John's Blog » Zanzibar

From luxury back to sleeping on a bus

John — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:20:40 +0000

We only intended to spend 1 night at Swahili Divers but it ended up being 2, what with it being such a difficult island to get off. Raf was heading to the airport to fly to Zanzibar so we hitched a lift. Our only means of leaving the island was to fly (or wait a further 2 days for the ferry). We booked a flight with Coastal and spent the time before the flight on the net in Chake Chake. Where, because it was still Ramadan I had to discreetly eat my “lunch” (plain biscuits were all I could find) in the corner.

When the plane arrived Bhav and I were the only people waiting. The plane was a 13 seater Cessna but any hopes of having it all to ourselves were dashed when we walked closer and saw 3 others inside. The reason for the odd numbered 13th seat was due to their being no co-pilot. Unfortunately the best seat in the house was already occupied but we could at least get the 1st row. The flight to Tanga was quite short at about 20 minutes but we certainly enjoyed the view.

The luxury of the plane wasn’t matched by the next form of transport, another overnight bus this time to Mombasa in Kenya. Our taxi driver from the airport suggested we should get a bus in the day time due to “banditry” but we didn’t want to waste more time and money.

It took about 2 hours before we arrived at the border, where Bhav got into Kenya for free whilst I was charged US$50 for the privilege. We arrived in Mombasa after midnight and slept on a coach.

Our escape route from Pemba

Welcome to Tanga

Diving off Zanzibar

John — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:32:35 +0000

We’d booked 3 morning dives and having been sized up for all the required bits of kit the day before, all we had to do eat breakfast and walk through the breakers to the speedboat. The last time I’d dived in the sea (in Australia), breakfast and diving didn’t work well together but thankfully it was quite calm on the water.

There were 8 people on the boat split up into 2 groups. My buddy was Bhav and we had Raf, the company owner as our guide. The first dive was an underwater mountain listed in the guide book as one of the diving highlights in the country and it certainly didn’t disappoint. There was a profusion of life everywhere requiring you to almost prioritise what you looked at.

After a 1 hour 30 min surface interval spent on a nearby white sandy beach we went for a second dive which was a wall dive. I didn’t enjoy the second dive as much as the first but that could have been partly due to the unfamiliar equipment (gear listed psi instead of bar).

It was also cool to be out diving with Bhav who I’d met exactly a year previously (in Australia).

The journey to Swahili Divers

John — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:21:10 +0000

We must have arrived at Pemba around 5 am, any attempt to continue to sleep while the boat docked and people started to disembark was pointless. The five hours I had slept for were actually pretty good. After getting off we squeezed onto a bus heading to the capital of the island, Chake Chake to where we thought Swahili Divers was based. Upon arriving we discovered that they had moved to the top of the island over 60 km away near a place called Konde. After the daladala to Konde we had to hitch the remaining 12km. Luckily a tour group soon appeared and Bhav and I again squeezed into the boot of a 4×4 along with 2 other people and everyone’s bags. The tour consisted of 4 Norwegians going to look at a remnant of rainforest. After the forest it was just us and the driver for the final 4 km. We’d set ourselves up for a fall by not negotiating a price before getting in as we normally do but it still came as a surprise when the guy asked for TSH 10,000 shillings each (about £5.20). Strangely he drove off without us giving him anything in the end.

The new location of Swahili Divers (we found they’d been there a year but my Rough Guide was old) is right on the coast in the middle-of-no-where surrounded by farmland. Unfortunately with us being essentially a captive audience in the wilderness we had to pay rather a lot more than we’d been accustomed to. In the end though we were just glad to get anything and the luxury was a welcome bonus.

Bhav and I were too tired to do much that afternoon but we went out for a sunset kayak with an American guy which was cool.

Day trip to the beach and escape from Zanzibar (city) to Zanzibar (Pemba)

John — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:19:56 +0000

Bhav was getting a little restless and had decided to leave to try and head north to Kenya, while I was still to decide if I wanted to stay on. One thing we could both agree on was heading to Pemba (the second and smaller island of Zanzibar) in search of unspoilt beaches, hardly any tourists and some amazing diving. The only problem was that we couldn’t get through to the dive shop on the phone and we didn’t want to take a 4 hour ferry only to discover that there was a problem and no easy way to get back. In the end we decided not to bother and to head to the east coast to a place called Bwejuu.

We had heard from a few people that the beaches to the east were quicker to get to and not too developed. The beach was definitely worth the ride in the daladala and it was good to get away from the pushy souvenir sellers!

When we got back to Stone Town we tracked Craig down to a hotel not far from ours. He got a bit of a surprise when we just walked into his hotel room (which he’d already managed to furnish with 2 young and blond German girls).

Bhav and I had bought tickets for the overnight ferry to Dar but after talking to Craig about the diving in Pemba (he’s now totally in love with diving) we decided to try and change our tickets so we could take the overnight ferry to Pemba instead.

First class accommodation on the MV Maendeleio was far better than the last few times we’d travelled overnight. Aircon, almost comfy seats and reasonable peace and quiet made up for the worst toilet I’ve ever seen. I was glad I went before we left the harbour, it wouldn’t have been pleasant in the open sea!

Our transport, a Daladala

Italian speaking kids on the beach in Bwejuu

Relaxing on the beach in Bwejuu

In and around Stone Town

John — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:26:52 +0000

We spent the day touring the other sites of Stone Town. Whilst it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (like Edinburgh’s Old Town) the attractions and indeed most buildings had suffered over the years from neglect. Many places such as the Forodhani Gardens and the Cultural Centre were undergoing renovation. We still managed to visit the Persian Baths (sadly without the water), the Omani fort and the House of Wonders (one of the largest buildings in town and one designed by a Scottish marine architect) which contains a museum.

Traditional Dhow off Zanzibar

Omani Fort, Stone Town, Zanzibar

The narrow streets of Stone Town

Doors of Zanzibar

John — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:53:18 +0000

One thing any tourist visiting Zanzibar will notice is the intricate and extremely ornate doors into many of the buildings. Whilst much of Stone Town has suffered from neglect since the revolution in 1964, there are still a number of the traditional doors. Many of which are over 150 years old and last for such a length of time because of the hardwoods they are made from (some are made from sesame imported from as far away as India and are perhaps the source of Ali Baba’s “Open Sesame”). Residential doors tend to be the most elaborate. They’re often divided into two panels, one on the right for men (mlango mdume) and a smaller panel on the left for women (mlango jika).

Example of a Zanzibar door

Spice tour

John — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:12:55 +0000

We were picked up for the spice tour we’d booked the day before at 9 am. Upon arriving at the spice farm my hopes that it was only the 9 people who had got into our minivan were soon let down when another 2 minivans stopped. Despite the large group the tour was really good and the guide was very knowledgeable. There’s just something fun about seeing something growing and “pulling a few off” and smelling that familiar smell.

After lunch (which was for me at least, one of the best meals so far) we headed off to the beach via the old slave caves. The caves were where they hid the slaves after the British colonial administration abolished the trade on the island. The small part of the cave we saw was nice but certainly nothing on the ones in Malaysia.

When we got back to Stone Town we headed to the Anglican cathedral which had previously been the site of the slave market (the whipping post the slaves were tied to is now the alter). Below the church are two remnants of the trade, small rooms where the slaves were kept in horrible conditions.

Cocoa bean

Anglican Cathedral

Slave Monument