Day 1 – Stone Town – January 14
The flight was fairly smooth from Johannesburg and lasted about 3.5 hours. For some reason, the tickets we purchased gave us 70 rand of in-flight food, so we stocked up on granola bars and Ryan got sparkling wine and pringles at 7:30 am in the morning. We’d heard a lot about Zanzibar, including the challenges of getting visas on arrival and a plastic bag ban, where they went through your luggage to find and remove them. The flight attendants also announced the ban and asked people to deliver their duty-free bags. Everything went smoothly though. Since we are Americans our visa cost is $100 per person vs. the rest the world’s $50 price tag. After coughing up the money we made it through quite easily, then collected our bags and headed for the customs scanner. None of our plastic bags, holding shoes, toiletries, etc. were detected and we found our preordered cab waiting for us outside.
It was just a 15-minute drive into the old town center of Zanzibar City called Stone Town. We are staying at a hostel called Balcony House for our first three nights here. Our room is small, but private with air conditioning, so we are happy. It’s very humid here and over 90 degrees during the heat of the day. After a brief rest we got up to wander the old town. It’s been months (last time was in Istanbul) since we were in a walkable city. We weaved our way through the narrow winding streets and along the coast.
We came upon the large cathedral by accident as it rose up in the middle of the old town. The vast majority of the island is Muslim, whereas the mainland of Tanzania is predominantly Christian.
Tourism is the life blood of this island and we’ve found all the people to be polite and friendly, even after you’ve rejected those trying to sell you something. On the beach Ryan was called out several times (Mr. Beard! Mr. Beard!) as people tried to haggle for snorkeling and boat prices. They speak Swahili here so we get to say hakuna mata and jambo. We wandered more through the old town stopping by the Old Fort and through several narrow streets of shops. Finally, it was late afternoon and hot, we settled down at a café in the Old Fort and enjoyed drinking this country’s beers. The beers are giant and only $2, so we tried both the Kilimanjaro and the Safari lagers.
We wandered a little longer then went back to the hostel for a quick nap, as we’d been up since 4 am to catch our flight. Around 6:30 we rallied and headed to a beach bar called Livingstone Beach Restaurant to grab happy hour drinks; Elizabeth refuses to drink a beer for more than $2, just on principle. We were happy to see that the tide had come in and was practically lapping the table legs in front of the restaurant. We sat outside enjoying the comparatively cool night air and more giant Kilimanjaro beers.
Next, fueled by beer and a growing hunger, we went to Forodhani Gardens to try out the famous Stone Town Night Market. Every night after dark the park comes alive with locals and tourists alike visiting the various vendors peddling their skewers of meat and fish, roti, cooked vegetables, samosas, durums, and Zanzibar pizzas. Cooks or “captains” were quick to swarm us and offered take us to their table where they explain what they have for sale. After perusing few captains’ stalls, we settled on food from Captain Jimmy. He again affectionately referred to Ryan as Mr. Beard and Elizabeth as the Queen. We ate a vegetable samosa, chicken gizzard kebab (obviously for Ryan), French fries and a freshly squeezed sugar cane drink to wash it down. The food was pretty good, but more importantly it was dirt cheap.
Next, we ate a Zanzibar pizza. The man stretched out a thin layer of dough then piled in ground beef, vegetables, cheese, mayonnaise, a raw egg, and sliced chili. He then mixed it all up and threw it on the grill. He occasionally flipped it to cook it on both sides then cut it up and we ate it out of a metal tin. It was phenomenal. A little too spicy for Elizabeth, but Ryan could have eaten three! There were stray cats everywhere trying to get a bite. We were pretty tired and headed back to our hostel to shower and go to bed. We weren’t home more than 30 minutes before a giant storm blew through bringing pouring rain and strong winds; hopefully the vendors packed up in time.
Day 2 – Stone Town – January 15
We’d made plans to join the snorkel tour at 9 am the next morning. Around 7 it began pouring and didn’t stop for hours. Luckily, we have plenty of time here, so we stayed in bed listening to the rain on the tin roof. Eventually, the rain died down around lunch time and we walked into town to go to a restaurant called Lazuli Café. We arrived just as it opened and the man behind the counter was very shy and didn’t speak much English. Their menu was full of hilarious English misspelling but said, essentially, on the front cover they use good ingredients and take our time, if you’re in a hurry we’ll try to accommodate you. We were in for a long lunch.
