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As a child you hear the name Zanzibar and you think of the exotic spice islands of the Indian Ocean...beautiful beaches.....(but you have to say Zanzibar with more of a whisper in your voice...like Zaaannnzibarrrr....did you put a whisper in your voice? Try again...... I wish you had some cymbals to crash after that...anyway, you get my point.).
Now a-days you hear that many people are making Zanzibar a honeymoon destination because of all of the beaches and culture. Our expectations going in were very high.....
....so we started our journey to Zanzibar back in Arusha, Tanzania. After finishing the negotiations for a round trip flight from Arusha to Zanzibar, and then a bus trip back to Nairobi on the 12th we were ready to go. We flew Precision Air...but there are all types of air carriers in Tanzania (it's like the one business that everyone in Tanzania has said to himself: Hey let's just start an airline!) But Precision Air is now somehow a part of Kenya Airways...and wow, a brand new airplane for our flight.
We landed in Zanzibar City and headed to the old center called "Stone Town" -- which has narrow little streets and
Welcome to Zanzibar
This big prop plane got us from Arusha to Zanzibar in about an hour. The plane was brand new too - we were very impressed. a big stone fort.
I guess we assumed that Zanzibar was going to be a little more touristy than mainland Africa...I don't know why we thought that....but it wasn't. Zanzibar is really just Africa on an island.
We planned one night in Stone Town and then we are headed up to the biggest tourist beach village called Nungwi Beach. We were a little afraid because we heard it was a bit of a party place...but wow, when they say "low season" in Zanzibar they mean LOW SEASON!
Many hotels we closed completely for the season, and those that were open were almost abandoned, and going under seasonal repairs. Great for us...everything was cheap, and everything was negotiable. We stayed at the big Amman Brothers Bungalows...right in the middle of everything and had everything we needed.
It was sorta surrual as the resorts were walled off from the rest of the village...you walk 50 feet behind your room and you could be in any village in Tanzania. But on the beach all the resorts are right up on top of the ocean and were pretty comfortable.
Since everything was under off-season repair you had to walk
The port area in Stone Town
Though you can't see the whole sign in the picture the second boat in has a big blue tent/roof that says 'Hakuna Matata'. Yes, they really say that in Kenya and Tanzania - not just in the Lion King :-) around tons of construction materials, scores of workers putting up new roofs, and adding new rooms to the resorts. Apparently it is just crazy during the high season...not really sure why.
We did have beautiful views, great water, some good beaches, and decent scuba-diving.
The best part was meeting new people from all over. Since there were few tourists everyone was friendly so we'd meet people and have lunch or dinner with them.
There was this great little restaurant in the Langi Langi Bungalows where the food was just to die for! The regular chef was on holiday and the owner was doing the cooking....wow, we'd just go in and he would serve us whatever he was fixing. The food was sooooo good and the spot over the water was perfect. We found ourselves there everyday...and most nights...enjoying great food, great company, and a great view. The sun would set directly in front of us every night as we ate with the dhows on the water and the clouds lighting up in oranges and purples (see pictures that don't do the view justice).
Basically you come to Zanzibar to lay on the beaches (a B- for
Sunset in Nungwi Beach
We sat at this little table at least once a day to play cards, eat or just read. Nice view... a grade on the beaches), swim, and dive. I realy think you better like to dive to spend very much time here.
Day Two we decided to go scuba diving...and it was overcast when we headed out. We headed out and it was just Jessica and I on the dive boat with the divemasters and skipper. We got to the dive site, geared up, and then went over the side.
Wow, great wildlife with blue spotted rays, octopus, sea horses, morray eels...the dives were good, but the visibility wasn't spectacular. Jessica got very cold after our first dive as it was 55 minutes long, which is a very long dive, and she couldn't get warm with the overcast skies. So on the next dive she decided to wait it out on the boat. I could have dived a few more times...but time was not on our side.
The next day we relaxed with walks on the beach, laying out in the sun and enjoying the scenery -- oh yeah...and the food at Langi Langi!
Although it wasn't the Seychelle Islands, and it wasn't Tahitti, it was a nice diving/beach getaway for a few days while in
Africa. Our observation was that we were happy we came...but if you have a week for your honeymoon, we can think of many, many better island/beach destinations.
The next day we had to check-out (oh yeah...while we were there almost all of our mates from the safari in Arusha also showed up in Nungwi; the two Korean fellows, Sour and Jack, the first night, and Jackie and Esther the final night) and headed to Stone Town for a day of sightseeing.
We shared a taxi with a couple from Seattle who had just finished two years in the Peace Corp. It was great to hear their stories, and to see what they thought of the Peace Corp was very interesting.
We had planned two days in Stone Town to do some of the organized tours...but we just thought the beach made much more sense for us.
In Zanzibar they have all types of local tours...the big one is the Spice Tour which you get visit where they process and prepare the spices. We wanted too try some buuuuut we had to choose....beach or tour bus, beach or tour bus. We picked beach.
Stone Town has
Nungwi Beach
There were few beaches to sunbathe on, but it was fun to walk around and watch the dhow boats push out. a ton of history and we visited Beit El-Ajaaib (the House of Wonders), which was built by Sultan Barghash as a ceremonial palace. It is also know in the Guiness Book of World Records as the site of the shortest military war in history. Apparently war was declared on the British at 1:00 pm in 1896 and the white flag was raised at 1:30pm...30 minutes after the British ship put a few shots into the ole' House of Wonders. Pretty funny historic ancedote.
The streets are narrow and you are barraged with folks selling things (at least in the low season we were)...and it wore on us. A pretty place, but I don't think you need more than a day (unless you are diving or taking Spice Tour or something) in Stone Town.
That night we ate at the restaurant called "Freddy Mercury's" as apparently the lead singer of Queen was born in Zanzibar and so they built this little spot near the port that serves average food for super high prices to tourists while playing Freddy Mercury and Queen songs in the background.
We stayed at the same place the last night that we stayed the
first night, which was fine. Got up in the morning and headed to the airport for our trip back to Arusha.
We got to the airport and our Precision Air flight had been cancelled but Mr. Clemence had booked us on one of the other small carriers called "Coastal Air." Only one pilot...but we didn't die so that was good, right? Really the flight was fine and the little airline seems to be pretty good...specializes in safaris.
Got back to Arusha to be met by Mr. Clemence of "Excellent Safaries" (Excellent Safaris =
) who had also arranged our flights and was taking us to the bus station.
He took us to the bank, to some shops, to the post office, and then dropped me by to talk to some other tourists and give a recommendation...a little odd but he was a nice guy that had gotten taken by a few in our safari tour group so I figured I'd help out where I could. He didn't even charge us for the transfer to the bus station and all the running around.
Caught the bus back to Nairobi and back to the Kenya Comfot Hotel Fellow Diners at Langi Langi
We met these fine folks in our favorite restaurant on the Beach - Langi Langi. A bunch of smart people (3 doctors, a nuclear engineer, a gal who just left the peace corp...) made for fun and lively dinner converstation. at around 9:30 pm. I had reserved an inside room (a must need as the street noise is really loud) like we had the first night in Kenya. They gave us an outside room, but we were tired and had to get up in the morning at 2:30 am...so didn't complain...too bad. Jess didn't sleep the whole night as a car alarm kept going off. The staff there didn't care.
Caught our Eygpt Air flight for Cairo...should be fun. We both have always wanted to see the Great Pyramids.
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