Spice island

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After the excitement and adreneline of the big game parks, our next destination promises a welcome chance for a bit of r and r, and some old-fashioned sun worshipping - the spice island of Zanzibar.

We drive to the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, taking an evening dip in the Indian Ocean before taking the ferry the next morning to the main island, Unguja. Arriving at Stone Town is like arriving on a new continent. Next to East Africa’s corrugated-iron huts and scruffy parades of shops, Stone Town looks for all the world like a Meditteranean fishing village, it’s white-washed waterfront providing an arresting sight for someone used to dust roads and ramshackle buildings. The Arab influence is more apparent once we start to explore the town’s narrow alleys and hidden markets - in particular the subterranean remains of the slave market, one of the few visible remnants of Zanzibar’s notorious history as a hub of the African slave trade.

Our first afternoon is spent on a traditional spice tour, seeing how the locals utilise the island’s abundent vegetation to flavour fish and seafood dishes. We watch the sunset from the raised terrace of Africa House and sample some of the street food on offer at the waterfront night market, before heading over to the east coast of the island, and our main destination - Kendwa Beach.

The next few days activities don’t make for very exciting blog material, but suffice to say that the swimming, snorkelling, beach volleyball and sun worshipping went down a treat! We bid farewell to a few of the guys from the truck and resigned ourselves to swapping our comfortable beds for our trusty tents once more.

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Photos

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Stone Town harbour

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Picking coconuts on the spice tour

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Sunset over Kendwa Beach

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Shipwreck