We each ordered a fresh smoothie, Elizabeth with peanut butter, banana and honey and Ryan with pineapple, mango and passionfruit. About halfway through our smoothies, another man arrived, speaking much better English with a certifiably congenial personality, who must normally run the front of the house. He talked to us for about an hour nonstop while our food was being prepared. He loves Chris Tucker, and says he likes to talk a lot, just like Chris Tucker, then shared every Rush Hour quote he knew. He let us know he’d never left Zanzibar, not even for the mainland of Tanzania. He explained things are cheaper on the mainland, but it’s harder to make money.
Eventually our food came out, for Elizabeth, a hummus and avocado wrap, and Ryan, a fish curry wrap. The food was absolutely worth the wait and the curry was some of the best we’d ever had. Considering it’s been our unofficial life goal to try every curry we can get our tongues on, that’s saying something. Zanzibar is such a unique culinary mix of Asian, Indian, and mainland African. Ryan gorged himself. On the walk back we stopped by the beach to see about more snorkeling opportunities. We negotiated to go at 3 pm for $25 USD. With our tour package we get to see the tortoises on Prison Island then snorkel for a bit. We had just enough time to go home, change, and digest our full bellies for a while.
We made it to the beach and collected our snorkel gear, clearly nothing is ever washed, so hopefully we don’t catch something from the mouthpiece, then loaded onto an old rickety boat. The boat had a small motor and it took us 25 minutes to cross the water to the island 5.6 km away. The ride was a bit rough, with water coming up to and over the edge of the boat as we careened between the waves.
Thankfully, we arrived in one piece and jumped out into ankle deep water towards the sandy beach around the island, formally named Changuu Island. This island has had a long history, most recently serving as a prison for unruly slaves in the 1860s, then as a coral mine, then purchased by the British in 1893 and built up as a proper prison, but no inmates ever made it ashore, only yellow fever victims. Currently, the quarantine facilities have been converted to guest cottages with pools and tennis facilities; the main draw though, is the giant tortoises.
In 1919 the British governor of the Seychelles sent 4 Aldabra tortoises as a gift. As their numbers grew, so did others’ desire to have them as pets, thus people began stealing and selling the tortoises almost to extinction. A clutch of the tortoises was moved to the island where they could be watched more carefully. The island is now a conservatory for these turtles and other large tortoises are brought here to be cared for. We ended up following a guide, although we’re not sure how he got with our boat, around the prison area with the old cells that held yellow fever victims. Eventually we made it to the tortoises. Their conditions didn’t seem to be as clean or nice as we would have liked, but for all we know their small, muddy forest may be their ideal habitat. The turtles have their ages spray painted on their backs and we saw them ranging from 30-130, though how much fidelity is in the number we aren’t convinced. The tortoises are slow and lazy. You can pick up lettuce or leaves and they reach out to eat. You can also pet them and leave the trail to find them out in the woods. We spent about 40 minutes with the tortoises before heading back to the beach.
The wind had picked back up and there were lots of white caps out in the ocean. Our boat driver just took us out to the reef for 45 minutes of snorkeling. We jumped in and the water felt amazing. The waves continued to grow and eventually we couldn’t breathe without getting water in our snorkel with every wave. It was a good work out and we saw lots of corals and urchins and fish.
Finally, we loaded back on the boat and headed back the 25 minutes to Stone Town. The boat was rocking, but since we were already wet the spray wasn’t too annoying. Back home we ran back to the hostel to shower and change then headed to the Silk Route for dinner. We ate on the third floor near a large open window. We were both still pretty stuffed from lunch, but ordered Kilimanjaro beers, shrimp biryani and more fish curry with naan. We were disappointed in our food, having had such amazing fish curry for lunch. What can you do you? After finishing up, we hustled home and had enjoyed a peaceful night’s rest.
Day 3 – Stone Town – January 16
The next morning was incessant rain again. This time it didn’t let up until the early afternoon, so we took this opportunity to lay in bed reading. Finally, hunger inspired us to start the day and luckily the rain let up enough for us to walk dry. We went to a restaurant a few blocks away called Six Degrees South Zanzibar, we’re assuming because maybe Zanzibar is six degrees south of the equator. We got some new beers called Serengeti and Ndovu and ate a chicken coconut wrap and a fish burger. Elizabeth got plantain fries with her wrap and she claims they were the best French fries she’d ever had.
