Blogs from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 19

Just returned from an amazing two week trip to Tanzania where I climbed (most of) Kilimanjaro and spent a week on Zanzibar. Both deserve a bit of time so in the interest of this entry not being incredibly long I'm splitting them up. First on the agenda: Zanzibar! Zanzibar is pretty much what one imagines when conjuring up images of a paradise beach vacation. Sugar like white sand, impossibly blue water, amazing scuba diving, beautiful sunsets... you get the idea. But first, how we got there. After Kili we spent the day in Moshi showering (alas no hot water) and then boarded a bus to Arusha where one of my friends from U of T, the lovely M, had been living all summer working for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. We had to wait, as ... read more

Hi all, So I am returning for a second trip to Zanzibar in February but am starting my search now for a cheap place to stay. The first time I went I was lucky enough to stay with a friend, this time around I have to fend for myself. So if anyone has any recommendations for very affordable places to stay, please let me know! Thanks a million! Court... read more

After our stressful journey through immigration getting back into Tanzania we stepped onto an 8 seater plane and flew to Zanzibar. The water was so blue and the reefs were visible almost immediately as we flew for 20 minutes over the Indian Ocean. We got picked up by our resort and headed to Matemwe Beach resort. We had chosen this resort for its diving (and food). We were impressed by this resort. The room itself was acceptable, not luxurious, but clean with pleasant staff. However the food was the best food on our entire trip. The white sand on the beach was so beautiful and the pool is very pleasant. They have a South African chef and no kidding this food was amazing. Every evening there was a choice of 2 starters and 2 main courses ... read more

May 11th Here’s a fun fact for you, did you know that Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar? True story, the late lead singer of Queen was born on the island, he still holds local legendary status with pubs named after him actually. On the morning of the 11th I woke up early to make it down to Kendwa Beach, a few clicks south of Nungwi Beach. The PADI scuba class to become fully certified in open water was meant to be a 3 day course, one full day of classes, another half day in the classes, followed by a couple confined water dives, and then the last day would be the first “real dives”. Justin and I decided to take a 2/3 course because if we had done what Nicio did (get fully certified) then it ... read more

May 9th The ferry that would take the 8 of us to Zanzibar was to leave at 10:30 in the morning, so we were able to sleep in a bit more than normal. As a group we decided to take a couple taxis back over the bay and to the Zanzibar ferry, this was nice and quick, although a bit more expensive than going in a matatu. We waited for what seemed like an eternity to get on the ferry but the time did come. It took us about two and a half hours to get to Stonetown, the port for the island. My stomach wasn’t happy so it was nice to get some sleep on the side of the ship, with Wendy and Nico as my body guards. I was expecting Stonetown to be more ... read more