Zanzibar - Stone town and spice tour

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Today we headed for Zanzibar, we had to catch the 10am ferry but before we could do that we had to cross the foot ferry. This seemed to involve pushing your way to the front and rushing as soon as the gates opened. The foot ferry was full of locals and cars and the people just had to fit into the gaps. Once off the foot ferry we headed to the port to cross to Zanzibar. We all elected to walk but in the heat that might not have been the best decision and left us all as sitting ducks for the street traders!! We all made it to the ferry some with some very interesting purchases. The crossing was very rough and the number of people being sick around us made us all feel a bit ill.

Once we arrived we headed straight for the spice tour which took us around Stone town to understand more about the slave trade and the spices and plants grown. We visited where slaves were sold and were shown the conditions they were kept in. It was terrible to see the slave chambers and find out about the millions of people forced into slavery. After a late spicy lunch we headed to a plantation to find out about the plants and spices and what they are used for. They guy taking the tour tried to speak in an Australian accent but just sounded like a gangster from a Guy Richie movie. We were shown various plants and trees and along the way the guy made us things to wear. Nick ended up with some glasses and a nice tie I got a frog to wear around my neck.

When the tour was over a group of us had decided to head straight to the beach and not stay in stone town. Our mini bus picked us up then promptly broke down. It was however well enough to chase another mini bus through town horn blasting and driver shouting!! We were transferred on to another bus then on our way to paradise.

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