We walked around for a bit after eating, exploring the old town and its winding roads some more. On the main drag you pass the Freddy Mercury House. We didn’t know this before arriving, but he was born in Stone Town. He attended boarding school in India and returned to Zanzibar for a year before his family fled to the UK during the revolution.
After a few hours the sun began to set and we knew happy hour was beginning. We picked a bar called Tatu and sat on the second story balcony looking over a park in front of the ocean. People were exercising and a few men were practicing a Brazilian dance fighting called, capoeira. We’d read they perform sometimes at sunset for the tourists. We drank more Kilimanjaro, our favorite local beer and enjoyed the sights. We even drank a brand of water called Kilimanjaro. The building looked like it was being held together with plaster and a lot of the “scaffolding/reinforcements” here are just huge beams haphazardly leaning against the building.
After it got dark, we wandered back to the night food market to get another Zanzibar pizza. Along the way we were chatted to by local taxi drivers trying to get some money and people offering to sell us marijuana. Elizabeth thinks its Ryan’s beard, but he gets offered drugs every day. Deciding to try a different stall this time, we grabbed our pizza and walked home. It was again delicious, and Elizabeth thought better than the first one, though this time instead of fresh chilies they used a chili vinegar sauce like Tabasco.
Day 4 – Bwejuu – January 17
We were switching hotels today so we lounged until around 8:30 then packed up and left our bags in the lobby to collect later. We headed for a place called Zanzibar Coffee House, which we’d read had the best coffee and pastries. Our route took us deep into the narrow streets of Stone Town and we had flashbacks of being in Morocco and trying to navigate. Eventually we found the shop, which is also a hotel and ordered an iced cappuccino, americano, banana bread, and cinnamon roll. The banana bread was incredible, and warm. Elizabeth couldn’t get the sugar to mix into her iced coffee so Ryan was a good husband and switched her. We grabbed a table right at the open window and watched people go about their lives along the street.
After breakfast we decided to wander through town doing some window shopping. Hoping to find a good deal since somewhere in the past couple countries, Elizabeth lost her gray travel skirt; we really have no idea when or where. Our first stop was called Jaws Corner. This is a local hangout where Zanzibari men grab their coffee in the morning. Per their namesake, they have a big mural of a great white on the wall.
We wove in and out of the streets. We stopped in a few shops and bartered with the owners over skirt costs. We found one we liked but decided to keep looking, though by the time Elizabeth decided that one was her favorite we had no idea how to find the shop again. The streets of Stone Town are fun to wander through and enjoy their various scaffolding work. We wandered back to the coast and drank a cool water in the shade. Our taxi was coming to transport us to the eastern side of the island at 1 o’clock so we headed back to the hostel to relax on the patio.
We spent some time talking to the owner, who is Danish, and found out her husband is from Zanzibar. They split their time between the two countries and told us Madsen is a very common name in Denmark; we’d fit right in there. Her cute son, maybe a year old, had been running around the hostel playing the whole time we were there. Finally, our taxi arrived and we said good-bye.
Our taxi driver is a civil engineer for the government. He said his salary is only $200 a month so he has to drive a taxi for additional income. He is hoping to get accepted into a master’s program somewhere abroad and make more money, maybe even moving to America. He asked Ryan to play him some American music through his car Bluetooth so we listened to Bryce Vine and some country on our 1.5-hour drive. The roads in Zanzibar are some of the worst we’ve ever encountered. Pot holes were everywhere. Off the ‘highways’ the roads are usually just uneven rock. Traffic is utter chaos. By the time we arrived at the road to the hotel we had to drive his small car through giant ponds of water and ridiculous terrain. We’re surprised we made it.
We checked into our first beach hotel called Indigo Beach and were shown to a beachfront room. We’d only paid for the garden budget room, so this was a nice surprise. He said tomorrow we were moving to a suite, so we’ll see what that looks like. Ryan was starving but the hotel had just stopped serving lunch, so we dropped our bags and began walking down the beach to find a restaurant. The tide was out and we could see waves breaking about a quarter mile off shore. Apparently, the tide rises right up next to the beach and we were excited to watch it come in. the beach was pretty clean, but had the occasional piece of glass or ceramic that made us nervous to go without shoes.
