Island Paradise
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2005
1
15
48
Trip End
Nov 01, 2006
Zanzibar Island,
Tanzania
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Actually, getting the ticket for the ferry was quite an ordeal. We took a taxi to the ferry docks and had touts running along side our cab as we rolled through the drop-off point. These touts bring you to the "ticket stand" and you buy your ticket and get on the ferry. Easy enough, right? Well, if we had bothered to get a guide book for Tanzania, we would have read that these guys have a big scam going.
Somehow we managed to talk to them long enough to see through the scam and found our way to the RIGHT ticket booth. What happens in Dar is that they have many ticket booths set up along side the REAL ticket booth, all of which charge 10% more of which the touts get a commission since they brought you to the wrong booth
01 Zanzibar
. MANY tourists get nailed in this scam. Instead, we only paid a buck more because the agent selling our tickets probably pocketed it himself.The ride to the island was gorgeous. Clear blue waters and passing sand-bar islands that disappear at high-tide.
Once we arrived in Stone Town (or Zanzibar Town), we were greeted by another pile of touts (or Papasi as they are affectionately known in Swahili.. meaning "ticks"). We managed to find our way to a great hostel without paying anybody money. Good on us.
Stone Town is a maze of a town with narrow streets and alleyways. We've never seen a town like this; it has a very Arabic feel to it. It definitely has a much more relaxed feel to it compared to Dar. We were already loving the island.
Still in our high-speed travel mode, we took a collective bus the next morning to the north coast. We found a cozy little spot in a beach-side village called Kendwa. The resort was right on the beach and was called Kendwa Rocks. The sand was pristine white, the water was bath-tub warm and crystal clear with many shades of blue
02 Long walks on the beach
. We were in paradise!As soon as we arrived we got straight to work on doing nothing. The farthest we walked was from the beach-side bar and the ocean. They were about 15 meters apart.
We managed to work up the energy to go on a snorkel tour the next day where we promptly burnt our backs a nice lobster-red. The coral was fantastic with a huge diversity in colourful fish. While on a lunch-break from snorkelling a pod of dolphins swam by. It was another example of paradise. We were loving it!
Rebecca, the girlfriend of Dave's good friend Tim, showed up. She had also been traveling through Tanzania for the last few weeks and ended up staying at Kendwa Rocks as well. It was great to meet up with her and we spent the next week together hanging on the beach and not getting up to much.
The rest of our time at Kendwa didn't divert from this too much. Lisa got a henna tatoo while Dave got a massage... on the beach... by two masseuses. Does life get any better?
We were all finally beached out and we decided to head back to Stone Town
03 Doing what he does best
. The guy that runs the dive shop drove us to Jozani Forest in the middle of the island to check out the only remaining Red Colobus Monkeys in the world.Back in Stone Town, we spent another few days exploring, eating some great food and going on a spice tour. The spice tour takes you to a farm that grows various spices and fruits. They show you how all of these are grown and how to tell when they are ready for harvesting. It was also interesting to learn about all the medicinal uses of these spices. We thought they were just for cooking? Silly Mzungu. (swahili for "white person").
Rebecca left for Canada and we followed back to the mainland a few days later. We stayed in Dar another night but caught a bus for Arusha the next day.
