back to Zanzibar

The return to Zanzibar, and to George, was wonderful. Though G and I had only been apart for about three weeks, it felt much longer -- which means it's really going to be tough not to see him for months or even years on end! But we both have our plans for the year, so I'm glad we'll both have the opportunity for personal development before we meet again.

We met up in Dar for a night, and came straight to Zanzibar by ferry the next day. The first stop was Stone Town, and it was everything I'd remembered -- the narrow alleyways, filled with women wrapped in colourful cloths and men their white kofias. The markets crammed with spices, strange fruits and fish. The vendors hawking samosas, fish and octopus on the street, stray cats lurking under the stands waiting for their next meal to fall. The wonderful pilau and coconut beans and fresh fruit juices. And the sad reminder of the slave trade. We stayed in Stone Town for two days, mainly wandering the alleys and doing some shopping. But our cheap hotel had no air con, and we were dying in the humidity. The only escape was to get closer to the sea.

We decided to head to the East coast first, to the quieter and more secluded beaches for a couple of days. After taking an extremely cramped and uncomfortable ride out on the local transport (dalla-dallas, basically a pickup truck fitted with wooden benches and a roof on the back), we arrived in Paje. Walking through the village, we could tell it was definitely going to be a quiet place -- hardly anyone was around. The beautiful white beach had some hotels, but nothing crazy or gaudy. There in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, my baby dreadlocks met an untimely demise. I couldn't stand swimming in the ocean with an uncomfortable swimming cap, and only about a dozen dreads survived my first dip (they were incredibly strong ones, though, and I was sad to have to rip them apart later on). I didn't have the heart to start all over again, and decided that I'll just try again the next time George and I are in the same place together for longer than 3 months. If he had been with me for the past three weeks, they might have been locked completely, and swimming wouldn't have been a problem. Oh well.

Apart from swimming, much of our time in Paje was spent simply wandering the beach. One day we rented bicycles and rode along the beach during low tide, as far as we could go in both directions. It was tough going at times, but worth it! It was neat to see the villagers going about their daily business on the beach -- the women collecting seaweed or removing the soft hair from coconuts, the men and the boys fishing, young girls collecting shells and other treasures in the sand.

After a couple of days in Paje, we headed back to Stone Town to have lunch with Khaleed, the lawyer that I'd met on the train. After lunch, we headed up to the North coast. The North is more of a party area than the East, and Nungwi is the centre of the action. We decided to head up there because Moon, a guy we had met in Uganda, was working there, painting a guesthouse with psychedelic ocean and forest scenes. Nungwi had a completely different atmosphere than anywhere else I've been in Zanzibar. Forget about being laid-back; the place is jam-packed with beach boys and tourist junk. The beach is spectacular, though. Pure, fine white sand, with hardly any seaweed. I've never seen water so clear. The hotels along the waterfront, with no space between them, have become Disneyesque in their desire to portray themselves as fantasy-land paradise resorts, but if you can ignore them, it is a beautiful place. And I must admit that it was also good to be somewhere with nightlife, unlike in Paje where the beach was completely dark and empty, and therefore unsafe to walk, at night. There were even guard dogs along the beach, I assume to dissuade thieves from coming into the hotels -- but they were also effective in keeping us from wandering along the oceanfront at night. It became tiresome to be confined to the hotel premises for the evenings, so this was a nice change. We could also walk into the village at night to get dinner -- delicious rice, coconut beans and whole fried fish -- and hang out with local people. The town is a strange mix of traditional Swahili folk, Rastafarians, and Maasai who have come out to vie for tourist dollars.

The days in Nungwi were filled with beach time and relaxation. We took a day snorkeling trip (George's first time!), and gazed at the extraordinarily beautiful fish, in their vibrant blues and yellows, flitting around the coral reefs. There, we had lunch on the most perfect beach I have ever been on in my life. It was so warm, so clear, so blue, it was like swimming in a pool with fine sand at the bottom. In the evenings, we danced to reggae and sipped cocktails made with fresh fruit. In some ways, Zanzibar really is like paradise -- I could imagine living here and effectively cutting oneself off from the troubles and hectic pace of the outside world. It was a good place to wind up my year in Africa, with good friends, good food and lots of sun!