We settled for a restaurant called Leo Bar and Restaurant. It was pretty empty and we sat outside under a huge thatched hut drinking Kilimanjaro beer. We ordered fish and chicken curries which took about 45 minutes to make. It was nice to know it was all being freshly made, but dang we were hungry. Ultimately, the food was delicious and well worth the wait. On the walk back up to our hotel we saw a ton of cows on the beach and women and children digging for something out in the tide pools.
We headed over to the common area of the pool to use the Wi-Fi and work on future trip planning. We got a few more Kilimanjaro’s and enjoyed the common space until the mosquitos became unbearable. We ran back to our front porch where the winds were strong and the mosquitos had disappeared. A staff member came by to spray our room for bugs and light a citronella candle on the floor. We didn’t have A/C, but the ocean breeze through the windows and the giant fan made for pleasant sleeping. Don’t worry we had a huge mosquito net canopy.
Day 5 – Bwejuu – January 18
We were up early with the sun and walked over to enjoy our free breakfast around 7:30. We were pleasantly surprised to find not only eggs and bacon options, but an assortment of breads, pastries, and fresh juices. We are still trying to shake off some of the South Africa weight and save money, so the plan is to gorge at breakfast, as healthily as possible, then hold off for a late lunch early dinner. We found a spot under a canopy and began the important task of lounging in the lawn chairs. It was a pretty overcast day, but still quite warm, so the sun only beat down intermittently. The pool also felt wonderfully refreshing so we spent the first few hours in the morning reading and swimming.
Around noon we got our first drink of the day, Ryan a beer and Elizabeth the cocktail of the day: vodka, blue curacao and lime juice. Before too long, but still longer than Ryan would have guessed, stir-crazy Elizabeth had to get up and walk the beach. She headed north along the water’s edge. The seashells here are amazing, plentiful, unbroken, colorful and huge. She was only approached by people trying to sell her things a few times on the beach. It’s hard to deal with because you can’t be frustrated at these people for trying to support their families, but you know you don’t want to drive a scooter up and down the beach, and you especially don’t want to do it for $40 a day. Ryan’s technique is to lowball them and see if they’ll take his offer. Elizabeth either claims to have done it, say we are leaving tomorrow, or only speak Spanish.
Back at the hotel we were beginning to feel peckish, it was late afternoon after all. We needed to find an ATM to take out more cash and knew we needed to walk about 4 km into town to find one. We luckily stayed near one, but we didn’t realize until after leaving Stone Town that there are only 3 other ATMs on the whole island, and most places only take cash. To top it off, the value of their money is quite inflated, currently trading at 1 USD for 2300 shillings and their largest bill is 10,000. So, to take out enough money for the next few days we knew we’d need a huge wad of cash, which Ryan wasn’t looking forward to carrying around. In these countries, his wallet’s too stuffed to close.
We began our walk down to Paje following the kite or wind surfers in the distance. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the edge of town. We thought the horrible and flooded road we had to take to get to our hotel was unique, but all roads leading from the beach to the main road are horrible and flooded. We weaved our way through poor residential areas for an additional 10 minutes trying to find the ATM machine. When we got there the guard outside told us no, we had to use the ATM at the petrol station another kilometer away. We had to walk along the edge of the busy road in the gravel, and our flipflops hoping to not get hit by a car.
Finally, we made it to the station and prayed we wouldn’t get robbed of our huge wad of cash. We know we’re being irrational for the most part, we did research before coming and theft of tourists is dealt with quite severely as tourism is such an important part of the economy. Still, had to Ryan spread it out over various pockets as we headed back to town. Starved and exhausted, it ended up being about 3 miles to get to the ATM, we settled for a meal at Luciana’s. A woman, ostensibly Luciana herself, sat us upstairs in the open air with a distant view of the sea. We drank more Kilimanjaro beer and got fish and calamari curries on beds of rice. The curry was absolutely amazing. Zanzibar is known as the spice islands and she told us she uses only fresh spices from here. More cows came to graze right outside the restaurant as we finished our meals.
After stuffing our bellies, we reluctantly began the long walk home. It was a particularly windy day so there must have been 100 people out kite surfing in the shallow water of low tide. We walked in the water and watched the good surfers jump and do tricks and the bad surfers struggle to get up. We walked past locals playing soccer on the edge of the beach as well, and did our best to stay out of the way and not get hit by a ball. Finally, we could see the hotel in sight and again passed through some more beach cows. We made it back right at 7 pm and as we walked into our room a huge storm blew in and it began pouring.
