To Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar
Trip Start
Apr 03, 2008
1
24
27
Trip End
Jun 25, 2008
Zanzibar,
Zanzibar Archipelago,
Tanzania
Sunday, June 8, 2008
With the episode of the lost flight over and done with, Greg and I flew and arrived in Tanzania and headed to our hotel in city center. Walking around Dar es Salaam, it became quite clear that attractive tourist sights were few and far between. The city itself was clean enough, and people friendly, but after the north of Mozambique things seemed a bit bland to the two of us. I think this is typical of bigger cities in Africa; the more you venture away from big towns/cities, the more you (or in this case, I) appreciate the raw beauty and reality that Africa has to offer me as a tourist
Art in Zanzibar
. Dar was a perfect example of this. The highlight of our night, other than eating at a small dive called A Tea House (Indian fast food takeway), was finding an internet cafe with PS2 units and plasma tvs on the walls, all geared up for soccer. Needless to say, Greg and I sunk our 80 US cents into playing for an hour.Next day, Greg headed to Arusha to meet up with a friend, while I opted to head to the Zanzibar Archipelago. Showing up only to find out the island was without electricity, I checked into my $12/night hotel and ventured out to explore the city. Zanzibar Town itself is a fascinating place; architecture was influenced by the Persians, Omani Arabs and Portugese. Known by most as a mecca for spice trade, Zanzibar was also heavily involved with slave, gold, ivory and wood trade throughout the centuries. I decided over the coming two days to focus my time solely on Zanzibar town, with a side trip to spice plantations outside the city proper.
It seemed a wise decision. Finding myself lost for hours in the labrynth of alleyways on the old Stone Town, I ended up blowing quite a bit of cash on souvenier from the hundreds of vendors situated strategically along the old walls and alleys. Art, woodwork, jewelry, t-shirts - you name it and Zanzibar has it
Banana seller of Zanzibar
. An awesome place, and HI highly recommend staying in Stone Town to anyone. The following day, I opted to join an organized tour to the spice plantations outside of town. I typically am not one to enjoy or even participate on organized tours, although have to say that the spice tour was fully worth the 15 USD fee. Plantations cover a large percentage of Zanzibar island, and the locals grow hundreds of different spices ranging from nutmeg to vanilla, from cloves to jack fruit, to jack fruits and grapefruits the size of soccer balls. A really insightful tour guide always helps, and our guide was by far one of the better and more interesting of guides I have had in the past.
Heading out that night, it seemed inevitable that I would end up at the same bar/restaurant I had frequented the evening previous. This was mainly due to the problem with power, or lackthereof, in the town. However, I refused to eat at the tourist-focused place, and thus made my way to the open air evening food market situated near the old fort in town. Devouring some grilled mussels and fish with some coconut bread was no problem that evening...
Now I sit in a cafe having returned from Zanzibar to Dar. I head to Arusha to meet up once again with Greg, and we intend to begin a 5 day safari across the Serengetti on our transit to Rwanda. Should be interesting, and I look forward to moving along on a daily basis once again. Lord knows I have been lazy enough these past weeks in Mozambique and more recently in Zanzibar....
Comments
hello
Kyle, unsure if this will work so I will keep it short. Just letting you know I enjoy the photos and comments from a near 40 year old backpacker. You have to run to Africa to forget things. Looks like you are having a blast. Cheers adam