Exotic Zanzibar
Day 264
“This isn’t much of a breakfast is it?” I said to Jordana as we sat in the somewhat depressing Safari Inn restaurant. Actually I don’t think you could call this a restaurant, it was a concrete room with caged windows. We had tea, dry cold toast, the most sugary jam ever made and a banana. Even the banana was all bruised and mushy. We took a few bites of toast and part of the banana and were on our way. Finally today we were headed to Zanzibar, a place we’ve both looked forward to getting to.
“Go straight to the ticket window, do not listen to any of these men!” I taxi driver left us with this advice as he dropped us off at the ferry terminal. He actually got out of the car and walked with us to the booth as I bought our tickets for the ferry to Zanzibar. There a loads of touts around the port. They tell tourists that they can sell them a ticket and then do so for 3 times the real cost! I figure if you are that dumb to buy a ticket from a guy on the street then you deserve to get scammed. Sort of a stupidity tax. We had our tickets for the 10am ferry and had 2 hours to kill so we had a drink and went to exchange some money. Soon it was time to board the ferry, a fast hydrofoil. We pulled away from the port and the seas became rougher and rougher until we were bouncing over waves. Jordana had to pop a gravol, I was just popping out of my seat. I’ve never seen such a large boat get so much air before. About halfway it calmed down and we pulled into Zanzibar close to 3 hours after leaving the port at Dar.
Zanzibar is a large island famous for its white sand beaches, turquoise waters, the winding streets of Stone Town and the birthplace of Freddy Mercury. Its also quite different from the mainland. Its almost entirely muslim and is semi-autonomous from Tanzania. We actually got a Zanzibar entry stamp in our passport when we arrived. Our first 3 nights we’ve decided to spend right here in Stone Town. We got in a taxi from the port and drove through the narrow winding streets. It reminded me of somewhere in Morocco, definitely very different from any other east African cities we’ve been in. It was instantly intriguing and likeable. We checked into our room at the Florida Guesthouse and went out to explore the town.
There isn’t a ton of sights in the town but the real attraction is simply getting lost in the maze of alleys. The streets feel almost medieval and the influence of islam gives the town an exotic feel. All enhanced with the call to prayer ringing out from many mosques 5 times a day. We stopped for indian food that was OK but a lacking on the spice. Odd since Zanzibar is a spice island. After tiring out from walking in the heat we got lazy and came back to our room. Where we are lucky enough to have a tv and very lucky that the tv gets some decent english movies. So that was the end of our first day in Zanzibar. Its really good to finally reach a comfortable and interesting place. A interesting as it is to see Africa it can be tiring at times, Zanzibar is already proving to be one of our favourite spots in Africa.
Tags: Stone Town, Tanzania, Zambia, Zanzibar
Michael Coroneos
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