Day 6 – Bwejuu – January 19
The next morning, we were still a little sleepy from our long walking day. We ate our delicious breakfast then spent the day lounging pool side and oceanside. In the late afternoon we began our pool drinking with wine and beer in the hot sun. We decided to eat at the hotel restaurant for dinner and had prawn with vegetables and chickpeas and potato masala. Everything tasted delicious, if a little pricey, and we went to sleep feeling well rested.
Day 7 – Matemwe – January 20
Today we transferred hotels again heading up the northeast coast of the Island. We enjoyed our last breakfast here then lazed in the room packing and reading until our checkout at 11. Ryan had arranged for our taxi driver to pick us up at noon. We lugged our bags out and sat in the open-air lobby area and immediately began sweating. The taxi driver who initially drove us to the hotel had asked us to use him and said he didn’t mind driving the hour from Stone Town to come collect us. We played chess and drank a beer and it only got hotter and hotter.
Once noon had come and gone Ryan texted him and he said he was 30 minutes away. We continued to veg and finally at one o’clock he rolled into the compound. We’re sick of African time. We said goodbye to all the helpful staff and Maasai then piled into his car. The road, somehow, had gotten worse and it was a very bumpy ride leaving. We’re surprised he didn’t puncture a tire on the sharp limestone driving out. Once we were on the main road, he drove like a mad man going 75 mph swerving pot holes, goats, and pedestrians. He slowed down to go over poorly constructed speed bumps, which were clearly designed for people like him. Needless to say, Elizabeth was feeling pretty car sick. Tanzania is, by some lists, one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. Our $35 taxi trip was 17% of his monthly salary paid by the government, and he made it in just a few hours. No wonder he was willing to drive such long distances to take us around.
We finally got to the small road to take us to the beach and our hotel, Kiganja Resort, and again he maneuvered his way down a rough limestone road, this one had the deepest holes yet. The resort is run by an Italian couple and their young daughter. They got us all checked in and we were delighted to find air conditioning in our room. We changed and immediately got in the pool. The resort doesn’t seem super full, it looks to only have about 10 rooms, but they are all older European couples. We swam then laid in their beach chairs drinking beer and reading our books.
Around 5:30 we decided to walk along the beach. The hotel is about a 3-minute walk through a palm forest to get there. There are a lot less tourists here and we are on the outskirts of the town Matemwe. We walked past many kids playing soccer on the beach and traditional canoe boats resting in the sand. We probably strolled about an hour looking at shells before heading back. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and couldn’t wait for our 7:30 dinner. We decided to eat at the hotel, offering 3 courses for $15 each. We started with wine and beer and a thick vegetable soup with croutons. The main course was roasted chicken, potatoes, and a diced tomato. The potatoes were delicious but the chicken was overcooked, we felt like the family in Christmas Vacation trying to eat the super dry turkey. For dessert we had coconut tiramisu. We slept peacefully in the air conditioning free from mosquitos.
Day 8 – Matemwe – January 21
We lazed around after breakfast enjoying the poolside lounge chairs. Elizabeth took a long beach walk in the early afternoon, while Ryan continued lounging. Around 4 pm, we decided to go into town for an early dinner, so we walked north along the beach towards the town of Matemwe. We were recommended by our hotel owners a restaurant called Furaha Local Resturants. We found it off the beach in the middle of the village. We were the only ones dinning in this small outdoor patio with four tables. We ordered our food then drank the mostly frozen water bottles they provided, honestly it was so nice to have ice in our drinks. Everything in Zanzibar is made to order so it’s wonderfully fresh, but we have a bad habit of leaving until we are already starving, which makes the waiting that much harder.
Outside we watched the village kids run around playing and the men attempt to fix a water well. Finally, the dishes came, we got fish and calamari curries with white rice. The calamari curry was delicious and was the first time Elizabeth had had it unbreaded. It tasted the exact same but she wasn’t a fan of looking at the tentacles and suckers.
After dinner we trudged the 30-minute walk back home along the beach seeing more soccer games and traditional boats. We arrived back at the hotel in time for happy hour and got a few mojitos. We lounged on their upper patio drinking and snacking on some homemade puff chips? They were warm and tasted like fresh deep fried.
