Zanzibar

Almost 9 years ago, I spent the summer romping around the South Pacific. Included in this was an Open Water Padi course on a Fijian island. I spent a few days exploring the underwater world, but when I got back home, I never took out my card again. I kept thinking I would run into the opportunity again, but somehow it never presented itself until my recent trip to Africa. Read More...

After finishing up in Tanzania we headed out on a small propeller plane to the island of Zanzibar.



We were picked up and driven an hour to the north of the island to Nungwi Beach where would be spending the next 9 nights.

Like, literally, at our doorsteps during high tide.

Most of my trip to Zanzibar was spent laying by the pool or laying in my bed napping.
Which is the perfect vacation in my opinion.

One of the greatest things about Zanzibar was that as much as it was a bit touristy in places with lots of white people walking around, there were still a TON of locals. Majority of the people on the beach around sundown were locals.

While I spent a lot of time by the pool and beach, any other time was spent under the water. Danielle had an underwater camera so she was able to capture some pictures of our time but I do not so I actually spent some time not behind the lens.

After a quick refresher, I descended down into the depths.
There is truly nothing like scuba diving.

This trip was truly about soaking up all the blue. At some point Christmas passed, but I barely noticed.

But really, you can't even capture the color of this water. Nothing does it justice.

And the stars, of course, were magnificent. On the car ride to a New Years Party, I just stuck my head out the window and watched the stars. It was kind of magical.

There was one day that I finally put on more than a bikini and headed off of the beach.

Zanzibar is home to more than just awesome beaches. It also has the Jozani Forest which is home to the Red Colobus Monkey, as well as some other cute monkeys.

And some pretty adorable children.

Zanzibar and Qatar have one thing in common- they have mangroves! Although admittedly the ones in Zanzibar are mildly cooler.

(they have tiny little red crabs)

(and cool bridges)

We also stopped by a "conservation site" although they were unable to really explain what kind of conservation was going on. So let's just go with the name "zoo."

After the forest, we stopped in Stone Town for the afternoon.

Stone Town is the historical section of Zanzibar City, the biggest city on the island. I wasn't too keen on spending time here but we thought we'd check it out and get lunch.
Stone Town turned out to be SO cool.

Zanzibar is a primarily Muslim island, with around 99% of the population practicing Islam. Zanzibar has an incredibly long history of being a sultanate, first the Kilwa Sultanate from the 10th century before being conquered by the Portuguese in 1500s. They were then ruled by the Omanis until around the 1900s. You can see the influence of Islam in the architecture and the dress of the people. I was unaware of the ties to Oman, which has been one of my favorite places to travel.

Little known fact: Swahili is a widely spoken language in Oman.

The small winding streets were extensive and people sold all kinds of things from spices to fabrics to artwork. There were always reminders of Stone Town's historical ties to the spice market and the slave trade.

The people were incredibly friendly and open to discussing the history of this beautiful island.

And as with any Islamic place- there were absolutely fabulous doors.

As you make your way through the disorienting streets, you find yourself emerging into a small square. Congrats! You have made it to Jaws Corner.

Jaws Corner is a square in Stone Town that is set aside just for discussions. Men sit around drinking coffee and discussing life. This place is purely for intellectual discussions and anyone is invited to participate.

After our long day exploring Stone Town, we took the long drive back to Nungwi.

So one very silly thing about Tanzania is the strange currency denominations. Tanzania and Zanzibar are not cheap places to visit- you spend your fair share of money. But, the largest bill they have is equivalent to not even five US dollars.
As we neared the end of our trip, we went to settle our dive bill. The card machine wasn't working very well so she requested that we might visit an ATM and try to pay in cash.
Which didn't turn out to be a reasonable request as it turned out we owed over a million shillings. Luckily the card machine did fix itself, but carrying around over a million shillings in ten thousand shilling bills would be silly (and dangerous).

On our last day in paradise, we wandered down the beach to the turtle conservation center.

There were a ton of turtles hanging out in the saltwater pools that you could feed and watch as they swam around.
This center helps hatchlings grow up in a safe environment before releasing them back into the wild as the rate of survival for the little guys is quite low.

Little Cuties!

On our last night, we headed out to Kendwa Beach for a New Years Party.

And that's all I have to say about that.

The next morning we set out for the airport. On the way, we decided to take a Spice Tour to see what all the hype was about.
Needless to say, it began as quite a struggle.

But, honestly, there is no better hangover cure than fresh fruit and clean air.
And there is nothing quite like some strong smells to wake you up!

By the way- these are fresh nutmegs. What??

As they fed us fresh coconut and jackfruit and more, I felt more and more awake and appreciative. It was sad leaving to head back to dusty and dirty Doha after getting to live in the fresh blue of Zanzibar.

Never in my life did I think I would get to travel as much as I do and how connected all the separate trips would make me feel. And how connected they would be- who knew going to Fiji would make my trip to Tanzania that much better?