you didn’t know, about 600,000 slaves were passed through Zanzibar and were kept in horrific conditions that led David Livingstone to speak out against the trade. We also enjoyed walking around the town and exploring the little corners of the market and the Old Fort, and paid a visit to the House of Wonders – the first place in East Africa to get electricity, running water, and an elevator.

Locals on Kendwa beach!

We left Stonetown on November the 23^rd. It was Elena’s eighteenth birthday, and we celebrated with a huge slice of chocolate cake, a candlelit beach dinner of pizza and coconut calamari and a well-deserved pina colada! We were staying in a thatched banda at the edge of the ocean and had a huge stretch of beach where we could take walks and beachcomb. Our banda was in the town of Kendwa, a little place right at the tip of Zanzibar, and it was beautiful. We really enjoyed relaxing on the beach, reading our books, and taking a dip in the picture-perfect waters when we got too hot (all the time!) We met Big Mama, a lovely lady who gave us beach massages and taught us how to put henna on our arms in the traditional Islamic way. We loved it, and she had so much fun decorating our arms! We did a day excursion to Mnemba Island, a coral reef marine conservation park and went snorkeling for the day. We went on a traditional dhow, which they even let us drive on the way back as we had made friends with the captain! The snorkeling was great – we saw hundreds of fish and coral of all shapes, sizes and colors, and even saw a puffer fish! The reef looked exactly like the one from Finding Nemo and we saw the whole cast of characters! Included was a BBQ lunch on the beach, which was tuna steak and a whole array of fresh fruits. Later, in Kendwa, we befriended two German volunteers who had been working on the Kenyan border in Moshi, and went with them to a nearby town called Nungwi for the day. We went to a local turtle conservation aquarium where they had huge turtles and snakes. Both of us held a massive African python – it was so strong and kept curling itself around us - quite scary! We had sundowners with Anne and Sabine and had a yummy veggie burger at one of the restaurants. We met them again on our trip back home, and had drinks with them at Archipelagos, a café in Stonetown, and hopefully they will join us in Morogoro soon! Our travels back were long and stressful – we took the overnight ferry and had hardly any sleep, then had to navigate several dalla dallas in Dar (not an easy feat) to get to the Indian Embassy only to find out that it was closed. We must have looked suitably upset as the security guard came out and talked to us before going back inside and reemerging with the mobile phone number of the High Consul of India in Tanzania. Score! Satisfied with that information, we found the next bus going to Morogoro and managed to board in the sweltering heat and head home. Now home, we decided to decorate our house for Christmas as it will take a lot longer to get into the Christmas spirit in Africa’s hot season! Our living room is now completely covered in paper snowflakes, paper chains, a balloon snowman (yes, we were creative), and a huge Merry Christmas banner. Yay!

Us two snorkelling off Mnemba Island