Day 9 – Matemwe – January 22
We woke up to overcast skies and drizzling rain. After our less impressive breakfast buffet we spent the morning lounging. Eventually we took a break from our lawn chairs to lunch on the patio, getting pasta and a bottle of wine. We figured since they’re Italian, their pasta would be on point. The pesto pasta tasted like it was made with anise and we don’t much care for that black licorice flavor. The all’amatriciana pasta was incredible though! After filling our bellies, we returned to our room and had a lazy Netflix afternoon. For dinner, we once again headed up to the patio for Serengeti beers and a shared hamburger. Good night.
Day 10 – Matemwe – January 23
Much to our dismay, it was time to move hotels again. Had we known while planning what we know now about the cost of taxis and the horrid road conditions, we might not have decided to move around the island so much. So, we ate breakfast and got picked up at 11 am. The Italian owners were very kind and gave us big hugs as we departed. We’d highly recommend staying at this guest house for a few days to anyone coming to Zanzibar. The rain still hadn’t left us and it was gloomy as we drove 10 minutes up the beach into Matemwe proper to stay at Seles Bungalows.
Seles is a more expensive hotel, but you feel like you’re in the middle of the jungle and it’s right against the beach. Even though we got there before noon, our room was ready. We sat in the spacious open bar area and enjoyed a few beers while we played a game of scrabble. What a wonder, Elizabeth dominated.
Elizabeth went on a beach walk to explore, finding more boats, blue water and sand. When she got back we played in the pool. It was still raining though, so no one was out and about. We discussed snorkeling, but the windy, cloudy weather wouldn’t lead to good conditions on the reef. In the afternoon Ryan started feeling queasy and took to bed. He had stomach cramps; Africa is trying to kill us. For dinner Elizabeth ate a chapati (Zanzibar bread) filled with cheese and Bolognese sauce. This country has several pasta options on their menus. We laid in bed watching Jurassic park, while Ryan suffered (more Elizabeth watching and Ryan listening in the fetal position).
Day 11 – Matemwe – January 24
After a rough night, Ryan woke up feeling better so we headed down to what was described as a full English breakfast. It was really just fruit, bread, and an egg. We’d been spoiled by breakfasts in other hotels. The fruit was delicious though: fresh pineapple, watermelon, and a baby banana. It didn’t take long for Elizabeth to start feeling down herself. It was still overcast and we spend most of the day in the room or out in the bar area so Ryan could eat. By dinner we were both much better and sat in the upstairs area enjoying drinks and splitting another chapati, this time with chicken and cheese. Ryan says Elizabeth is the best at picking greasy, bad food.
Day 12 – Nungwi – January 25
Our time at Seles was short and unfortunately not well used between our sickness and the rain. Time waits for no man though, and it was time to head up north to Nungwi, the most popular beach area of the island. Most of the owners these hotels have been European expats, and we thought Seles was an exception when we met Mr. Seles, but then a white woman with a British accent who wanted to make sure we had enjoyed our stay and she was sorry she couldn’t be there to check us in. Are any Zanzibari in charge of money in this country?
We ate breakfast and sat in the bar area waiting for our 11 am taxi pick up. As soon as the man arrived, we could smell his body odor. We should have refused then and demanded a new driver, but we were weak of illness and didn’t want to seem rude. So, we followed him to his car. We got in before he did and his car reeked, honestly the worst body odor we’d ever smelled. Again, we justified it to ourselves saying it was just 30 minutes; we thought we could handle it. The driver was absolutely crazy though, driving recklessly and that on top of the smell made us nauseous. Five minutes into the ride we were both plugging our noses. We know not all cultures emphasize hygiene in the same fashion or have different opinions about body odor, but this smell was offensive. Upon arriving in Nungwi, we found out he didn’t know where our hotel was and got frustrated with us that we couldn’t tell him. Like we live in this country or something. To top it all off, he had “Rockabye” by Clean Bandit on repeat the entire time. Eventually we figured out where the entrance was and walked inside. Ryan emailed Seles to tell them about our experience and recommend they don’t call him for future guests, it was the worst cab ride of our lives.
