Zanzibar - glorious white beaches but a dark history

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Getting to Zanzibar was easy! We flew with Precision Air from Arusha's tiny airport to Zanzibar's International but not-much-bigger airport. It was all a bit rustic but it was a pleasant enough experience. Before we knew it we were in a pre-arranged taxi and on our way to our hotel just outside of Zanzibar town. The Zanzibar Ocean View Hotelwas more or less deserted! It was a little more rustic than we had anticipated for the price but it was ok and the restaurant served a great breakfast. It wasn't all good though. On our first night there was a very loud wedding party but they finished at 10pm which wasn't so bad. Christmas Day was a different matter though and the Christmas party (that us paying guests were not part of) had music so loud that our entire room was vibrating until 1.20am. When we complained the next day we were told that the party should have stopped at 10pm like the wedding had done, but that guests were still drinking so they allowed it to continue. That meant I had fewer than 5 hours sleep before picking up a hire car so I was far from happy. They agreed to refund us that night's fee.

Another gripe was inaccurate information on their websites. The official website suggests that they had a swimming pool, at least that's what I understood by "swimming pool" being listed under facilities. The semi-official website states that there is a private beach. The reality is that when the tide is in every local comes from miles around for a swim and the water is teeming with bodies. We didn't venture in. When the tide was out we were greeted by the sight of lots of women and children chasing the receding tide picking what we assumed to be shellfish out of the sand. They were beautifully clad in all manner of exotic colours.

The hotel is just a few minutes by dala dala, the local minibus system, from historic Stone Town. The hotel told another guest it was dangerous and that they should pay $8 in a taxi. What rubbish! The dala dala was a fun (well, sort of!) way to travel in for just a few pennies and rub shoulders with the locals. Far better than a taxi, although a taxi is rightly advised once it is dark. We were able to explore Stone Town over two days and had a great time. The slave quarter was quite horrific and left us feeling deeply ashamed of our forebears. It did show that the Arabs were no better and, in fact, without them there would never have been a slave trade in the first place. The stories and photos were simply heartbreaking. Wandering around the narrow alleyways was fascinating and the dockside buildings were intriguing too. We didn't make it over to Prison Island though as the sea always looked just that little bit too rough for us! The old fort was well worth a visit although there isn't an awful lot inside. The Peace Memorial Museum wasn't really up to much either. It was a dusty old museum with a few artefacts and paintings, but it is set in a pretty impressive building. We took photos outside the house where Freddie Mercury was born and on Christmas Day we even had lunch in Mercury's Bar where we dined to the sounds of Queen. The Stone Town Cafe provided a welcome retreat from the heat and we sat there drinking iced hibiscus tea and strong spiced coffee laced with ginger. We also sat drinking beer in the Traveller's Cafe watching the sun set, protected from the footballs flying around the beach by a huge net. A special mention should also go to the Silk Route Indian restaurant which was amazing.

On Christmas Eve we did a spice tour. Well, Zanzibar is known as the Spice Island so we thought we'd check out why. We were taken to Big Body Spice Farm where we were treated to a fabulous tour. All manner of spices and fruit are grown there. Thanks to previous travels very little of this was new to us but it was still very interesting nonetheless. The lipstick plant was particularly different. It looks like a lychee and the internal fruit, when crushed, creates a bright red powder used as a food pigment and, yes, lipstick.

Bleary-eyed after the disturbance of the Christmas party, we checked out and received our hire car early on the 26th. Kibabu Cars had been highly recommended by a fellow blogger and booking a car seemed relatively simple. The car was a small 4 door and not the jeep that we had expected. I argued the toss and managed to get the price knocked down a little. On their website it clearly states that payment can be made with PayPal but that's not the case. Instead I had to open an account with PesaPal (which sounds similar!) in order to pay by credit card. Cars are given to customers with an empty fuel tank but I didn't expect it to be running on fumes!! We made it to the first petrol station though and were soon on our way to explore the island a bit.

