Zanzibar - Spices, Sun & Stone Town

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Now where was I? Oh yes that’s right we had just been on safari in one of the local national parks and had enjoyed our first taste of African animals. Well what followed after that was the last week of school before the 1 week half term break - and we were heading of on our first African holiday - yippee!

The last week of school saw all the kids do exams for the first half term which I reckon is a bit harsh considering some of these kids have only been in school for 6 weeks - oh well, glad it’s not me (if I had been assessed continually through school I would still be in year 6). So the last 2 days had exams in all subjects and then on the last day there was one final assembly before the kids were let loose for the break - although the standard 4 kids who do their first national exams at the end of the year go right through - yes that’s right, what I mean is they get Saturday off (where they normally come in for tuition) but they get no holidays - tough eh?. The assembly saw some end of term awards given out and guess who received two. No not Mr Simon after his dazzling display of classroom management, but yes Miss Rachel. The first award was for creating an outstanding classroom and learning environment through resources and posters - all of which were of course made by hand with basic materials or done on the computer. The second award was voted by her peers for the best behaved class in Standard One (there are 6 classes in year 1). So Rachel’s hard work was recognised in front of the whole school and her kids went crazy, especially as the prize for the best behaved was a nice big cake. Miss Rachel is quickly becoming a crowd favourite with the kids and local teaching staff.

At this point I should explain why Rachel is known as Miss Rachel and not Mrs Rachel. In Tanzania, when a female gets married they take on the husband’s name, as in the west, but here they also tend to use the first name also. So for example Miss Rachel would become Mrs Simon, and anyone who vaguely knows Rachel knows that isn’t on. It took us a while to figure this out but Gemma (the school owner) who is married to Richard is known as Mrs Richard. This explains why some of the kids were surprised to find out that Miss Rachel is actually married to Mr Simon in the office.

Anyway, enough of the trivia and on to the holiday. Yes Saturday morning Rachel and I headed into town to board the Precision Air shuttle bus which would take us out to Kilimanjaro Airport and then on to our flight to Zanzibar. We did this trip when we first arrived but it was late at night so we never saw the majestic mountain, but on this day we were going to drive right up alongside it, and all the guide books are right…it really is an outstanding sight seeing the snow capped mountain rise rapidly out of the flat plains. At the time we were driving past, one of our fellow school workers was beginning a 6 day climb that would eventually see her just fall short about 200m below the summit, as she passed out from the affects of altitude sickness. We plan to have a crack at the mountain later in the year, so training starts Monday!

The flight to Zanzibar is only about an hour in a small plane (although we went with the company that flies the larger planes) and around midday we touched down to the heat of Zanzibar Island just off the coast to mainland Tanzania. We spent 2 nights at a nice old colonial hotel on the waterside in Old Stone Town which is a mix of old Colonial British Empire and Arabic influence with majestic old buildings surrounded by hundreds of small passageways which link the town together. It’s an adventure at every turn walking around the small streets, of course subject to the locals trying to tempt you into their store to buy local merchandise. Stone Town was also once the hub of the old slave trading business with ships loaded up with black slaves headed for the USA and other parts of the world. Obviously none of this remains today, but you can feel that the town has a lot of history to it and despite its appearance of a hot and dusty place, everywhere you turn you find a reminder of its heritage. On our last night there we went down to one of the outdoor evening markets where they have all sorts of fragrant foods cooking away over open fires. The smell of different seafood and local dishes was great and it’s a real family friendly atmosphere where the locals come to eat and wind down from a hot day on the island.

Following our 2 nights in Stone Town we then headed off to a beach on the other side (eastern) of the island to enjoy 5 nights relaxing and generally not doing much at all, so that we can recover from our first 2 months in Africa. The beaches are terrific with powder white sand that would give Whitehaven Beach in Australia’s Whitsunday islands a run for its money, clear turquoise water which is as warm as a bath and a tropical climate expected in the equator region.

Our hotel on the beach was on a long stretch of beach which was amazingly quiet, and had 20 beach bungalow’s made in true tropical African style. We would step off of our veranda onto the white sand and wander down to the waters edge for a swim when it got too hot, or just sit under a thatched umbrella or palm tree enjoying the view.

We have probably never spent a holiday relaxing as much as this in our lives and it was a great way to recharge our batteries. We would wander down the beach to some of the local beach side restaurants and enjoy different meals. All in all we had a great time and have arrived back at school refreshed and ready for another 7 weeks before our next holiday to wherever that may take us!

Don't miss all the photos on the next pages

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