Our new hotel is called Shamba Lodge and is located about 200 meters from the beach. We settled in and regained our composure after such a horrible 30 minutes. Eventually we set off to explore Nungwi beach, which in 2014 CNN ranked the 43rd best beach in the world, so we were anxious to compare. Our hotel was only a few-minute walk from the beach and we arrived at low tide. On the eastern coast the beach was pretty flat, so high and low tide didn’t really look too different, but the shore here is a bit steep. Again, we found a bunch of boats floating in shallow water.
It didn’t take long for us to be approached by a man selling us a snorkel trip. His rates were reasonable but with the overcast skies we didn’t want to commit. We walked with him to a developed area with lots of shops and restaurants and decided to eat at a recommended restaurant and think on his proposition. The service took forever, in typical Zanzibar fashion, so we drank beers and watched the nearby Spanish children play with the locals. After an eternity our curries came, we got fish and vegetable, and they were both pretty good, not the best, but not bad.
By now, the tide had come up and the path we’d walked to get the restaurant was covered in two feet of water. The ocean lapped the restaurant edges in some places. We walked to another bar called Istanbul and grabbed a couple of mojitos and pina coladas. The views were great and we watched people swimming right in front of the restaurant. We had all of our electronics with us, but vowed to spend the next day bar hopping and swimming.
We walked along the beach towards home, up on the cement wall, and stopped at another bar called Gerry’s. They had draft Kilimanjaro – we hadn’t had draft beer since we’d arrived, so we were excited. We sat on couches playing cards and people watching. Eventually we were feeling pretty good, and sleepy, so we opted to head home around 8 pm. We got back to the room, but our A/C turned off every 15 minutes, making for a long and hot night.
Day 13 – Nungwi – January 26
We headed down for breakfast around 9 am. Our host is a Spanish woman, so she doesn’t even start serving breakfast until 8:30. The breakfast was amazing though. It was like everything Seles wanted to be but couldn’t quite manage. We had fresh tea and a giant bowl of fruit: banana, mango, pineapple, and papaya to start. Then she made us pancakes alongside an omelet and classic toast with oil, salt, and crushed tomatoes. It reminded Elizabeth of meals she ate in Spain. Ryan heartily approved. Next, we headed back to the beach and made the long walk to the far end of Nungwi beach.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Langi Langi and ate along the balcony edge as the tide was coming in. Ryan got whole fish, the waiter brought out two different sized fish for him to choose from, while Elizabeth had calamari curry. The food was incredible and, of course, washed down with cold beer.
We ignored the age-old swimming adage and immediately hopped in the water to cool off. The water is very salty so we were pretty buoyant and the temperature felt amazing. We paddled around and floated in the waves.
We decided to continue our bar hop swimming and moved down the beach, walking in knee-high water against the limestone cliffs, to a bar called Fat Fish Bar. We again got a spot right on the railing and ordered more beers. Ryan tried to order a chocolate milkshake with rum, but they were out of chocolate ice cream. We took turns swimming in the water below the restaurant and drinking. Since we had such good spots we decided to stay until the sun set. Zanzibar is supposed to have wonderful sunsets but it’s been so cloudy here we haven’t gotten a good one yet. Tonight, probably wouldn’t be that good either, but we had to try.
We eventually got hungry and asked to see the food menu. Ryan discovered another dessert with chocolate syrup and it was hilarious watching him tell the waiter to put the syrup in the vanilla ice cream and add rum. By his look you’d think we’d grown two heads. All said and done, it actually turned out pretty good. We ordered a pizza to split, which was also not bad. Finally, the sun went down and we enjoyed a decent showing. Our waiter asked us to close out because he was exhausted and needed to go home after a hard day’s work. It was 7:30 pm and he volunteered that his shift had began at 11:30 am, no wonder the roads are so awful in the country, does anyone work?
It was dark when we left and we wandered back through the knee-high water during our long walk home. The moon was out to help guide us and luckily a lot of the cliffs had lights shining into the water. We stopped into a souvenir shop on our way back and got some clothes to commemorate our time in Africa. Ryan got an awesome tank top with the shape of the continent highlighted with safari animals and Elizabeth got a dress covered with classic tribal figures featuring the words Hakuna Matata and Zanzibar.
When we got back, we had one last beer at our hotel bar and chatted with the Spanish woman. We told her about the A/C and she complained that since December the city had been overloading the power grid and they were having nightly issues from 7-11 pm when everyone was running things in their home. She also told us about her love for diving. She thinks the best is in the Red Sea, particularly in Sharm el-Sheikh where we just were actually; looks like missed an opportunity. Back in our rooms, eventually our A/C started working again and we slept much more comfortably.