Driving round the island was pretty uninspiring, to be honest. Lush green vegetation gets a bit boring after a while, and there was rarely a view of the coast. Eventually though, we reached our destination - Dudé's Guest House in the beach backpacker's area of Jambiani. It was pretty basic accommodation for $50 a night, but it's among the cheapest options on the island. Price aside, we loved staying there because of its proximity to the dazzling white beach and the deep blue Indian Ocean. The tide goes out an awful long way though creating a bright blue lagoon. When the tide was in we swam but the water was so warm it was like being in a thermal bath and not refreshing in the slightest. Food in the beachfront restaurants was not cheap by a long shot but it was delicious and the location was impressive.

Jambiani is a very impoverished village with very bumpy unmade roads. That's really why we had wanted a jeep! Still, the hire car handled the situation admirably. We drove up past the backpacker mecca of Paje and up to Michamvi bay where the gleaming white sands were blinding. We had a lovely walk out as the ocean retreated. Then we drove back to Paje where we had some incredible octopus curry sat right by the beach watching the windsurfers at play. It was rather a long wait for the food, but we had to get used to that as it seemed to be a Tanzania thing!

Leaving Jambiani behind we made our way to Mangapwani on the west coast about half way up the island. Our destination there was the site of bunkers built by the British during the Battle of Zanzibar in World War II. They were not too difficult to find and worth the effort of getting there. A short distance away was the awful sight of underground slave chambers where slaves were hidden from sight after the prohibition of this dreadful inhuman trade.

On our way up to Nungwe at the very tip of the island we called in to have a look at Matemwe. The roads had been difficult as there are major renovations taking place everywhere. Despite this Russ managed to get stopped for speeding! The limit is 50km/h on the majority of roads and it's hard to believe we were actually travelling at the 64 the radar gun clocked. The policemen would not listen to Russ pleading that we were leaving the island on Sunday and insisted that we had to present ourselves to a police station on Monday morning and pay a $75 fine. Curiously he didn't take any personal details though, so perhaps we are now on a Tanzania fugitive list somewhere!!!!!

Finding our way around Nungwe was tough as the roads in the town were the roughest unmade surface we encountered on the entire island. Considering the number of five star hotels around the coastal area of the region, you would have thought some investment would have been made into roads. Sadly not, and what we thought could not possibly be the right way was in fact correct, and we found ourselves at the Amaan Beach Bungalows Annex. Not cheap, but far cheaper than anything else, we were reasonably happy with our choice despite the number of package holiday Brits and Russians staying there. Our poolside view didn't really have a view of the pool. Our balcony looked straight at a whitewashed wall! Still, it was a relaxing place to be and we enjoyed our stay.

Nungwe wasn't really our type of place because of the mass tourism and the obvious lack of investment in local amenities. Drinking expensive beer sat on the beach watching the sunset was nice, but there was a sense of guilt as we made our way back along poorly lit unmade streets to our hotel. We also had a nice walk along the beach from the Hilton where the sand was immaculate against the deeper-than-deep blue of the sea. The adjoining public beach hadn't had its seaweed cleared for quite some time. It really was a beautiful place. Close to the pier (abandoned we presume!) we decided against visiting the turtle sanctuary and made our way back though the village where the contrast between the beach hotels and the local poverty really hit home. The contrast was pretty stark.

A 10am check-out saw us begin our journey to the airport for our rendez-vous to drop off the car before our flight to Dar es Salaam. Just south of Zanzibar town we decided to pay a visit to the Mbweni Ruins Hotel. Access to this luxury getaway was along flooded muddy roads and we wondered if our car would actually make it. Fortunately we survived and had a quick look around the grounds. The ruins are of a former mission school set up by Dr Livingstone but parts of it are still used by the hotel. More flooded roads saw us back at the airport with the car running on more fumes that when we had picked it up! Precision Air then took us on the shortest flight ever- about 25 minutes to Dar.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Zanzibar
Great information about this island nation. I've always been curious so it was great to read your story. As always you found some great museums, cafes and beaches.

[rrruss]

Thanks
Thanks so much for your feedback. I do my best!!