Blogs from Bwejuu, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa

Hello All, I'm currently writing this from a very noisy hotel room in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, having arrived back from an incredible week in Zanzibar. Having flown into Zanzibar from Kilimanjaro, yesterday I got the ferry back to the Tanzanian mainland. The journey was so rough that at some points it seemed as though 'Yellow Submarine' would have been a more appropriate Beatles song to name this blog entry but luckily my stomach and the boat's hull managed to hold out. My time in Zanzibar was truly the start of my solo travels, as I was surrounded by so many people during my Maasai volunteering stint that I was never really alone. What I've discovered is Africa can be a very unforgiving place to be a solo traveller, even in the ... read more

Zasićen velikim gradovima, u Dar Es Salaamu se nisam zadržao više od jedne noći i već sam sljedeće jutro došao u luku od lud kreće trajekt za Zanzibar. Luka je bila očekivano neugodna, puna razno raznih „agenata“ koji su me vukli za rukave. Uz malo otimanja, naguravanja i ostalog uobičajenog folklora konačno sam se dočepao trajekta, najsporijeg, ali najjeftinijeg. Nakon dobra 4 sata plovidbe na krcatom trajektu, na horizontu se ukazao Stone Town, glavni grad i glavna luka Zanzibara. Iako dio Tanzanije, Zanzibar ima velik stupanj autonomije, pa tako se imigracijski proces i štambiljanje putovnice moraju posebno proći i tamo. Zbog činjenice da je Zanzibar otok, a pogotovo turistički vrlo eksponiran, cijene su značajno više od onih u ostatku Tanzanije. Prvi dan sam odlučio provesti u Stone Townu. Stone Town, nekad jedna od najvećih tržnica robova ... read more

Anneke only would climb the Kilimanjaro if we went to Zanzibar afterwards to Relax on one of the beaches.......so we did! Arriving in Stone Town after a long busride from Arusha and then the fast ferry, it was a hassle to find a good place to sleep. Most places were full already so we ended up at this crappy place just outside the centre of Stone Town. At night we went to the Forodani Gardens, along the shore, It is a great place with many food stalls and half the population of Stone Town and almost all tourist will gather there in the evening. Great place to eat fresh seafood.....but with me being vegetarian and Anneke not liking seafood we were not the biggest buyers of the streetfood. We had an OK meal but the atmosphere ... read more

Greetings from Africa! We made it to Zanzibar and are having an amazing time!!! It is soooo beautiful here! Pictures do not do this place justice. The people, the ocean and the food are perfect. We have made many new friends with locals, French and a kind South African whose computer I am currently using so I do not have much time to write, but I wanted you to know that we are well! We wish you were here. We are staying at an awesome "resort" called Mount Zion. All they play on the stereo is reggae...it is just our pace! Tony is out swimming in the Indian Ocean, and I don't know how to post our pictures. I just wanted to say Jambo! - Hi! - while we have the opportunity to write from a ... read more

New Years in Paje and Bwejuu Hop in a dallah dallah and head to the beach again - Paje here we come. Squeezed into the back of a Zanzibari dallah dallah surounded by deisel containers, bags of coconut husk and bananas is THE way to travel. It's cheap and very fast and you get to meet the people of Zanzibar (OK, we were trying to make up for splashing out on taxis to / from Matemwe). En route we discovered that the Seven Seas wasn't in Paje but was actually in Bwejuu, a small village about half an hour's walk up the beach. We were dropped off at the side of the road and weaved our way between more coral rag buildings and found a deserted Seven Seas, it's optimistically dug swimming pool unfinished and unfilled. ... read more