Day 14 – Stone Town – January 27
We had a final good Spanish breakfast before we loaded up in a taxi back to Stone Town. It was a 1.5 to 2-hour ride back and, of course, full of horrible roads and reckless driving, but luckily, we made it in one piece. The drive was actually quite pretty and we got to see the spice side of the island where all the large plantations are. We checked back into our same hostel, the Balcony House, and unloaded. We went back to Lazuli Café, the same restaurant we loved so much when we started the trip for lunch. We got more delicious smoothies and the curry and a vegetable burger. The same friendly waiter was there and invited us to his wedding on February 7th, we unfortunately wouldn’t be in Zanzibar to help him celebrate but wished him the best luck.
We spent the afternoon walking around and doing more shopping, but found nothing exciting. The clouds had cleared and we had our final shot at a sunset. We accidently ended up at an overpriced hotel restaurant on the beach called inside a Hyatt, but we had extra shillings to burn so it wasn’t the worst decision. We each got a cocktail and began the 1.5-hour count to sunset. It was pretty hot and the deck didn’t provide much shade. Eventually, the sun started setting and we ordered a couple more beers to enjoy its beauty.
As the sun set at 6:45, we knew we had 15 minutes before happy hour ended, so we rushed down the beach to another bar two more beers. We wanted to go to the night food market one last time and we basically were just killing time before they set it up. We went to the first Zanzibar pizza man and got an original and a cheese and tomato pizza. Ryan had him add peppers too late, so we ended up getting an additional original pizza. We stuffed our faces and sat on the sea wall. They were just as delicious as ever. A local struck up a conversation with us, ostensibly to practice his English, but we suspected he had ulterior motives. But after a few minutes of chatting, we finished our food and he wished us a safe journey back home. We packed and went to bed ready to get up at 6 am for our taxi to the airport.
Day 15 – Stone Town – January 28
We were up bright and early to catch our 6 am cab to the airport. We’d hoped that by getting there this early the lines would be low. We were wrong. You have to go through security to get into the airport, a long line, then check your bags, another long line, then go through immigration, a huge line, then go through security again. Remodeling of the building began a few years ago, but construction halted before half of the renovations could be completed. So, we got a nice view of air industrial sized air conditioning unites hooked up to nothing among other oddities. It was hands down the worst airport we’d ever been to. It was so hot and crowded and everyone looked like they were on the verge of passing out; plus, it was understaffed. We finally got into the terminal and there were no signs or TV boards telling you any flight information. Ryan’s AMEX paid for itself as we were able to go into an air-conditioned lounge.
Eventually we boarded the flight, FlyDubai, and were about to take off when we headed back to the gate. Apparently, there was something wrong mechanically and we sat on the tarmac for three hours with staff and engineers trying to sort it out. The pilot was very apologetic, but it was all in the name of safety, so we couldn’t be too upset. Eventually, we were moved back inside for another two hours to wait, again luckily, we had the A/C lounge. There aren’t any airline representatives at this airport as it’s so small, so we weren’t really sure what was happening, and we don’t think the airlines don’t have any extra planes. Prognosis negative. Next thing we knew we were being shuffled onto buses and shipped to an unknown destination.
We were happy when we arrived at the beautiful hotel Madinat al Bahr. However, we didn’t know how long we were staying or what the flight situation was. We were given a buffet lunch and told to hang out by the pool. Eventually we learned that we were spending the day there and after dinner we would board a bus at 11 pm back to the airport and fly out at 2 am.
When we arrived back at the airport it still took us about an hour to recheck our bags and make it through immigration and security. Ridiculous, considering we were the only flight leaving that night. We were back up in the lounge and we after what seemed like forever, we boarded the plane after 2 am. Luckily the flight wasn’t full and we had an entire row to ourselves. We’ve liked our time on the island; if you ever do a safari in Tanzania, definitely tack on a beach vacation here – just be prepared for horrible roads.
Things we’ve learned in Zanzibar:
- There are a lot of French people here
- USD is more popular than Tanzanian Shillings
- The egg yolks here are white because they feed the chickens either white cornmeal or wheat
Ryan and Elizabeth Goss 