Blogs from Kendwa, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa

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Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa February 10th 2018

On the first of February, we packed up and left Diani beach, taking a short cab ride down the coast. Thirteen km. south and the topography had changed dramatically. The modern paved road had degenerated into a pot holed trail of dirt and dust. Every few minutes we would pass a gated entry to some large resort, but the hustle and bustle of Diani beach had disappeared into a quiet remoteness. We pulled into our resort, the Kinondo Poa, and were greeted by a manager in pressed black pants and a formal, buttoned white shirt. The resort consisted of seven structures - a bar/restaurant sitting beside the pool, a cookhouse, a large mansion like building where the owner lived and the manager had his office, and four guest houses. Each guest house was split - like ... read more
Beautiful flowers all on our bed
Beach sitting at Poa
Our Bungalow

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa July 14th 2014

10, 12-14 July: Zanzibar diving and Kendwa Beach 10 July: Michael, Linus, Hiko, Samantha and I were going diving. The dive centre made an Absolute Africa boat for us all to go together as the others were going to snorkel and we had two doing a discovery dive at mnemba atoll island area. After a two hour boat ride we arrive in the area. Near the island we got to see a pod of dolphins which was really neat and fun to hear them as we went diving as well. The first dive had many fish as we were divi along the reef wall. However, there was a current so we had to move dive sites for the second one to a calmer area especially for the discovery divers. The second dive was alright but nothing ... read more
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Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa October 19th 2012

Zanzibar is an Arabic word meaning ‘black island’. Although part of Tanzania, the small island boasts its own government and remains mostly self-sufficient with the exporting of spice and coffee, thus the nickname; spice island. The island itself was beautiful, surrounded by clear waters and white sand; it is easy to see why the island is a tourist favourite. Massage huts lined the beach with music cascading over the beach chairs and their lazy occupants. The beer is cold and the food, when visiting local haunts, is dirt cheap. The people were an interesting mix of charming, seemingly lazy locals offering their services; pushy and insistent beach boys and downright rude foreign business owners. We arrived via ferry to Stonetown, the streets were narrow and confusing, almost maze like. Each door way boasted stunningly crafted doors ... read more
Sunset
Kendwa Beach

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa February 24th 2012

This morning we transferred from Stone Town to Kendwa, which is a small town on the north coast of Zanzibar. Our hotel is right on the blindingly white beach, and although it's a budget hotel, it's still pure indulgence. Hammocks, exotic cocktails (with a daily happy hour lasting for three hours) and massages on the beach. I don't think it could be any more perfect. I won't waste anyone's time by describing the minutiae of the two days we spent at Kendwa, because there's really nothing I can say other than I spent both days swimming, sunbathing and sinking cocktails. And for the first time since the tour started, I had time to myself, time to think. Time to really look at the world around me. Sometimes I'm very conscious of the constraints that exist when ... read more
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Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa January 19th 2011

Kendwa The plan was to try out the Northern beaches first - the most popular being Nungwi. On the ride, I was reading the Lonely planet about another beach just before Nungwi called Kendwa which sounded really good. Change of plan - we asked the driver to drop us off at Kendwa instead. There was a local who then started speaking to us - he works in Kendwa - and offered advice and assistance. We spent the rest of the trip speaking to him and he helped us get our things off the Dalla dalla when we arrived. Turns out this is the point we lost Don's sleeping bag and towel as they had somehow been unclipped from his backpack. Rahim (sp) walked with us and suggested places to eat and stay. He showed us the ... read more
Me at sunset
Don at sunset
Snorkelling

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa August 16th 2010

Just returned from an amazing two week trip to Tanzania where I climbed (most of) Kilimanjaro and spent a week on Zanzibar. Both deserve a bit of time so in the interest of this entry not being incredibly long I'm splitting them up. First on the agenda: Zanzibar! Zanzibar is pretty much what one imagines when conjuring up images of a paradise beach vacation. Sugar like white sand, impossibly blue water, amazing scuba diving, beautiful sunsets... you get the idea. But first, how we got there. After Kili we spent the day in Moshi showering (alas no hot water) and then boarded a bus to Arusha where one of my friends from U of T, the lovely M, had been living all summer working for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. We had to wait, as ... read more
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Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa August 2nd 2010

Hi all, So I am returning for a second trip to Zanzibar in February but am starting my search now for a cheap place to stay. The first time I went I was lucky enough to stay with a friend, this time around I have to fend for myself. So if anyone has any recommendations for very affordable places to stay, please let me know! Thanks a million! Court... read more

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa May 13th 2010

May 13th The destination was Mnemba Island, very small atoll off the coast of Zanzibar. The island is and surrounding waters are part of a marine preservation and so it is ideal for scuba divers and snorkelers. We got on the boat around 9:30am and made our way up the coast to Nungwi Beach, where Nicio, Justin and our instructor Deus were to be picked up, along with our lunch for the day. It was raining cats and dogs for the pickup and the beginning of the trip, but luckily the rains don’t last long in the rainy season and by the time we made it to Mnemba it was peace and sunshine. We got our BCD’s (buoyancy control devices, the vest that holds the air tank and also inflates) ready along with our wetsuits and ... read more
2-Kendwa Beach
3-Mnemba Island
4-Mnemba Island

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa May 11th 2010

May 11th Here’s a fun fact for you, did you know that Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar? True story, the late lead singer of Queen was born on the island, he still holds local legendary status with pubs named after him actually. On the morning of the 11th I woke up early to make it down to Kendwa Beach, a few clicks south of Nungwi Beach. The PADI scuba class to become fully certified in open water was meant to be a 3 day course, one full day of classes, another half day in the classes, followed by a couple confined water dives, and then the last day would be the first “real dives”. Justin and I decided to take a 2/3 course because if we had done what Nicio did (get fully certified) then it ... read more
2-Walk down to Kendwa Beach
3-Kendwa Beach
4-Lunchtime view

Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar » Kendwa April 30th 2010

It's a hard life I tell you when you have to walk a whole 100m across the soft white sand from your hut to your hammock in order to continue your snooze. Having endured a total of 31 hours of bus journeys over only 3 days while travelling around East Africa (more on the joys of African transport to come in another blog) we felt we thoroughly deserved a week of sun, sea and disgustingly self indulgent lazing around on Zanzibar to cope with the trauma and let our bums recover from the bumpy roads and craterous potholes (the African Massage local drivers take great delight in calling it). Instead I burnt my bum to a crisp through the clouds while lounging in my hammock, but hey I had to live up to the Brit stereotype ... read more
Sundowners at the Africa House Hotel, Stone Town
Nutmeg and mace
Cardommon...maybe?




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