Princess Salme Inn Stone Town

... hitting Livingstones, Africa House, Archipelago, looking for those "like minded souls". Nowhere to be found, until on one narrow dark street when I started wondering how smart what I was doing was, given it was me and my new hip (my camera) walking around, I came across 2 boys and a girl: Judith, Patrick (swiss couple) and Breckers (James, from Yorkshire who was delighted to hear I'd been to York and taken the boat tour which meant I'd seen his school's rugby pitch...where ...

... hammocks over the beach with our books in hand, reading and napping. Eventually we decided to head out for lunch and remembering the "amazing" and inexpensive dinner from the night before we headed to the same restaurant. Once again we were told no chicken, no cheese. But, this time we learned the food would be on the way soon, so we decided to wait.<br><br>Wait we did, for about an hour and a half in the heat. What I can&#8217;t understand ...

A much deserved rest after climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. We've spent two glorious days enjoying the nice slow pace in Zanzibar. The beach is beautiful white sand. The water is a million shades of blue and tepid like bath water.<br><br>Lot's of time to rest and recover from the dusty days on the climb.<br><br>Enjoying a little happy hour this afternoon. The margaritas and mojitos are fabulous, as is the fresh ...

... the Ministry of Tourism Officials rolling up my perfect sunset.<br><br>A week after I got back home, I received an e-mail from my friend Albert. He said the magic of Zanzibar was now beginning to fade from his mind, and that he had begun to wonder whether or not it had all been a dream. Or more precisely, he said, &#8220;Back to work, life has returned to normal and the name of The Sweet Easy now conjures up images of a sleazy brothel on an exotic island, far, far away&#8221;.

... expectations are so surpassed. Within the first minutes on the island we were blown away by the charm, feel and beauty of Zanzibar. Walking through the labyrinth of Stone Town you enter into a different world &#8211; time seems to have stopped for 100s of years here&#8230;..the muezzin calls for prayers, some kids hop over the uneven road surface and vanish behind the next bend, there is the smell of freshly grilled beef ...

... telly courtesy of a SA sports channel, our first bit of telly in weeks and just in time for the Ireland game the day after. Next day we were beach babies - going between the water, the sand and the cafe. We check out the scuba diving and booked a trip for the next day. That night we ventured out of the fancy tourist places and had dinner in a local village cafe. Had some freshly cooked fish and chips and omelette's. Think our stomachs are up to it now so we'll be ...

... called the Karabu Inn just for one evening. We took a tour of the old slave market which was horribly sad, and also a spice plantation, which was exceptionally yummy. We sampled different spices including cloves, tumeric, and cinnamon, before being treated to various spiced teas and tropic fruits such as soursop (custard apple), jackfruit, and the most delicious pineapple ever. We then ...

... to do the tours that were funny and made the stories have all retired now so it just is a money making scheme. perhaps I am a little cynical... since it was informative and well done. The afternoon we were taken to the slave caves but it wasn't until we were underground in the dark trying to walk to the back of the cave with one torch between 10 that they thought we wanted to walk the 3km to the road!!! Funnily enough we decided to head back up to the beach!

... guy who at first was a bit of a pain, but in the end could take us to the cheaper shops and also to the workshops where a lot of the art is produced so saving us the shops' mark up. He handily appeared again and so Alex set him to work to find a toy AK47. His mate helpfully piped up saying "I can get you a real one for $500". Ah but we don't want a real one so his answer was "Why not ?? Too expensive ??" Errm nope - someone might get killed...that ...