Blogs from Kendwa, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa
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
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
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
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
June 21st 2010
Although I flew back from Kenya, I was only there for a few hours and Tanzania was to be the last country I would properly visit during my travels... alas, this shall be my final blog for a while! Arriving on Sunday night we knew we'd be leaving Mbeya in a couple of days to get on the Tazara Railway which goes from Zambia to Dar es Salam on a Wednesday (usually...). We decided to use our time in the South West of Tanzania to explore the Southern Highlands, an area of tropical hilly jungles, grand waterfalls, vast craters and foreboding skies. Sadly, our limited time meant we only really got to see one of the major attractions in the region - the Ngozi Crater Lake - famous as it apparently contains a Loch Ness style ... read more
Scuba Diving Off Mnemba Island, Underwater Paradise
Published: May 18th 2010Africa » 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
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
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
January 15th 2010
So the plan has changed and with Uganda not having worked out we were set to return to Tanzania and start on the Island when the holiday period is over in late January . The cheapest and most direct way to get there from Jinja was Entebbe to Zanzibar! Seemed rude not to spend a few days on the glorious beaches on Kendwa/Nungwi on the northern tip of the Island again. Besides the weekend we passed through Will and Sue were still there so it gave us and a chance to catch up for another Kili celebratory meal, this time at their posh hotel, where we had some lovely wine. A rare treat - thank you guys. Whilst there we also met up with Greg and Lindsay from Toronto who we met rafting in Bujagali, they ... read more
July 28th 2009
After two weeks of waking up before the sun to carry sloshing 18-litre buckets of water on our heads to fill the big blue water bucket, after calluses and blood blisters and even a scorpion bite incurred as what was an empty field in the Shamba countryside became a building, Zanzibar was what most would dfine as paradise - pristine white beaches and clear turquoise ocean, groves of palm trees waving in the spice-scented breeze, coffee, and flush toilets. I spent every day wondering how the next thing on the schedule could possibly be more luxurious or fascinating or delicious than the last; to even attempt to describe an experience like snorkeling (such an ungraceful, awkward pimply word for such a beautiful thing) off Chumbe Island among outer-space formations of vivid coral and iridescent schools of ... read more
